Chapter 12

Monday 28.11.2016 – 120^th day of isolation

November was flying by. On the first Monday in December, I discussed with Ramona and Luisa what the invitation to the village on December 8 meant on the occasion of the celebration of the Conception of the Virgin Mary. Once again, we missed the Internet a lot to search what backgrounds there were and how to celebrate this holyday in Peru. Finally, we found out that it was celebrated in the mountains of Peru more than as an eating and drinking party. Even praying would have become increasingly unimportant, but it is just a centuries-old tradition. Somehow, I rhymed together from the stories of Luisa and Alejandra that the mother of Mary was separated from her husband but had conceived a child. In order not to appear impure, the pregnancy was presented as a gift from God. As I said, that’s how I rhymed it together, but for the Christians at that time it was one of the greatest miracles. I smiled to myself and thought about which God that I would attribute it to if, for example, Esther or Babette informed me that they were pregnant. I couldn’t think of anything more clever than reaching for my rifle to find my rival. Lol!

In the end, I agreed with Luisa and Ramona that we will briefly accept the invitation with the whole group, but we will not take gifts or anything else with us. In the end, I provided a bottle of vodka, which I didn’t drink anyway, three bottles of wine, some confectionery, a carton of jam in jars, and a few cans of fruit for Wednesday, the official holyday in Peru.

Today was the first official massage day for Mayari and Kira according to my list. When the two pretty girls filed their claims, I realized that I had forgotten the appointment. If this were to continue, I would soon have no free minute left. The little ones quickly took a shower while I let the water into the tub and coloured it with bathing crystals. The two scurried to the tub, then stood in full broadside to me and Kira said something like “Sharp, right?” Then she ran a hand over Mayari’s breasts. Totally clumsy, the little one lined up when getting into the tub. Again and again, she let me look between her tight buttocks. I clapped on her bottom for a moment and said: “Stop the teasing.” They both giggled like they were drunk. They washed each other’s hair and splashed around each other. After all, Kira wanted to be first. The beautiful Haitian young lady had not even noticed the panties to put on before the massage. “No massage without panties”, that was my clear statement. I took a lot of time for the neck-shoulder section and the upper arms. Unfortunately, I had to do the arms and legs myself today. My helpers were busy. Finally, I let Kira turn around. First, she giggled, then she rubbed herself over the small breasts and beamed at me. That’s when green juice ran out of the corner of her lips. In the mouth the girl had chewed greens. She had to spit it out on a bowl, Mayari as well. What was that? Ramona couldn’t explain it either. “In Africa they take Kat, but here?” Luisa knew then. It was untreated Coca leaves, which all the villagers chewed more or less pre-treated with lime or the like and kept in their mouths for a long time. It is somewhat intoxicating and helps Peruvians against altitude sickness. Here in the village, they took it out of habit. Allegedly, it also stimulated the man’s strength and the feelings of the women, but it brought the two girls right next to each other, as with a drug.

Ramona looked in a medical encyclopaedia. “It is really harmless and does not make you dependent. Initially, some Coca-brew was also part of the Coca-Cola recipe, but this was no longer allowed.” Ramona quoted: “But if you are not used to the pleasure and take too much in relation to body weight, you can fall into a deep state of intoxication.”

Kira and Mayari had to rinse their mouths. Then I laid them unmassaged on my big bed. A short time later they were asleep.

Luisa led us to her kitchen. In the corners on the windowsill stood two covered clay vessels. In it, she prepared our tea from the Coca leaves. The leaves were sprinkled twice with a kind of lime and washed over with a little sweet water. The lime was abundant above the village. After a week, the leaves and decoction for making tea would be ready. Then Luisa said something very important. “If Peruvian families do not have Coca leaves or Coca tea, there are quarrels in the family and people become unhappy.” That’s why she always cooked tea for us and let it serve after dinner, hoping, that everything goes without a quarrel with us. Coca would not be a problem, even not for children. In the main time of the Incas, this was the most important medicine, but also a means of intoxicating and stimulating. The girls, who were supposed to be sacrificed by the villages hundreds of years ago, also received a lot of Coca juice and mostly wine or spit beer. They received the juice directly from the mouths of their mothers or caregivers, who chewed the Coca leaves. Thus, the children to be sacrificed were always in a trance. They were fattened with an unusual amount of food and grew unusually fast in a few weeks.

