The Dragons, the Giant, the Women, стр. 63

“I don’t know, Jallah,” I said. “Not sure yet. I hope to get answers once I reach the border.”

“Ah,” he said with warmth in his eyes. “You women are mighty. God bless you, sister.”

He turned away from me again to face the window. I appreciated his company and goodwill. I fell asleep again and when I woke, the bus had stopped. Surprisingly, Jallah was not beside me, but outside facing the field peeing, the shortest in a line of men. I glanced down the aisle and the driver was outside stretching. My luggage was still under my seat where I left it and my purse was in my lap. After twenty minutes or so, Jallah and the others boarded the bus. I stood up to let him in.

“Sorry-oh,” he said. “I did not want to wake you so I jumped over your legs. I thought sure I would disturb you but you were in a deep sleep.”

“Oh yes. I am tired. I have not gotten sleep lately but it is hard to stay awake with the ocean so close. Even on a bumpy road,” I said, still high with slumber. “How much longer?”

“Nani,” he said. Four hours.

“Oh, good,” I said. The noon sun made the bus even hotter than it had been that morning. I took my handkerchief from my purse and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

“You know, I was thinking,” Jallah said. “I want to help you.”

“Oh?” I asked.

He leaned in toward my seat and looked over his shoulder and across the aisle to see if anyone was listening. I was startled by this and I pulled away.

“No, no,” he said. “Listen.” He began to speak in Vai again.

“I did not want to seem too anxious before, and you can never be sure who you are talking to. But I have been thinking, I know of a woman. A rebel,” Jallah said quietly. “She is a Vai woman like yourself but she grew up in the city and she joined Taylor’s army.” My heart beat quickly and I sunk like stone in my seat. “Don’t be afraid,” Jallah continued. “Listen to what I am saying. I will tell you what I learned, what everybody learns during wartime. Not all fighters are bad. They all look bad. There is blood on their clothes. They high. Most fighters, they will do bad things, but not all of them are bad. Do you understand? Some of these rebels them they get forced to fight, they have no choice, but they stay good. You understand what I saying?”

“No,” I whispered, my heart still racing. I thought for a moment that perhaps Jallah was a rebel in disguise. If I screamed, the driver would stop the bus and it would lengthen my trip to Bo Waterside. And who knew if the people on the bus would turn against me if I prolonged their trip?

“Let me explain,” Jallah said. “They go to villages and to some poor towns near the cities, the rebel leaders them, and they tell the young people to come join their army for money. They say, ‘I will make you rich, come fight for me. I will make you commander. Make you king. Make you chief.’ They promise them their family will be safe during the war and they will make money to send to them, so many of them, they say yes. Then the others who say no, they force them. They beat the boys, rape the girls them until they agree to join their army. So many still trying to be right with God even with all the bad bad things they now do, you understand?”

“What are you saying? I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head.

“I know this woman, this girl her name is Satta. She is Vai and she is with Taylor army but but—” he leaned in again, so close to my ear. “If you pay her enough money, she will go and get your family for you.”

“What?!” I asked loudly.

“Not too loud,” Jallah said as the bus passengers looked our way. I gestured my apologies to them and looked at Jallah.

“When the rebels see her passing with people, they do not humbug her, and she learned this while saving some neighbors of hers who were Krahn,” he said. “And you know what is happening to Krahn people.”

“I know, I know,” I said, desperately wanting him to continue.

“So she has made a business from this,” Jallah said. “You pay her and you tell her where to find your family and she will go find them and walk them across checkpoints.”

“And what do you get from this?” I asked.

“Mostly just a comfortable bed in paradise. But she gives me small small change for finding people for her,” he laughed.

“Of course.”

“Nothing is free, sister. She can bring them to you in Bo Waterside. If you want.”

“Yes, yes,” I said, with hope that I could finally see a shape to. “But is it safe?” I asked in English. “Is it safe?” I asked again in Vai, quieter.

“It has been so far,” Jallah said.

“Can I meet people she has helped? Just to be sure?” I asked.

Jallah shook his head, waving his finger.

“They are all gone. Those who can afford her usually run far far away from this place once they get out of Liberia,” he said.

So far his proposal was my only option but I did not know this man. I thought of what Gus would do and say, or Ol’ Pa or Ol’ Ma. But none of them were there. Fear orbited. This man could have been a killer—a rebel himself. My husband would call me foolish for entertaining the suggestion, or for even conversing with him in the way that I had during their trip. But the griots and djelis would say that perhaps this was another sign.

“I want to meet her,” I said. “Please, if I can.”

“Good,” Jallah said, delighted by my decision.

We arrived in Bo Waterside late