"Yesterday, when you were loading the equipment."
"What did you tell him?"
"I said we didn't have enough information to do that."
The older surveyor closed his eyes briefly.
Then he took out his phone.
"I need to call our office."
The ranch woman watched him.
She was not trained in surveying.
She did not understand every measurement or legal description.
But she understood enough to recognize that the bank manager had been treating unresolved questions as established facts.
The surveyor finished his call.
He returned to the group.
"My company will formally document the historical monument and the existing road conditions. We'll also make clear in our report that our boundary work does not establish authority to obstruct a recorded access right."
The old woman nodded.
"Thank you."
He looked at the fallen marker.
"I'm sorry about this."
She glanced down.
"Did you kick it?"
"No."
"Then don't apologize for somebody else."
He smiled faintly.
She continued.
"But if you've got something that shows what happened, don't let it disappear."
His expression grew serious.
"It won't."
The technicians completed their observations and left.
The ranch woman remained beside the old marker.
Her daughter looked at her.
"That went better than I expected."
The older woman nodded.
"That young fellow looked scared."
"He probably is."
"Of losing his job?"
"Maybe. Or of being caught in something he doesn't understand."
The ranch woman looked toward the road.
"I remember being twenty-six."
Her daughter smiled.
"Were you scared of anything?"
"Plenty."
"Like what?"
"Your grandfather finding out I'd driven his truck into the stock pond."
Her daughter stared.
"You did what?"
The old woman laughed.
"Different story."
For a moment, the tension lifted.
Then her phone rang.
The screen showed the bank manager's number.
She answered.
"What?"
His voice was cold.
"I understand you've been interfering with our survey team."
"I've been asking questions."
"You have no authority to direct our contractors."
"I didn't direct anybody."
"You're making this unnecessarily difficult."
She looked at the brass fitting beneath the broken marker.
"You keep using that word."
"What word?"
"Difficult."
The bank manager exhaled.
"I'm calling to remind you the road assessment remains due tomorrow."
"I'm not paying it."