In these pages of "A Long Way Gone", the boys find theirselves in a hut acting like their old selves again. The boys are running around and acting silly when a man enters the hut and demands them to stop, and their punishment is to give him their shoes. This turns out to be an awful punishment because they have to walk on hot tar which burns their feet. Their host brings them food and water and makes them feel all better. The cheif of the village comes to interrogate them and is fasinated by their unusual clothing. The cheif makes them dance to their rap music to prove that they know what it is. They continue on and find that the next village only has one large house and it is used for production of palm oil. They spend a night there and three rebel army men come, the boys hide away until they leave. One of the boys, Saidu was in a trance for a while. The next day they find that Saidu is not just in a trance, but he is actually dead. The boys had a quick burrial for him at the farm. The boys keep walking and grieving the loss of their friend. They finally make it to Ishmael's home town and they find that the town has been lit on fire with bombshells. Ishmael could not find his family and figures that they are dead. Ishmael starts taking his anger out on the boys with him and begins choking them and blaming them.
I can't imagine being put in Ishmael's situation. He had to go through this long, terrible journey and then only to find out that his family has died. I can see why Ishmael would take his grief out on his friends that he has been traveling with because I'm sure it's hard to accept the fact that his family is gone. I think it's interesting how every time the boys come into contact with the rebels, somehow they manage to escape. I wonder if soon their luck will run out and they will be captured by the rebels. I also thought it was a little creepy how Saidu's prediction of him dying, ends up coming true. This adds to Ishmael's grief having lost his whole family and one of his friends.
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