A Brief History of Seven Killings: Part 5, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Millicent continues talking to the wounded man’s wife, claiming that she’s never seen a gunman before, and explaining that she grew up in Havendale. The woman says that Josey Wales is supposedly going to “Yankee prison for a good while,” but that she’ll believe it when she sees it. The mention of Josey Wales has made Millicent dizzy, and she has to sit down. In her moment of dizziness, Millicent’s Jamaican accent comes back, which makes the wife laugh. The woman says that the Ranking Dons don’t have a leader like Josey, and tells the story about the bus driver that Josey shot right outside the police station.

The wife adds that Josey’s “wickedness” has come back to him, as both his daughter and Benjy have been killed. The death of the boy is what began the current wave of violence. The woman asks how Millicent knows so much about Josey Wales, considering she doesn’t come from the ghetto. At that moment, Millicent has a sudden memory of when, as Nina, she witnessed the shooting at the Singer’s house. She recalls the sound of the bullets, the men pushing past her, the blood, the screaming, and Josey standing in front of her. Afterward, Millicent/Nina ran home and packed a suitcase. All she could think about was Josey coming to find and kill her. She could still smell him, and can smell him now. She can hear the woman in Beth Israel calling for a nurse.