The Dew Breaker

Papa arrives at the evening church service two hours early, because he is planning to kill the preacher. He parks his car by some street merchants, ensuring that he has a clear view of the entrance to the church. It has long been known that the preacher “ha[s] enemies in high places.” He presides over a Baptist church in Bel Air, a slum in Port-au-Prince. The preacher broadcasts his sermons on a radio show that airs early on Sunday mornings. In these sermons, the preacher praises Biblical figures “who’d fought tyrants and nearly died.” Six months ago, his wife died. Meanwhile, Papa Doc has rewritten the Lord’s Prayer to make it about himself. 

Some of the congregation at the preacher’s church cite his sermons while being tortured in prison. However, others say they hope he ceases his political messages, for his own sake and theirs. The preacher lives near the church, and there are currently four agents outside his house. Papa finds it hard to believe that the preacher would be scared of his own death, and wonders if he is also “falling for the religious propaganda.” The dew breakers use different tactics in order to be able to bring themselves to do the work they do. Some only target strangers from neighborhoods they don’t know, while others take revenge on people they do know and don’t like.

Papa tries to tell himself that, as a Catholic, he should hate the preacher for being Protestant. He tries to persuade himself that he is “liberating” the people of Bel-Air by killing the preacher. The night before, Papa Doc announced that 19 members of the palace guard had been executed for treachery. Six months ago, the preacher’s wife was poisoned by the daughter of a rival preacher, who had been bribed to commit the act. Papa has been dreaming of leaving Haiti and moving to a Haitian diasporic community in Florida or New York. He could “infiltrate” the communities of exiles who are planning a revolution. However, he knows he won’t be able to leave before he “prove[s] his loyalty” by killing the preacher.

Now, Papa asks a nearby boy to buy him a pack of cigarettes. He is a heavy smoker of cigarettes and cigars, and loves drinking five-star Barbancourt rum. Sometimes Papa plays games of hazard with the people he tortures, convincing them that if they win he will let them live. Last night, he dreamed that he escaped Haiti dressed as a nun. He wants to leave, but knows he needs to kill the preacher first. When the boy comes back, Papa pays him for the cigarettes and for an old history book the boy has tucked under his arm. Papa is from Léogâne. He is the son of peasants who lost all their land when Papa Doc came to power in 1957. As a result, his father became insane and his mother vanished, perhaps fleeing to Jamaica with a neighbor she loved.

Papa himself joined the Miliciens (Volunteers for National Security) at 19. He had gone to a Flag Day parade and watched the president speak. Mesmerized, he decided that he would never go back home and live the rural life of a peasant. Back in the present, the boy Papa offered money to hasn’t moved. Papa wishes he could buy a future for him and all Haitian children. He asks what the boy studies, and after he replies that he studies history, Papa makes him recite a lesson. The boy does so, nervously. Papa gives the boy some more money and tells him to leave. The boy buys food from a vendor and shares it with his friends.

Alone in his car, Papa smokes and tries not to think about the boy. When he was 19, after he saw the president speak, he joined the Miliciens and was given an ID card, a denim uniform, a gun, and “the privilege of marching all the national holiday parades.” Papa didn’t like the uniform, and thus took to wearing plain clothes. As a Milicien, Papa received the best treatment from everyone. He grew fat from eating decadently, and had countless lovers. He returned to Léogâne, where his father paraded the streets, naked. He told the officials who’d bought his parents’ land that he was a powerful man now, and they should watch out. Through this threat, he managed to get his father’s house back.

Papa earned a reputation for being a particularly skilled and intimidating torturer. The problem was that for him, it was “becoming like any other job.” One of his victims testified in old age that Papa was remarkably clear-headed; he knew exactly what he was doing. The preacher, meanwhile, is eating supper, wearing his “best cream jacket” which he saves for Sundays. He is an elegant man, with long limbs. He is sitting with three of his deacons. The deacons are nervous for him, and they suggest hosting the service inside the house. In truth, the preacher has already made a deal with God to sacrifice his life for his country. 

