The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

The Moores talk to Mam every Sunday, as they have since she had left for New York. She always tells them that she will return soon. Wayetu detects her mother’s smell everywhere, even on Korkor.

One day, when Torma meets the family’s driver (who picks the Moore girls up from school) as usual, she announces that she has a surprise. The girls look around the house but find nothing. Torma tells them that it’s in the den. There, they find “a large brown envelope with black writing and stickers on it” (16). The package is from New York. Papa enters the den. Mam has sent them movies—The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. Wayetu looks at the white people on the boxes and wonders if they’re sick. Gus says that their skin is just a different color, like the missionary woman they know—Sis’ Walton. He also mentions how their Chinese neighbors are a different color, though Wayetu points out that they’re not white.

Gus notices that the cord connecting the VCR to the television doesn’t work. Torma offers to go to the store for another, but Gus refuses. He asks Moneysweet to buy one, but Moneysweet must leave for the day. Gus goes to their next-door neighbor’s house, where the Chens, “[live] behind a tall cement wall crowned with barbed wire” (18). (Gus tells Wayetu that they did this to avoid burglary.) When Mr. Chen answers the door, Gus asks if he has an extra VCR cord. He says that he does and invites them in. Wayetu goes into the den, where she sees numerous porcelain statues and pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s life in China. Gus notices a stack of boxes. Mr. Chen tells Gus that he and his wife are going home for a while. He then talks to Gus privately. Wayetu overhears Samuel Doe’s name. She remembers how Torma told her that if fighting ensued, Doe’s soldiers “would hurt not only other Liberians but also the Chinese people who were bad to [the soldiers]” (19), the Lebanese bosses who abuse the soldiers’ sons in the workplace, and the professors who failed them for not being smart enough—the professors who didn’t take bribes to give better grades.

Mr. Chen invites Gus and the girls to join him and his wife in China. Gus says that they’ll stay and that everything will be fine. During the walk home, Wayetu asks her father what he and Mr. Chen talked about while alone in the room. He doesn’t answer.

Once Gus attaches the neighbors’ VCR cord, Wayetu and her sisters first watch The Sound of Music. The children in the film also have a mother who is away. When Mam calls, Wayetu sings her verses of songs from the film. Mam joins her in singing. The singing just makes Wayetu want her mother more.

Several weeks later, Wayetu watches The Sound of Music again with her Ol’ Ma. Suddenly, someone knocks loudly at the door. Gus opens the window to a friend of Mam’s, who warns him that the rebels are coming. The war has arrived in their village. She says that most of the rebels are on Caldwell Bridge. Outside, the woman’s husband beats his hand against the driver’s side door, telling her to hurry. She gets into the car. The man waves at Gus and drives off.

Ol’ Ma tells the girls to get their shoes. Gus then stops them and tells them to stay together and lie on the floor. Gus crawls toward his bedroom. Korkor, who is crying, asks to leave and go to her family. Gus tells her to use the back exit and to hurry. She runs out. Her head tie falls from her head. Ol’ Ma uses her own head tie to shield the girls from view. Wayetu asks if the dragon is coming, but her Ol’ Ma remains still.

Gus reenters the den with a backpack and slippers for the girls. They put the slippers on in the kitchen. He then lifts K up, puts on the backpack, and prompts them to go. Ol’ Ma carries Wayetu. On the television screen, she can still see Maria singing.

The family exits from the back door. Moneysweet is there, kneeling and peering from around the side of the house. Gus urges Moneysweet to join them in fleeing through the woods. Moneysweet says that he can’t leave. Instead, he shakes Gus’s hand and runs out toward the highway.

Gus tells the girls to run toward the forest when he says to. Wayetu waits. In the background, she can hear the captain and his eldest daughter singing “Edelweiss.” She also hears the popping of gunfire. Gus tells everyone to run. They flee through the yard, Gus urging them not to look back. They run to the edge of the forest. When they reach the thick of the bush, they begin to walk. Gus picks up Wayetu and K. Wayetu asks where they will go now. She senses that the prince has entered the forest to kill Hawa Undu. 

