Troubled Waters

by Jerry Cole

  “I know, Dad, I’m not sad. I just like the smell of your jacket.”

  Darren knew that was a big fib, but let it go. “Bye, Mai. If you need anything and can’t reach me on my phone, call Mom. She’ll take care of it.”

  “Oh Darren, you’re still trying to look after me. It’s not necessary; I’m just fine. Have a good trip, and be successful.”

  “Thanks.” Darren kissed Mai’s cheek. He turned to Loretta and kissed her. She wiped her eyes.

  “Okay, gang—see you in three months.” Darren turned and left through the terminal door, and once outside, had to take off his glasses and wipe his eyes as well.

  ***

  One month into the project and all the teams were deployed. Darren, with his guide would drive from one team site to the next, spending a couple of days with each team. It took a team anywhere from two weeks to twenty-five days to service a single village. And they were always delays dealing with the village elders. Ceremonies had to be observed. Consultations between the various officials, religious leaders, and even important family members had to be tolerated, as the team waited for final approval—which was the signing of the water agreement. Then the work could begin.

  First, the water needed to be found. Then came the digging of the well, the installation of the filtration system and the pump, and finally, the training in use and maintenance. Local villagers were hired and paid to assist in the development of these wells, and when the teams left, these workers remained behind, ready to maintain the wells indefinitely.

  Darren missed Ness terribly, but he’d only been able to speak to him one time, so far. Ness’ schedule was still crazy, and trying to find a common time to chat was nearly impossible. So Darren focused on the work at hand and found he was really enjoying his job. It was deeply satisfying to assist in this live-saving and worthwhile endeavor.

  Halfway through this initial rotation, Darren returned to the first site, where a team had successfully completed a project. He wanted to see how the village was doing, and how effective the equipment was in meeting their needs.

  It had been a hot and dusty drive by the time Darren and his guide, Masika, arrived at the village in the late afternoon. What immediately caught his attention as the Land Rover came to a halt was that the village water pump, which was located at the edge of the village dirt square, was chained and locked.

  Darren turned to Masika. “Look at that. What do you suppose that’s about?” he asked pointing to the chained pump. “Could you please ask around and see what’s going on here?”

  Masika was very agreeable and had been an excellent guide and companion so far. “Yes.” He looked around to find who might be the most knowledgeable person to ask. He saw an elderly man sitting outside his house and went over to speak with him. The two conferred as Darren looked over from the car.

  “Don’t understand,” he said when he returned. “That man told me that certains étrangers appeared a few weeks ago, not long after the well was installed, and offered the village elders money.”

  “Money? What for, did he know?”

  “Did not. But after the strangers met with the elders, they put a lock on the pump, and the villagers have not been able to use the pump since.”

  “That’s outrageous. So they have no water at all now?”

  “No. A water truck comes twice a week and the villagers can buy water by the bucket.”

  Darren looked around the square. “We’ve got to speak with the elders. Something is definitely not right here.”

  Masika pointed to a building on the other side of the square. “That’s the chief’s house. He should know.”

  Darren led the way and approached the door to the house. An older man appeared before he had a chance to knock and asked in French what he wanted.

  Darren, replying in French, said, “Honored sir, I am with the Water Unlimited organization. We recently installed your new water system, and I am greatly surprised to see the pump is no longer operating. Can you tell me why?”

  “Please, come inside,” the man offered.

  Darren and Masika followed the man into a small single room. There were only two small windows, and the room was dark and musty-smelling. There was a table and a couple of chairs and a doorway that led to the rest of the house. The man directed Darren and Masika to sit at the table, and then he shuffled to the other part of the house.

  When he came back, he was carrying the standard water agreement that each village had to sign. He placed it on the table.

  “That’s our agreement. Is there a problem? Is there something you don’t understand?” Darren asked.

  The elder was silent for a moment. “My wife is making coffee. We talk after that, no?”

  Darren took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He made a mental note to spend more time studying local customs before sending teams out on the next rotation. “It is a great honor to be served in your home, Chief.”

  After half an hour of coffee and small talk, they finally got around to the business at hand. “Can you please explain to me why the village water pump is locked?” Darren was finally able to ask.

  The Chief smiled. “It was a great gift.”

  Darren did not understand. “A gift? How is it a gift to have your new water pump locked, and who gave this gift?”

  “We were offered a great deal of money for our water. Everybody in village gets five U.S. dollars. All we have to do is pay small fee every time the water truck comes to deliver. We don’t need the pump anymore.”

  “But you already own the water—your precious water—why would you sell it?”

  “Not only does each person get five dollars but they gave us a big screen TV for the great hall, and a generator, and a satellite dish,” the Chief said proudly.

  “But who gave you these gifts?” Darren was not getting the answers he needed.

  The Chief got up from the table and went, once again, to the other part of the house. He returned with another document.

  “When they gave us the TV and the money we had to sign this.” He put the document on the table in front of Darren.