The Coca leaves and the other versatile food would also be the main reason why the many widows would have stayed here in the valley. Coca reduces pain and increases life expectancy. Nowhere in Peru would you get as many high-quality Coca leaves as here, and this for free.

Ramona read something else in another book. Then she suggested keeping the tea ceremony after eating. She could never have explained to herself why the girls could get along almost without a fight, despite puberty. But it could also be the reason why, atypical for the age, the girls would have such a relatively increased sexual desire. In addition, Ramona had already wondered how fast the girls grew, at least faster than the average of their peers. The first January was only the next measuring day, but Ramona estimated that all the girls would have grown on average by nearly ten centimetres. However, we should definitely forbid chewing the leaves to our girls and punish them with penalties. So, I announced it at dinner, after Mayari and Kira were sitting at the table in their right mind again.

In the evening, the expected chess match between Esther and Fahsai took place. For me, our Hungarian nurse was the favourite, but who knows where our Yemeni had learned chess. While most of the girls were already practicing dancing again and making noise, the chess players moved into the doctor’s room. Ramona was watching. I sneaked into the cellar with a basket for which St. Nicholas’ Day would be prepared tomorrow. Then Babette drove me to the container warehouse. I remembered two boxes with coloured rubber boots made of plastic. Since our warehouse manager Esther was busy with chess, it took a while before we found the boxes. Finally, we each carried a cardboard box to the buggy. “It would be nice if you smoked another cigarette. I like to watch you doing it.” She sat down on a chair opposite me and really just watched me. Then very decisive words came from her. “Can you please kiss me for a really long time and with your tongue? I would like to touch your penis only once.” Since I did not want to hurt her, I told her that it was not fair to grant her this privilege. “Babette, please note you are still a child.” In addition, this would be particularly unfavourable today. “I am no longer a child, last month I had my full period.” I looked at her in surprise. “Please, Mister Berthier, please.” She pleaded and sat down on my lap with her legs apart. “Babette, I like you very much. Please don’t destroy this. I’ll give you a small kiss now and then it’s good. But only with the lips, the tongue is out of the game. Okay?” Lustfully her lips closed over mine and her tongue began to work, but I did not let her in. She pressed more and more against me and wanted to feel my pants with her hand. I intercepted the hand, broke the kiss, and told her that I don’t want to be alone with her again for the next few weeks. She stuttered out that she had the feeling during the massage that I wanted much more from her. She would have seen that something had stirred in my pants. And I had been so infinitely tender to her. “Yes, I was. You are so sweet and I really wanted to do something good for you. But this does not mean that I desire you sexually. Maybe later, when you have become even more a woman. But now you are one of my children and I love you like a father who is almost bursting with pride in his daughter.”

She had not understood the last meanings, but I had made it clear to her again that I love her like a father. Disappointed, she hung her head. I gave her a paternal kiss on the forehead. “Everything will be fine, my sweetness.” She just nodded slightly and discontentedly. Chattering, we went back to the Palazzo with the boxes, Babette had calmed down again, and we joked and laughed.

Several girls were now standing in the hall, looking through the door of the doctor’s room, where Ramona was watching the game between Esther and Fahsai. Especially Zarina was interested in whether her little friend had a chance against our nurse. I was informed that it was 1:1 after two draws and now it was the deciding game. Esther seemed desperate. Fahsai had somehow cornered her. Finally, she gave up a little awkwardly. I was happy for one of the youngest among us. That was a good self-affirmation for her. With some prompting tutoring, Esther congratulated the winner. Again, we had an offer of employment for all the people around. For the coming spring I announced a chess tournament for everyone, also Ramona, Olivia, and I would probably participate. “Chess is known to promote logic and concentration.” I repeated words from my school days to everyone.

