Jumping in Cape Town Feb 2012
‘I can jump over you’ he said, looking down at me from his height of about 7 feet. I look up at him in disbelief.
‘You mean if I am standing up, or lying down on the floor?’
‘Standing up, of course! I can jump right over you.’
Now I stand about five and a half feet – not particularly tall, admittedly, but that’s quite a jump. ‘OK,’ I say, ‘let’s see you do it. In fact I will give you ten rand if you do.’
‘Oh no! A Masai man does not jump for ten rand. I am a warrior. I would jump over you if you give me a girl. A girl who respects a warrior.’
‘So what is a Masai warrior doing in Cape Town?’ I ask. He’s somewhat disdainful now, peering down at me through his dark glasses. He’s a slim, willowy type. His legs and arms are long, and I check what he’s wearing on his feet. He follows my gaze.
‘I am making myself some money here, but I do not like it here. If I could go home, I would throw away these sunglasses and dress properly, in the Masai way. And I would get my proper shoes. A warrior cannot jump in these Nikes - they’re too heavy.’
I am shopping in a South African curio shop with my niece. I finger the various items unenthusiastically. They are just so much dross, many of them with a distinctly Chinese look about them. They looked tawdry and uninteresting. But this Masai warrior might be the real thing, a man residing outside of his culture, uncomfortable and out of context.
He spots my niece. ‘I could jump for her, perhaps.’
‘You mean you could jump over me for her?’
‘Absolutely not!’ retorts my niece, who has a perfectly fine and tall boyfriend already – a philosophy student.
Now I am imagining jumping competitions between the two young men, raising the bar to jumping over a SUV, or maybe a mini-bus. My mind is racing at the possibilities.
‘C’mon, we’re getting out of here.’ My niece grabs my arm and drags me to the relative safety of the sidewalk of Loop Street where muggers abound and the traffic is wild. The afternoon of curio shopping had taken on an unexpected valence very different from the anticipated acquisition of carvings or baskets or beads.
