Chapter 15

The next few days went by like nothing. The girls used their gifts and tablets; it was like real holydays for them. I invited Ramona and Luisa for a joyride with our car. We drove up the slope of the mine road. The car made it playfully. Here and there it was quite bumpy, as small tree remains protruded from the ground. Above the valley we stopped and enjoyed the view. Once again, I realized that you could not see either the guesthouse or the headquarters. They were hidden in the shadow of the mountains. In the distance I heard sounds that could not be defined. I only had the pistol with me, not thought about the hunting and automatic rifles. It had all been so peaceful in the past time. We drove carefully almost three kilometres further. Babette and Sula had been busy; there were already more than four kilometres of the overgrown road passable. When we turned the corner after the hollow path, I thought I couldn’t believe my eyes. The four ladies, who had a BMX bike, managed the next few meters of our road. We jumped out of the car. I squeezed the sweating young women. They were proud when we praised them. They just had a hard time. Here it was especially densely overgrown, and the thickest trees were up to twelve centimetres in diameter. Babette handled the chainsaw professionally like a forestry worker. On the other saw, the battery was already empty. I tried it once with the chainsaw. Oh, it took a tremendous effort to keep them in the direction. And Babette had the ambition to set the felling score very low. For this, two girls shovelled the trunk a little free. Crashing, the next tree broke into the ravine, as Babette was again master of the chainsaw. Sula chopped something on the stump, then shovelled the previously dug hole again and kicked the stones and the earth with her feet. Was it really worth it, especially since Sula showed me that after a short time small shoots came out of the root and stump again? But one day we will need contact to buy salt, sugar, clothes, medicines and much that we did not suspect yet. But according to the maps on my desk, there were a total of forty to fifty kilometres of completely overgrown road. This was a life task for all of us, although my assistants with some helpers had perhaps already cleared almost a tenth.

I was determined to do a major operation once a month. Girls should go far ahead with me and pull out or knock off so many smaller plants. Once you are really in the wood, the work was twice as hard. I explained my thoughts to Sula and Mayari and we tried it with machete, axe and hacksaw. We advanced perhaps 50 meters, eliminated several hundred shoots and plants and had to acknowledge the strength of nature. Mother Earth gradually took back everything that the miners and road builders had taken from nature here many years ago. We were sweaty and exhausted. Babette, on the other hand, was still working. Without haste at a steady pace, she had felled five relatively large trees in the time and Isabella had just shovelled and stomped the road. Again, about ten meters further, the girls had come since we were here. Gradually, I began to believe that in a year or two we would be able to pass the road, if Babette and Sula continued to take this so seriously.

“Take a break!” I shouted. Babette had to show me her hands. They were swollen and full of calluses. Her right leg was shaking. The chainsaw demanded a lot from her. The other three also had blisters on their hands, some smeared with resin. This had to be over now. I thanked the four fighters and asked them to finish their hard work for today. We packed all the equipment and tools in the trunk of our car. The girls each got lemonade, of which I had packed a pallet at the guesthouse for us day-trippers. “Drive carefully down the mountain, especially you, Sula. Whoever arrives without a fall has won, not whoever is first down. Promise?” Everyone nodded and drove after our car later. Shortly after us they were back in the main house. I offered them to use my bathtub and my shower. Esther and Priya agreed to massage the girl’s back and legs. Priya also took care of the glued and bruised hands.

Meanwhile, I was preparing the fire safety and alarm exercise for the next day. We had two electric sirens and two with hand crank. I planned the hand sirens for the village and the guesthouse. One electric alarm system was to be installed on the roof of our palazzo, the other on a protruding rock at the container warehouse. This was probably the most suitable place for our valley. Maybe you could hear the harsh sounds even in the upper valley, I wanted to test that soon.

The eight radios certainly had a problem, they had to be serviced and charged regularly. If this were missed, they would be useless. For each device, I determined the location and the person responsible. Ramona and I should carry one with us all the time. One each came to the container warehouse and one to the village. Two radios were handed over to Priya for people who worked on the road or had something to do at the fishponds or in the upper valley. Esther took over the maintenance of the two devices that were not needed at the moment. Maybe we will permanently station another one in the car if someone was still allowed to drive, but at the moment it was only Ramona and I who had a Walky-Talky anyway. We had to test the maximum range of ten kilometres tomorrow.

My bathroom was busy. Priya was sitting by the bathtub, taking care of the hands of Mayari and Isabella. Esther was just massaging Babette on the massage table, while Sula was sitting naked on a chair, freeing her hands from the resin. Recently, she had also developed a little more shame. She quickly closed her thighs and held her hands so that her breasts were slightly hidden. Probably, she had noticed that almost all the girls had developed physically faster, and therefore she got light complexes. But when a child’s body almost exploded in adolescence, you cannot influence yourself. At least that’s how I saw it until this day.