Ramona whispered something to Esther in the corner of her room, while Zarina took her friend Fahsai with all her heart and kissed her on the forehead. Fahsai briefly looked around to see who was standing nearby, and resolutely kissed Zarina on the mouth. With this simple kiss, the girlfriends showed that they are close and quite liked each other very much. Sula and Babette clapped, some looked baffled. Fahsai was growing well now, but the couple seemed almost like a little girl to her almost grown sister.

“What secrets do you two have?” I asked more Ramona than Esther. Ramona looked at Esther, then at me. “There is a chess program on my PC with ten different difficulty levels. Esther can practice in order to maybe win next time.” With some ulterior motives, I asked if she could play it on Esther’s and on my tablet. “I don’t want to embarrass myself too much.” They tried it right away. With a little extra copying work and a two-time restart, Esther got it going. I left my tablet to the two ladies, but secretly already planning that the chess game should get all the children on their tablets. Singing, football, dancing, table tennis, chess, crochet, and knitting, I was pleased with how versatile the children could spend their leisure time. Speaking of table tennis, there should also be a tournament planned. Some children played sporadically in the anteroom, where we had only set up one table so far. In addition, the second tennis table, which was still in a container, also fit. At the moment, even the only table was little used.

In my office I examined the boxes with the rubber boots. Squeezed tight, I found twenty-four very small pairs and twenty-four pairs that might suit the girls. I called Babette and Sula to me, told them that with all the rain it would be good if all the girls had boots. They tried on the boots. Sula immediately fit the size 36. With difficulty Babette got into the 39. There were no bigger children’s boots. So, I rescheduled for St. Nicholas and gave my assistants the order to do a ‘try on’-action with the box of boots. There were no more suitable shoes for Zarina and Lenya. Babette also had pain in the heel and big toe. But the girls who worked in the village all found a suitable pair.

We put the boots in the vestibule on a shelf. If you had to go out in heavy rain, you could choose a few.

After the children had gone upstairs, I took thirteen individual boots of the very smallest sizes and filled them with half a bar of chocolate, three pieces of Russian confectionery and two hair bows and a headband each, which I had found by chance in the warehouse next to the boot boxes today. Loops there were forty-eight pairs, hair bands only twenty-four pieces, but for the gifts to St. Nicholas it was quite enough. I had to use chocolate sparingly. There were a lot of chocolates filled with alcohol on the shelves, but this was not for the girls yet.

Of course, the hair accessory was more for smaller children, maybe up to ten, but I was curious to see how the young ladies reacted to it. The big box with my gifts I had to hide before the event. The rooms in the middle row were empty. I locked one room with the presents.

There was still quite a lot of unrest in the girl’s homes, although the bedtime at 9 in the evening had already been significantly exceeded. At my strong whistling there was even more restlessness. Obviously, the girls flitted to make more order or change clothes. I opened all the doors to the stopper. Kira and Fahsai came out of other rooms in their pyjamas and scurried to their room. Finally, everyone was standing in her nightwear at the door. There was no educational tour planned today, but I was already amazed at how the customs were broken after I didn’t say “Good night!” for three times only.

“All teeth brushed and washed? Is there order in the rooms? I’ll give you five minutes.” Some looked around at what I had said and then imitated the others. Smiling, I watched them scurry off. Yes, order had to be. I wanted to pay strict attention to this in the future as well.

Meanwhile, I looked at the six middle rooms. What were it intended for? In the back room I found the answer. There was a closet, a bed and a cot, a changing table, a shelf above it and an extension with drawers on the side. Obviously, this was the pattern of how someone should decorate the rooms. But the things for the other rooms were still in the ore processing area in containers. Whether we would need it at some point, had to show. But for Olivia, Carmen, Luisa, and Ramona we should provide these parts next year.

When I came out of the last room, the first two were already at the door. I whistled, and order was quickly established. “Good night and sweet dreams.” Relieved, the teenagers greeted back, marched to their rooms, and closed the doors. I went to Fahsai’s room. She was proud when I congratulated her again on the chess victory. She quickly learned a few vocabulary words such as victory, playing chess, chess, stalemate, and draw. She knew the word ‘rochade’. Apparently, it was the same in Arabic. Unfortunately, I didn’t know it was called ‘castling’ in English, but I’m not a native speaker.

