“Yahav?” said Charl. “What are you doing here?”
Charl and Isabl were in camp to greet the arrival of the supply convoy.
Yahav had an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder.
“This is a dangerous hot spot, sir,” said Yahav. “Vehicle thefts, burglaries, armed robberies, kidnapping. No way was the benefactor going to allow young Klaus to come into the Congo unprotected. I volunteered for the detail. I’m not the type who can sit behind a desk all day. It made my butt ache.”
Klaus giggled when Yahav said the word “butt.”
Of course, thought Max.
“Where are the solar panels?” asked Annika, who, like all the others, was eager to start doing what they came to Africa to do.
“In the cargo hold,” said Klaus, strutting like a peacock to the back of one of the small box trucks. “Give me a hand here, Yahav.”
“Yes, sir, Klaus.”
Interesting, thought Max. One of the growns is calling Klaus “sir,” now. His brown-nosing campaign back in Jerusalem seemed to be paying off.
They worked open the rear doors.
“Here you go, ladies and gentlemen,” announced Klaus. “Check it out. A half dozen, three-thousand-watt solar panel kits—that’s six packages of twelve panels each. Perfect for all your off-grid power needs. Want to supply electricity to a business office or whole house or even a garment-making startup in the third world? These solar kits include everything you need—panels, batteries, chargers, wiring, the works—all bundled for your convenience. All you add is the sunshine.”
“Dude?” said Keeto. “You sound like a used car salesman.”
“Maybe that’s why I was able to work out such a sweet deal on all this gear.”
“Sweet deal?” said Max. “I thought we were working with an NGO. A nonprofit group…”
“Their prices were too high,” said Klaus.
“They were going to charge us?” said Keeto. “I thought they were a nonprofit, which, hello, means they don’t make money.”
“SEE was going to give us the panels ‘at cost,’” Klaus explained. “But their kits were still quite pricey. So, I shopped around a little. Why? Because I love a bargain. Plus, the less each installation costs us, the more we can do.”
Annika nodded. “You make a valid point.”
“I know,” said Klaus. “I’m a genius, remember?”
“Cheaper is always better,” said Klaus.
Max wasn’t sure she agreed. Besides, the benefactor was a bazillionaire. They didn’t need to shop around for bargains. But, once again, she’d keep her feelings to herself.
What was the alternative?
Wait for a delayed shipment from SEE and pray that the more expensive panels made it past all the security checkpoints—real and fake? That they didn’t get hijacked by a band of marauding land pirates?
Bringing electricity to the village ASAP was Max’s top priority. Being mad at Klaus would have to wait.
Well, it would have to wait for Max but not Siobhan. She had what everybody called a short fuse and Klaus sure made it sizzle.
“Have you gone absolutely bonkers, you dense fool eejit?” she shouted at Klaus, her face turning pink with rage. “We’ve come all this way and you bring us inferior solar panels?”
“They’re not inferior,” Klaus shouted back. “They’re just inexpensive.”
“Don’t these people deserve the best?”
“Just because you pay more doesn’t mean you get more.”
“Oh, stick a manky sausage in your ear, Klaus. I wish someone would invent a robot to kick you in your backside because your backside definitely needs kicking. You made a right bags of this, Klaus! You botched it!”
“You guys?” Max said, holding up both hands. “We’ll work with what Klaus brought us. No matter how bad his solar panels are, they have to be better than burning dung.”
“They already smell better,” joked Keeto. “Even if we can’t say the same for Klaus.”
“Hey, it was a long, hot ride,” said Klaus. “That truck doesn’t have air-conditioning.”
Everybody laughed.
The tension was released.
Max breathed a sigh of relief.
She only wished she could crack jokes like Keeto or get red-faced mad like Siobhan.
Human interactions. Human emotions.
She still had a lot of work to do in those departments.