The Bar Files 2.2

Anselmo and JT led the girls to a table, as sitting near the bartender was turning into a crowded affair. The conversation was getting warmer and it became necessary to find a place where there was more privacy. As the four of them were getting to know each other a little more intimately, Celine put her right hand on JT's left shoulder and her left hand on his chest. He, in turn, put his left arm around her waist. 

Liza wrapped herself around Anselmo's right arm. He, on the other hand, drew her close.

"So," asked Celine. "What does a lawyer do at night when he's not working on a case?"

"A lot of things," replied JT. "Sometimes I go out to meet people. It takes away a lot of the stress."

"What kind of people?"

"I don't know... Interesting people."

Their faces drew closer to each other. "Like me?" she asked.

"Yeah... like you..."

Their lips met.

"I've been working really hard to get where I am right now," said Anselmo. "And one day, I'll take my place among the great families that rule the EOGC."

The great families were the EOGC's rulers. There were fourteen families, collectively known as the Great Houses, that owned the EOGC's corporations an a host of lesser families, known as the Minor Houses, who worked in the upper management echelons of the corporations. And towering over the great and minor houses was the Ong family headed by Eric, the supreme ruler of the EOGC, the Taipan.

Even though becoming one of the minor houses was the objective of many working in the EOGC's member companies, holding on to such a position was harder than remaining in the lower levels because of the success-oriented system. What was unusual, however, was that a culture of intrigue was almost totally absent among the great families because being a sycophant was branded as a weakness by the EOGC. This same attitude even carried itself into the other non-member corporations that set up business in the EOGC Territories.

"Ooh, I hope you'll get there," said Liza. Her hand went down and her fingers lightly touched something.

Anselmo was a bit taken aback. "Hey, slow down," he said to her. He turned and noticed JT was already In Celine's face. It was dark in the bar and people were enjoying themselves either at drinks or waiting for the curtains on the stage to part.

"Oh, well, why not?" he remarked after a moment's pause and wrapped his arms around Liza.

A little kissing here, a little hugging there, he thought. Then it's off to somewhere private where no one can see us. Just the two of us.

His lips touched hers. His hands were wandering. Her hands were wandering. Sugar and spice and everything nice. he thought.

Images were going through his head... strawberry sundae... champagne... mochi cakes... hardboiled eggs... sausages...

Sausages?

Anselmo started. He looked down and saw what his hand had been touching.

JT and Celine were rather busy. JT's mouth came down to her neck while his right hand ran through her hair and... net?

Something fell off, or rather came off. Hair... net... Hair? Net? Hair + Net = ?

JT gaped incredulously. He lifted his hand and noticed that the wig was stuck in his fingers. Trembling, he turned to look at the hand, then to Celine, who was smiling sheepishly.

In a fright, he turned to Anselmo. The latter did the same. They looked around and saw strange sights.

Anselmo went pale. "Hey..." he mumbled. "Don't tell me this is a-"

Presently, the curtains came up on on the stage appeared a handsome, skimpily-dressed... man.

"A gay bar?" Cardinal Zhang asked, wide-eyed in disbelief as he set his teacup onto its saucer.

"Yes," said Lorenzo, matter-of-factly, and sipped his tea.

They were in the cardinal's office, doing overtime examination of the cathedral's accounts.

"You did try to warn them, did you?" asked the cardinal.

"Of course I did," replied Lorenzo irritably.

"Don't worry," said a voice.

The two turned to see Sister Catherine Hayashi, who was also seated at the table. Sister Cathy, as she was called, also worked with the archdiocese and was almost always seen smiling. In fact, almost nobody saw her not smiling but nobody seemed interested in annoying her.

"By this time, I'm sure they'll find out," she continued. She then sipped her tea.

The cardinal felt as if the room went dark and smoky balls of blue-white light were hovering about.

JT and Anselmo crashed out of the bar, shrieking. Blindly, they dashed out into the street. They ran into a convenience store, collected a lighter, mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrushes and several bottles of gin and continued running and screaming in the direction of Cagayan River.

On Isla de Oro, long abandoned since the Takeover, at the water's edge, they stuffed their mouths with copious amounts of toothpaste and mouthwash, took their clothes off -making sure none of their valuables were in the pockets- and doused them in gin and set them alight. 

