“How much?”
Malik had not thought that far.
He looked at Otis.
Otis deliberately turned away.
Malik remembered what he paid.
Nine hundred plates for $180 meant an average of twenty cents each.
But that was meaningless.
Some were junk.
Some common.
Some useful.
Harold had already spent time and fuel searching.
A replacement planter would cost thousands.
Malik could ask much more than scrap value.
He said:
“Fifteen dollars.”
Harold looked at him.
“That all?”
Malik suddenly wondered if he had priced too low.
“Yes.”
Harold pulled out his wallet.
“I'll take it.”
He paid.
Then asked:
“You got other numbers?”
“A lot.”
“You got a list?”
“Not finished.”
“Finish it.”
Harold left.
Malik held the fifteen dollars.
Otis finally looked over.
“How much did you make?”
“Fourteen eighty if you count average purchase cost.”
Otis laughed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“You didn't count cleaning time.”
Malik stopped smiling.
“Electricity.”
“Card file.”
“Phone calls.”
“Shop space I’m generously not charging you.”
Malik frowned.
Otis continued.
“Profit is what's left after all the things you forgot.”
That became another notebook line.
The important part of Harold’s purchase was not fifteen dollars.
It was proof.
A farmer had arrived with a specific machine problem.
Malik had the answer.
Harold mentioned the plate at Bowers Feed & Seed.
A week later another farmer called.
“You got anything for an old 197B?”
Malik asked:
“Manufacturer?”
The man told him.
“What crop?”
“Corn.”
“Seed grade?”
Pause.
“What?”
Malik smiled.
Otis was rubbing off on him.
They found the correct plate.
Then another customer.
A man from two counties away needed a set of four matching plates.
Malik had six.
He sold four for $8 each because they were common.
The man tried to give him forty.
Malik refused.
“Thirty-two.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Otis asked later:
“Why didn't you take forty?”
“Because they’re common.”
“The customer offered.”
“He’ll call again if I’m fair.”
Otis nodded.
No praise.
Just approval.
December brought more calls.
Malik reorganized the index.
Manufacturer first.
Then planter family.
Then plate number.
Then seed type.
He added cross-reference cards.
If a farmer knew the planter model but not the plate number, Malik could search one direction.
If he knew the casting number but not the machine, Malik could search another.
If he only knew the crop and manufacturer, Malik could narrow possibilities but refused to promise fit without more information.
That caution cost him one sale.
A farmer named Leonard Haas called looking for a corn plate.
He gave the planter model.
Malik found what seemed right.
Sold him two plates.
Three days later Leonard returned angry.
“These don’t fit.”
Malik looked.
Same diameter.
Same general pattern.
Wrong center drive configuration.
He had matched the plate to the planter series, not the specific production revision.