The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

Again, the Moores, Ol’ Ma, and Brother James walk. Wayetu wonders where they’re going. They tell her “nowhere,” which makes no sense. She’s forgetting what Mam’s voice sounds like. She doesn’t know which soldiers are good and which are rebels. Ol’ Ma prompts her to just keep walking. Paster Brown points to a tank approaching in the distance. Gus moves fast and pulls Wayetu’s hand. 

They must walk for three more days to reach Junde, where they can get a canoe to Lai. Gus carries K, while Brother James carries Wayetu. The road is nearly empty. There are only a few other refugees. Gus stops and goes to a man he recognizes who’s in a confrontation with a rebel. The rebel, he notices, looks high. He appears to be around 14 years old. He wears boots too big for his feet and has eyes so red that they appear to be bleeding. The man whom he holds hostage insists that he has no money. Gus approaches with his hands raised. Wayetu notices how much smaller he suddenly looks. The rebel points his gun at Gus, who raises “a crumbled wad of money from his pocket” (60). He throws the money on the ground at the rebel’s feet. The boy picks up the wad and runs away through a field.

The man, whose name is Amos, hugs Gus in gratitude. Amos says that the rebel made him stand in the road all day. Gus tells him that they must go before the boy returns. They walk another mile to a burned-down shack. It begins to rain. Wayetu wonders about the family that once lived there. She sees the rooms where she imagines children once played and wonders where they are now.

Amos tells Gus that he owes him, but Gus dismisses his statements. He tells Amos that they’ve been walking for nearly three weeks. Amos notices the sores on their mouths from eating sugarcane for each meal. Amos says that he’s trying to leave the country. Though he couldn’t get to Sierra Leone, he’ll try Ghana. Gus asks what news Amos has heard. Amos says that Doe refuses to step down. Meanwhile, Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson are massacring Krahn people. Gus invites Amos to Lai. Brother James agrees, worried that Amos will either be mistaken for a rebel or forced to join the rebels.

Gus, Amos, and Brother James talk all night about Liberia’s struggles going back to 1980 and 1983 and 1989. Wayetu thinks about how only men talk about the war and make decisions about it. 

Wayetu remembers a time, back at the family home in Caldwell, when their father pretended to be a beast hunting her and her sisters. He lurked in the hallway and roared at them as he approached them. They squealed and held onto each other. He then picked them all up at once and twirled them around while they giggled. Wayetu remembers him playing this game with Mam before she left for New York. She was in the kitchen cutting greens. He threw her over his shoulder, and she screamed as her daughters usually did during this game. He spun her around and ran with her around the house, thrown over his shoulder. He stopped only in the den, where he gently laid her down on the couch.

One of Wayetu’s aunts once told her that when Gus was a boy, he was timid. To help him overcome his shyness, his father and stepmother got him a black Labrador whom his father named Nobody. His stepmother then told him to take his new dog and go to the neighbor’s for sugar. Gus obeyed. When he reached the neighbor’s yard, he told the dog to stay outside. When the neighbor opened the door, Gus stammered his request. The neighbor noticed the dog, which Gus sad was his. He said the dog’s name was Nobody, which the neighbor found funny. She turned away and returned with a small jar of sugar cubes. As they walked away, Gus continued to command the dog to remain in place, to no avail. Two boys approached them. They threw stones at the dog. Gus commanded them to leave Nobody alone. They taunted him and called his Ma “country,” also saying that no one had seen his actual mother. Gus realized that even he no longer remembered his birth mother. They continued to taunt him. One of the boys threw a stone at Nobody, which hit the dog in the neck. Gus suddenly “grew ten feet tall” (68). Nobody hid behind him. Gus picked up the stones and threw them back at the boys. One flew into the window of a boy’s house. He then attacked the bullies. After that day, no one ever bothered Gus or Nobody again.

The Moores arrive at another checkpoint. A soldier sits near a table cleaning a gun. The soldier asks where he’s from and if he is Gio. Gus gives his full name and says he’s from Monrovia. The soldier then asks if he is Congo. He also asks where Gus works. Gus presents his university ID. The soldier allows them to pass. At the next checkpoint, again, Gus speaks to the soldiers. After they also question Brother James and Amos, the soldiers allow all to pass. Amos, who decides that he’ll first try to enter Ivory Coast and then Ghana, hugs Gus goodbye and thanks him. He cries in Gus’s chest. Gus assures him that the war will be over soon and they can all return home.

By the time they reach the final checkpoint, the family hasn’t eaten all day. Wayetu stays close to her father. This checkpoint takes longer than the others. Three soldiers question Gus. One of Doe’s men pushes Gus “toward a line on the side of the road where men [stand] with their hands behind their backs” (72). The men in the line are Gola and Congo, like Gus. Some men, Wayetu notices, are lying on the ground, and she wonders how they can sleep at such a time. Gus cries out, worried about what his daughters might witness. One soldier orders another to take the girls to the nearby booth.

Ol’ Ma sits on a stool and prays. Torma tries to keep the girls away from the window, where Wayetu taps to get her father’s attention. Gus gives her an admonishing look. Soldiers pace in front of the booth. Wi starts to cry. Wayetu cries, too. All three girls begin to beat on the window of the booth. A soldier tells Ol’ Ma to quiet the girls. They resist. Their pounding is so forceful that they nearly tip over the booth. Brother James tries to hold them, but they push him away. Another soldier asks Gus questions. Finally, Gus stumbles to the booth. The girls run to him, weeping. He encourages them to move. They cross the line into Junde.

That night, they sleep, waiting for the canoe to Lai. The rebels haven’t yet taken Junde. Other families sleep there, too. Some hope to make it to Sierra Leone, while others intend to remain in Junde until the fighting ends at the capital. Wayetu asks Gus to sing to them, and he does.