Kano

Kano is the city in Nigeria where the short story is set. When Chika and Nnedi go on holiday from the university, they accept their auntie's invitation to visit her here. Their auntie lives in a gated estate in a more affluent part of the city. Curious to explore the city's older neighborhoods, the sisters take a trip to the marketplace. While shopping, they get separated. Then a riot breaks out between the Hausa Muslims and the Igbo Christians. In the chaos, Chika cannot find her sister.

Terrified, she follows a kind woman into an abandoned shop, where they hide for the entirety of the story. Initially, Chika is desperate to detach herself from Kano, and its political unrest. She does not want the place nor its conflicts to have anything to do with her. However, in the days that follow her departure from the shop, Chika cannot...