The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

Mam is unable to return to Liberia in June as she had promised. A month passes before she hears Gus’s voice again. She thinks about her daughters as her stomach grows. She listens to children playing outside, running through the waters of open fire hydrants.

One day in July, her sister Facia calls her. She has arrived with Mam’s nephew, Bom, and is waiting at LaGuardia Airport. Mam rushes in a taxi to meet them. When she arrives, she sees her sister waiting on a bench. They embrace, and Facia notices Mam’s pregnancy.

Facia tells Mam about the time the rebels entered Logan Town. Ol’ Pa made her sisters, Facia and Alice, pack to go to Lai. He assured them that Ol’ Ma would be safe because she was with Gus. He’d ensure that she and the girls got to Lai. When he found out that a man was going to the airport and that they were airlifting American citizens out, he encouraged Facia and Bom to leave. They did as he asked. As they drove off, Facia and Bom waved at Alice and Ol’ Pa as they stood on the porch.

Mam makes Facia and Bom pepper soup. Facia tells Mam that Doe refuses to step down. She also talks about how the rebels are spoiling the country, destroying infrastructure and digging up pipes to sell. To comfort themselves, Mam plays Miriam Makeba’s song Suliram, an Indonesian lullaby that Makeba recorded in 1960. Facia and Bom fall asleep on her bed. She walks over to the bed, finds her sister’s hand, and holds it.