CHAPTER TWO
I GET AN EPIPHANY ABOUT BOOZE AND WOMEN!
The very next day, Larry put his old joint up for sale on the newspapers. Fortunately, there were still a lot of miserable rich wannabes left in the city who wanted to make more money than they could count.
We, three were there at the joint at eight in the morning itself, when a bald Chinese male about fifty years of age, holding a copy of The Times, walked into the joint. Larry had put on all the lights in the joints, including the Christmas lights around the poles (The ones the strippers used) for good impression. Larry shook the Chinese’s hand and brought him in, where Henry and I were on our best behavior. The little Chinese man stood silent for a couple of minutes, looking around the place with a scrutinizing look and from time to time, he gave an annoyed look, though I had no idea why he did so.
Larry running out of his patience interjected and asked the Indian, “So what do you think, sir?”
The Chinese man cast a dirty look at Larry and started walking around the joint, as if he didn’t want anyone to disturb him any further during his evaluation of the place.
“Motherf-” Larry swore, when I interrupted him just in time, before the Chinese man noticed.
“Customer is king,” I whispered in Larry’s ear.
“He’s not an effing customer, I tell you that!” Larry fumed.
“Can’t we get a couple of strippers to do some routines around those poles of yours while these customers are here just so you know, to increase our chances of selling better,” Henry said, between a huge yawn.
For a moment, Larry and I just stared at Henry as our brains were busy working out the logic and the effectiveness behind the brilliant idea that Henry had just given.
“Men have two heads,” I said, as a huge grin spread across my face.
“And God has given enough blood to only run one at a time,” Larry completed, looking completely euphoric.
“HENRY! YOU ARE A BLOODY GENIUS!” I cried, giving a huge wet kiss on Henry’s wet nose.
“Will this really work?” Larry asked, his initial euphoria wearing off.
“Oh Yeah!” I said confidently, “Let’s go, get some of your strippers!”
Larry smiled a pleased smile. “Henry, throw the Indian out!”
“Wait! Don’t you think he’s a potential customer?” Henry asked.
“You think?” Larry asked, with a cocked eyebrow.
Henry chewed on that question for a moment.
“Nope!” Henry replied.
“Good! C’mon Harry! We got to fish mermaids!” Larry said, as he reached out to get his coat.
“See you in a while, Henry!” I said and went out the door with Larry.
Just outside the joint, we ran onto a man the size of a minivan covered in overflowing robes, hair and a stench that was stronger than cheese left rotting for a century.
“Ah! Mr. Sheikh!” Larry exclaimed, “How are you doing?”
“I am well, Mr. Longbottom, by the graces showered by your ladies,” the big man said and then I heard a loud fart.
“What was that?” I whispered to Larry.
“That’s the old man laughing,” Larry said, as we continued to hear the farts.
“What do you mean?” I asked, thoroughly confused looking at the big man indulging in something that physically resembled laughing.
“His laughs sound as if he’s farting!” Larry hissed.
“What kind of-” I said, when Larry stepped on my foot painfully.
The farting sounds suddenly stopped and the big man looked at us. Larry then let out a nervous laugh as well, as if he didn’t want to disappoint Mr. Sheikh by not sharing a laugh.
“Tell me how are your seven wives?” asked Larry.
“SEVEN?!” I gasped, beside Larry.
“One for every day of the week,” Larry whispered, leaning close to me.
“Oh! Don’t remind me, Mr. Longbottom, if my wives had had those fine arses your girls have, I wouldn’t have become your most loyal customer in the first place,” said Mr. Sheikh and laughed out loud again.
The guy had a point, though, I thought.
“Ah! Mr. Sheikh, I have some news for you,” Larry said, looking a little hesitant.
“Please, tell me that you’ve finally got those smokin’ Latinas, I’ve been asking you about!” Mr. Sheikh said, grabbing Larry’s hands and shaking them vigorously.
“No!” Larry exploded, “No, Mr. Sheikh, I am gonna sell this place.”
“WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, DID YOU JUST SAY?” Mr. Sheikh shouted, he certainly didn’t look very pleased.
“I am going to sell this place,” Larry said calmly.
Mr. Sheikh looked as if he had been kicked in his balls. “No, you can’t do that!” Mr. Sheikh finally said, “You just can’t do that!”
“Sir, you don’t understand, I have to, I am sorry, ever since the all new Latina strip joint opened up in the next street, my business has bombed,” Larry said.
“But-but, I have always been your most loyal customer, Mr. Longbottom, you can’t abandon me just like that,” Mr. Sheikh pleaded.
“I am truly sorry, Mr. Sheikh, I truly am, all I can say is that you can visit that Latina joint from now on. They have those Latina girls, you always wanted me to get,” said Larry, looking apologetic.
“No, Mr. Longbottom, this is a matter of loyalty as much as it is about my wives’ flabby arses, I can’t let you sell this place,” Mr. Sheikh said.
