Olga’s House
Lola offers vivid descriptions of Olga's house. She narrates, "Olga's house boomed with loud conversations…They didn't sit. They didn't break into merengue, despite the Congolese soukous music thumping in the background." Although the host appreciates Congolese music, her friends do not appreciate it; otherwise, they would dance to it. The music does not touch them because they are predominantly white. Nonetheless, the house is overpopulated by Americans, and it makes Lola stand out because she is Senegalese.
Lola Singing
Olga requests Lola to entertain the guests through her song. Although at first, she dreads their snobbish reaction to the song, she goes ahead and sings. She sings, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest,/Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" The song is hilarious, and it makes Olga's friends laugh. Lola learned the song from her mother. She sings the song to make them complain because of their penchant for complaining about even the most trivial things.
“Toothless Wolf”
Although Garry has a wolfish dental formula, he sometimes behaves like a "toothless wolf." Loa explains, whenever he found himself alone with me, he’d stammer, hands glued to his sides and eyes on the floor." Olga has a tendency to goad her husband. She encourages him to be playful and flirty with Lola. Barry is naturally shy and can only play with Lola in Olga's presence. When Barry is alone with Lola, the 'toothless wolf' in him emerges. Olga is very open that she would allow her husband to pinch Lola. Barry would not be that playful if it were not for Olga's goading.
