I was startled by a finger poking me in the side, I turned around and saw that it was Hendy “hey are you playing?” he asked “Oh! its my turn? of course I’m playing” I said sliding off my stool. “Nicole this is Hendy, please don’t hurt him” I said winking at her as I turned to walk over to the pool table. I saw that I had practically lost the game so I may as well throw in the towel. I surrendered my cue stick to one of the guys who had been waiting impatiently for the table. I looked around for Celia, as far as I could tell she wasn’t in the bar which meant she was probably upstairs. I glanced over and saw that Hendy was still talking to Nicole. I decided to head on upstairs to see if Celia was there, maybe she was ready to go somewhere else. I was hungry but wasn’t in the mood for deep fried chicken tonight.
I maneuvered my way through the crowd and up to the 2nd floor. Celia was sitting at a crowded table on the balcony a cigarette held between two fingers as she gesticulated vigorously. As usual she was surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smoke and a bunch of guys who were hanging onto her every word. I decided to stand at the bar and wait until she she saw me. I love Celia but I honestly hate cigarette smoke! I looked around the room, some of the women were on the stage dancing in time to the pulsating beat of the Jamaican dance hall music. I noticed that a few were also sitting with customers at the bar nearby. A group of guys seated at a table near the top of the stairs suddenly started whistling and drumming on the table. I looked over and saw that Nicole and Hendy had followed me up.
Heads turned as the whistles and catcalls echoed around the room above the sound of the music. Nicole came over to put an arm around my shoulder and speak directly into my right ear “you and I are going to do some business tonight!” I turned my head and looked at her in surprise. “Me?” I asked doubtfully. “I know you got this” she said flashing me a mischievous grin, then she was gone!
Hendy and I watched as she did an exaggerated model’s walk towards the stage, she was working the crowd. Trailing her fingers down an arm here and playfully caressing a cheek there as though waking everyone up to her presence. Hendy chuckled then turned to me, “so wunna staying here?”, “I guess so! Celia looks very comfortable so I guess we’re staying” I said nodding over to where Celia was still deep in conversation.
