“Rooms?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a few rooms upstairs that I rent to the customers by the hour so they can … have some privacy with any interesting people they happen to meet here. You see, this place gets pretty lively evenings. Its one of the more popular singles bars in town.”
“You mean you got broads workin’ the joint at night?”
“Certainly not! The women who hang out here have regular high-paying jobs and wouldn’t dream of charging for their company.”
“So the customers pay you for the rooms, but not the broads,” I sez. “Sounds like a sweet setup to me.”
“Not that sweet,” Frumple amends, hastily. “Still, it helps pay the rent.”
“Okay. I think we can settle for drinks and food,” I shrugs. “Come on out front, Frumple, and I’ll let you buy me a drink to show there’s no hard feelin’s.”
“You’re too kind,” the Deveel grumbles, but he follows me out of the office.
“I think champagne would be appropriate to seal our agreement, don’t you?” I sez. “White champagne.”
“White champagne?”
“Of course,” I smiles, glad for a chance to show off my knowledge and culture. “This here is a sushi bar, ain’t it? You think I don’t know what color champagne to have with fish?”
Chapter Nine:
“Manners are acquired, not inherited!”
S. PENN
THINGS ARE PRETTY sweet for a while after I make our arrangement with Frumple. The reduced costs of our off-hour drinkin’ are a real boon on the scut wages the army is payin’ us, and the Deveel sure had the right of it when he said his sushi bar was a happy huntin’ grounds when it came to broads. Of course, ‘broads’ is perhaps a misnomenclature for the type of women what hang out at this establishment evenings. These was not the usual gum-snappin, vacant-eyed skirts we are used to assoriatin’ with, but rather the classy, fashion-wise young female executive with a lot on the ball what normally wouldn’t give lunks like us the time of day. It seems that once we invaded the sanctuary of these upwardly mobile females, however, they was open-minded enough to give us serious consideration in their own deliberations. While I will not try to comment on which of these two types of females actually makes for better companions, there are things to be said for each … though not all those things are complimentary.