All Is Fair In Love And War Part 3

April 27th, 1521

After Traveling three quarters of the way around the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed during a tribal skirmish on Mactan island in the Philippines. Earlier in the month his ships dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu, and Magellan met with the local chief, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In the subsequent fighting, Magellan was hit by a poison arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.

 

January 11, 2020

That morning I abandoned Mae Floresca and half my luggage in Angeles City for the white sands of Boracay. I stayed at the Amigos hotel in station two. The Wi-Fi didn’t work. I had to navigate my way through a slum to get to the beach. It had long sand bars and crystal clear waters. It was crowded with Asian tourists and vendors. The first night I slept, the second night I went out mongering. Boracay had no red light district, the working girls were freelancers and could be found at the bars and night clubs.

The hub of all the nightlife in Boracay was Exit bar located on the front beach, it had poor lighting, a dirt floor, a bamboo frame and a thatched roof. It was full of cockroaches. They served drinks in disposable plastic cups. On the corner was a small road barely big enough for a motorbike. It was here that the bikers hung out.

I approached the bar from the beach. There were about thirty people on the dance floor. I began chatting with one of the bikers. His name was James, He was a couple years younger than me and handsome, he had a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder and a dragon on his right. He drove a Suzuki Raider. He asked me if I was looking for a girl. I said yes. He then disappeared into the crowd as I waited. The first girl he brought out wasn’t hot so I said no. He brought a second girl out who was decent looking. I asked to see her ID. As I tried to illuminate her ID with my phone, she said she would go with me for 3000 pesos I countered with 1500, she came down to 2500 I offered 2000, she took her ID back and went back inside. James offered to bring another girl out, I told him I would find a girl myself.

I saw a cute girl and started dancing with her. She looked up at me and smiled. I bought her a drink. Her name was Evelyn, she introduced me to her friend Diane and I invited them back to my hotel. James gave us a ride. We spent a couple hours together.

Evelyn Tirol was born on the mainland in the province of Antique where the peoples skin is dark like chocolate. She was twenty one years old, she had a slim body and brown hair down to her shoulders. James started calling me before they left. He wanted a commission from her. Emily asked me not to tell him that she was still with me. I ignored his calls and she left without him intercepting her.

In the morning I messaged James and told him that Evelyn had left early and that I had fallen asleep. He offered to give me a tour of the Island.

I needed sugar and salt for my dehydration so we stopped at his friends store. He then drove me to Ili Iligan beach and then to the top of Mount Loo. He showed me some hotels and a school that were damaged on Christmas day from a great typhoon. We turned off of the main road and into the jungle. Whenever I am driven out to a deserted area I get a visceral feeling of fear. The driver could be taking me somewhere to rob or kill me. I first experienced this feeling in Cambodia.

We emerged from the jungles and came to a cliff. To the north was a large lagoon and to the south was a demolished resort. James told me that Manny Paquiao had built the resort without permission from the government and that they had demolished it. There was a large Concrete Island seven meters high and accessible only by a bridge of rebar.

There was a group of kids diving off of the cliffs. I met three of them, One of them looked like a girl but I suspected was a ladyboy her name was Kim. Another boy was openly gay and he introduced himself as Enjer, he asked me if I was looking for a girlfriend and introduced me to Sheila she had short hair and dressed like a boy. I exchanged contact information with the group and we took some photos together.

Sheila and I held hands and jumped off the platform together. James pointed to the South and told me if I swam around the cliffs I could make it to Diniwid beach he said he would drive there and meet me. I gave him my belongings bid the kids farewell and made the swim.

When I returned to my hotel and checked my phone I discovered that my brother had sent me a message. My nephew Alex had been born and was healthy. I had chosen to spend Christmas day on the opposite side of the world seeking comfort in the arms of hookers and now I had missed the birth of my nephew.

That night I ran into Evelyn on the beach, she grabbed my hand and introduced me to another man as her boyfriend. He was a big Turkish brute. Emily later explained that he was always trying to proposition her but she was afraid to go with him and his house was far away. Diane joined us, we drank and danced then went back to my hotel for a threesome.

