Hundred Shades of Green

By Walter Hes

A medical doctor, hiding from his past in the Amazon Rainforest where he becomes a valued member of an Indigenous village.
The son of his estranged son living a carefree life in Rio de Janeiro, studying law when he isn't partying.
The daughter of an Indigenous Village Chief bringing great change to their lives.
Jason and Bellann become a force for change, fighting corruption and greed in their quest for justice for the Indigenous tribes of Brazil and the survival of the human race.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398481244

Walter Hes

Born in Netherlands, Walter had to start working in the construction industry at 14 while attending part-time technical education and night school before serving in the Royal Navy for two and half years, mainly in Dutch New Guinea. Walter travelled the world to work on big construction projects; this brought him and his family for five years to Brazil. The unforgivable destruction caused by greed, of the Amazon Rain Forest inspired him to write this novel about the ongoing disaster. Now, settled in Australia, he has found time in his retirement to write down the stories, that have been swirling through his mind. Hundred Shades of Green is his fourth book.

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About the Author

Born in Netherlands, Walter had to start working in the construction industry at 14 while attending part-time technical education and night school before serving in the Royal Navy for two and half years, mainly in Dutch New Guinea. Walter travelled the world to work on big construction projects; this brought him and his family for five years to Brazil. The unforgivable destruction caused by greed, of the Amazon Rain Forest inspired him to write this novel about the ongoing disaster.

Now, settled in Australia, he has found time in his retirement to write down the stories, that have been swirling through his mind. Hundred Shades of Green is his fourth book.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to the people of the Amazon Forest whose habitat is being destroyed mainly for greed. I will therefore share my possible royalties with some of the organisations that work to protect their rights.

Copyright Information ©

Walter Hes 2023

The right of Walter Hes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398481237 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398481244 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

First, I wish to thank my wife and editor, Elly, for the many hours she spent correcting my grammar and spelling mistakes, without changing the storyline, and my wonderful daughter Dominique, who gave many excellent tips for making the story more engaging. Thanks to Natacha, my second daughter, and her son Alexander for sharing their house, putting up with me and giving me the space and peace to write.

My heartfelt thanks also goes to my dear friend and fellow writer, Keith Paulusse, who always encouraged me to continue and who has the gift of pepping me up when I feel down.

Chapter One

Dr Kurt von Laken was once a junior assistant of Dr Joseph Mengele and fully indoctrinated with the Nazi philosophy. Although he felt uneasy about his boss’ disregard for human suffering, he ignored these feelings at the time. He admired Dr Mengele’s skills and was thrilled to be working for him. After the war, the full consequences of his involvement dawned on him. He escaped to Brazil with the help of a widespread Nazi network. After many years of moving around the country, his worldview had changed. He ended up living with an Indian tribe in the Amazon Forest where he befriended the local shaman. It was only because both healers were curious and open for new ways of thinking, that the friendship, over time, became strong and meaningful.

One day the shaman told him about the training he needed to go through to become a shaman. The most challenging part, as well as the most valuable, was spending many months alone in the jungle. He had to eat a bland diet and fast for extended periods, while daily using a brew made from the ayahuasca vine, named ‘the vine of souls’. It gave him insights into the healing properties of many plants, not just of the ayahuasca. After nearly a year of this, he was able to find those plants on instinct when he needed them. A bit like animals know which plants they need to eat for healing or feeling better. Maybe that is an inner knowledge people have lost over centuries of living away from nature. Kurt was utterly fascinated.

The shaman offered to initiate him to a related experience that was available to tribe members that desired it. He would use the same plant but mix it with a brew made from the chakruna vine and offer it to Kurt to drink, during a Ayahuasca ceremony. Kurt was keen for the experience.

The shaman needed a few days to prepare for the ceremony. Different leaves were picked at sunrise, then cleaned and pounded separately until they became fibre. With water added to the fibres, they were boiled in separate pots until the water was reduced to half. The brews would then be combined and boiled again till significantly reduced. This whole process took days and was undertaken by the shaman, assisted by some helpers in total concentration and a meditative state. Kurt followed the shaman’s advice to spend time meditating and abstaining from spicy food and red meat.