When I talked about this with Ramona in the evening, she shared my observation. The self-confidence of the little Kenyan girl had even suffered, our doctor said. She has a hunch but would like to wait until the big health check at the end of the year. Curious, I asked her to tell me her assumptions or her theory on the question.

“It’s premature to talk about it. We have to be very careful. The topic is very sensitive for the young women in their development.” I nodded in agreement. “Well, then the following thoughts and ideas are unsorted in advance. Have you noticed that Sula almost never drinks her tea?” That was true. I had put this down to her urge to move. She was always restless and had new ideas. “Do you know that Daja is the only one who doesn’t drink tea at all? She always asked Cara for water or milk in the kitchen.” That was new to me.

“And do you know who drinks the most tea, often more than a large cup?” My hesitant nod was followed by her analyse of her observation. “These are Babette, Fahsai, and Cara. These are the girls who are developing the fastest at the moment. Either they drink so much because they develop so much or, and this is my guess, the Coca-tea affects the physical and also the mental development.” I had to think about that first. It was true. Daja and Sula had the worst learning performance, although they were relatively good at school. Ramona showed me a table in her room. “Esther took the height and weight of the girls in advance. Within three months, Daja and Sula gained only two and four centimetres, respectively, all the others gained at least six centimetres. Babette stands at ten centimetres and four other good tea drinkers at eight centimetres are very different.” We looked at each other thoughtfully. Ramona went even further. “When I examined Leonie and Florence, I was totally amazed at what fantastic blood test results they have. The villagers are remarkably healthy, perhaps because of their daily consumption of Coca? And you too, Michael, please don’t be angry with me, but there are few men who can satisfy their women as often and as well as you. Has that been the case before?” There was no answer, because mostly I had only commercial love and that with time intervals. For me it was always just about my one-time orgasm, not about the number or the sexual satisfaction of the women. My evasive answer didn’t really help Ramona.

But Ramona thought she had discovered something completely new. Certain effects of the Coca leaves and the Coca tea were in their books, but only two things were proven:

1. The better altitude tolerance of the mountain dwellers when enjoying the leaves and

2. No signs of dependence with regular consumption.

“If my theses are correct, and I already have many new theoretical approaches, this could give medicine completely new possibilities. The most interesting is the influence on social behaviour. May I be frank, maybe even bad to you?” I nodded cautiously. It was all new to me and also a little unbelievable.

“You, but also me, we were egoists, obsessed with our tasks, often real smelly boots. At first, I noticed how much calmer and more balanced I became. If you look back self-critically, your development will also be amazing to you. You have completely changed; you are the dearest and most caring being that I know. But the most remarkable things are our girls. Most of them are at the peak of puberty, where feelings explode, where mutual insulting and fighting are an immanent component. On the contrary, our girls, how harmonious they are, how they avoid almost any quarrel. The only two who are sometimes bitching are those who are not yet properly in puberty, who drink little or no Coca tea.”

Ramona was right, but I wanted to think it over more thoroughly first. Our physician had been following the thoughts for days or weeks; it was completely new to me.

Then she blurted out something else. “What do you think about giving Sula more self-confidence again and integrating her more strongly in the team again?” Of course, I was for it. “You persuade her to drink her tea daily, and I give her, under medical supervision, a small dose of Coca leaves to chew. Not as much as Mayari and Kira had taken, but so much that a little more active ingredients are added to it. Within a month we will see if this works. For comparison, we have Daja, which we leave for the time being with her aversion to tea.”

“This is going too fast for me now, my dear. I’m still working on the tea with Sula today. From now on, I hope she drinks her tea. I have to clarify the matter with the enjoyment of Coca leaves first. I’m talking to Luisa and Olivia. The herbal expert seems to be the mother of Luisa, Djamila. If it is largely clear that we are not harming Sula with this, I would agree.”

“If Sula starts drinking her tea tomorrow and maybe doing something good for her body, I prefer her examination to today. Then I keep a log with weekly control. By the way, my planned group examination, six girls are scheduled for tomorrow, the other six for the last day of the year. I will also do Esther together with the pregnant women tomorrow. If Esther has done it three times together with me, I will show it to her again in detail with her herself. Then she can examine me and take my blood. Do you agree?”

I squeezed my Ramona and gave her more than just an approving kiss. In love, we were in each other’s arms, although she had just called me ‘smelly boots’. I’m sure she was right about that.

