The Thing Around Your Neck

A young woman named Chika and another, unnamed woman are hiding in an abandoned store to escape a riot in the marketplace in the town of Kano in Nigeria. Chika immediately notices that the woman is from the North, that she is Muslim, and that she is poorer than Chika. Chika is from the South, a Christian, and well off. She expresses her appreciation for how the woman led her away from the riot, stating she wouldn’t have known what to do without her. The narration reveals that the riot is between Hausa Muslims and Igbo Christians.

The two women quietly watch the window until two people come by, then quickly shut it. Chika thinks of the chaos of the riot’s start, and the narration reveals that the riot started when an Igbo Christian man accidentally ran over a copy of the Koran, and a Hausa Muslim man cut off his head and carried it through the market. The woman invites Chika to sit, and Chika tells her she was separated from her sister Nnedi. The woman tells her that Nnedi will be in a safe place, and she begins to ask Chika questions. Chika tells her that she and Nnedi go to the