  Darren looked at it. It was from an organization called Sub-Saharan Consolidated Water. It was a simple document and clearly stated that for the financial consideration provided, Sub-Saharan was granted the exclusive rights to the village water to do with as they pleased. There was also a provision allowing the villagers to buy water from them at a discounted price.

  “I’m sorry, Chief, but this is outrageous. They cannot do this.” He held up the Water Unlimited document. “You have exclusive rights to the water we discovered for you. They cannot just come in here and buy your water. It’s not legal.” Darren was fuming.

  The Chief disagreed. “But they said it was legal and they pointed to a page in your contract that they say allows that.” He picked up the Water Unlimited agreement, turned to a page, and presented it to Darren.

  Darren took the document and studied the clause the Chief had pointed to. It was the same eye-glazing legalese he’d tried studying before. He would have to talk to Melissa about this. He made a note of the section in question, and wrote down the name and address of Sub-Saharan, and handed the agreement back to the Chief.

  “Thank you, I believe we have all we need for now. I will need to get advice on this and hopefully, we can get this resolved and get the working pump working again soon.”

  Masika turned to the Chief and asked, “What sort of vehicles did these people have?”

  “Like yours, but they were painted blue and had the name of the company on the side. Just like their water trucks do.”

  Darren thanked the Chief and they left the house.

  “Why would you ask the Chief about their vehicles?” Darren asked as they walked to their car.

  “I’ve heard similar stories of a company buying up water rights in neighboring Niger, and then basically holding on to them, waiting for the price of water to skyrocket so they could sell water at vast profits.”

 
“You think it’s the same group?”

  “Could be.”

  ***

  Back at the campsite, later that evening, Darren got on the satellite phone to Melissa. It was still during business hours in Philadelphia.

  “Darren, you’re half way through the rotation. How’s it going? I’ll bet you must be brown as a chestnut and pooped as a long-distance runner by now.”

  “All of the above—but I’m also puzzled. We seem to have a situation.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  Darren told Melissa about the water rights and the problem with their water agreement.

  “Oh… I’d better look into that.” Melissa sounded concerned.

  “I think we need more that your opinion, though. You’d better get a really good contract attorney on it. I have a horrible feeling that the agreement Thornton put together for us was purposefully obscure and deceitful. And I seem to remember Mother saying something about Thornton having commercial water interests overseas.”

  “Of course. And if there is a problem we’ll need to abort the rotation until we can get this straightened out. We can’t have any more villages losing their water rights because of our faulty water agreement,” Melissa said.

  “Absolutely. Get back to me as quickly as you can. I’m going to contact the other teams and let them know the situation, and see if this has happened to any other of the villages we’ve served.”

  “Let me know. Do you want me to do anything about Thornton?”

  “Just apprise Mother of the situation, but don’t contact Thornton until we have all the facts. He’s too cagey and could cause us trouble if he suspected we’re on to his scheme.”

  Melissa sighed. “Oh Darren, it’s always something, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is. But at least we’re all fine here and the actual rollout of the program has been going well. Not too many technical difficulties, and we are getting water to the villages.”

  “Have you heard from Ness?”

  “Only once, but we’ve got a month together after I’m back and he’s done with the tour.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Say hi to Mom for me.”

  “Will do. Bye.”

  ***

  “Abort, abort, abort!” Melissa announced dramatically as Darren answered the satellite phone. It was a while since they’d last talked.

  “Bad, huh?”

  “Super-duper bad, I’m afraid. You were absolutely right. It’s Thornton’s agreement that’s the culprit. His attorneys designed it so they could go in after we did all the work discovering and developing water sources and just snatch up the rights for pennies. Their long-term goal, it seems, is to eventually control as much of the world’s water supplies as they can and hold us ransom for their vast profit.”

  “Have you talked to the board about this?”

  “Your mother and I have.”

  “Any consensus?”

  “We seem to have no legal action as we requested them to devise the agreement and we agreed to use it.”

  “Oh, I feel terrible,” Darren said. “It was my responsibility to vet the agreement and I did a lousy job.”

  “I’m afraid we all must take some responsibility. We wanted to cut corners for financial reasons. But that was before the fundraiser and we were on a smaller budget,” Melissa reminded him.

  Darren paced his tent. It was too hot inside, so he went out under the starry night. “What does the board suggest we do here and now? I can’t have any more villages compromised. And by the way, I found two more villages who sold their rights and one which was approached but didn’t sell.”

  “You’re in the field. It should be your call. The board will support whatever you decide to do,” Melissa told him.

  “What do the attorneys say about redoing the agreement?”

  “They’re working on it now. Maybe a week to complete.”

  Darren went over to the campfire and pushed a log deeper into the embers with the toe of his shoe. “I know we’ve still got six weeks scheduled here, but if it takes a week for the agreement to get done, it would take another week for me to go to Banako, retrieve the electronic document, get copies made, and get back into the field. That would only leave us with only a month, and I’d have to go to each team and give them the new agreement. We might be able to get a few more wells in, but it makes me nervous. It feels rushed. I feel we should come home now and review the whole program for before the next rotation. We’ve learned a lot already, and we could incorporate these new insights into the program as well.”