Sula came to us a short time later at my request. An interesting dialogue ensued.

“Sula. Are you all right, freshly bathed and massaged. Laughing, she said. “Actually, I wanted to be massaged by you. This has something more, more kick.”

“That’s why we’re both talking to you now. How’re you doing?” – “Good, better very good.”

“Are you sad that the other girls are growing faster than you?” – “Yes, very. The others are getting bigger and bigger and get real breasts.”

“Can you keep a secret?” – “You know that. Even Ms. Liebknecht, I did not reveal the gate code, although she had scolded and threatened me for it.”

“I know, Sula, that I can rely on you. I just wanted to tell you, we have a secret that no one else should know, so that there is no harm.” – “O.K.”

“A question, who has grown the fastest of all.” – “Babette, you know that.”

“And who least of all?” – “Daja, and then me.”

“Who doesn’t usually drink their tea after eating?” – “Me. I don’t like it.”

“Who drinks the most tea, sometimes even finishing your cup?” - Pondering, she meant “Babette.”

“Who doesn’t drink tea at all?” – “Don’t know exactly, I think Daja.” Now Sula shrugged in amazement. “Do you think it’s because of the tea that the others grow faster than me and Daja?”

“We suspect that. Please don’t tell Daja or Babette about it. We wanted to ask you to always drink your tea conscientiously from tomorrow. If our guess is correct, you will soon catch up with the others in size and development.” Sula nodded joyfully. “If I had known this sooner, I would have always finished my tea.”

“Sula, we don’t know yet. Do not rejoice too early. You will soon grow faster even without the tea. Nature has arranged this in such a way, but because you often didn’t drink your tea and Daja didn’t want the tea, you first gave us the idea. From tomorrow you will take a test with us, a real scientific examination.” – “Oh, yes, with pleasure.” That sounded exciting.

Ramona told her. “So, that we can establish all this correctly, I will now examine you thoroughly, also take blood. Is that O.K.?” Sula nodded eagerly and went straight to the doctor’s room.

If Ramona’s theory turned out to be correct, it would be a scientific sensation. But maybe no one would ever know about it. We remained prisoners in our beautiful valley, maybe for a lifetime?

The thoughts of our doctor about my psyche and that of everyone else also made me thoughtful. She had aptly described my development, but also hers. And it was really a huge advantage that our children were so kind and balanced. On the first hand, I had observed that Sula was flirting with me only out of curiosity and, of course, also to increase her prestige with me. On the other hand, the other girls besides Daja showed more and more signals that they somehow wanted me sexually, but also among them the topic had become increasingly important. Was it on the tea too? Maybe the tea also controlled the hormones there? Of course, when it concerns growth, it also concerns the natural instinct for procreation. Now I realized a lot. We had to be careful to keep this under control. This particularly affected me. I had an even greater responsibility to the girls. I was aware of how nature skilfully controlled that humanity, but also the animal world, was multiplying more and more. The females usually blocked any sexual approach in the animals until they forgot all caution during fertility. Perhaps this was only a little different for people, but in principle as usual in nature.

“I am in perfect health. We can start the experiment. I’m really excited.” Sula was almost bubbling over with excitement. “Sula, you are such a dear girl. I was watching you in my bathroom. You are as pretty as you are, and you are my darling. But if it happens with you, as with Babette, that you grow too fast and get a slightly larger nose, it’s not bad. It has been in your genes for a long time how you will look one day. The only question is whether you will achieve this at the age of 12, 13 or 14. You will always remain my darling, I like you very much, but, you know, more so than dad, as a father who likes to hold his favourite daughter in his arms.” Immediately she cuddled up to me. That did us both very well.

Suddenly I winced. Ramona had slapped me lightly on the shoulder with her hand. Her German cry “Abpfiff!” it means ‘Stop everything.’ it sounded funny, but the woman in the woman had jealousy in her mind again, I felt. Demonstratively, I kissed Sula briefly on her beautiful full lips, pulled her up again and whispered to her: “Please, we don’t know anything exactly yet. It remains our secret.” Eagerly my assistant nodded and for the last minutes of the day went to her comrades, who were practicing dance steps in the big hall.

Cara asked me shortly afterwards why Sula wanted to have an extra cup of tea today. “Maybe she was very thirsty.” I said with a smile. “Do you chew Coca leaves sometimes, Cara?” She hesitated, finally nodded. “Luisa thought Coca would be good for all women in the Andes.” I lovingly stroked Cara’s hair. “It’s all right, my Cara, as long as you’re so kind to all of us.” Her lips found mine without me having to stoop. Our kitchen lady had grown considerably, I noticed at once. When you see each other every day, you don’t notice it at all, but with certain actions you suddenly notice the surprising development.