The preacher has dreamed about his own death many times and doesn’t fear it. Sometimes he dreams that he is killed in brutal, horrifying ways, but in the dreams he is always resurrected. He tells the deacons that it’s time for the evening service, and that he will walk to the church alone. Reluctantly, the deacons step aside and let him pass, then follow him out the door. On the walk to church, the preacher greets everyone in the neighborhood. Everyone knows him and says hello back. He passes a shoeshine man, Léon, who poured slop on the heads of Volunteers after they arrested a group of philosophy students performing in a production of Waiting for Godot. 

Léon asks the preacher if he wants his shoes shined; when the preacher declines but suggests the next day, both the Léon and the deacons smile, hopeful at the mention of the next day. The preacher then spots a ten-year-old boy who is a member of the congregation. The boy is smoking a cigarette, but when he sees the preacher he throws it away and runs off. At the church, many in the congregation are missing. The service runs a little longer than usual. The preacher passionately delivers a sermon about the day his wife was killed. He says that after she was poisoned, he could tell from her eyes that she was going to die.

The preacher recalls that in his rush to get his wife to the hospital, he forgot to pray. The preacher was gratified when he learned that the young woman who poisoned his wife was sent to prison, but nonetheless his guilt remained, feeling that it was his fault that his wife was killed. He begs for his wife’s forgiveness in front of the congregation, hoping that she can hear him from heaven. The deacons and other people listening feel worried. A few members of the congregation walk out, inspiring others to do the same. Léon starts to cry, thinking about his son, who is a Volunteer. Despite Léon’s bitter opposition to his son’s choices, he still lets him come home sometimes, for the sake of his wife—but also to protect himself.

The preacher fondly recalls his wife’s appearance, saying that he fell in love with her at first sight. Her family had taken him in when he was 14; he converted to Catholicism so he could be with her, and became a preacher in order to impress her parents. At this moment, the preacher’s stepsister Anne briefly walks into the congregation, before leaving again. Anne is in cosmetology school, and the preacher can tell from the look on her face that she has no idea about the threats facing him today. His father and her mother always insisted that the two of them call each other brother and sister, without the “step.”  

Up until a few days ago, Anne had been living in their hometown. She resents the preacher for abandoning the family after their little brother drowned. Now, she goes to his house, intending to wait to speak to him after he finishes the service. The preacher continues his sermon, and at this moment Papa and his men burst through the doors. Papa strangles the preacher to stop him from speaking, and he and his men drag him out of the church. Outside, the streets are empty. The preacher is pushed into a truck. The Miliciens beat him and extinguish their cigarettes in his hair. They put a blindfold over his eyes.

If a prisoner is taken to the military barracks, Casernes, there is a small chance of escape; no such chance exists from the prison, Fort Dimanche. Listening to the men, the preacher believes he is being taken to Casernes. He can hear a woman calling the name Jean. He hears a shot being fired, and is then dragged out of the truck by his legs so that his head is whacked against the concrete pavement. As he is dragged along, his skin as scraped off, and he feels that it is his actual humanity being peeled away.

Semi-conscious and dizzy, the preacher finds himself in a cell, surrounded by the smell of “rotting flesh.” He loses consciousness, but wakes up to the feeling of a trickle of water on his face. He tries to drink it, then finds out it is urine. 

Back at the preacher’s house, Anne feels an epileptic fit coming and lies down on the floor. Visions of her life pass by, including the day her little brother drowned and the day the preacher left their village. She feels bad about leaving the church earlier, but she didn’t want to hear her brother talk about his dead wife anymore. She feels that her death was certainly his fault, that it was foolishly risky to preach on the radio as he did. She wants to tell him this, but in the grip of her fit she feels like she is either “dying again or possessed again.” In the midst of the fit she feels certain that her brother is also dying and that she may never see him again.

