The Bitter Side of Sweet

They are out of food but only have a little money left of what they stole from the bosses, so Amadou asks Khadija if she has practice haggling at the market. She admits she had a maid who did the shopping, and Amadou and Seydou are again shocked at how rich she is. Seydou claims he can haggle because he used to go to the market with Auntie, but Amadou hesitates to let him try. Eventually, Seydou convinces Amadou to let him do it.

First, he goes to a tough-looking woman selling eggs. Seydou is polite, smiling and joking as he talks to her. He shows her all his money and even lets the vendor hold the money while he puts the eggs in his pocket one by one, with his only arm. As Amadou watches, he’s internally criticizing Seydou’s seemingly foolish choices. There’s no way they will have enough money for food after he paid full price for three eggs. However, Khadija sees Seydou’s cleverness. His politeness and struggle to use just one arm has endeared him to the other vendors, and they all know he has the money to pay.