“Four are.”
Dale raised an eyebrow.
“Which two aren’t?”
Isaiah pointed.
“That one has a front axle worth saving. The last one shares a transmission case with a model we service a lot.”
Dale walked over and checked the second tractor.
“Case cracked?”
“Not where I can see.”
“You ultrasound them now?”
“If visual gives us a reason to keep it.”
Dale looked at him.
“Getting fancy.”
“Trying to get less surprised.”
That made Dale laugh.
The auctioneer called buyers toward the first equipment row.
Dale started walking, then stopped.
“You know, I was right about one thing the first time.”
Isaiah waited.
“Most of those fifty were worth more in steel than anybody would’ve paid for them whole.”
“That’s probably true.”
“You were wrong about some too.”
“I was wrong about plenty.”
Dale nodded.
“Difference is you stayed long enough to find out where.”
Then he walked toward the bidding.
Isaiah remained beside the back row for another moment.
He looked at the machines.
Three years earlier he had seen matched components and opportunity.
Now he saw labor hours, transport cost, warranty exposure, parts demand, platform knowledge, inventory turnover, and the limits of his own shop capacity.
The tractors looked more complicated than they had when he was nineteen.
That was another form of learning.
The bidding that morning felt different from the first Draymond sale in another way too.
Isaiah did not need to win.
That freedom changed every number.
The first compact tractor on his list opened low and climbed fast when two landscapers started chasing each other. Isaiah stopped bidding at the number written on Reuben’s tablet. One of the landscapers kept going three hundred dollars beyond it.
Three years earlier, Isaiah might have felt embarrassed to lose a tractor he wanted.
Now he wrote LOST – TOO HIGH and moved on.
The next machine was a better fit and attracted less attention because its loader frame was bent. Reuben had already confirmed the engine family, and Tasha believed the rear case was usable. Isaiah bought it for less than half his limit.
Then another.
Then a pallet of hydraulic components most buyers ignored because it was poorly labeled.
By noon, Callaway Reworks had purchased eleven tractors, two partial machines, the component pallet, and one utility trailer that Tasha wanted for mobile service.
Total spending was higher than Isaiah’s original two-thousand-dollar gamble by a wide margin.
Risk was lower.
Every purchase had a reason.
Dale bought seven machines of his own.
Near the end of the sale, the two men found themselves bidding against each other on an older compact with a rare transmission housing.