The Mattress King

One of my first purchases after arriving back in Musanze was a mattress. You can get real mattresses here, but most people just have foam ones covered in fabric. Secondary students usually have to bring their own mattress to school with them, so you can buy them all over the place. They roll them up for you, tie them with twine, and you're good to go. Before I bought the mattress, Jessie and I went to the market to get some food. At the market, I usually am swarmed by a group of boys who want "a job." They want you to pay them a hundred francs or so to carry your bag while you shop and to give you advice on where to get the best food for the best price. Usually I give them a piece of gum or a firm "Oya" and they decide I'm not worth the effort and leave. But on this day, one boy decided to stick with it.

I had finished buying everything I needed and made my way out of the market entrance with Jess before I noticed that he was still by my side. I ran through my Kinyarwanda small talk routine with him "What's your name? Where are you going? No, I'm not giving you money. How old are you? No, I don't have a pen…" until I ran out of words. And still, he stayed with us. Even after Jess and I started our own conversation. When we walked up to a store selling mattresses, he planted himself right next to Jess and watched while I tried to haggle with the owner for a good price. But I couldn't get the vendor to lower his price enough. He was offering me the muzungu special: An 18,000 RF mattress for only 30,000 RF. I knew 30,000RF was definitely too much, so I turned around and started to leave. Usually this is enough to drastically lower the asking price, but it didn't work this time. I translated to Jess what had just transpired and then looked over and realized our friend Neo from the market was still dogging us. "Well, as long as he's here, I might as well put him to work" I thought. So I asked him how much I should pay for a simple mattress. He cocked his head for a moment and then replied "10,000 or 12,000." Then he beckoned to us and took off towards the other market. He brought us to another store and stood in front of the pile of mattresses out front with his arms crossed, waiting for us to catch up to him. He didn't say anything to the owner, but he made it clear that we were his muzungus, and he better not try any funny business.

I was able to talk the vendor down to 12,000RF and before handing the money over, I looked over at Neo. He gave me one head nod/eyebrow raise of approval. As the man brought out twine for me, I fished a few hundred francs out of my pocket and gave it to Neo for his services. He stuffed it in his pocket and then proceeded to roll my mattress up, bind it with twine, and tuck it under his arm. Before we could say anything, he took off back in the direction we had come from, his two muzungus trailing behind him. No longer was he the boy shadowing the white girls, now he was the Guide…the Escort…the Mattress King. As we followed behind our sauntering local expert, we both looked at each other as we realized where he was headed. Soon an extra spring was added to his step and his chin lifted a little higher. He strutted right past the first store I had stopped at and without slowing down, gave a head nod to the man who had tried to overcharge me. The man pointed at the mattress and asked him how much I had paid. Neo answered him with exaggerated nonchalance and kept right on walking. By this point Jess and I couldn't help but laugh and we followed right behind him, teasing him and giving him jovial shoulder slugs. Once back at the food market, I handed him an extra 100RF piece and took the mattress from him.

Yesterday, when I was leaving the food market after another grocery trip, I looked over and noticed Neo was by my side again. I gave him a friendly hello. He must have thought that I didn't recognize him because he pointed at the first mattress shop and then at me. "Yeah, yeah, I remember you" I told him, nodding furiously. Then I tried to solicit his help for today on finding a bamboo table. I don't think I got the point across very well, but I'm going to keep my eye out for him at the market from now on. That much gumption earned him a spot on my gold star list…he's probably got a few well paid "jobs" coming his way.