Bar Girl Ch. 12

"I earn much more in my tips than in my salary," remarked Precious.

"If a customer want to give you money he will be very generous," said Mama, "so give him good service, and take him to the airport, and he will give a big tip and send you money for support. There are also many earning opportunities beside your salary. Amor, you should learn to give the blow-job, I cannot recommend you satisfaction guaranteed if you do not. It is what many customers want. You also, Girlie, you are a cherry ass. You will need to be a three-hole girl soon. Blen, you will be a three-holer in one month. I want all you girls to think about one month. Be ready by then, so when the customers return you will be my best girls. You will be bar-fine every night, and you will have good tips from your customers. Your tips will be much more than your salary if you are a top girl."

When they left Talent Spot, before heading off up Fields Avenue, Precious said she would come to the lady-house in the morning, and they would decide how to spend their day-off. The remaining three walked down to MacArthur Highway and crossed. Having said she and Nick would come around in the morning, Blen turned right towards Nick's hotel, and Girlie and Amor continued to the lady-house.

On Wednesday morning, Blen and Nick shopped for rice, meat and vegetables on their way to the lady-house, and Blen busied herself cooking while Nick watched the TV. By the time her housemates had risen and Precious arrived, a large pot of sticky rice, a pan of vegetables and chicken sinigang were prepared. Jugs of pomelo juice were made up from powder, and breakfast overflowed into the courtyard as everybody took their share and found somewhere to sit and eat.

"What is your plan now?" Precious asked Blen.

"Nick has a plan." Blen looked at Nick.

"Will you buy Blen's cherry?" Precious asked him.

"I have the right of first-refusal. Now it's just a matter of raising the money."

"How much will that be?"

"Five to ten thousand dollars seems to be the ball park figure, at the moment."

"What is that in pesos?" said Precious.

"250,000 to 500,000," Nick told her.

All the girls, except Blen, expressed horror.

"Blen why is your cherry so much?" asked Girlie, "You sell it to Mama for 22,000."

"It is because of Bruno, he is crazy. I am his whore-goddess, and he is rich."

"But cannot Mama take 100,000 from Nick, then she has a fair price?" asked Precious.

"I'm not sure Mama would be happy with a fair price ," said Nick, "but she has an excuse to decline it, she has accepted 50,000 from one person for an option to bid, and she would have to give that back. I do not think Mama gives money back."

"Are you not rich also?" asked Amor.

"We're all fortunate in the West, but we're not all rich," said Nick. "I'm just fortunate ... Bruno is rich."

"Can you not get 10,000 dollars?" asked Girlie.

"I have to work and save. All my savings have been spent, or are earmarked. I only made provision to come here for a couple of months. I've paid for my treatment. I have to leave money in my bank account to pay my mortgage and feed my business accounts. Until I start work again, I've no more disposable cash. I just have what's left of my vacation allowance after paying 50,000p for first-refusal. I've already scraped around for any spare cash. I can max out on my credit card, but that'll only be about 2,500 dollars. Anyway, I'll need to wait to nearer the time to see how much I actually have."

"How much do you have now?" asked Precious.

"About 100,000."

"You must ask Mama," said Amor, "I will give you 20,000p, if we all give, you will have 150,000 and you can ask."

"I will give you also," said Precious.

"I have 2000, you can have that also," added Girlie.

"Thank you, but I can't accept your money. That is for your families," said Nick.

"It is not a gift for you it is for our sister, together we can save her," said Amor.

Nick repeated, and increased, his protests.

"But, you think Mama will not accept," said Amor.

"I don't think she would."

"Then you must ask and we will know."

"Yes, ask," said Precious, "We will bring our money and if she will accept we help you to pay."

Nick turned to Blen. "Would you ask this of your friends?"

Blen stared into his face. "It is my friends who offer, it is up to you if you accept."

The tone of her voice conveyed that a refusal would be a personal betrayal.