Papa gets an order from the presidential palace to release the preacher. His superior, Rosalie, scolds him for botching the arrest, which was supposed to happen quietly. Rosalie is one of very few high-ranking women at Casernes. She asks why Papa didn’t shoot the preacher outside church as he was supposed to, and Papa explained that he couldn’t get a clear shot. However, Rosalie replies, “You wanted him to suffer.” The palace is worried about the preacher becoming a martyr, and Rosalie says that they must ensure he doesn’t die at Casernes.

Papa summons the preacher, planning on simply telling him to stop his sermons before sending him home. The preacher, meanwhile, is still in his cell with the handful of other prisoners who urinated on him. These prisoners are speaking now, and he realizes that the urine was supposed to be some kind of ritual cure to heal his wounds. Now, a voice instructs the other prisoners to bring the preacher over to him. Laughing, the voice tells the preacher that he is a “lucky man.” As the voice forces the preacher to walk, he can’t tell if he is actually moving or if the blood- and shit-stained walls around him are moving.

The preacher thinks about his wife and sister. He knows that Anne will stay strong, in part thanks to the strength of her Catholic faith. She can sell his house, and after finishing her cosmetology course she can find work as a beautician. He worries about her epilepsy. When their brother drowned, Anne was having a seizure and thus couldn’t go into the water to save him. Forcing himself to walk, the preacher sees light in the distance and realizes that he can see a little better than before. He reasons that perhaps the urine helped. He hears his cellmates whisper “Bonne chance” (good luck). Even though they don’t know whether he is being released or killed, they think he is lucky because either way he will be free. 

Anne is obsessed with miracles, and she considers each time that she recovers from an epileptic seizure to be a miracle. Now, she awakes to find Léon standing over her, holding a kerosene lamp. He helps her up and tells her he has bad news: the preacher has been arrested and taken to Casernes. Immediately, Anne says she has to go. She runs off and looks back at him; holding the kerosene lamp, he looks like “both the angel of life and the angel of death.” 

The “death chamber” is not what the preacher imagined. He had been picturing gruesome torture instruments and corpses, but instead it is just a musty office, which stinks of tobacco. Papa tells the preacher that the only thing he has to say is that “you must stop what you’ve been doing.” The preacher doesn’t believe him, and expects to soon be returned to his cell and then executed. He thinks that Papa is trying to make him feel relieved simply in order to torture him further. He begins to shake with fear. He thinks about his cellmates, moved by their kindness but also horrified by their abject condition. He is determined not to rot away in a cell before he dies.

Papa moves closer and closer to the preacher, and as the preacher backs away the wooden chair he is sitting on breaks. Papa smiles. While the preacher leans back to steady himself, he touches one of the chair’s broken legs. Seizing it, he aims for Papa’s eyes, but instead plunges the broken wood into Papa’s cheek, ripping the skin down to his jawline. Papa grabs the preacher and slams him against the ground. He pulls out his gun and shoots him. Just before dying, the preacher thinks about the sermon he would give if he survived that day. He would talk about having seen hell, but also encountering “man-angels who saw in his survival hope for their own.”

Papa suggests that the preacher must now regret his actions, and the preacher considers this. He is not sure if he regrets them, even though he also has no idea if his death will have a positive impact on the country. It may inspire people to revolt, or he may just be forgotten. He sees the wound on Papa’s face as a kind of victory, because he knows that at least Papa will have to wear that scar for the rest of his life.

Anne, meanwhile, is still running, spurred on by some mysterious energy. She is going so fast that everything around her is a blur. She finally reaches Casernes, where the streets are totally empty. She feels like the only person alive in the whole city. Meanwhile, inside Casernes, Rosalie barges into Papa’s office in a fury. Papa explains that the preacher attacked him, but Rosalie doesn’t seem to care. Papa walks out of the office and through the barracks, with Rosalie following him. Right by the front gate, he vomits. Rosalie tells him he should go home because he is not well, and promises that she will think of an explanation. Papa knows that she will just “do what [is] best for her.”

