Category: issue 14

The railcar rumbled as it descended into the sewer levels of the fortress city, Aguiyi. The cramped railcar smelled strongly of bleach and grease. Hazard and Safety Commission workers filled the available seats, bodies pressed shoulder to shoulder, with even more of them in faded green coveralls standing in the aisle, hands clutched around a steel beam on the railcar’s ceiling. A dingy speaker somewhere in the car broadcast the mayor’s morning address. Elections were coming up, and many of the cleaners in the car were in heated political debate.

Check your skin at the door.

The goat was there again, legs tucked, waiting outside the station.

Chief Adewale always said his wheelchair was faster than most people’s legs, and he had seventy-two years of evidence to back it up. Every morning, while Ibadan’s streets clattered awake with danfo horns, roasted plantain smoke, and market women shouting “Oya, bring your money here!”, Adewale positioned himself at the top of Oke Bola slope and called out to the neighborhood children.