When the brew was ready, Kurt was called to come in just before dark. He was not the only one, some tribe members joined the gathering. They sought the spiritual experience for different reasons. Some to find a solution to a problem, others to improve a certain skill.

The participants rested on mats, that had been allocated to them, and watched the shaman drink the first cup of the prepared nectar. Then each in turn stood before the shaman to do the same, before returning to their mat. By that time, it was dark, except for one candle burning near the shaman’s mat. Kurt felt the brew starting to work after about half an hour and became violently sick, vomiting into a bowl. After that and until the morning light, he felt awesome. He went through different kinds of spiritual experiences and saw colourful scenes he delighted in. It made him feel that he understood the purpose of life and his place in it. The whole experience left him with a feeling of peace he would come back for several times during his life.

Kurt became known throughout the Amazon Forest as Dr Kito, a well-respected medicine man, alongside his friend the shaman. Kurt learnt much about the native knowledge of the healing qualities of herbs, that were found in abundance throughout the jungle. Merging his western medical education with the new herbal knowledge, he grew into an expert in healing people. Not only from the nasty illnesses that outsiders had brought to the region but also from tropical illnesses, he had never encountered before.

However, he stayed well away from the spiritual guidance people sought from the use of native plants and herbs. That was the shaman’s territory. On many occasions, they discussed ailments and patients with each other, deciding which one would treat the one or the other.

As an outsider, he showed great respect for the tribe’s chief. When the chief introduced him to a young woman that would like to assist him, he gratefully accepted. The father of her twin daughters had been killed while defending their territory against invaders. She was still grieving, the chief said, it would be good for her to find a new direction in life. Jara was an attractive young woman with long braided pitch-black hair, big brown eyes, and a generous mouth.

She looked after Kurt’s daily needs, so he could spend all his time building up his practice. Over time, Jara became interested in Kurt’s work, in the shiny instruments, and in the few books with medical pictures, he had been able to bring. It didn’t take long for him to start training her to become his assistant. He delighted in her intelligence and eagerness to learn. Jara’s sadness was lifting slowly. He caught her smiling a lot more and making fun with the kids.

Kurt hadn’t been with a woman for a long time and her nearness made his desire challenging to control. Very keen to preserve a good reputation, he sat Jara down and proposed to her. To his surprise and delight, she accepted eagerly. The tribe had no special ceremony for a wedding. It was just accepted that two people living together were married, especially when the woman had been married before. Still, Kurt went to the chief anyway and asked and received his permission to marry Jara. His work and attitude had earned him the chief’s trust and they had become good friends. Even though the tribe had accepted his presence in the village, marrying one of them, made him family to all of them.

Jara, Kurt, and the girls lived for many years in loving harmony in the house, that the men of the village had helped him build. A surgery had been added with an expansive front veranda. It was close to the village centre but very different from the usual village huts. The veranda became a popular place for villagers and patients to socialise.

Chapter Two

Three sets of twins had been born in the village since Dr Kito lived there. He had documented their development closely, as he had been interested in studying twins ever since he worked for Joseph Mengele.

Jara had been very helpful in providing him with details of her set of twins growing up. They were already ten years old when Jara moved into the doctor’s house. In only a couple of years, Jara would be on the lookout for suitable husbands. Traditionally, that was the mother’s duty, shortly after their daughters started menstruating.

Kurt thought it would be fascinating if Jara could have another set of twins with him. By the time she did fall pregnant, Kurt was approaching middle age. He was excited to become a father. When she gave birth, not to twins, but to a healthy son, he was so happy to have an offspring that he didn’t care.

He named the baby Joseph, in honour of his teacher. Kurt still felt some warped sense of loyalty towards Mengele. He had been brainwashed to such an extent that some of it had become a permanent fixture. However, he knew that, if this was Nazi-Germany, the whole tribe, including his son, would be moved to a concentration camp. Baby Joseph looked like a native, apart from his bright blue eyes.

When Joseph was about six, life changed dramatically for him. Kurt wanted him to have a good education and to grow up in a Brazilian community with no connections to his father’s past. Through his contacts in Rio de Janeiro, he found a large family that was happy to look after one more boy. It was a heart-breaking decision for Jara, but she agreed with Kurt that he shouldn’t grow up like the other boys of the tribe.

In their tradition,