Dale paused only briefly.
“That would make sense.”
“You seen it before?”
“Couple times.”
“Got one?”
Keyboard sounds came through the phone.
“Give me a minute.”
Leonard waited beside the tractor while wind moved through the sorghum stubble.
Finally Dale returned.
“Nothing local.”
“How about Wichita?”
“Checking.”
Another pause.
Leonard looked across the field.
Every minute felt larger now.
Dale returned.
“Not Wichita either.”
Leonard said nothing.
“I’m going to run the whole network.”
“Do that.”
“I’ll call you before afternoon.”
Leonard put the phone away.
He did not panic.
One reason farmers kept more than one tractor was because any machine could stop.
Leonard had secondary equipment.
Older.
Smaller.
Less efficient.
But functional.
He rearranged the day.
That afternoon, Dale called back.
“I found one.”
Leonard felt immediate relief.
“Where?”
“Georgia.”
The relief weakened.
“How long?”
“System says seven to ten business days.”
Leonard looked at the notebook beside him.
“Verified stock?”
“Verified.”
“Order it.”
“You want expedited freight?”
“If expedited actually means expedited.”
“I’ll put priority shipping on it.”
Leonard wrote the order number down.
He understood what seven to ten business days could mean.
It was bad.
But manageable.
The farm plan could be compressed.
The secondary tractor could take some of the load.
Leonard could work longer days after the 7R returned.
He had spent his whole career adapting to weather, markets, breakdowns, and government paperwork.
Seven to ten days was simply another problem to absorb.
The next morning, Leonard moved an older tractor onto work normally assigned to the 7R.
Immediately, the efficiency difference became obvious.
The smaller machine pulled the implement.
But it did so slower.
Engine load stayed higher.
Fuel consumption climbed.
Field speed dropped.
Leonard wrote down the numbers.
Not because he expected a legal argument later.
Because that was what he always did.
Hour meter.
Acres covered.
Fuel used.
Time.
Every decision left a measurable result.
By day seven, Leonard remained irritated but calm.
By day ten, he expected a call.
None came.
On the fourteenth morning, he called Dale.
“I’m checking the coupling.”
There was a pause.
Leonard could hear the hesitation before the answer.
“We’ve got a delay.”
“What kind?”
“The Georgia hub flagged inventory during a reconciliation.”
Leonard frowned.
“The part exists or it doesn’t.”
“They show it.”
“But?”
“The shipment is locked until they confirm physical count.”
“How long?”
“They’re telling me five to seven additional business days.”
Leonard looked toward the 7R sitting uselessly near the shed.
“What was the original shipping scan?”
“It never cleared Georgia.”
“So the seven-to-ten-day estimate was based on something that had never left?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Leonard closed his eyes.
Not anger.
Calculation.
“Any other unit?”
“I searched again.”
“Used?”
“Nothing verified.”
“Dealer inventory?”
“Nothing under that exact number.”
“What about superseded part numbers?”
“Already checked.”
Leonard wrote:
DAY 14
SHIPMENT HELD IN GEORGIA