A large pot of rice was prepared, together with a selection of fish, pork and chicken dishes to accompany it. All their housemates were invited to join in the meal. Afterwards, Amor passed around boxes of chocolates and other sweets. Never, in Desbilla, had they enjoyed such a feast. Three meat dishes and chocolates. But, with the help of their remittances, the girls knew that their families would eat some meat with their vegetables and rice, as well as buying an education for the children and medicine for their grandparents.
The evening also brought good news. Mama-san Joline had been released. Details filtered in throughout the evening as news was carried back and forth, up and down Fields and Perimeter. Joline had appeared in court and her counsel had moved to dismiss for want of evidence. The girls had retracted their affidavits and he submitted that the agents had entrapped the girls. The judge read the statements from the NBI officers and the girls. She concluded that there was conflicting evidence, so she could not be satisfied that the girls were not entrapped. The officers' evidence could not be admitted, and there was no case to answer. The case was dismissed.
Papa-san Rod and Mama-san Joline were leaving for her province tomorrow and would be married next week. Chez Mama would remain closed for the time being, but would reopen in November. The bar owners and managers were relieved at this news, and almost immediately the guidelines began to be circumvented in small ways, as business-as-usual resumed.
Tomorrow was Daddy's Birthday Party, and banners were hung at the front of the bar advertising free food, cheap drinks, and various entertainments. Every customer was handed a flyer, and girls were despatched into Fields Avenue to walk up and down distributing them.
By Tuesday, the rains had returned again. The morning and early afternoon were fine, but the sky clouded over and the cloud thickened until late afternoon when heavy rain fell for a couple hours, then eased. However, the cloud remained, and fine drops of rain continued to drift down.
Talent Spot's door girls were dressed in party hats, and blew kazoos. Balloons and streamers decked the door, and a large banner, proclaiming Happy Birthday Daddy Don, hung above it. A colourful chalkboard, set up adjacent to the door, listed the evening's offerings: extended happy-hour, free drinks, free food, and competitions for the girls. Inside, a well-practised crew had transformed the bar into party mode. Balloons, streamers, mobiles and lanterns hung from the ceilings. The waitresses all wore party accessories - hats, and badges bearing the legend, Happy Birthday. Arranged on a table were trays of buffet food wrapped in cling film.
It was the freebies that drew in the customers. In order for the evening to be profitable, it was necessary that customers arrived early, stayed late, bought a lot of drinks, and left with a girl. Daddy would put himself about greeting and glad-handing the customers, and striking up an instant familiarity. The freebies would draw the customers in, but it was the personal connection, even if of short duration, which would keep the customers there to celebrate Daddy's Birthday, and Daddy has mastered the necessary skills many years ago. That was step one. But, the customers would not stay if there was nothing else to keep them. After they had had their freebies, there needed to be something more. They had to believe that the experience in Talent Spot would be better than the experience down the road. The extended happy-hour, when they could buy half price drinks, kept them seated longer, and drinking more. Daddy would distribute free drinks personally, confiding in the customers, reinforcing the bond. Once the customers had drunk enough to get a glow-on, a virtuous cycle would set in. They would see the girls through beer goggles, and develop a maudlin attachment to Daddy. They would become dis-inhibited, and anxious to demonstrate their appreciation of their new friend, Daddy, and these beautiful girls. Daddy would casually talk about the girls, and point them out. He would offer to make introductions. The girls would come and sit with the customers. They would be bought ladies drinks. If all went well, they would leave with the customer at the end of the evening.
The bottom line, however, was that the customers were there to have fun with the girls. They came to look at the girls, and choose a partner. That is the reason why the costumes were skimpy, and the dances consisted of simple, but classic, invitations to court. This invitation to look, piques interest, and stimulates a desire to see more, and then, inevitably, to the desire to touch. This suited the customers, and it suited the girls. It did not suit the authorities. So far, and no further, was the rule. Such rules suppress the party spirit, and can turn a promotional event from a profit into a loss.
Mama was relieved that Joline had been discharged, and reviewed the house rules. For the party to succeed, some relaxation was necessary. Through back channels, she had ascertained that no activity was to be expected from the local officials and police, and there was no indication of planned NBI activity.
