Dale's expression grew more serious. "I should've listened when you first showed me the wet line," he said. Jonah started to tell him it did not matter now, but his father shook his head. "It matters. You weren't guessing, and I treated you like you were because I was afraid of what you might find." Jonah did not know what to say, so he stood beside him and let the apology be enough.
They finished a useful section of planting before evening. It was not the whole farm and it did not guarantee the International would run forever, but it was the work that had seemed impossible only a few days earlier. When Dale brought the tractor back toward the machinery shed, the engine still sounded normal and the repaired block had stayed dry through the planned checks. Silas looked toward the shop, where the broken practice castings waited along the wall, and allowed himself a small smile.
A pickup came up the lane just as Dale began parking the tractor. Harold Benton stepped out, walked around to the tailgate, and uncovered a cracked hydraulic housing wrapped in an old feed sack. He had seen the International moving in the field that afternoon and knew about Jonah's winter work from conversations around town. "I heard you boys got the old red tractor running," he said, looking toward the engine.
Dale glanced at Jonah, then at the heavy casting in Harold's truck. "We did," he answered. Harold explained that the housing came from an older machine and that the replacement was proving difficult to locate. He did not ask for a miracle, only whether Jonah might be willing to look at it before he spent money he could barely spare.
Jonah studied the fracture without touching it. It ran around one side of the casting and approached a mounting area, which meant it would require careful inspection before anyone could responsibly discuss repair. He asked Harold whether the part had failed suddenly or had been leaking for some time. The question made the older farmer pause, because it sounded exactly like something Silas would have asked.
"Bring it into the shop," Jonah said. "I'll look at it, but I won't promise it'll go back into service until I know what the crack did." Harold nodded and helped him carry the housing inside. On the way past the wall of damaged engine blocks, he looked at the scrap that had made half the county laugh and said, almost to himself, "Well, I'll be."