Ellis came over reluctantly.
"What?"
"Look."
"I am looking."
"This weld."
Ellis crouched.
Eli pointed.
"Factory seam is there."
"Yes."
"This one's different."
Ellis stared.
He took off his glasses.
Wiped them.
Put them back.
Then leaned closer.
"You're right."
"Someone welded something inside."
"Maybe."
"After the torch cut?"
Ellis studied discoloration.
"Hard to say."
Eli touched the steel.
"Why would they do that?"
Ellis gave the only honest answer.
"I don't know."
The auctioneer called:
"Five dollars to start."
Nobody bid.
"Five?"
A scrap buyer shook his head.
"Not with hauling."
"Ten?"
Nothing.
Eli stood.
Raised his hand.
The auctioneer grinned.
"Five dollars from the young gentleman."
People turned.
Ellis stared at him.
Eli whispered:
"I want it."
"You came for a pump."
"We lost the pump."
"Eli."
"Something's wrong with this safe."
"Something's wrong with your head."
But Ellis was smiling slightly.
Another man bid ten just for amusement.
Eli went fifteen.
Someone behind them shouted twenty.
The crowd laughed.
Eli bid twenty-five.
Calvin Rusk turned.
"You're serious?"
Eli ignored him.
Thirty.
Thirty-five.
Eli felt every dollar disappearing.
Months of work.
His entire tobacco tin.
The auctioneer called:
"Thirty-five. Anybody forty?"
Eli raised his hand.
Calvin laughed.
"Forty dollars for rust."
Nobody went higher.
The hammer fell.
"Sold for forty."
The crowd applauded sarcastically.
Calvin walked over.
"Congratulations."
Eli looked at him.
"You've bought something that weighs more than your tractor and does less."
A few men laughed.
Calvin slapped the safe.
"If you cut the top off, maybe it'll hold chickens."
Eli said nothing.
Calvin smiled.
"Nothing to say?"
Eli looked at the blackened torch scar.
"Not yet."
That answer made Ellis look at him.
It also made Calvin's smile tighten slightly.
Loading the safe was difficult.
The auction company used the chain hoist to raise it just enough for Ellis to back their old flatbed beneath it.
The truck suspension settled visibly when the steel came down.
Ellis added chains.
Then more chains.
He checked every binder twice.
Eli climbed into the passenger seat.
They drove home slowly.
For the first ten minutes, neither spoke.
Finally Ellis said:
"You spent everything."
"Almost."
"How much do you have left?"
"Thirty-eight cents."
Ellis nodded.
"Financial empire."
Eli smiled.
After another mile, Ellis asked:
"What do you think is inside?"
"I don't know."
"Money?"
"Probably not."
"Why not?"
"Somebody would've opened it."