When Blen and her friends entered there were a good number of customers present. Daddy stood schmoozing with a group sitting at a table.
"Haappeee Biiirthdaay Daddeee," the girls chorused, as they approached.
"Hi girls," he greeted them, then turning to the customers said, "This is the night shift, there're some gems here."
As they passed, the girls smiled and waved flirtatiously at the customers, each picking out the guy who interested her most as a focus. These little contacts, these little expressions of interest, were important tools in the bar girls' art of seduction.
Mama called all the late shift girls together.
"So far, the party is going well. We have happy-hour for another two hours, and you must keep the customers here. That is your job. Joline has been release from jail, so we can relax a little now. If you have a wardrobe accident you will not be sent home. Blen, you can start doing body shots again, and I want you, Amor, to be a shooters girl also, for tonight. We will have a lot of customers, so try and sell a lot of shots. A quarter-of-an-hour before the end of happy-hour ... I will tell you when ... I want you to take of your tops. Keep moving around from table to table. Make sure all the customers see you. Then they will think there is more to come, and the next event is the competitions after ten. Girls, if you are ask for a ladies drink, tell the customer that there are competitions later, let them believe it will be very sexy. Remember you are selling the promise of things to come. Tell them that after midnight there will be dirty dancing, but do not tell them what it is. You must keep them in the bar."
With this brief, the night shift went to work.
Blen and Amor stood before the mirror and transformed themselves into twin cowgirls, then spread out around the bar to pitch the customers.
The economics of tequila shooters was very simple. Local tequila was very cheap and tasted every bit as bad as the Mexican variety, since the Spanish had shuttled between Mexico and the Philippines for several hundred years bringing their acquired tastes with them. Tequila shots are shot-gunned, the idea being that the alcohol is passed through the mouth before the taste buds can protest, the after-taste is then cloaked by sucking a piece of lemon or lime coated with salt. All the ingredients are very cheap, and it provides a way to get a glow-on very quickly. This practice, of rapidly downing shots of alcohol to suppress social anxiety, is common in the alcohol-drinking world. It is disguised as a social ritual, so no stigma is attached. There are many recipes and many rituals, and it is a common element of teenage parties.
In the bar, it was the shooters girl who afforded the socially anxious, who wanted to come out of their shell, the opportunity to do so without incurring any stigma. By shot-gunning shooters, not only did they get loaded quickly, they visibly entered into the party spirit, and if they took a body shot, they became the party spirit itself.
Amor had her own way of shedding social anxiety. She downed a couple of 'pick-me-ups' in the CR.
Blen and Amor had the task of facilitating the transition from cold customer, to party animal. They would greet the customers warmly and ask if they were enjoying their evening. After establishing a little rapport, they would describe their offer.
"Are you ready for a shooter yet," Blen would ask, "They are 50 pesos only.
"If you buy four for 150, you can take a body shot on me, also. "If you buy one for me, for 100p, I will take a body shot on you. "If you buy the girl a ladies drink, you can have a body shot with any girl of your choice. Is there a lady that interest you?" She would wave her hand across the stage.
Business was brisk. 'four and a body shot', was her best seller. Undoing her top to expose her breasts, she would line up four glasses and pour the shots, then prepare the lemon and salt. The customer would take his first three shots, licking his salt and biting his slice of lemon, after each. This would shock and heighten his senses. When he was fully alert, Blen would rub the lemon on each of her nipples, and sprinkle them with salt. The customer would take his last shot, and then clamp his mouth on one of Blen's nipples and lick off the salty juice, then move to the other and repeat the process. There was no hurry, he could take as long as he liked.
Blen and Amor kept circulating. As the customers became a little less uptight, they became more receptive, so a second or third visit to their table might prove productive. A shooters girl did, however, require a good head for alcohol.
For many customers, it was the thought of Blen's lips and tongue working on their nipples which appealed, and they would buy a shot for her. Blen would lift their shirt, sensuously rub the lemon onto their nipples, and salt them. After taking her shot, she then licked this off, with a practised technique. Count to fifteen on each nipple. Suck first, then flick the nipple with stiffened tongue, then big round circles around the nipple with her tongue and repeat, and finally take the nipple gently between the teeth and tug it.