Nick thought briefly. He was certain Mama would refuse. "OK, I will ask. First send your remittances, then have ready what you wish to contribute, I'll ask today."

After sending their remittances, the girls went together to the bank. Amor collected her ATM card, then she and Precious went to the ATM and left only minimal balances to keep open the accounts. They secreted their wads securely, and walked back up MacArthur to Nick's hotel. Once safely in his room, they all produced their contributions. One by one, they were counted, and a record made. The pot was then totalled.

Blen had put in 5,000, Girlie 2,000, Precious 25,000 and Amor 23,000. Added to Nick's 98,000 this totalled 153,000 pesos.

"Let's go and see what Mama says," said Nick.

They walked up together and entered Talent Spot like a delegation. Mama, who was completing the organisation of the early shift, saw them enter, and looked at them expectantly as they approached her.

"Good afternoon Mama, can I have a word?" said Nick.

"We had better go into the back." Mama led the little procession through.

"I have another proposal," said Nick.

"For Blen's cherry?" Mama clarified.

Nick confirmed that it was, and got straight to the point.

"I can improve my offer. I can give you 150,000 cash today. You can repay Hu-fan his option fee; you have my option fee of 50,000, so you will receive 150,000 for Blen's cherry. That's top dollar. Have you ever received so much for a cherry before?"

"No, I have not, receive 150,000. But, as you know Nick, Blen is a very special girl who deserve a special price."

"I do not like to be special Mama," said Blen, "my cherry is not special, only for me. I like Nick to have it."

"Remember Blen, these romantic notions are very recent," replied Mama. "You did not have them two months ago. You did not have them when you work in the rice fields. You come to me and ask me for an opportunity. Now you have a job. You support your family. You have your choice of foreign boyfriends. I give you this opportunity. When I pay for your cherry, I do not know if I will make money or lose money. Now you have a good life you forget the promises you made when you want an opportunity. Let us ask Precious, Girlie, and Amor how they lose their cherries. If any of them has lose their cherry romantically, to a man they love, I will accept Nick's offer."

At fourteen, Precious had been seduced by her uncle when she was working in the fields. Amor, out of curiosity more than anything, had allowed herself to be fucked perfunctorily up against a tree by someone else's boyfriend when she was sixteen. Girlie, when she was seventeen, had been casually gang-raped by three former classmates, while she was drunk.

"I also was not fortunate," added Mama, "I am a cherry girl of fifteen. I go cherry bar-fine with a customer. He know my cherry is for sale, but when he eat my pussy I cannot resist, I think he will love me, I like him to fuck me, and he do. He do not pay for my cherry, and I never see him again. He rob me of my cherry, and leave me with a broken heart. If you do not like to be special, do not be romantic. Count the good fortune you have, and let others have their good fortune also."

"I will give you 150,000 today, and 150,000 in one week," said Nick.

"You also have a slice of pie-in-the-sky," said Mama.

"300,000 for Blen's cherry, paid in seven days. You'll be able to go to the bank next Wednesday and pay it in."

"Remember last time you make me an offer I call to Bruno. I will not do so now. Already he has offer 150,000 and 50% for Blen. He offer without hesitation, without thinking. Jack and Hu-Fan will push him high, very high. 300,000 in seven days, or 500,000 in, maybe fourteen days. It is soon now. Which will you choose?"

"Mama, that is not fair. You are from our barangay, you should help Blen," said Amor.

"I have help, I can help no more. I bring you from our barangay, so you can earn money. Earning money is about taking your opportunity, not fairness. I have been fair. Now Blen has her chance to earn 100,000 pesos for one night, and I will earn also, but she will refuse that money, and refuse me my opportunity. That is not fair."

"I see you are not minded to cut a deal today, but I'll leave the offer open. If you change your mind, let me know," Nick said.

The party returned to Nick's room, monies were redistributed, and they made their way back to the bank where Precious and Amor once more deposited their savings.

Back outside, Nick said, "Thanks for trying. Now you girls go and enjoy your day-off."

"I will come with you," said Blen to Nick.