"We're going home after this, alright?" said JT

"Yeah," agreed Anselmo.

"We don't talk about this to anyone."

"Uh-huh."

So at the banks of the Cagayan river, at the water's edge, were two men in briefs who had just escaped from one of the most horrifying experiences in a straight man's life.

"Well," declared JT. "That's that."

"Yeah," agreed Anselmo. "Let's get out of here before somebody sees us."

"Where's the car?"

They had parked it near the bar's entrance.

The Bar Files 2.1

There was a new bar in town and Anselmo Sanchez wanted to try it out. It was called Club P and Anselmo rang up his friend the judge to join him.

It was late afternoon now, and office hours had just ended. Eagerly he grabbed his coat, which he habitually draped on his chair everyday, and his briefcase and stuffed the gold pocket watch into his right trouser pocket. He raced down the corridor and out into the parking lot, flicked out his car key, unlocked his car, hopped in and sped off. At his boarding house, he dropped his briefcase and coat onto his bed and hit the showers.

While he was in the shower room, the judge arrived on his motorcycle and waited patiently at the entrance of the boarding house. He was so eager to check the new bar out that he dressed for the occasion: a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and collar opened  to reveal his collarbones. The shirt was tucked into blue jeans and he wore a thick gold chain, which he bought in Saudi Arabia, around his neck.

Presently, Anselmo appeared. He was dressed up like the judge, except that his shirt was sky blue. He waved a hand as he approached the judge.

"So," asked JT, "Ready to party?"

"Let me get  something first," replied Anselmo. "I ran out of perfume. Don't worry, I'll just be at the convenience store. Won't take a minute."

The convenience store was just across the street. and Anselmo went straight in to buy a small, pocket-sized bottle of perfume. Immediately after he handed the cash over, he started applying the perfume on himself.

"Looks like you're in a hurry to go somewhere," said a familiar voice to his right.

Anselmo half-turned and saw the priest at the newsstand, folding a newspaper he had been reading.

"Aw, not you again," mumbled Anselmo, annoyed.

"Mind telling me where you're off to this time?" asked Lorenzo as he bent down and picked up a basket of canned soft drinks and junk food.

Several memories came back to Anselmo's mind: blanking out in different bars whenever he and JT ran into the priest. He tensed up.

"A new bar," replied Anselmo as the priest approached the counter to pay for his purchases, including the newspaper. "We're going over to check it out."

"And what might that bar be?"

"Ninety-five E-pesos, please," said the cashier.

The priest pulled out a SS1 bill from his wallet and handed it over.

"Club P," replied Anselmo as the cashier handed the priest his change while the priest thanked the cashier.

That name didn't seem likable to the priest. He raised his eyebrows. "Well, I don't think I'm going over there," he said. "And you'd better not either."

Anselmo breathed a sigh of relief. For once he won't be around! he thought  Yes!

Lorenzo leaned forward, frowning. "Don't go there." he said.

Who cares? Anselmo thought. He grinned and ran back to the judge.

They sped off in Anselmo's car as the priest stepped out of the convenience store and scowled.

"Hey, what's his problem?" JT asked, noticing the priest.

"No idea," Anselmo replied, his eyes on the road.

The place was loud. And bright. There were lots of lights and the music from inside was coming out. The two didn't waste any more time and walked in. Since it was the second day of opening, the entrance was free. And there were a lot of people around. Attendance was thick.

The two immediately sat down at the bar and ordered beer. Not long after that, two beautiful figures approached them.

"Ooh, what brings you here?" JT asked the one who sat at his left.

She smiled. "The company," she replied.

"Company?" asked JT. "Anyone with you?"

"Oh, just me and my friend over there-" she said, indicating with an upward nod to the one sitting next to Anselmo. "We were hoping to meet some other friends of our own."

"Is it okay if I join you?" JT asked. "By the way, my name's JT." He held out his hand,

"Celine," she said, holding out hers.

"Hi," said Anselmo to the one who settled at his right.

"Hey," she said to Anselmo.

"Want me to get you something?" asked Anselmo.

"I don't mind," she said with a smile.

