The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

Several days later, Gus returns. He’s gotten the medicine for malaria, which quickly heals K. He and other men travel out of the village for food and other supplies. Gus thinks it’s best to get food from outside the village, musing that the seafood from Lake Piso may have been making them all sick.

One day, Ol’ Pa enters Ol’ Ma’s village house, where the girls are receiving a sewing lesson. They are making a dress for Mam. Ol’ Pa announces that he’s going to Burma for supplies because of the wider variety of things there. He says that he’ll go alone because it’s safer. Those walking in groups are thought to be rebels. Ol’ Ma nods, and they kiss goodbye. Ol’ Pa asks what she wants him to bring back. She requests peanuts. He leaves and walks toward Lake Piso. Before he leaves, he turns around once more and waves at Ol’ Ma.

The girls examine the dress and decide that Mam will like it. K asks where Mam is. Ol’ Ma says that she’s still in America but that when she returns, they’ll all return to Caldwell. Ol’ Ma continues to sew, looking occasionally “at her prayer mat, mindful of the time” (88).

The following night, a fisherman asks Ol’ Ma when Ol’ Pa will return, for he took the man’s boat. She assures him that Ol’ Pa will return soon, though he should have come back that morning. Gus says that if he isn’t back by the following night, they’ll send some boys to search for him.

As promised, the next morning, a search party—Gus, a cousin, and two villagers—leave Lai in a canoe headed for Junde. The entire village is aware that Ol’ Pa is missing. The next morning, a woman cries out for Ol’ Ma, who rushes out of her house toward the lake. A canoe approaches. Numerous villagers stand behind Ol’ Ma, covering her back and shoulders with their hands. Gus announces that they couldn’t find him but insists that Ol’ Pa will return. Throughout the day, Ol’ Ma stands up from her porch and looks out toward the lake.

At dawn the next day, everyone in the village is awake. The men wonder if they should send out another search party. The women bring Ol’ Ma soup and encourage her to eat. For the last week, she has seemed as delirious as K was during her bout of malaria. Alas, a search party returns and announces that Ol’ Pa is dead. Ol’ Ma faints on her porch. Gus picks her up and carries her into the house. Wayetu watches her grandmother cry out in pain and thinks of how much she wants to see Mam. 

The narrative adds context through an overview of major political events and the associated violence. Prince Johnson tries to depose Samuel Doe. On September 9, 1990, Prince Johnson and his rebels surround Doe, torture him, kill him, and then drag his body through the streets of Monrovia while he bleeds from his amputations. The fighting continues into December 1990, as Prince Johnson and Charles Taylor, who previously were allies, fight each other for power.

One day, Wayetu hears women yelling. She and her sister’s run to Gus’s village house. A villager runs into her own house, saying that the rebels have found them. A stranger approaches and says that she is looking for Augustus Moore. Gus tells Wi to go into the house and close the door, but Wi, like Wayetu, is frozen in place. Again, the young woman asks for Augustus Moore. He announces himself. While spitting on the ground, the young woman says that she has come for him and his daughters. Defensive, Gus asks who has sent her. The woman, a rebel, answers that his wife, Mam, has sent for them.