AJ CitiesAJ
Deported from London, beaten in a cell, broke on a veranda bench. He has a plan, a London accent and a debt to the gate police.
Characters
The people of June 12 Street
Everyone in AJ Cities is invented. Some of them would be offended to hear it.
Funke
A fifth-year medical student who leaves for LUTH at dawn and talks to AJ from her window at night, while her father keeps the door shut.
Chuks
Big, kind and always cooking. He knew AJ before London, and he feeds him before he asks a single question.
Sarge
A retired Hausa soldier from Kano who traded the parade ground for a snack counter, and sees everyone who passes the gate.
The Officers
Funny, tired, underpaid, sometimes greedy and sometimes kind. They hold the gates, and they want to be settled.
The Warden
Thirty-one years at Kirikiri prison, now the owner of Prizm. He plays the big man, brokers deals at his table, and takes ten percent.
Natasha
She runs Prizm's floor on party nights. Look sharp, keep it classy, and no wahala on her floor.
Dozie
Economics graduate, second class upper, "in opportunities". He borrows ₦500 and pays back ₦50, exactly once.
Tara
The hairdresser at Palmline, outside the main gate, and AJ's neighbor in Room 7. Everybody talks in her chair. She repeats almost none of it.
Danger
The most dangerous man on June 12 Street and the one it loves most: a stare that stops a fight, a laugh you can hear from the gate, and a notebook of verses.
Benny
Small, quick and never short of a word. If it is moving this week, Benny has it, and it is written in a notebook with a rubber band around it.
Tiny
The smallest room, the emptiest pocket and the busiest door on June 12 Street. Nobody can explain it, least of all Benny.
Kingston
No room, no rent, no surname, no home town. A Rasta preacher with locks to his back who sings to the sea and sleeps wherever a door is open.
The family at No. 8
Dimeji and Yelena, five children, a gym in the yard and three dogs that sometimes get out.