Fahsai pressed me gently and held out her forehead to me for a kiss. That was the first time a girl asked for a ‘Lobli’ directly. I gladly gave it to her, stroked her hair and covered the sheet over her body. It was totally gratifying for me that she also became more and more integrated and increasingly open-minded. I hadn’t seen her pray for a long time. Whether that was good or bad, I could not judge; it was just like that. Her English absolutely had to improve. Her girlfriend Zarina was already really good at it. They should practice the foreign language more together during their joint work.

I quietly placed the St. Nicholas boots near the room of each girl. Actually, no one was allowed to leave her room at night, but already after ten minutes there was unrest upstairs. Ramona and I went there. For the most part, the girls stood at the door, holding the boots in their hands. Cara and Daja had already done the headband. Several did not know what this present meant. “That’s for tomorrow morning, there’s Nicholas day. You will learn everything tomorrow during your English class. And please, no chocolate tonight. You brushed your teeth.” Sula was already mumbling feasts. She promised to brush her teeth again. Then at last silence settled in.

For Luisa and Ramona, I had chosen a box of the finest chocolates and a good bottle of wine. I put them in or on her shoes. Early in the morning I drove to the guesthouse and also put boots for Olivia, Alejandra, and Carmen in front of the doors. The three residents of the guesthouse did not know what to do with it. Olivia came to us with her e-scooter and asked what it was for. She had to attend English lessons right away to understand it.

The celebration of the Conception of Mary in the village had the advantage that Luisa did not have to cook once. Our gifts were gratefully accepted. The screw-up glasses seemed to please them the most. I told my Luisa to collect such glasses for the villagers in the future.

For the first time I tasted alpaca meat. Delicious. To the children, I did not answer the question of what kind of meat this was. They all loved alpacas, although some had already been spat on by the animals. It was later revealed to Isabella. She was blaming and crying, did not like to eat this meal. I laughingly said that all the meat the children always eating comes from animals that had to be killed before. “I don’t know if you’ve ever cried about chickens or sheep. You are so strong and tough, Isa, don’t worry.” So, it was actually off the table.

Furthermore, there were mainly prayers and a Singspiel by four women from the village. But the main reason for the celebration was the unrestrained enjoyment of wine and Coca leaves. The children knew that this was not good for them, and did not even try; Mayari and Kira had been a deterrent example. Only Olivia chewed a few leaves. When I noticed this and pointed to her stomach, Carmen said that all Indian women chewed the leaves during pregnancy. That would be very good for the health of the later new-borns. Later, Olivia showed me that she had spit out the leaves.

Luisa sang a different, slightly faster song of her ancestors today. After a short pause, the balalaika sounded. Lenya had rehearsed two new songs and sang to them in a worn voice. I realized again that we absolutely needed a song, one from our valley, our paradise. Then all the girls could sing together. I had already composed something with Ramona to the tune of the German folk song “Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen”. My dear doctor had her tablet with her. We wanted to try. Lenya and Esther stood behind us. Ramona gave the melody and sang our first, so far only verse. Then the four of us sang. Soon one or the other tried to sing along. The last line “we live in paradise” was soon joined by everyone.

Here in the wonderful valley

We found a new place to live.

Nobody knows where we are now

But we are happily active.

Mountains, forests, and cornfields

The location is great.

All we will stay here forever

We live in paradise.

A little later we said goodbye to the villagers and marched singing through the night. Everyone with full fervour celebrated the end of the new song with ‘Paradise’. Lenya and Priya wanted to write more verses, Sula and Babette too. I was curious to see what proposals would be on the table in the next few days.

Luisa was in the best mood. She had only drunk a little of the wine, but she had had the only evening off so far. As a matter of course, I had to go to her room with her, although the girls were not yet up the stairs. There was a little laugh as Luisa ordered me into her room, but I liked that she wanted to play with me today. And our girls should realize that even when you were pregnant, you could still feel like having sex. “Good night, everybody.” I shouted to everyone.

