Page 2 of Spring UnVeiled
“The sponsorship.”It was Eddie’s turn to redirect.
“Oh, yeah.The petty officers, they’re like you, real babe magnets.And, well, look at me.I don’t have big muscles or a cool Trident.Even though I work over here, women totally ignore me because they know I’m not a SEAL.But those guys decided that no man who worked in Naval Special Warfare should hold a V card—that’s what they called it, but I don’t have any kind of card with a V on it.Never did.My name is Boudreau Fontanelle.There’s no V nowhere in my name.”
“Back to the party,” Trojan interrupted the young man’s ramblings.
“Yeah, so, they took me with them to a party at Miss Nami’s house.They’re regulars and they vouched for me.Not just anybody can go to her parties, you know.”
Teddy was sure more than one sailor had gotten his proverbial cherry popped at one of the woman’s infamous parties.According to rumor, she knew when every ship pulled into port, every military payday was marked on the calendar, and she didn’t mind collecting the fifty-dollar cover charge at the door.Alcohol was free but her girls weren’t.
“I’m really glad you now have a man card, but you were explaining how this sponsorship worked,” Shadow pressed.No one wanted to hear the details of the kid getting laid for the first time.
“Okay, Miss Nami has lots of cousins who want to come to the United States to get a better life.You pay her five thousand dollars?—”
“Where the hell did you get five thousand dollars on E-2 pay?”Ox interrupted.
The younger man grinned.“I had nearly five hundred saved up so I could fly home for Ma’s birthday and Miss Nami has a friend who lent me the rest of the money.”
All the men slowly shook their heads left to right and back.
“I’ll just bet she did,” Trojan grumbled.“I’m afraid to ask what the interest rate would be.”
“Jasmine helps me pay him back.She makes good tips,” Fontanelle explained.
“No pun intended,” Eddy said under his breath.
The yeoman’s face looked so confused it was somewhere between sad and comical.
Slick made his hand fly upward into the air.“Space shuttle.”
The subtext of the conversation was totally going over the young man’s head.Damn.This kid was so naïve.What the hell had he gotten himself into?
“Getting back on task, you borrowed money from Miss Nami’s friend to pay her the five thousand dollars to bring her cousin to the United States.”Teddy raised an eyebrow.“And what do you get out of it?”
“I get my money back.”Fontanelle shifted.“Once Jasmine got to the United States, she moved in with me.See, there’s not enough room in Miss Nami’s house, even though it’s really big and has lots of bedrooms, Jasmine can’t stay there.Since I’m sponsoring her, she has to live with me, just like a foreign exchange student.So, see, she’s my roommate, but she’s not my girlfriend.I don’t really like her that way.She does my laundry, irons my uniforms, cleans the apartment, and cooks for me.It’s not Cajun cookin’ but Filipino food isn’t all that bad.At night she goes to her job at Miss Nami’s.That is, if there’s a party.She, like the rest of the girls, works only for tips.If they charged for what they do, it’d be considered prostitution and that’s illegal.”
“Let me guess, Miss Nami explained that to you.”Everyone except the young man in front of them understood the sarcasm in Shadow’s voice.
“No.The SEALs who took me to the party told me how it works with the girls.Since I didn’t have any idea how much to tip them, they told me the going rate for the different things they offer.”The kid looked at his spit-shined shoes.“I’d never heard of some of that…stuff.”He raised his head smiling.“Jasmine has taught me a lot since she moved in.She’s one of the more popular girls at the parties.”
Before the kid could start talking about sexual acts, Teddy looped him back around.“I want to hear more about the money you get back for your sponsorship.”
“Sure.Part of Jasmine’s tips go to Miss Nami because she provides the parties, some of her money comes to me so I can pay back what I borrowed to get her here—but I’ve almost got that paid off because Jasmine makes lots of tips.Then she gives me money for rent and food.Well, Jasmine doesn’t actually give me the money because Miss Nami handles all the tips.See, since these girls grew up so poor, they don’t know how to handle money, least of all American money.”He grinned like they were all in on the same secret.“See, a roommate but with benefits.”
“And Jasmine gets to keep the rest, right?”Ox asked hopefully.
The young seamen apprentice looked away.“Well, there really isn’t any money left.You guys know how expensive apartments are in this area and my basic allowance for housing from the Navy isn’t very much.I need the money from Jasmine to help pay the rent and improve the apartment.My furniture was shit, but just last week I bought a new sixty-inch television…so she could watch TV during the day.It helps improve her English and she says that helps get her better tips.See, she’s a roommate, not my girlfriend.”
Yeah, a roommate with benefits enslaved to Miss Nami and the naïve idiot in front of them.
“Do you have a two-bedroom apartment?Is that why you want to get a new roommate?”Trojan asked the question before Teddy could.
“No.I have a studio.”The young man glanced away before he returned his attention back to the SEALs.“Jasmine is a really nice girl, but like I said, she’s not my girlfriend.She’s pressuring me to marry her so she can get a military ID card and American citizenship.”
“Is marrying her part of this sponsorship?”Slick asked.
“Heck no.If I marry her, I have to pay off Miss Nami ‘cuz Jasmine doesn’t want to keep on working for her.And I don’t love her.I don’t want to marry her.”The young man sounded desperate.“I was hoping to find her a job like a live-in nanny.She’d have a place to live and make money.She could pay Miss Nami off herself…and I could sponsor another girl.”
“Did you say other SEALs were doing this?”Incredulity laced Trojan’s voice.