"No, you go and enjoy yourself with the others. Have a good time. I'll take a walk and have a think. I need to be alone. I'll see you tonight."

They walked back to the hotel, where Nick and Blen kissed, and parted. The girls then continued onwards, and crossed into Fields Avenue.

Blen and her friends found a little karaoke bar off Perimeter Road and settled down to drink, sing and flirt with the trike drivers, who frittered their earnings on Red Horse. A trike driver arriving from Villa-Sol Subdivision, further up Perimeter Road, brought news which fascinated his colleagues.

He had regularly transported a German man and his Filipina wife up to Perimeter Road, or into town or to the market. A couple of months earlier, the wife had struggled from her house, bound and with a shirt tied over her head. Her story was that at four in the morning, several men had barged into her bedroom, hog-tied her, and tied a shirt over her head. When she heard all commotion cease and she believed they had gone, she freed herself and went into the sala, where she found her husband collapsed, stabbed, and apparently dead. She went outside and cried out to raise the alarm. Neighbours came and released her and the police were summoned.

Some months had now elapsed, and the police had today returned seeking information on the whereabouts of the wife. It transpired that the police had received an anonymous call to say that the caller had been asked by a security guard, called Roland, who worked at a certain KTV bar, to kill a foreign resident in Villa-sol. The anonymous tipster had refused, but when he heard of this crime, he felt he should report the conversation to the police. The police had enquired into the background of the wife, and found that she went to the gym adjacent to the KTV bar.

They then made enquiries in Roland's neighbourhood. Roland had boasted of having a girlfriend who was the abused wife of a foreign resident. Some of Roland's acquaintances recognised the wife's photo as Roland's girl friend. Roland had also said his girlfriend gave him 20,000 pesos to redeem his house, which had been mortgaged to a private moneylender.

The wife had moved in with her sister following the murder, but when investigators went to the sister's house they were told that, shortly before, the occupants furtively evacuated with all their possessions at midnight, and left leaving no forwarding address. Examination of the crime scene had led investigators to believe that the husband had been killed in the bedroom while he slept, and his body moved to the sala. He was an ex-bouncer and karate black belt, but there was no sign that he had tried to defend himself. Now, Roland and the wife had disappeared, and the trail had gone cold.

"Why did she want to kill her foreigner?" asked Amor.

"She was depress. She do not like her life with him. He is very strict with her, but he like to butterfly. He bring back young girls and make her join in the orgy. There are many photos found by the police," said the trike driver.

"Why not leave him, why kill him?"

"Maybe she hate him. Maybe she is jealous with the young girls. Maybe he do not let her leave. I do not know. He is not a nice guy."

"If I marry with Bruno, I will kill him," said Blen, "Maybe the guy is like Bruno."

"You must wait until Jesusa finish in school," said Amor.

"Then, that will be my fate; I must wait her to graduate school. But, I will have a lover to keep my soul alive."

The girls got drunk, and sang the evening away. At midnight, they returned to their beds, Amor and Girlie to the lady-house, Precious and Blen, to their companions' hotels.

Nick came to reception to welcome Blen with a kiss, and with his arm around her waist led her to his room. Blen was maudlin. She undressed, then pulled Nick onto the bed with her.

"If you do not buy my cherry, I will marry with Bruno," she told him, "but you will be my lover. When Jesusa is graduate, you will kill him, then you will have me, and we will have his money."

"Why would you want to marry Bruno, you hate him?" asked Nick, casually.

"Because -"

"Because what?"

"Because, you do not offer me. Bruno has offer me. Because you are a poor guy. Bruno is rich. Because it is my fate. I must do it for Jesusa. I do not like it, but I can do it."

Nick considered his reply with care. Here and now, he loved Blen. More than anything in the world, he wished to be with her. But she was from a different world. Could she live with him in his world? Would he be happy? Would she be happy? She believed in fate. Maybe it was their fate to be lovers passing in the night, a brief and blissful romance that would corrupt into something ugly back in his real world. This black-eyed beauty, who stared mournfully into his eyes, silently pleading, "Offer me - offer me," not only seduced him, she frightened him.

