Read Online Pearls of Asia: A Love Story by Lee Geiger - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lee Geiger
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past the throng of table seekers.
Mac been there for an hour nursing a Pellegrino, and there still was no sign of Sheyla. A waitress on the floor appeared to be in charge, so he decided to ask her about Sheyla Samonte’s whereabouts. “Excuse me, Miss, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Yes, I’ll go home with you tonight,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.
“That wasn’t going to be my question.”
“Okay, my name is Reyna, and my phone number is…”
Reyna was tall like the other girls, but a bit stockier, and a touch older. She was wearing a black dress and a heavy dose of makeup that failed to hide a nasty scar above her left eye. Mac was more likely to share a foxhole with her than a bed.
“Not that either,” laughed Mac. “I was wondering if you could help me. Do you know someone who works here named Sheyla Samonte?”
“Yes, but when she’s here she’s better known as Jasmine, Sheyla’s evil twin sister. Jasmine’s our most popular girl. The customers call her human Viagra.”
“And she’s a ‘gender illusionist’ like yourself?”
“Of course she is, silly,” she answered while at the same time getting her picture taken. “All the ladies who work here are transsexuals. We’re Women 2.0; special girls with special equipment. That’s what makes us, as well as this place, so unique.”
“Trust me, I get it. Is she working tonight?”
The restaurant was packed, and Reyna was being bumped and shoved in the tight aisle like a pinball. A hand reached out from the crowd and grabbed onto her breast. She didn’t seem to mind. “No. Sheyla doesn’t work on Fridays, but she’ll be here tomorrow night.”
“Damn,” said Mac, his face doing a poor job of hiding his disappointment. “Do you know where I can find her? It’s important that I talk to her.”
“It’s not my turn to watch her,” replied Reyna. “But I’d be more than happy to sleep with…I mean…talk to you. What would you like to know?”
“How well do you know Sheyla?”
Reyna had no idea who Mac was, but this was a woman who never passed on the opportunity to chat up a handsome man. She described how Sheyla, whom she had known while growing up in the Philippines, showed up at the doorstep of her small Mission District home ten years ago after moving to San Francisco from Thailand. Out of money and out of work, Reyna let Sheyla stay with her. She even helped Sheyla get a job selling makeup at Macy’s. They were good roommates and each other’s best friend, but Reyna had asked Sheyla to move out of her house two years ago after Reyna and her boyfriend decided to live together. “A gal’s got to have her priorities,” she said.
Mac asked Reyna what she did for a living when she wasn’t slinging cocktails and flirting with strange men. Or women. “I oversee the Transgender Advocacy Program at a local health clinic. Our budget is over a million dollars. I may not be as pretty as some of these young pop tarts running around here in their underwear, but I’ve got three things they don’t have: a good job, a home that I own, and a wonderfully supportive boyfriend who wakes up with me every morning. Otherwise, I’ll beat the crap out of him.”
Mac was suitably impressed. “It sounds like you’re a big deal in this town.”
“I am. I have the mayor’s private number on my speed dial.”
“For business or pleasure?”
“Depends if his wife’s around. Anyway, last year he appointed me to a special commission on transgender rights. The way I see it, one of my job descriptions is to be a role model. Too many girls in the trans community ‘think they’re all that’ and measure themselves by what kind of shoes they wear, or which designer purse they carry. And whenever they meet a quality guy, they use them to pay their bills or promote themselves. I feel it’s my responsibility to make these girls wake up and realize there’s more to life than makeup and men. Although I’m not sure
Mac been there for an hour nursing a Pellegrino, and there still was no sign of Sheyla. A waitress on the floor appeared to be in charge, so he decided to ask her about Sheyla Samonte’s whereabouts. “Excuse me, Miss, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Yes, I’ll go home with you tonight,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.
“That wasn’t going to be my question.”
“Okay, my name is Reyna, and my phone number is…”
Reyna was tall like the other girls, but a bit stockier, and a touch older. She was wearing a black dress and a heavy dose of makeup that failed to hide a nasty scar above her left eye. Mac was more likely to share a foxhole with her than a bed.
“Not that either,” laughed Mac. “I was wondering if you could help me. Do you know someone who works here named Sheyla Samonte?”
“Yes, but when she’s here she’s better known as Jasmine, Sheyla’s evil twin sister. Jasmine’s our most popular girl. The customers call her human Viagra.”
“And she’s a ‘gender illusionist’ like yourself?”
“Of course she is, silly,” she answered while at the same time getting her picture taken. “All the ladies who work here are transsexuals. We’re Women 2.0; special girls with special equipment. That’s what makes us, as well as this place, so unique.”
“Trust me, I get it. Is she working tonight?”
The restaurant was packed, and Reyna was being bumped and shoved in the tight aisle like a pinball. A hand reached out from the crowd and grabbed onto her breast. She didn’t seem to mind. “No. Sheyla doesn’t work on Fridays, but she’ll be here tomorrow night.”
“Damn,” said Mac, his face doing a poor job of hiding his disappointment. “Do you know where I can find her? It’s important that I talk to her.”
“It’s not my turn to watch her,” replied Reyna. “But I’d be more than happy to sleep with…I mean…talk to you. What would you like to know?”
“How well do you know Sheyla?”
Reyna had no idea who Mac was, but this was a woman who never passed on the opportunity to chat up a handsome man. She described how Sheyla, whom she had known while growing up in the Philippines, showed up at the doorstep of her small Mission District home ten years ago after moving to San Francisco from Thailand. Out of money and out of work, Reyna let Sheyla stay with her. She even helped Sheyla get a job selling makeup at Macy’s. They were good roommates and each other’s best friend, but Reyna had asked Sheyla to move out of her house two years ago after Reyna and her boyfriend decided to live together. “A gal’s got to have her priorities,” she said.
Mac asked Reyna what she did for a living when she wasn’t slinging cocktails and flirting with strange men. Or women. “I oversee the Transgender Advocacy Program at a local health clinic. Our budget is over a million dollars. I may not be as pretty as some of these young pop tarts running around here in their underwear, but I’ve got three things they don’t have: a good job, a home that I own, and a wonderfully supportive boyfriend who wakes up with me every morning. Otherwise, I’ll beat the crap out of him.”
Mac was suitably impressed. “It sounds like you’re a big deal in this town.”
“I am. I have the mayor’s private number on my speed dial.”
“For business or pleasure?”
“Depends if his wife’s around. Anyway, last year he appointed me to a special commission on transgender rights. The way I see it, one of my job descriptions is to be a role model. Too many girls in the trans community ‘think they’re all that’ and measure themselves by what kind of shoes they wear, or which designer purse they carry. And whenever they meet a quality guy, they use them to pay their bills or promote themselves. I feel it’s my responsibility to make these girls wake up and realize there’s more to life than makeup and men. Although I’m not sure
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