Avi says:
“This was the way the old woman killed people”
Throughout the story, younger brother encounters women who have the power to overcome and either emasculate or thoroughly destroy their male victims by various means. This woman has the power to crush men between her thighs, thereby eradicating their independence. Because younger brother is already rendered hopeless by the strength of her sexuality, he kills and destroys her, thus preventing women thereafter from having the power to keep men with their sexuality.