This girl had steel in her soul. He knew she had, because it had been tested. She had never had the easy option, yet she had faced her fate and accepted it, she had endured a fate worse than death, lived through it, and smiled. He had never had that iron determination, and he felt she could see the weakness in him, the pliability, the tendency to bend to the expectations of others. Now she was forcing him to admit his weakness.

He thought for too long.

"If Bruno win my cherry I will marry with him. I do not want you for my lover." Blen rolled over.

Nick lay and listened to her sob, unable to find careful words, and lacking that courage which Blen possessed, to leap fearlessly into the dark.

When they woke on Thursday morning, Nick and Blen lay side-by-side, each aware that the other was awake, but unsure of their new relationship, unsure what to say.

"I never expected I would meet a girl like you. I just came to fix my teeth," Nick offered, by way of partial explanation, or excuse.

"I know. It is just my dream, but I have cry away my dream now," said Blen.

"It was my dream also, it still is my dream. But it's a dream without a plan. A dream without a plan is fantasy. What we need is a plan."

"Then what is a dream with a plan, it is still a dream," said Blen disconsolately.

"A dream with a plan is a possibility."

"So, it is possible you may marry with me?"

"That depends on the plan. We share the dream. If our plan is a good plan our dream will come true," said Nick.

"What is our plan?" asked Blen.

"I'm still working on that."

"Work quick. There is not much time. If Bruno win my cherry I cannot marry with you. I will marry with him. I will know that is my fate."

"Good. I work best under pressure?" said Nick.

Blen rolled onto Nick and kissed him, "You can eat my pussy now."

That evening, Mama had more news for Blen.

"I have two contacts from interested parties today. The 10th November will be a big day for you. Bruno will return. He want to speak with you. And Hu-Fan and Mr Chew will arrive. Mr Chew will interview you next day."

"I do not want to speak with Bruno," said Blen. "If he will win my cherry I will marry with him. I cannot marry Nick if he do not take my cherry. But I do not want to speak with Bruno, I just enjoy my time with Nick, so I have a remembrance. Do not tell Bruno, I do not want to give him joy."

"That is best. He will give you a good life; he will educate your sister. He can send her to university, maybe in America. It is not so much he ask you in return. Just a little joy."

"I also will have only a little joy. I dream of joy forever. There is no joy forever for the poor, only for the rich. I was foolish," said Blen.

"There will be very many with a harder life. But, Mr Chew may be the one. He also is very rich. He is old and he is dying, his is a strange request also."

"What is his request?" asked Blen wearily.

"He seek a cure for his illness. He is Chinese, and superstitious. He believe a story, that if he eat the semen of a unicorn he will return to youth. Only a virgin can catch a unicorn. He need you to catch the unicorn."

"A unicorn. What is a unicorn? Is he a crazy man?"

"It is a spirit animal, he believe in magic," Mama told her.

Blen laughed, "How will I catch a spirit? I do not think he is serious."

Mama explained further, "He believe that when he will smoke opium he will enter the spirit world. You will enter with him, and you must accept the unicorn and after it take your cherry, he will eat the semen from your pussy. That will restore his body to health and youth."

"I do not understand how I can do that, if there is no unicorn," said Blen.

"Mr Hu-Fan will arrange it, he will explain everything."

"The man is a fool. Even rich men must die. They cannot pay money to escape death."

"Mr Hu-Fan will part the fool from his money, and he will give some of it to me. Maybe, also to you. I think he will also have a proposal for you, but you must wait until he come."

Blen spent the evening in a despondent mood. She knew her fate. She regretted having gone to McDonalds with Nick, to having the presumption to be a student nurse for even one day. If she had not known how that felt, she could not feel her present misery. Now, she understood why it is said that Man is the only creature capable of unhappiness, because he knows not only what is, but also what could have been.