Ndong.

In his story, the dry season isn't the worst time of year: it's the coolest. From June to September the sky over Gabon clouds over and barely clears, the damp gets into your clothes, and all along the rail line people start pulling out jackets they don't wear the rest of the year. It's also the season when you notice the change in the train cab: in the mornings the air comes in colder than usual, and it struggles to clear completely before midday. Four months like this, every year, since he started driving.

In his story there's an orange hat he's never bought: the senior driver who trained him gave it to him, the day he got his driving certification, without explaining why. Since then Ndong puts it on before touching anything in the cab and takes it off when he gets down, and it's been fraying at the edge for years without it bothering him. Nobody outside the train has ever seen him wearing it. And in the dry season, when the cold really creeps in during the mornings, it's the first thing he puts on, even before the jacket.