In the forest, Wayetu looks for Bendu Sudan—the woman who “used to kiss a man who was married to another woman” (25). This man was rich. One day, Bendu Sudan got pregnant. The rich man, fearful and angry, killed Bendu Sudan so that his wife would not find out about the illegitimate child. After she died, Bendu’s spirit lived. People claimed to see her on the beach and in parts of Monrovia, “still a fine geh” (26).

Wayetu also looked for others who, like Bendu Sudan, wait in “shadowy places [in the forest] to correct their enemies” (26). In the past, when Wayetu tried to enter the woods, Torma or Korkor would stop her, saying that “small small girls” (26) should not enter the forest. While it had good things, like almond and plum trees, it had bad things too. They told her of the Monkey Men that scientists from America and Europe created as an experiment in cross-breeding. Wayetu’s aunt told her about the children who spend all day in the forests in Harbel tapping rubber for Firestone. The company packs the rubber in ships and sends it to America. The children, she said, do not smile or eat.

Wayetu asks Gus about the popping sound. He says they are drums. Torma and Ol’ Ma glance at him. K asks if it’s the Malawala Balawala festival. Gus says that it is, and that Gbessie Kiazolu is dancing right now with the Malawala Balawala dancers.

Wayetu misses Mam again and begins to cry. Gus tries to quiet her. Torma warns that the bad people will hear the crying. Gus asks if Wayetu wants to go to the festival and see the dancers. Wi asks for Mam again. Gus insists that they will see her soon. This reminder of seeing Mam soon makes Wayetu happy again.

The family walks toward the Pastor’s house on the other side of the forest. Torma decries the fighting, which she attributes to Charles Taylor—the prince. In stories, Wayetu remembers, Taylor was born in Liberia but “moved to America after stealing from Hawa Undu” (29). He then returned with young men from Burkina Faso and Guinea—now his rebels—to force Samuel Doe out of power.

Ol’ Ma says that they need to find a phone to call Ol’ Pa in Logan Town. Wayetu tells her father that she’s scared. Suddenly, they hear a loud cracking sound. Gus tells them all to get down. Ol’ Ma points to a tree trunk. A bullet made a dark hole. Wi had been standing there just moments before. Ol’ Ma realizes that they are shooting in the forest. Wayetu asks what “shooting” is. Her father insists that they are only drums. Then, as the “drums” begin to “[crash] loudly around [them]” (29), the family runs.

As they run through the forest, Wayetu thinks that she sees “square faces and sharp teeth [appear] in the crevasses of the branches” (29). They are all there: Bendu Sudan, the Monkey Men, and Firestone’s children. She screams.

Once upon a time, many different tribes coexisted in Liberia. Each had its own chief and prince. Then, a leader came along and dissolved the tribes and their leadership in favor of monolithic rule. Samuel Doe, who did not understand the extent of his own ferocity, took over. When another prince (Charles Taylor, who is of Gola blood and American descent) began to rise to power, Doe overreacted. The Moore family sees that those most afraid of the rebels are Krahn people. Those who are Gio and Mano are most afraid of Doe’s soldiers.

Gus takes his children to the Pastor’s house. Wayetu sees people running past the house. Wayetu asks Torma about what the soldiers carry. Torma says they’re guns. When Wayetu asks what guns are, Torma tells her that the rebels fight with them and will continue to fight with them until the war ends.

Inside the Pastor’s house, numerous people sit on the sofas and rugs. The Pastor’s wife is holding her daughter, comforting her while she cries because of “the sound of those drums outside” (32). She tells Gus that the Pastor is in the kitchen. Torma asks for water. Again, the Pastor’s wife directs her to the kitchen. They’ve run out of cups, she says, but they can put the water in bags.

