Chapter 4

As Clara walked with Crow's mother, she noticed the beauty of the place, consisting of large green grass, tall trees surrounding it, and houses made of circular conical structures pointed to an open smoke hole at the top. Wooden poles and animal skins were used for construction.

When they entered one of these houses, Crow's mother sat down and told Clara to sit down. Then she asked Clara: "Of course, I believe that you came here just to talk to us as you said, but I need to know what you'll get out of it."

Clara replied, "Oh honestly, I think there are dangerous toxins in this land from the radon radiation. So the plants you eat also contain some of those toxins."

Amid her grandmother's surprise, Clara

continued, "These poisons make people die 

slowly by causing many different diseases."

Grandma covered her face with her hands in despair and surprise, then sadly commented, "But what are we going to do? We can't go anywhere else."

Clara wondered: "Didn't you select this place, so you can go to any place you want?!"

Grandma sarcastically replied: "No daughter, they forced us to choose between two areas, the first choice is the area we currently live in and the second area is the Nimba mountains."

She then went on to say: "Of course, we did not choose the second option, because they had no intention to make us live in areas adjacent to the mountains, but instead, they wanted us to live on the mountains. So we can't survive there even for a day."

Clara commented: "I understand you, the nature of the terrain there is very harsh, and that means they give you a choice between dying directly or a little slower."

Grandma sighed and tearfully said, "That fateful day changed everything."

Clara asked in surprise: "What day do you mean?"

Grandmother answered, trying to suppress her sadness: "On that day, one year ago, the land where we lived burned, and in that fire, several people died, including Irina, and her father then believed that the Americans were the only reason.

The next day Irina's father killed a soldier named Jack. After that, he was arrested. Then, they offered us to choose a place to live, and we chose this place. Our bodies began to weaken, 

and death began to spread among us so that we had dead and some almost dead."

She still said sadly: "Look ahead, you will see that girl there, whose name is Naili, the

daughter of Crow. Last year she lost his friend Irina and this year her mother.

Then she became like that, sitting and watching from afar without participating in anything or talking to anyone. So I see her as someone whose heart and emotions have been taken by death, but not her soul."

Clara tearfully commented, "I promise I will tell everyone what's happening to you."

Grandma hugged her and said, "You have a pure heart. You know, your bravery reminds me of my dead daughter."

At that moment, a little boy came and said to the grandmother: "Grandma, my father Ayutake is very sick. Could you see what happened to him?"

The grandmother answered: "Yes, my son, I will go with you now." Then she continued: "Clara, come with me."

When they arrived, they found Ayutake lying on the ground, his leg injured and showing signs of exhaustion. When they approached him, his grandmother asked, "What's the matter, son?"

Ayutake started coughing violently and then said: "My chest hurts and every time I breathe I cough violently. It feels like my head is about to explode because of the headache and I can't stop scratching my ears."

After that, Clara put her hand on his forehead and said, "His temperature is very high." She continued, asking, "Is this Coronavirus?"

Grandma replied, "We had the vaccine, so it's almost not it." Then she continued, "I'll make you some soup that might make you feel better."

The boy gathered wood for the grandmother and they set it on fire. While Grandma was cooking, Clara asked, "Have you ever thought about starting demonstrations against the American army here?"

Grandmother replied: "I want to but most people are scared, afraid of the consequences of this action, especially when we do not have the authority or equipment to protect ourselves, and Crow also has a similar opinion."

Clara asked, "But some people fight Crow because of this thing, or do they all have the same opinion?"

The grandmother replied: "Crow forbids talking about these people, but I can tell you that the person who is most opposed to this idea is the army commander, Mahiba.

Even most of the tribe clearly remember the quarrel that took place between them, in which Mahiba attacked Crow and accused him of cowardice and stubbornness."

Clara commented: "But where is Mahiba now?"

Grandmother replied: "He died the day after the battle. They say he got a heat stroke and died, but I doubt it."

Clara commented, "What is Crow's position on this matter?"

The grandmother replied: "He showed feigned sorrow at his death. Besides, he preached a sermon in which he promised us that Mahiba's desire for demonstrations would be fulfilled. but I think his views are wrong, and he doesn't want to do anything."

Amidst the surprise that appeared on Clara's face, the grandmother finished preparing the soup.

She put it in a clay pot, gave it to the boy, and said: "Take this soup and try to make your father eat it."

Then the boy took that bowl of soup and thanked the grandmother.

After that, she said: "Ayutake and his son are from the Grebo tribe, but they came to us when the American army burned their land, just as they burned ours. Most of the Grebo tribe died in that fire, but luckily for us, Naili woke up late in the night and tried to wake us up as soon as she saw the fire."

Clara commented:

"She looks just as lovely as her grandmother."

At that moment Clara's assistant arrived and said to her: "Come on, the plane will be here soon."

So Clara said goodbye to the grandmother, and she got into the car to drive to the airport.