Free Digging Deeper: An Adventure Novel (Sam Harris Series Book 1) by PJ Skinner

the steps of the prefab.
    ‘Excuse me, there is a water leak in my house.  Can you help me, please?’ she asked.  They failed to grasp the urgency of the situation and carried on smoking and chatting and ignored her.  She went right up to within inches of one of them and tried again.
    ‘I need you to go inside the prefab to wake up a plumber and an electrician, who can come to the house and fix the damage.’
    ‘Okay, wait here.’
    Five minutes later Sam walked back to her house with the electrician and the plumber.
    ‘Did you open the water pipe to the washing machine?’ asked the plumber.
    ‘Yes, I did, I was trying to use it.’
    ‘It hasn’t worked for years.  It’s got a blockage, that’s why the water was cut off.’
    The electrician sniggered.
    ‘Don’t worry, lady, we will fix it now.  Not your fault anyway.’
    They were good humoured considering that she had woken them up in the middle of the night.  They fixed the problem quickly and left still smiling.
    She was shattered by the time they left.  To her amazement, she managed to sleep but woke up knackered and still grumpy.
    The next morning no one seemed surprised in the site office. ‘Oh, that’s always happening,’ said Bob, who was in charge of fixing this sort of thing, as well as maintaining the heavy machinery, and resented it bitterly.  ‘The ancient wiring and plumbing in the compound are a constant problem.’
    Sam wondered why he could not figure out a way of preventing it from happening if he had so much practice but she did not comment.  That night, she slept like a baby but turned the water off at the mains just in case.
    The next day on her way out of the canteen after lunch, two small boys approached her and begged her for food.  They were thin almost to the point of emaciation and covered in red dust.  The older boy held on to the younger boy to stop him from touching Sam.
    ‘Hello, I haven’t got any food today,’ she said in Portuguese.
    They looked startled as they realised they could understand her.  
    Fred, who had followed her out of the canteen, stepped towards them and they cowered by the wall of the canteen. Fred turned to Sam.  ‘Those little bastards are always trying it on.  We’re not allowed to give them food, so don’t go getting all bleeding heart about it.’
    ‘Message received,’ said Sam. ‘Next time,' she said in Portuguese to the small boys and winked.
    They ran off giggling, glancing back at her with their huge brown eyes.
    Sam went to the administration office to inquire about her air-freighted luggage.
    ‘Your luggage?’ said the clerk.  ‘I believe it arrived in Mondongo airport a few days ago,’ ‘Has anyone been to collect it yet?’ asked Sam.
    ‘No, I don’t think so.  Are you waiting for anything in particular?’
    Sam bit back a complaint. ‘Not really but the laundry here is ruining all of the shirts that I had intended for office wear in Mondongo.  I’m pretty sure that no one in the laundry at Kardo has ever seen silk before and they throw my shirts in a normal wash.  They now look as if they were meant for fieldwork after all, as they’re faded and streaked.  I would be really grateful if you could organise the collection of my field gear, before my office clothes are ruined forever.  I know this is a trivial request but I would be so grateful.’
    ‘Well, I am busy but let me see what I can do.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Sam giving him her best smile.
    As if by magic, she received news that evening that her luggage had been collected from customs in Mondongo airport.  Dirk was the bearer of the glad tidings.  He arrived at her house with a couple of tapes, that had arrived on the flight from Mondongo.  He had obviously offered to bring them so that he could see her.  He was standing on the steps outside shifting from foot to foot.
    ‘Hi Sam, someone sent you these tapes from Mondongo.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘There’s a note I think. Yes, here it