In the kitchen, the Pastor and several deacons sit at the kitchen table with glasses of water in front of them. The glasses shake when “the drum beating and the gun beating [is] too loud outside” (33). One of the deacons says that he’s leaving for the Elizabeth Tubman Memorial Institute (ETMI), where the government has set up a camp. Gus notes that ETMI isn’t far. Outside, they can see people fleeing in cars and on foot—barefoot. Some carry loads of belongings, while others carry nothing. One man says that they could flee at the river. He hears that ships are leaving for Sierra Leone. Another warns that to get to the river, one would have to cross the bush, where many rebels are waiting. Children wouldn’t be safe either. The rebels would kill the man and his children. The deacon suggests the Guinea and Ivory Coast refugee camps (the official name for Ivory Coast is Republic of Côte d’Ivoire; both Ivory Coast and Côte d’Ivoire are common names). One man insists that the trek to either country wouldn’t be worth it, as Doe will probably be killed next week, bringing the war to an end. Gus mentions that this war is different. The rebels are young and “don’t look all right” (34).

Suddenly, a woman shrieks at the sound of gunfire so loud that it shakes picture frames. Another shot enters the house and breaks glass in the den. Gus tells Ol’ Ma that they must leave for ETMI. The Pastor says that he’ll meet the Moores there. Wayetu is unsure of whom they are running from: the dragon or the prince? She asks her father where they’re going. He simply says that they’re going away. Wi asks for how long, and he says that he will tell them soon. He assures them that they’ll soon see Mam. Wayetu asks if they’re going to America. Gus says they’re not but that they’ll still see her soon.

Wayetu has more questions. Before she can ask them, her father stops in the road and waves his arm. He calls for Brother James, who hurries toward them and picks up Wayetu. He is shaking. Wayetu asks him if it’s because of the drums. James glances at Gus and agrees. K says that she is hungry. Gus takes crackers out of his backpack. He gives several to his daughters. Another drum sounds so harshly in the distance that it causes Wayetu to drop her cracker.

Brother James tells them that he was walking toward the border to get a bus to Ghana, where he has family, but that the rebels are blocking the east and south borders. He warns that they’ll question Gus due to his job. The rebels are stopping people who appear to work for the government. Gus, incidentally, works for the water and sewer company. The rebels would think that for this reason he supports Doe. Gus, however, also carries his university ID. He decides that he’ll simply say he’s a teacher.

Wayetu looks through the crowd while her father carries her. She sees rebels “with long pipes the color of stones” (39). She wonders if they’re guns. She notices that the rebels wear plain clothes. The plain clothes separate Taylor’s men from Doe’s, as the latter, who fight for the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), wear uniforms. The boys, she also notices, look young. She sees a rebel run out of a sugarcane field. He points his gun at the crowd and orders everyone to raise their hands. Another rebel demands to know where the government people are within the crowd. They order some people to go with them before they disappear back into the sugarcane field, but they leave the Moores alone. When the rebels disappear, everyone begins to run. Gus lets them slow down as they get close to ETMI. Brother James announces their arrival when they reach the sign: Elizabeth Tubman Memorial Institute.

When they enter the courtyard, it seems as though all of Liberia is on that field. Brother James estimates 8,000 people. Many are lying on small sacks made from folded clothes. Gus encourages everyone to stay close and hold hands. He touches a soldier to get his attention. The soldier, whose eyes are red and yellowed, shouts at Gus, asking what he wants. Gus wonders how long it will take to capture the rebels. The soldier is dismissive, telling Gus he can go home anytime he wants. Brother James discourages Gus from asking more questions, saying that the soldiers don’t know anything either. Gus leads his daughters and mother-in-law to the corner of the complex, but the soldier stops him, saying that men must sleep outdoors. Gus tells Ol’ Ma to stay with the girls and that he and Brother James will sleep outside, right beside the door. Wayetu wants to go with her father, but Torma pulls her away. Wayetu watches Brother James and her father disappear as they move toward the tennis court. Wayetu asks again where Mam is. No one answers.

At dawn, they hear a woman scream. The sound is so harsh that some awaken and others “duck for cover” (43). The woman says that her daughter was taken and that she thinks a soldier kidnapped the girl. She also thinks that some soldiers are rebels in disguise. Ol’ Ma stands when she realizes what’s happened. She grabs the girls and takes them outside. Gus asks what’s happened. Ol’ Ma says that they’re taking children. Gus agrees that they should leave despite Torma’s concerns about missing the food at ETMI. Gus reminds her that it’s not safe there.