It was a good night with Luisa for almost two hours. She had developed into a lovely woman who showed more and more her feelings and was active in intercourse. This had greatly enlivened my relationship with our dear cook. In addition, since our first sexual encounter, she only gained weight slightly despite the baby. Her body was womanly, taut, and super. However, I had to flee again today after our nice encounter of a special kind. Her snoring after the get-together was always particularly intense.

On the way to my bedroom, I saw that Ramona’s room door was open, but she could not be found. Finally, I saw her sitting on the terrace, deep in thought. Somehow, she was sad, but glad that I had found her. We philosophised a little about the sex life in the valley. She would have liked to sleep with me today. After singing together, she was in high spirits; only Luisa had come to her before. I kissed her lovingly. “Yes, you women have a hard time with me. The situation is really not easy. But I have it totally easy, do you think?”

She was pushing something around. Certainly, she put herself in my position for the first time and discovered how difficult it can be to distribute his physicality fairly among four women. “How long my physical strength is still enough to give you joy regularly, I do not know. But with thirteen young girls, I am definitely overwhelmed.” We kissed each other sweetly and tenderly. My bathtub then received two loving people who let themselves go well in the warm water with caresses and caresses, without it coming to the actual act. A little later I fell asleep in Ramona’s arms in my heavenly beautiful bed. Luisa’s gong woke us up. My phone was still in the room of my dear Luisa, we had totally overslept. Of course, the girls got word that I had disappeared in the evening with Luisa, and in the morning, Ramona came out of my bedroom, but I was not ashamed. That was just my strenuously beautiful life in paradise.

After the meal, Ananda started our new song about Paradise. At first, everyone wanted to surpass each other in volume, as on the way home. Then Ramona beautifully sang the first verse of her German folk song from the ‘yellow wagon’ to make the actual melody clear. She meant to everyone to sing more muffled, and quietly tuned our song. Everyone made an effort. On the second try, it was almost like a girl choir. Luisa and I clapped violently. Soon everyone was screaming with joy again. “All we will stay here for ever, we live in paradise.”

On Saturday, the three of us went on an excursion to the upper valley. We were well attuned to each other. Babette and I carried the two hunting rifles, Sula the provisions and a drinking bottle for each. We passed the village and waved. It was then that they realized that we were going to shoot again. Daja and Kira shouted something to us that we could not understand at a distance. We just waved them back.

We quickly climbed past the waterfall and balanced over the course of the river to get into the wonderfully green, fertile valley. After only a few meters, Sula was itching with hunting instinct. She wanted to shoot a turkey again but I had other plans today. We went higher and higher, leaving the groups of alpacas and turkeys to continue searching for food in peace. Then I explained what I was going to do, a drive hunt just as a test for a real hunt. I didn’t know the English word, but Sula told us both that in the savannah it was called “flushing out wild animals”, the scavenging of wild animals. We quickly managed to drive a whole herd of almost forty alpacas towards the waterfall. Some of the animals escaped over the steep descent, but most of them had drifted together between the mountains and the waterfall. Between the beautiful animals, at least a hundred turkeys or turkey hens were scratching and cooing anxiously. This was food for a small town, what we saw there in front of us. We stepped aside and left the animals behind. Sula and Babette were allowed to catch two alpaca cubs. A mother made hurtful noises and spat at Babette several times. Nevertheless we were in possession of two beautiful animals. I had knotted the ropes we brought with us in such a way that they could not tighten around the neck of the frightened animals. Carefully we helped each other down the steep descent. The animals did not mind, but we had to take care of ourselves and make sure that the ropes did not slip out of our hands.

