After swiping Matt’s big V-shaped cushion, Julius propped himself on his bed, unlocked his phone and smiled when he saw a selfie Duke had taken earlier that day. He was by the polar bear cage at Arctic Zoo. Eddie, the one-eyed polar bear, stared curiously over Duke’s shoulder, looking even scrawnier than when Julius had seen him in the flesh seven months earlier.

Long walk around the zoo today, Duke’s message read. Legs getting stronger. Sat drawing for ages. Maybe back on a skateboard soon!

Julius zoomed Duke’s face. It was good to see wounds mostly healed and expensively implanted teeth replacing the pair that had been knocked out. But six months’ recovery at home had seen Duke’s wiry body grow chubby. It wasn’t better or worse, but the change reminded Julius how long they’d been apart.

Duke showed as online when Julius closed the image.

‘’Sup!’ Duke answered brightly, after a couple of rings.

Duke’s face came on Julius’s screen, but the picture disintegrated if he moved.

‘Same shit, different day,’ Julius said cheerfully. ‘Good to hear your voice!’

‘Maybe back to school soon,’ Duke said.

‘How’s that sitting?’ Julius asked.

‘I’m not loving the idea, but I have to get out of this apartment. Ma is driving me crazy, with daytime TV and insisting I’ll waste away if I don’t eat a two-thousand-kilo rhinoceros.’

‘She there now?’

‘Supermarket,’ Duke said. ‘It’ll have to be state school, cos uncle is broke from my medical bills. And he got himself arrested.’

Julius looked worried. ‘He OK?’

‘He’s got this Anti-Corruption League going. So, in a state where everyone is either Rotimi or Adebisi, he’s made both sides hate him.’

Julius laughed. ‘The last honest man in Ondo State …’

‘Me and Ma beg him to be careful,’ Duke said. ‘People know his face, because he used to read the national news. He thinks that makes him too big to get into trouble.’

‘Is he in jail?’ Julius asked.

‘One night in the cells. Bullshit charge of obstructing the highway when a crowd turned out to hear him speak. But with the election next week, and this water-poisoning scandal, the city is more volatile than ever.’

Julius sounded confused. ‘Water poisoning?’

‘Haven’t you seen news from back here?’

‘I find it depressing,’ Julius admitted. ‘When I speak to my mother, she’s so cocky about winning the election it depresses me even more.’

‘I feel that,’ Duke agreed. ‘Area boys have controlled the city centre since before you left. Last week, people started getting sick. Vomiting blood, diarrhoea, skin breaking out with big sores. Some even dropping clumps of hair.’

‘Where you are?’ Julius asked anxiously.

‘City centre and some of the slums,’ Duke said. ‘Nobody has been ill this far north, but we’re drinking bottled water in case it spreads.’

‘What caused it?’ Julius asked.