Anselmo motioned for the bartender to bring another beer. "What's your name, by the way?" he asked as the bartender brought the beer. "Mine's Anselmo, or Al as my friends call me."

"Liza," she said.

"That's a really nice name," remarked Anselmo.

"So tell me about your work," said JT

"Well," said Celine. I work at a call center."

"EOGC or not?"

"Not," she replied.

"Which one?" asked JT. Indeed, since the Takeover, there were already twelve call centers operating in Cagayan de Oro. Ever since the Takeover, the city had become an IT, agricultural and financial center.

"It's a secret," she said with a smile. "How about you?" she asked. "Where do you work?"

JT smiled. "Can you take a guess?" he asked.

"Another call center?"

JT shook his head.

"Accountant?"

He shook his head again.

"Janitor?"

JT laughed. "No," he said. "That's a little bit far-fetched. I'm a lawyer."

"So what to you do?" Liza asked Anselmo.

"Well, I work at the Railroads Administration Office."

"Wow."

"And you?"

"Call center," she replied, "like my friend."

You Know You're From The EOGC Territories If...

Hi! Anselmo here! Another round of quick facts here, put in a way that's not so serious. Here's a list of characteristics about what typical EOGC people are like. I call it:

You Know You're From The EOGC Territories If...

1. You have two passports

2. You carry two types of currency

3. You have two birth certificates (but if you were born before the Takeover, you have a birth certificate and a protection certificate, which certifies you as an EOGC 'national' like me!)

4. You call non-EOGC Filipinos "pilferinos" or "pilferinians"

5. You hate election day ("It's a waste of time!!!")

6. You have memorized Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and sing it more often than the national anthem

7. You consider Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as your anthem

8. You love Cardinal Zhang -even if you're not a catholic

9. You love working overtime

10. You hate getting to work late (and you also hate it when people come to work late)

11. You take your work to the cafeteria (and eat while working)

12. You develop stomach trouble because you eat while working

13. Your favorite local finance magazine is Forex-E!

14. You want Tagalog speakers to speak in Visayan instead

15. You try to convince Tagalog speakers to speak in Visayan instead ("The Sri Vijayan Empire ruled over the Philippines and gave its name to the Visayas!")

16. You hate Rizal (because you're more familiar with Philippine history than most Filipinos)

17. You think Juan Luna ought to be the national hero instead of Rizal

18. You think Gajah Mada is a better candidate for national hero than Juan Luna

19. You ask, "EOGC pesos or Philippine Pesos?" if you're paying for something and the cashier just says, "Pesos"

20. You despise jueteng, cockfighting and masiao but you love to play bingo and buy lottery tickets

21. You have an EOGC Territories ID in addition to your passport and birth/protection certificate

22. You love (and fear) Eric Ong, even if you don't work in an EOGC member corporation

23. You're even more afraid of Maximilian Ong than his father

24. You drink basi or kahal if you can't find wine

25. You prefer wine to beer

26. You prefer tea to coffee

27. You can't make up your mind if you have to choose between wine and tea

28. You can't live without your mobile devices (laptop, cellphone, tablet, blackberry, etc.)

29. You are a certified anime and manga fan (and occasionally do cosplay)

30. You speak Chinese, Japanese or Korean as a third language (with the first and second being Visayan or Ilonggo and English and treat Tagalog as a fourth language)
31. You call the EOGC security forces "Janitors" and their special forces "Handymen"
32. You call tax collectors "self-glorified beggars"
33. You've spent at least two years learning a martial art before graduating from college
34. You own at least two bank accounts (I've got four!)
35. You own at least three cooperative accounts (I've got six!)
36. You think people who don't save money should be shot
37. You're a member of a money-savers' club
38. You hate anything that hints of "new age," "cult," "guru," "ascended master," "cosmic consciousness," "aquarian age," etc.
39. You're always looking for new investments for your money
40. You like the Spaniards (for the same reason as in number 16)
41. You believe in Feng Shui
42. Your favorite holidays are New Year, Chinese New Year, Holy Week, Christmas, August 28 (Cagayan de Oro City Fiesta,) the Mooncake Festival, July 22 (if you're an EOGC employee -it's Eric's birthday,) and Takeover Day