After the beginning of the night’s sleep on the upper floor, we asked Luisa about the Coca leaves. She said quite calmly that from the very childhood she got some leaves from her mother almost every day and would have tolerated them well to this day. At that time, they still lived at an altitude of about 4,500 metres. Those who did not chew Coca leaves had constant shortness of breath and often headache and dizziness. Djamila, the mother of Luisa, had relatives here in the valley and got the leaves from here. About twenty years ago, when the mining company only tolerated the families in the valley who worked in the mine, Luisa had a hard time. There were constant quarrels in their native village. According to her mother, her miscarriage was also due to the lack of Coca as well as the increasing malevolence of her husband. Eventually, her father decided to work in the mine as well. So, Luisa moved with her parents here to the village. Unfortunately, this did not go well for long. After less than five years, her father was killed in the great mining accident.

“What effect does Coca have on love?” I asked purposefully. She blushed, probably because the doctor was sitting there. “Don’t you know that I have always provided you with good tea, even on our first day at the Casa. This will make the men ... more vigorous.” She didn’t always find the right words, but it was clear what she meant. “And the women?” I asked.

“In the old days, the little girls were fed with a lot of leaf juices before the wedding, when they were about to get married. Even her aunts helped with the chewing. For many days the brides lay in a deep dream. So, it was possible that they got married at ten or twelve years old and soon gave birth to the first child.” Ramona looked at me in surprise. “Well, yes. Our thoughts were right.”

I was still interested in what it was like with the learning ability. Luisa reported that they told each other that a lot of Coca leaves had to be harvested before big ceremonies of the Inca priests. For sun worship or other prayers or celebrations, the priests would have had to learn long monologues of their forefathers, which they acquired more quickly under the influence of Coca.

“Thank you, Luisa. That was important for us. The Incas are a smart people.” I praised her. “What about the Maca root, the Peruvian ginseng?” Again, Luisa blushed. “You know...?”

“You gave me the root when I was hurt.” Luisa was beating around the bush. She said: “Inca women put this in the uncooked food of their husbands. This is much stronger than Coca. So, every woman gets her will fulfilled to have a child.”

“And what about the seed of the Peruvian laurel tree?” I asked further. – “This is a remedy for various things. But a woman who no longer wants to have children or does not want to be pregnant again right after giving birth, secretly gives this to her husband. If she gives him too much, it may happen that she will never have children again.”

“Who in the village knows all this best, your mother?” – “My mother knows a lot, but you have to ask old Nuria. She knows all the secrets. She is directly descended from a family of priests.”

It would be really interesting to note all these things. Ramona would get a lot of natural healing powers in her hands if her medicine were used up or spoiled after years. Later, she might be able to write a book about it or do an additional doctoral thesis. A prerequisite, of course, would be contact with the so-called civilization.

“Shall I tell you a secret? I would never have learned English, but I put a little powder of Maca in my pita bread every day. Then it was much easier. Olivia does that too. But now we both only take little because of our babies.”

It turned out that the village had its own Maca fields. They would always sow in October and harvest in July or August. After two years, the fields would have to rest for six years due to mould problems or diseases. Luisa also said that Leonie and Florence grew the fruit high on the mountains, but this year the severe weather almost destroyed the field.

“My potency will suffer without Maca.” I said dryly. Luisa laughed: “You won’t get Maca any more anyway. Otherwise, you’ll fall over the kids.” That said everything we wanted to know first. I had a beer, a whisky, and a cigarette. Luisa drank wine from the valley with Ramona, diluted, of course. The wine would also have a healing effect, because it would have received the good earth from the gods. Volcanic eruptions are the power of the gods for the Indios. But who knows?

Ramona was really interested in how quickly the tea started at Sula’s physical development. Luisa said that it would not be a problem if Sula picked up three leaves from her every day. “The girls should not chew more than five leaves, at least not the little ones.” Luisa advised us. “How much are you chewing, Luisa?” I asked curiously, because I had not noticed anything yet. “With each preparation of a meal, one sheet, sometimes two in the afternoon.” – “Tomorrow evening, I will also try three leaves, if you give me some.” was my suggestion. Luisa laughed. “Then you snore, too, when you’ve slept with me.” Ramona didn’t want to try Coca, but that might have been better for our baby too. In addition, we would have a comparison between a baby with Coca leaf enjoyment by the expectant mother and one without Coca intake by the mother, especially since the babies were descended from the same father.