I couldn’t drift off to sleep in the car, thinking about Huong. What kind of man was she in there with? Was she all right? Did she like it if the john was young and handsome? Was she acting like a slut? Sometimes at night I couldn’t sleep and would fantasize about her, but when I was fully awake I’d keep my distance. I knew I was just a presser in a sweatshop, gangly and nondescript, and might never be able to date a nice girl, but it would be shameful to have an easy woman as a girlfriend. At most, I could be a good friend to Huong.
Tonight she returned in less than fifty minutes, which was unusual. I was pleased to see her back all right, though her eyes were watery and shed a hard light. She slid into the passenger seat, and I pulled away from the curb. “How was it? No trouble?” I asked, afraid that the client might have discovered she wasn’t Thai.
“Rotten luck again,” she said.
“What happened?”
“The man’s an official from Beijing. He wanted me to write him a receipt like I’d sold him medicines or something. Where could I get a receipt for him? Nuts!”
“Did he haggle with you?”
“No, but he bit my nipple so hard it must be bleeding. I’ll have to put iodine on it once we’re home. My clients will think I’m diseased now.”
I sighed, not knowing how to respond. As we were crossing Thirty-seventh Avenue, I said, “Can’t you do something less dangerous for a living?”
“You find a me a job and I’ll take it.”
That silenced me. She slipped a ten into my hand, which was the unspoken rule worked out by the women — every time I drove them, they tipped the same amount. Actually, only Huong and Nana did that, because Lili didn’t take outcalls.
I thanked Huong and put the money into my shirt pocket.
The three women often compared notes. The best clients, they all agreed, were old men. Older johns were usually less aggressive and easier to entertain. Many of them couldn’t get hard and spent more time cracking dirty jokes than doing real business. Those old goats could be more generous, having more spare cash in their “little coffers,” unbeknownst to their wives. The older ones seldom ate dinner at the house. Some of them were friends of Mrs. Chen’s, in which case the women would treat them like special guests, and even give them Viagra. I was surprised when I heard that.
“Viagra?” I asked Lili about Mr. Tong, a bent man in his mid-sixties. “Aren’t you afraid he might have a heart attack?”
“Only half a pill, no big deal. Mrs. Chen said he always needs extra help.”
“He pays you well besides,” Nana said. “Lili, did he give you two hundred today?”
“One eighty,” Lili replied.
“Doesn’t he have a wife?” I asked.
“Not anymore. She died long ago,” Huong said, cracking a spiced peanut.
“Why wouldn’t he marry again?” I went on. “At least he should find someone who can take care of him.”
Nana let out a sigh. “Money’s the root of the trouble. He’s so rich he can’t find a trustworthy wife.”
Huong added, “I’ve heard he owns a couple of restaurants.”
“Also your sweatshop, Wanping.” Nana looked me straight in the face, as if forcing down a laugh.
“No, he doesn’t,” I shot back. “My factory is owned by a girl from Hong Kong named Nini.”
That had them in stitches. Actually, the owner of my garment shop was a Taiwanese man who taught college before coming to America.
Many of the johns were married men. They were reluctant to spend time and money on a mistress for fear of complications that might destroy their marriage. So they tried to keep up appearances while indulging in a sensuous life on the sly. But there were always exceptions. One day, Huong said a middle-aged client had told her that he hadn’t had sex for almost two years because his wife was too ill. Huong had advised him to come more often, at least twice a month, so that he could recover his sex life. As he was now, he was totally inadequate. “He’s a good man,” Huong told us. “He couldn’t do anything with me at all, saying he felt guilty about his wife, but he paid me anyway.”
“Then he shouldn’t have come to a whorehouse in the first place,” Lili said.
I could tell that Huong and Nana didn’t really like Lili either. She often bitched about misplaced things, and once accused Nana of using her cell phone to call someone in San Francisco. They had a row and didn’t speak to each other for days afterward.
The story about the man with a bedridden wife made me think a lot. If I were a policeman, knowing about his family situation, would I have arrested him for visiting a prostitute? Probably not. I used to believe that all johns were bad and loose men, but now I could see that some of them were nothing but wrecks with personal problems that they didn’t know how to handle. They came here hoping that a prostitute might help.
I was in bed one night when a cry rose from Nana’s room. At first I thought it was just an orgasmic groan she had faked to please a client. Sometimes I was unsettled by the noises the women and the men made, noises that kept me awake and fantasizing. Then Nana screamed, “Get out of here!”
I pulled on my pants and ran out of my room. The door of Nana’s room was ajar, and through the gap I saw a paunchy man of around sixty standing by the bed and madly gesticulating at Nana. This was the first time I had seen an older john make trouble. I moved closer but didn’t go in. Mrs. Chen had told me to give the women a hand whenever they needed it. She hadn’t made it explicit, but I’d guessed that she wanted me to provide some protection for them.
“I paid you, so I’m staying,” the man barked, and flung up his hand.
“You can’t make a night of it. Please go away,” Nana said, her face stamped with annoyance.
I went in and asked him, “What’s your problem? Didn’t you already get your time with her?”
He lifted his eyes to squint at me. His face, red like a monkey’s ass, showed he was drunk. In fact, the entire room reeked of alcohol. “Who are you?” he grunted. “This is none of your business. I wanna stay here tonight, and nobody can make me change my mind.”
I could tell that he thought this was like China, where it’s commonplace for a john to spend a night with a girl if he pays enough. “I am just a tenant,” I said. “You’ve been kicking up such a racket that I can’t sleep.”
“So? Deal with it. I want my money’s worth.”
As he was speaking, I glanced at Nana’s bed. Two wet spots stained a pink sheet, and a pair of pillows had been cast aside. On the floor was an overturned cane chair. By now both Huong and Lili were up too, but they stayed outside the door, watching. I told the man, “It’s the rule here: you fire your gun and you leave. No girl is supposed to be your bed warmer.”
“I paid her for what I want.”
“All right, this is not my problem. I’m going to call the police. We simply cannot sleep while you’re rocking the house.”
“Oh yeah? Call the cops and see who they’ll haul away first.” He seemed more awake now, his eyes glittering.
I pressed on. “All the tenants here will say that you broke in to assault this woman.” I was surprised by what I said, and I saw Huong and Lili avert their eyes.
“Cut that shit out! I paid this ho.” He pointed at Nana.
“She’s not a whore. Nana, you didn’t invite him here, did you?”
“Uh-uh.” She shook her head.
I told him, “See, we’re all her witnesses. You’d better get out of here, now.”