Walking out of Casernes, Papa feels like he is about to be shot at any minute. However, he is able to walk away freely. He touches the raw flesh on his face and knows he needs to go to the hospital, but he is also aware that this might be too risky. Suddenly, a woman (Anne) runs into him. She is only wearing a nightgown, and Papa guesses that she is insane. Papa hopes that she isn’t someone he’s hurt before, because he desperately wants her sympathy. As they collide, they both say “Tanpri” (please) at the same time. His mother used to say that if two people say a word at the same time it means they will die on the same day. Papa hopes he isn’t shortening this woman’s life, and he wonders who she is.

Papa falls into her arms and Anne manages to hold him, despite his enormous size. Sobbing, she says she needs to go into Casernes, but Papa replies: “People who go in there […] don’t come out.” He leads them away, toward his house. When they pass the cemetery she holds her breath. At home, Papa falls asleep straight away. At dawn, Anne can see that Papa’s face has stopped bleeding. She watches a funeral procession outside. She pokes around Papa’s bare house in order to find materials with which to clean his face. Finding nothing, she goes outside to buy things instead. 

Outside, Anne tries to avoid the cemetery. Talking to a vendor, she realizes that she must look like a “madwoman,” and that he may think she is a healer. Papa, meanwhile, is dreaming about his childhood in Léogâne. He and his mother are working in the garden, and she teaches him how to touch a shame plant. He wakes up suddenly from the sound of his door opening, and goes to grab his gun. It isn’t there, and he realizes he left it at Casernes. He suddenly remembers everything that happened the night before, and at this moment sees Anne standing in front of him, wearing a nightgown and covered in dirt and blood.

Anne is holding honey, ginger, and a sprig of yerba Buena, which Papa knows can be mixed as a way to heal his wounds. He can’t quite remember who she is, and doesn’t want to ask her name because he is worried he will recognize it. Eventually she asks, “What did they do to you?” and Papa only says, “I’m free […] I finally escaped.” Papa thinks that in years to come, he will try to explain why he said this. He is not sure why he is so confident that they will have a future together. He can tell that she feels he was put in his path to “save” and “heal” him.

What happens next would be impossible for Anne to explain to anyone, including Ka. Part of her felt that Papa was her drowned brother, or was connected to him somehow; part of her was thinking of the saints who achieved miracles via self-sacrifice. It was both all and none of these things that made her choose to be with Papa. The doctor sews up Papa’s face, telling him that if he moves or smokes cigarettes while it’s healing he will end up looking like a “monster.” When Anne hears that the preacher died, she momentarily “slip[s] out of her own body.” The same thing happens when Ka calls and says she’s learned the truth about Papa all those years later. 

Anne tells Ka that Papa had been wanting to tell her the truth for a long time. In her head, Anne thinks of it as a miracle that Papa bought them flights to New York the day after they met, and that he never killed anyone again after that. In New York, Papa introduced her as his wife, and she didn’t object. Over time, they grew to love each other; not a passionate, romantic love, but a “strained kind of attachment.” The beginning of their relationship was characterized by mutual silence, but after Ka was born Papa opened up. They managed to talk about the preacher, but only in “coded” words.

The official version of the story is that the preacher killed himself, which is what Papa claims is true. Anne, meanwhile, says she believes that Papa arrested the preacher but someone else killed him. In reality, neither of them believe themselves or the other. Anne has been speaking incoherently to Ka, and only now realizes that her daughter has hung up. Anne feels lonely; she wishes she had been able to say something loving to Ka before they hung up. She is reminded of the fact that everyone close to her might disappear at any moment. The spirits that used to run through her body left the moment she heard the radio broadcast announcing that her brother had set himself on fire in Casernes, leaving “no trace of himself at all.”