We proudly presented our catch in the village. It was a young stallion and a mare; both not yet sexually mature, as Isabella assured me. The village wanted to have the stallion for one of their two herds. It was about blood replenishment and against increasing inbreeding, as far as Isabella could explain to me. Even Carmen did not know the right terms, but the problem was clear. We got a strong stallion and a mare in exchange, so that the stallion could be busy, as Carmen said with a laugh. So, we now led three animals to our headquarters. I had already chosen a place in my mind, where wild scrub, but also freshly sown lawns grew. We certainly had to fence the place so that the alpacas would not suddenly stand on the terrace.

As we marked the corner points of the fence or gate, Sula’s young cougars suddenly came running. The stallion shied away and jumped towards the cougars. We didn’t let it come to a fight. The puma kids would not have had any chance either. Sula was instructed to lock up the cougars in one of the construction workers’ huts at the other end of the circle. She had quickly realized that alpacas and cougars did not get along with each other in the long run, but it made her a little sad. At the same time, however, she had fallen in love with the baby mare. She had, as they say so simply, two hearts in her chest, however reason had triumphed. The two girlfriends carried the cougars to the former building materials warehouse. With increasing age, the cougars would become a problem anyway. Their size and strength had already increased a lot. At the moment I couldn’t think of a solution.

On Sunday I had scheduled a big drive hunt, after the three of us had been so successful the day before. With the three of us, the already ‘experienced hunters’, we took the four other girls working in the village with us. Mayari, Kira, Daja, and Isabella had already caught animals themselves, sheared alpacas, and slaughtered turkeys. So, they were much more experienced than us. With our group came Olivia and Carmen, and from the village the two younger women, Florence and Leonie as well as Luisa’s mother Djamila and Miguel. The goal was to catch at least four more alpacas for us, as well as five turkey hens and two tom turkeys. The village wanted three alpaca mares and a younger stallion. It was not yet clear to me how we would transport the animals in the end, but we first had to see if our planning would work out.

In the village we had already been told that they had been able to capture three mares from the animals that had escaped us down the steep slope. A stallion would have been extremely wild. The women would not have had a chance at first, but there was hope that the ‘bad boy’ would eventually seek the company of the mares.

Miguel and Djamila were slower on the way, as they were no longer so good on foot. The two women and Daja positioned themselves so that no animal could escape down the slope. In addition, the two descendants should join. In the meantime, we walked towards the upper end of the valley. Today, however, the animals were more restless and watched us suspiciously as we surrounded them. Some alpacas fled further north up the slope. But there were still more than enough in our embrace.

We spread out across the width of the valley, as far as that was possible. I fired a shot, the girls hit the trees with sticks collected along the way, and the animals ran to the steep slope next to the waterfall. Soon we had surrounded a lot of animals that no longer dared to escape through our driver chain. Daja and Kira were the first to catch five turkey hens and a tom turkey. The others turkeys hid behind the alpacas. Miguel and Florence helped the girls. The animals were tied up professionally as if they were brought alive to the market. Then Florence and Leonie got a magnificent stallion threw him to the ground and Miguel tied up the hind legs. Professionally, they put a neck cuff with a guide rope around the animal and brought it down the slope with great effort. They tied the animal to a tree, still tightly fixed the hind legs. Isabella and Mayari wanted to imitate the women, but the animal they chose was too strong. A hoof struck Isabella painfully on the upper arm. Finally, with Kira’s help, they caught a one-year-old stallion, and with enormous effort, three very young mares. The villagers had already reached their objective of the day. In addition to the stallion and the three mares for breeding, they caught two more mares, which they had intended as Christmas roast. The locals were amazed at how much the free-roaming alpacas had multiplied.

With the help of the villagers, we brought our future pets down. Mayari had also carried the hens and the turkey down in three stages alone. Now we let the unneeded alpacas back into their grazing grounds. The girls quickly caught three more turkeys. The roosters fought back so much that I would not have dared to approach. But our experienced girls threw light blankets of alpaca hair over the wing-flapping animals and tied their feet together. We caught more than we had planned. But Sula said dryly, for the two animals for our Christmas roast, Luisa can kiss the four other girls today. The kiss seemed to have been too wet for her again yesterday. We planned to let the turkeys live until Christmas. There was enough food and I didn’t want to freeze it in any case.