Rain began in the evening while teachers moved books from a classroom with a leaking roof. The generator failed, and the yard became mud mixed with wet paper. A box containing the term sheet arrived through Saidi's driver, marked *urgent*.
Amina helped Zawadi carry books. Baraka tried to reach Saidi by phone. Mama Njeri stood beneath the veranda, protecting her file with a kanga.
"Saidi wants an answer within an hour," Baraka said.
"What answer?"
"The hold ends tomorrow. He wants to know whether the new company will sign."
Musa arrived with a laptop wrapped in plastic. "I found the email chain. Mama Njeri told Saidi that Amina would not return to membership. The message was sent before the parents' notice."
Mama Njeri turned. "I said it because I wanted the investor to continue talking."
"You said the founder had left," Amina replied. "That is not an ordinary conversation."
"The school was dying."
Baraka switched off his phone. "I knew the email was sent, but I thought I could buy a week of calm before you returned."
"You knew, and you let the investor believe my name was finished."
"I protected what remained."
"Your fear did not give you authority to create history."
Water began running under the veranda. Zawadi said the second classroom needed light because the books had been moved there. Amina told Baraka to choose: help protect the equipment and stop the transfer, or keep arguing while the school flooded.
Baraka took a box of books. The act reminded Amina why teachers trusted him: he knew how to do practical work. That skill did not erase the secret decision.
Saidi sent a message: *The term sheet enters committee in one hour. Without a signed hold, we will assume the new company continues.*
Amina asked Musa to place the email chain and message in the record without any child's name. Then she faced Baraka before the teachers.
"Will you sign a new hold?"
"If I do, the investor will know we are divided."
"He already knows. Your signature will say that transfer stops until members decide."
Mama Njeri said, "Baraka, do not make the school lose the money."
Baraka replied, "Money that comes with every board vote is not help."
He took the pen. The hold required seven days, no transfer, no defective proxies, and continued teacher operations. He signed. Amina signed. Zawadi and Musa signed as operating witnesses, not owners.
Mama Njeri tried to leave with the term sheet. Amina did not stop her, but asked her to leave a copy for the notary. "This is not mine," Mama Njeri said.
"It is a record of the school's negotiations."
She left it.
The generator failed again. Zawadi used a phone light while Musa held the paper against the wind. Baraka signed the hold on a dry crate. His signature blurred slightly in the damp, but the date and initials remained legible.
When the lights returned, the printer produced another copy of the term sheet. Amina read it beneath the struggling generator light. The final clause gave the investor every board vote for one year.
"I never read that," Baraka said.
"Now you have," Amina answered. "That is why the transfer is stopped."
The rain continued against the iron roof. Baraka had entered the record as the person who halted the transfer, but the family's trust had broken further. The school was safe for the moment; the lawful meeting would have to decide whether the investor could enter with an advisory voice rather than control.
The transfer had been stopped by signatures made in the rain, while the school still had to function. Zawadi stored a copy of the hold while the generator started again. # End of Chapter
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