After 11pm the tourist families would go to bed and the beach path would fill up with hookers. They would be posted in groups under palm trees and awnings. Some groups had mama sans and some ladyboys. Their ages ranged from sixteen to 40. KFC always had them. Eight year old girls would follow me as I strolled past them through the unlit areas and beg me to buy bracelets. Unlike Angeles most of the working girls were not hot, they were mostly 6’s and 7’s.

 

January 13th

I missed my girls from Angeles, Jess offered to come to Boracay and stay with me for 4000 pesos a day I declined her offer. I asked Irish to come and she refused out of loyalty to Jess. I asked Mae to come and she said she would only come if Nicole came with her, she had used this same tactic when I took her to Palawan. Nicole was no longer of any use to me, she was chubby and ate too much food. I could barely afford one sugar baby let alone two.

Over the next several days I would find myself at Exit bar Evelyn would approach me, make a joke and give me a high five. Sometimes she would introduce me to other mongers as her boyfriend to keep them away. She refused to go with the Arabs or Injuns as she called them. She was very selective about who she took as clients, Diane would often take the ones that she didn’t want.

Mongers think that they pick the girls. They believe that because they are paying it changes the mating ritual. The reality is that woman are always the selectors of sex. When a monger walks into a bar and begins scoping the girls out, they have already scoped him out and decided amongst themselves who will get him.

One man that never took girls home was a German named Peter. He was older than all of us and looked like Ron Pearlman. Evelyn said he always gave her fatherly advice, he began to do the same to me and the four of us became a gang. He told me to be careful with the working girls. He explained to me that Evelyn probably started out just like the little girls that pestered the me at night to buy bracelets. She had been a hustler her whole life.

Epic was the most popular nightclub on the Beach, we would always migrate there when Exit bar closed. I found myself there with the three of them one night. Peter’s piece of advice that night was that every relationship starts with a lie. He sat on the couch and made out with Diane while Evelyn and I stood on the balcony overlooking the dance floor. Sweet child of mine was playing. Emily sang along. I watched her dance, she wore a gray dress. She followed me back to my hotel room and spent the night with me. She was still with me in the late afternoon of the next day, she was glued to the television watching marvel movies. She told me about her family who lived in the province. Her father was disabled. She was the eldest of four siblings. She paid for her sisters education.

She called her sister on video call and introduced me to her. She told me she had worked as a prostitute for three months. She was always smiling and laughing despite her hard life.

The next night I sat down with Peter at Exit bar, Evelyn smiled and waved at me from the dance floor. Peter told me that she really liked me and was always waiting for me. If I wanted a relationship with her I would have to buy her out of the business. She was in love me, her eyes glowed whenever she looked at me. When I wasn’t with Evelyn I relied on James to find me girls. One night he introduced me to two sisters, one of them was a seasoned hooker that I’d seen on the beach before, her little sister looked like she was barely of age and I could tell she was new to the business. I told her that this life was no good for her and that she should go back home and go to school. I ran into Sheila and Kim at Exit bar and ended up taking Sheila home.

The Henan resort had an all you can eat buffet for 800 pesos. I would spend a couple hours there eating two meals worth of food and using the free Wi-Fi then I would explore the beaches until dark then go out mongering. One afternoon I was returning to my hotel room when I noticed a commotion on the stairs. A Korean couple was outside the room, the door was locked from the inside with a chain. A toddler was trapped inside crying and a small child was sleeping on the bed and could not be woken. I took a curtain rod from my room and gave it to them. The stuck it through the opening and used it to nudge the child awake and he unlocked the door.

 

January 27th

Hedonic adaption is the human minds tendency to always remain at the same level of happiness despite positive or negative changes in one’s life.

Every day I would wake up on this tropical island paradise, eat at restaurants and have sex with beautiful girls but I was extremely depressed.

One night on the bed after sex I stared into Evelyn’s eyes and told her I was empty. The next day when I returned to my hotel room a cockroach was posted at the top of the wardrobe staring me down. It was time to move on.

I ate at a restaurant called blue haven for dinner. When the place closed the kitchen staff invited me to their table for a drink. They were of all ages. They asked me all about my life. They asked me about my family and I told them I had not seen my younger brother in over ten years and I had never met his children. He had married a girl that reminded me of our mother. The youngest one told me that I must reach out to him. Filipino families are very tightly knit, they could not understand how I could be on my own. The chef gave me advice on how to spot ladyboys. It was all about eye contact.  Ladyboys will look directly at you and maintain eye contact while real girls will look down or away.

