No lawyer.
No elaborate negotiations.
Just two brothers making an agreement on the tailgate of their father’s old pickup.
The formal paperwork would come later.
—
That evening, we visited Butch.
He sat on his porch and listened while we explained the plan.
When Phil mentioned five thousand dollars an acre for the east eighty, Butch nodded.
“That’s exactly what I would’ve offered your father.”
He shook our hands.
Then smiled.
“Took you boys long enough to figure things out.”
Phil glanced at me.
“We had the answer sitting under a truck seat.”
Butch looked puzzled.
Neither of us explained.
Some things didn’t need explaining.
—
PART 9: THE FIRST HARVEST TOGETHER
The damaged corn wasn’t magically restored.
We worked hard to save what we could.
The cooperative sprayed the weeds.
We applied additional nitrogen.
And the irrigation pivot continued operating throughout the summer.
By October, the center-pivot field produced 171 bushels per acre.