  “I agree. What can I do to help?” Melissa asked.

  “I’ll gather the teams, and you handle transportation. You can fly us back commercial; we got the warehouse to store our stuff.”

  “Will two weeks give you enough time?”

  “It should.”

  “I’ll make the arrangements and keep you posted,” Melissa said before signing off.

  ***

  Darren was exhausted as he limped with all his luggage and paraphernalia into his quiet and welcoming condo. He was grateful that he and Tyler had been able to settle in his stuff before leaving. He dropped everything in the entrance hall, dragged himself to the bedroom, and collapsed onto his bed without undressing.

  He awoke the next morning to the sound of distant city traffic. It was such a strange sensation after the quiet and solitude of outer Mali. There were no sounds of birds, no whispering breezes in the branches of the savannah trees, and no critter noises echoing through the night.

  A lengthy bath in his magnificent new shower, a shave, and a haircut were all called for. He arose from the bed and got out of his filthy traveling clothes.

  The first thing on his mind was Ness. He picked up his phone, and without expecting to hear his voice, called.

  “Darren,” Ness said, delightedly. “This doesn’t sound like the satellite phone. Where are you?”

  “New York.”

  “Aren’t you back early?”

  “I am. Long story. I’ll fill you in on all the details when I see you.” He sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “Oh, it’s so good to hear you. We’re about to board a helicopter for a concert. A moment later and I’d not have been able to take your call.”

  “I just wanted to try and catch you and say hi. It’s just a few more weeks now, ‘til you’ll be here with me.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  “How’re Kori and the sisters?”

  “Kori’s finally doing it. Getting married.”

  “We’ll have to attend the wedding.”

  “Both of us? That would be so great. It would mean a lot to her.” Darren could hear Ness approaching the helicopter. “I gotta go. I’ll call again soon. Love. Bye.”

  Darren sat on the bed, thinking. He needed to go to Philly—time to deal with the water agreement, confer with the board, and devise a plan to deal with Thornton.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Loretta looked up as Darren came into the library. She was sitting on the floor, her straightened legs and bare feet splayed out to the side. She was in the process of assembling a rocking chair and was studying the assembly instructions.

  “Oh, there you are. I’ve been expecting you all morning.”

  “Mother, what are you doing?”

  “I’ve always liked a rocking chair by the fireplace. I ordered this online, never expecting I’d have to assemble it myself.”

  “I can help if you like.”

  “Absolutely not. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m having such fun doing it.”

  Darren just shook his head. “You are priceless.”

  Loretta studied Darren. “My dear, you are so tanned. And have you lost a little weight?”

  “Might have.”

  “Well, you look so handsome. What a treat Ness will have when he sees you next.”

  “Mom…”

  Loretta got up from sitting on the floor. She stared at her rocker project. “Well, maybe you can help
just a little.”

  “Have you spoken to Melissa this morning?” Darren asked.

  “Yes. The board meeting is scheduled for three. You know, I’m not all that keen on going into the office, so you and I can video from here. Unless you need to go in to see Melissa or something.”

  “I should, but I’ll wait till after the board meeting.”

  Loretta checked her watch. “Then how about some lunch? I believe Cook is planning garden tomato and grilled cheese sandwiches—in your honor.”

  ***

  At three o’clock, Loretta accessed the video conferencing software from the computer in her office. Darren sat next to her. “Hello, everyone. I see you’re all here, so I am opening this special meeting of the board now,” Loretta announced. “Melissa, what’s first on the agenda?”

  Melissa spoke up. “Darren, can you please give us a report on the first rotation of the teams, and what you discovered about the water agreement out there in the field?”

  Darren proceeded to describe exactly what happened on the first rotation. The board seemed sobered by the facts, as no one spoke up right away. So Darren said, “Melissa, Loretta and I agreed to seek advice from a top level contract attorney, and it’s my understanding that the revised agreement is now ready. Is that right, Melissa?”

  “Correct, and I’m now emailing each of you a copy. I’m assured it has corrected the problem with the water rights, and the whole document has been put into much simpler and straightforward language. We’re even in the process of having the document translated into all the languages we’ll need for our upcoming rotations scheduled for the next two years.”

  “That’s excellent news, Melissa,” one of the board members said. “Are you asking us to vote on this revision now?”

  “Not yet, not until you’ve had a chance to review it. I suggest we each review the document and check the approve or disapprove box at the bottom and sign and return it.”

  “So about the damage that’s already been done? Is there any way to get the lost water rights restored to the villages?” another board member asked.

  Darren spoke up. “I have a plan for that, but it involves dealing directly with Thornton Davis. And, if you’ll approve, I’d like to take that task on myself.”