I found James at Exit bar and told him that I was bored with the whole scene and that everyone there was fake. He told me to meet him tomorrow at his house on the northern end of the island.

I got dropped off in Yapak the next day. There were no foreigners or security guards. It was a slum town on a hill with a school, and many small dwellings. There was only one road leading to Puka beach. Little boys approached me and asked me for money I ignored them. I asked a man where James lived and he led me through a maze and up a hill to James house.

James found me a two story condo, overlooking the town. There were lots of toads in the courtyard. It was within walking distance of Puka Beach. I rented a motorbike from his cousin for 3,000 pesos a week. It wasn’t registered so I had to stay on the back roads to avoid the police . James had a twin brother named John who was a bodybuilder. John and the younger brother Onyuk had a station on the beach where they served drinks and rented kayaks and paddle boards. They let me use them for free. James’s sister worked at the school in town as a receptionist for the principal. They had a dog named Yummy. James’s house had hurricane damage on the outside of his house. I offered to buy the materials and help him fix it in exchange for boxing lessons.

The following morning James took me to Jetty Port to see the cockfights. They took place in a large arena. I started betting with 200 pesos. I got up to 1600 then I lost it all on one fight. James lent me a speargun to go fishing. One night at exit bar two Filipino men got into a fight. One smashed a bottle of red horse over the other ones face and then took off running. Six security guards chased him down an alley. James informed me that they had apprehended him. The police showed up within minutes. Evelyn and Diane led me to a back alley restaurant where we ate soup.  She told me the fight was over a ladyboy and that the bars and clubs often banned ladyboys because they caused too much violence.  She told me that sometimes the ladyboys would pay straight Filipino boys to give them blowjobs and that the Korean female tourists would also hire the local boys for sexual services.

I drove Evelyn to my apartment on my motorbike. As I turned into Yapak A white feral dog began barking, he then chased me with his pack in toe. We were on a winding mountain road and I nearly threw Evelyn off trying to evade them. He almost landed a bite on my ankle. I didn’t fear a bite from one of them I feared the diseases that they carried.

I spent my days exploring the island and my nights at James’s house with his friends and family. I bought food from the local markets and started hand washing my clothes. I stopped buying bottled water and used the water stations. I began training with James and his two brothers. I stayed away from the bars and girls for a couple nights then I summoned Evelyn to my condo. Whenever I wanted her I would text her telling her that I wanted her now. She would always reply with “now as in now?”. I would say “yes babe” and she would arrive within a half hour. She stayed the night and cooked me breakfast in the morning. She told me that she needed a new phone, she wanted me to offer to buy her one. I acted like I didn’t get the hint.

Emily always narrated her text messages to me. She was the mistress to one man who owned an apartment complex in Boracay. She threatened to reveal herself to the man’s wife. She said that she never dreamed that she would sell her body for money and that she hated it. I acted like I didn’t care.  She wanted me to take ownership of her, to support her so that she did not have to be a prostitute. My cold monger heart would not allow it. It started to rain and she decided to spend the night at my place.

The next day I was hanging out with Onyuk and I asked him about the Tattoo on his shoulder it was a symbol with the word Guardians. He explained that they are the local gang.

 

February 1st

When I came I felt it was in the face of everything decent, white sperm dripping down over the heads and souls of my dead parents. If I had born a woman I would certainly have been a prostitute. Since I had been born a man I craved women constantly, the lower the better. And yet women—good women—frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine I wanted to keep. Basically I craved prostitutes, base women, because they were deadly hard and made no personal demands. Nothing was lost when they left. Yet at the same time I yearned for a gentle , good woman, despite the overwhelming price. Either way I was lost. A strong man would give up both. I wasn’t strong. So I continued to struggle with women, the idea of women.

