"Then you understand why your father is considering this," Roy said. "I do," Jonah replied, and he meant it. Dale watched the exchange, hearing for the first time that his son understood the attraction of the new machine as well as he understood the old one. Jonah was not trying to win an argument about machinery. He was trying to find another option before his father made a commitment the farm might spend years paying off.
They did not sign the financing papers that day. Dale told Roy he needed more time to compare the figures and to see whether a suitable used block appeared through Silas's contacts. Roy left the folder on the table and promised to return if the situation changed. From the front porch, Jonah watched the representative drive away and tried to decide whether the relief he felt was reasonable when the tractor's crack was still getting worse.
The decision arrived sooner than any of them wanted. A few mornings later, Dale started the International to move it out of the shed, and the engine ran for less than ten minutes before the coolant leak became unmistakable. A wet streak spread beneath the casting, ran down over an old layer of paint, and dripped onto the packed dirt below. Dale shut down immediately, stood beside the tractor as the fan stopped turning, and stared at the moisture gathering along the fracture.
Jonah came running from the shop after hearing the engine stop. By the time he reached the shed, Dale had already removed the side panel and was looking at a split that had opened farther than either of them had expected. The boy did not say that he had warned him, although the words flashed briefly through his mind. He knew his father did not need another person telling him what he should have done; he needed a machine that could work.
They pulled the tractor into the repair bay using another vehicle and left it on level ground while the engine cooled. Silas examined the damaged area under a light, then asked Dale whether the engine had overheated or lost oil pressure. Dale said the gauges had remained normal and that he had stopped as soon as the leak became serious. Silas said that was the first piece of good news they had heard all morning, although it did not make the crack itself any less urgent.