I enter the Mix Bar and Pub in the organization of a sweet-looking girl, Jeannette and soon even as we step in to the well of the house, before we could adjust our eyes to the darkness inside, a pair of girls come rushing towards us. I am greeted with a pleasant’Hi Jack’and I notice girls are Susan and Penny.
Susan split up with her boyfriend a couple of months ago and has been going via an identity crisis since. She has the beauty of some Xinjiang (in western China) women. She’s sweet, tall, angular-faced and always smiling. Smiles are a possession in China that women don’t share too easily, so which makes Susan much more attractive. She originates from a humble rural background. Her parents, from the old school, can be strict and would prefer to lock her up in her room than see her cavorting with big bad boys. They’re ultra conservative. Susan has seen more of the planet since she left the confines of her small town/village to come to study at a college in Huainan. The break-up with her apparently-nice bf has made her somewhat of a rebel.
She’s curled her straight hair and donned hot pants in comparison to her earlier staid looks and dress.
Her friend, Panpan (Penny, as I call her), in comparison, is really a touch fat, less warm and perhaps much more manipulative. I know little about her though I’ve known her some time. She originates from a wealthier background and is apparently well-connected. Susan introduced me to Penny while she (Penny) was employed in a bar that belongs to her’brother'(gege) as a’manager ‘. She doesn’t work there any more.
Susan and Penny and another girl I am not familiar with are typical in the organization of a prosperous looking man who’s sitting at a high round table with bar stools. The table is stocked with beer and some sort of a rubyesque cocktail (a Campari or red wine, perhaps).
They (Susan and Penny) hug me while Jeannette looks on, perhaps wondering what kind of some guy she’s with. I introduce them and go onto sit at a dining table near Susan and Penny’s, perferring that to sharing their table where I will have to buy a circular expensive drinks that I can’t afford and share a discussion that I won’t enjoy.
Jeannette and I are deep in conversation when Susan and Penny come by, glass in hand and toast us. We down our drinks together, chat for some time and they leave. Later Jeannettte and I dance and Susan and Penny come over again. They start playing the dice bar game that’s so popular in China’s bars and karaokes.
A medium-sized’cup’with five dice are typical that is required…in addition to lots of guile and a poker face. Each player shakes the cup and turns the cup over to let the dice fall up for grabs while ensuring another player cannot see what she or he has thrown. Then your game starts where each player takes turns guessing what another has as well as his own…Say, player one throws 3,5,5,5,6 and player two throws 2,2,2,4,5. Player one might focus on, say,’two threes ‘. He has one 3 and assumes another has one or more 3’s. Player two knows he has none, so he may respond with’three twos’or’three threes ‘. The idea is to mislead one another while trying to guess the best number of dice. Player one might respond with’four fives’since he has three 5’s on his throw. Player two can either raise the quantity or look for a show. If he does and the quantity called by player one is right, player two loses and must empty his glass. If player two is right, player one must down his glass…I hope you obtain the fundamental idea…
Penny is too good (read, packed with guile) for me and I toss one glass down after another, winning just a couple of rounds.
Before long we tire and turn to gaze at the bikini-clad dancers on stage. One does the pole trick. The sparse audience takes little notice while lasers shoot beams of blue light. Jeannette and I hit the floor. I really do my pelvic shakes and notice women staring. I don’t bother, enjoying my dance while Jeannette tries to imitate the shake.
After more dancing and dice games Jeannette indicates she must leave as it’s rather late for her. I escort her out and flag a taxi, paying the driver the fare to take her to her destination. I return and check out my table. Susan asks me to become listed on them at theirs. I really do and am forced to drink a few rounds of beer.
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