America 1982

Following Pam's instructions, Tommy walked towards the white security guard at the door. The security guard just looked at him and asked, "Young man, I need to see your ID to decide whether you can go in."

"Hill Street Blues." Tommy took out the day card and said to the other party.

The white security guard glanced at the black card ticket in Tommy's hand: "Boy, no one told you that in addition to the code, you also need to pay a two-dollar toll?"

Tommy Hawke hesitated, then took out two one-dollar notes and handed them to the other party. If he had known that he would need to pay extra, he wouldn't have ridden his bicycle for seventeen kilometers to come here.

Seeing that there was no one around, the white security guard took the money, tilted his head behind the door, and said with a wicked smile: "Go in and enjoy it, kid. Remember not to cause trouble, because it will implicate me."

Paradise Club is no stranger to Tommy Hawke. It is an old chain club. When he was studying abroad in Boston in his previous life, he went to the Paradise Club in Boston with his classmates.

After passing through the dark and narrow corridor, the female receptionist at the front desk confirmed the tickets and allowed Tommy Hawke to enter the hall, which sounded loud and flashing with colorful lights, but was actually shabby and deserted.

That’s right, there won’t be any lascivious images of beauties dancing naked in the lobby.

Cigarette butts all over the floor, the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke and cheap perfume, large swaths of empty seats, and dancers writhing weakly on the dim stage with unclear faces are the real picture of this mass-consumption strip club.

Moreover, although there are indeed dancers in the hall inside dancing on the high stage, and they are constantly reducing their clothes, Tommy can be sure that until the end of the stage, the other party will keep the full bikini on her body, and there will not be any exposure.

Striptease is a legitimate profession in the United States. Like teachers, drivers, doctors and other industries, the industry is very mature and has strict rules. In the United States, such clubs are divided into hierarchical levels. There are indeed Tommy Hog In Ke's imagination, there are clubs where people are drunk and rich, and there are a lot of naked beauties. But they only exist in certain cities, such as Las Vegas, New York, Boston, etc. They are generally high-end consumption places with a membership system.

At this moment, there were only six or seven guests in the club hall. Two of them were sitting at the bar drinking beer and did not watch the show at all. The remaining few just sat around the seats with their arms folded and did not look at the dancers at all. The desire to lose change.

Obviously, the club's business is the coldest in the afternoon, and the business may not pick up until night falls at the earliest and a large number of men call it a day.

Tommy Hawke did not go to the show, but sat directly at the bar, handed over the change and said to the bartender: "Please give me a beer."

Then I looked at the price tag placed on the bar. Compared with the Paradise Club in Boston in 2022, the prices charged by the Paradise Club in Providence in 1982 were really affordable.

Unlimited daily hall tickets cost $15 per person.

A single hall ticket is US$3 per person.

Each dance between the curtains costs three dollars for a single person.

The champagne room is $50 per fifteen minutes and comes with a bottle of champagne.

For a chain club like Paradise Club that caters to the public, there won’t be too hot scenes in the lobby. If guests want something more exciting, they need to spend extra, such as sitting in a single curtain room, closing the curtain, and accepting the dancers. Although you can't move your hands or feet, the dancer can sit on your lap and perform for a period of two minutes for three dollars a song.

If you want to go one step further, you need to go to a higher-cost champagne private room. The club will give you a bottle of champagne. At that time, it depends on the dancer's skills and how many fifteen minutes she can get the customers to buy. Generally, if you buy generously, After buying a one-hour champagne session, if the guests are not annoying and are interested, it is not surprising that they would go out for a late-night snack and play poker together.

"Boy, when I was as young and handsome as you, I never had to come to a place like this to meet women." Sitting next to the bar, a white man raised his whiskey, looked sideways at Tommy Hawke, and joked: "Don't you think falling in love with a high school girl is more attractive to you than these dancers? Only an old guy like me in my thirties or forties would consider coming here to have some fun with tips."

From the accent of the other party, it was obvious that he was not a native of Rhode Island, but more like a visitor from Florida.

"Sir, I think your current mature appearance is also very attractive to women." Tommy Hawke took the beer handed by the bartender, gestured to the other party and said with a smile.

That's what bars are like. Whether you know someone or not, you can chat and pass the time.

The reason why Tommy Hawke praised the other party was because he was thinking that if this middle-aged white man was approached by a dancer later and could afford the champagne room, he might need Adelaide to improve his endurance.

When the man saw Tommy responding to him, he laughed happily: "Boy, you are good at talking. Yes, of course I am very charming. If I were in Miami, I could take away four or five hot Cuban girls in a bar in one night, but Pro Wydens sucks. All the bars around here are drunk Irish drunks. The barmaid is old enough to be my grandma. I have no choice but to come here and drink to pass the time. At least there won't be any drunks here to cause trouble. At most, there will be no trouble. The dancer came and persuaded me to open a bottle of champagne in the private room.”

"Are you here on a business trip, sir? It's indeed a bit bad. This city is too small and lacks entertainment industry." Tommy Hawke took a sip of beer and said.

The man laughed: "No, what's worse than going on a business trip is that I'm here on vacation."

"On vacation? Sorry, I rarely see out-of-towners who come to Providence for vacation." After hearing this, Tommy looked at the other person. If it wasn't for some serious mental illness, no one would choose to come to a remote town like Providence. City break.

The middle-aged white man nodded in agreement, shrugged with a wry smile: "I understand, but I can't help it. The nature of my work determines where I should go on vacation. Will Hendrick, manager of Philip Morris Tobacco Company's Rhode Island Processing Plant Maintenance engineer.”

"Carlo... Carlo Leon, a student at the University of Rhode Island." Tommy Hawke was stunned for a moment, and then responded with some surprise: "Sir, I..."

The man interrupted Tommy Hawke with an "I understand" expression: "You can't hide it from me, kid. I was just like you when I was in high school. I was curious about this kind of place that only adults can visit. Don't worry. , I won’t help you reveal the secret.”

"I'm not curious about this place, sir. I'm curious about another question. When did Philip Morris Tobacco Company open a tobacco processing plant in Rhode Island?" Tommy asked the white man who called himself Will.

The white man drank the whiskey in one gulp and made a refill gesture to the bartender. Then he took a breath and said to Tommy: "It just opened, on the high seas two hundred nautical miles away from Providence, so , which is why I can only stay here for vacation, because I have to ensure that if there is a problem with the factory machinery, I can rush over to repair it as soon as possible."

When Tommy Hawke heard what the other party said, the nightly news he had seen on the TV flashed through his mind. He had a smile on his face and said to himself in a voice that only he could hear:

"God bless me, a poor American."