-Charles Bukowski, Women

 

I got the name Jack in Thailand because I always drank Jack Daniels. I was walking down the main road when two massage girls approached me. They introduced themselves as April and Ella Maganda. I told them my name was Jack Gwapo. They laughed and invited me inside. I got their numbers after the massage and they requested McDonald’s food as a tip. I dropped some off later that night. I started thinking of nice restaurants that I could take them to for a first date. Ella called me a couple days later and asked that I take her to McDonalds we agreed to meet that night.

I met them outside McDonalds, they were talking to a Russian guy. They asked me to help translate they told me that they did not want to go out with him. I spoke to him in English and he could not understand so I used google translate. He said that he wanted to go out with Ella, I told him she did not want to go with him. He nodded and said good bye to them. When we ate inside they took pictures of the food and posted it on Facebook. They were so impressed that I bought them McDonalds food. The cost of food for the three of us was 500 pesos.

The girls were from Isabella, a province in Luzon. They were each 19 years old. I could tell that they had never been out of their hometown. They came here to work on a year-long contract. They asked me about my life in the states and whether I was married and had children. Ella and Joy called Exit Bar Hell and would never go there. They went back to their apartment and went to bed at 11 pm every night. I began to practice a dual mating strategy. Dating the good girls for companionship and all my non sexual needs during the day and then using Bargirls for sex at night.

A boat came in from Manilla bringing new girls. They were all lined up on the beach that night. I found a nice pair, Jen and Christine and brought them back to my apartment. Jen was very good at her job. She had exactly what I needed. Ella video called me after they left and we talked about each of our days. I left out the liaisons with hookers.

On the next night James invited me over to his house for food and drinks. Roger and his friends came over. Roger was a tour operator, his friend was a fisherman that lived next to my apartment and another one was a construction worker. The construction worker asked me to bring him back to America. Roger asked me for 1000 pesos to buy beer, I said no. He offered to sell me the condos I lived in for five million pesos. For that amount of money I could have bought the whole town. When I said no he demanded to know why. That night I stood on my balcony overlooking the town. Roger was trying to con me, the fact that he thought that I actually had five million pesos alarmed me. I was a target. There was no security in the town. I was under the protection of James gang and I no longer trusted him. I was a king without an army to protect me. I could disappear here and no one would know. James plan all along was to isolate me so that he could exploit me better. Time to move on.

 

February 13th

I borrowed Johns kayak and took it around Puka beach to Shangri-La. The waves were strong and I injured my foot. James gave me a ride to the clinic, they took an x-ray and I found out that I had torn a ligament. The doctor told me to rest. Evelyn came over. She put ice on my wound and cared for me. She put my picture as the background on her phone. She spent the night and left in the morning for Kalibo to see her family. She said that she would return in two days.

I began scouting for a new place to live in station one. The beach was clear and quiet and free of vendors. I ate at a western style restaurant called Cowboys. Outside I saw a Scottish man and asked him about apartments. It turned out that his brother owned the restaurant and the Apartments next to it. He introduced me to the manager.

I met up with Diane and we went back to my condo. She found out that Emily had moved in with a guy that had agreed to buy her out of the business. Emily messaged me and said that this new man did not judge her for her past and that he takes care of her so she does not have to work. She hoped I could understand and be happy for her. I called her a whore and told her to fuck off.

As we ate dinner Diane talked about Evelyn’s life. Diane was much older and more experienced, she had trained Evelyn on the business. She told me that Bar girls are taught to use their head and not their heart. Evelyn had confessed to her that she had fallen in love with me and that she had never felt that way about a client before.

I told Diane that I should not be angry with Evelyn. This man had offered to buy her out of the business, I had never made such an offer and even if I had the chance again I would not. It’s like trying to beat the casino. I don’t believe that I could ever trust a prostitute and get over her past.

Diane had been a working girl for over ten years. Unlike Evelyn she was cold as ice. She had a younger daughter who stayed with relatives. She said that many men had offered to take her out of the business but that she could not imagine living a different life. She said that she never stayed long time with a client, she wanted that time for herself. We ate dinner, I fucked her and she headed back to Station 1. At midnight I stood on the balcony overlooking the town. Sergeant Mayhem stood beside me.

 

“Sometimes when a soldier spends too long in the simulation he believes that it’s real.” 

“What about the mission. I need orders.”

 “There is no mission soldier, you made this all up.”

The author can be contacted at : jackwhiskey39@yahoo.com