Without invitation, he pulls up a chair opposite us. "Hey ladies, what's shaking?"
"Of course you are," Jose says.
I shoot her a sideways look. "Hey man, I'm Prin. This is Jose."
"Pleasure," he says, his smile stretched too tightly. "So like, you two are regulars here, right? So, I guess that means you're, um, you know..."
"No," Jose says, makin him work for it, "we don't."
He leans over, lowering his voice to a near whisper.
"Oh wait, I got it!" Jose exclaims. "You want to know if we've got that special something, right?"
I kick her under the table, hard. But once Jose gets goin, she never breaks stride. She reaches across de table an takes de man by de hand. "Well baby, you better get us while you can."
By de shade o'grey de man turns, I can tell dat he done jus lost his courage.
"Um, really? That's... cool," he says, finding his feet.
"Sexy," Jose mouths slowly in a loud stage whisper.
"Hey, you know, I gotta get back. Friends. Bar. Nice meeting ya..."
Jose blows him a kiss. "Hasta luego, SUGAR!"
"Jesus," I say. "Sometimes you're a real jerk."
Now, are these my thoughts, or JoseF’s? JoseF’s, o’course, though his mind doesn’t hardly ever correspond to what he’s really lookin at. By comparison, mine would go more along de lines of: De girls will sit at der table. Dey will let da men across from dem gaze into der gorgeous eyes. Is dis for admiration? No, dey are too young. Dis for practise an’othing else, you must understand. Dey learning how to wrestle for power an dis is de safest place to do it.