“No, Mr. Sheikh, I really need the money, I’m almost bankrupt,” Larry said and I could tell by his tone that he was beginning to lose his cool.
“In that case, I’ll buy it,” Mr. Sheikh said without a moment of hesitation.
“Whaddya say?” I spluttered.
“I’ll buy it, name the price!” Mr. Sheikh said.
“Mr. Sheikh, are you sure about that?” Larry asked, looking absolutely delighted and doubtful at the same time.
“Yes, Mr. Longbottom!” Mr. Sheikh beamed.
Larry looked at me with funny lines written all over his face.
He was getting old, I thought, when he interrupted my thoughts by shaking me and opening his mouth in a curvaceous grin. I returned the favor with a dubious smile. Then he turned back to Mr. Sheikh and said, “What about 90,000 pounds?”
“225,000 pounds and that’s settled,” Mr. Sheikh said, grinning showcasing four golden incisors.
Larry collapsed onto me like he had just ingested a barrel of beer. My lanky frame wasn’t enough to hold his weight when the kind Sheikh came to my rescue and helped me steady him.
“I can’t believe it,” Larry said, “I am seeing stars and clouds now.”
Mr. Sheikh again let out one of his blasts of laughter-farts that went on a while, before he stopped.
“Come with me, Mr. Longbottom, let’s do this right away and finish all that legal stuff, for tonight, we’ll have a grand re-opening night!”
“But, Mr. Sheikh, I got to warn you that this place might not do business at all!” Larry said.
“Who said about business?” Mr. Sheikh said, and then leaning closer to us, he whispered, “It’s gonna be my private strip joint, hee hee!”
Both Larry and I were quite jealous at this point, I guess, after all how many men can afford their own private strip joints. It was the height of evil luxury.
“Now, if you two gentlemen would kindly stop drooling, I believe we have some business to attend to,” Mr. Sheikh, suddenly looking very professional.
“Alright,” Larry and I said together, wiping our mouths and were surprised to know that they were indeed leaking.
After Larry departed with the Sheikh, I returned to the joint to find Henry reading The Times lying on the sofa. He didn’t seem to care about the business on which we had embarked earlier. He was too engrossed with the paper and at that moment, my mind was occupied with something else.
“Where is the old Chinese guy?” I asked him.
“Last time I checked, he was smelling out some panties lying by the poles.
“Oh gross! Couldn’t you just get rid of him?” I asked, revolted.
“He’s an old man, let him enjoy what he can, pal,” Henry said, his eyes steady on the paper.
“I guess so,” I agreed but however I went to search for him and get him out.
The joint was still lit up bright and it bore the image of a grand place in ruins. The tables and sofas were old and scarred and torn. The poles looked worn out and the whole place stunk of alcohol and some strange womanly smell. Years ago, this place must have looked awesome but now even with all the lights on, it was a shame.
As I recovered from my thoughts, I realized that the Chinese man was nowhere to be seen.
I turned back and shouted, “YO HENRY! ARE YOU SURE THAT THE CHINESE MAN DIDN’T LEAVE?”
“YES!”
Where could he be? There wasn’t a lot of space in this joint to hide, even in that case, why would he hide?
I continued my search till I came to a small tattered wooden door at the far end of the joint, upon which a sign said, “NO ENTRY FOR CUSTOMERS!”
I opened the door and went in, the place was completely dark and I groped for the light switches until I found one on the adjacent wall and switched it on.
The sight which met my eyes nearly froze my heart in plain horror. Before my eyes, I saw the Chinese man with a red panty tied to his face and making out with a chair.
“OH JESUS! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” I cried, unable to behold that horrific sight any longer.
The Chinese man swore at me in something Chinese that I swear some of them sounded like right off the menu from my favorite Chinese restaurant. As I watched completely frozen, he pulled up his pants and picked up all the panties lying around the place and dashed out of that place, stamping me on the same foot that Larry had painfully stamped a little earlier.
By the time, I had recovered, it had been five minutes when I felt a strong hand on my shoulder jolting me back to reality.
I turned to look at who it was. It was Henry. I let out a sigh of relief.
“What on earth was that?” asked Henry, grinning.
“You don’t want to know,” I replied.
“C’mon, tell me pal!” Henry urged, “You certainly saw something, you are as white as a fresh tampon!”
For a moment, I just looked at Henry and wished that he would stop using sexually charged similes. I already had enough for one day.
“C’mon, Harry. What happened?” Henry pressed again.
I thought it would be better to tell him. “The Chinese guy was making out with that chair with a panty tied across his face,” I said.
Henry burst into laughter, slapping me several times on the back.
“SWEET! DID YOU TAKE A PHOTO OR SOMETHING, PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU DID!”
Henry cried, he seemed almost epileptic with excitement.
“No! I didn’t,” I said, “I was frozen stiff by that horror.”
“TOO RIGHT YOU WERE!” Henry cried, before cracking into another loud burst of laughter.
Henry kept slapping my back till I could feel it no more and then he kept on slapping till I knew that there was some permanent damage done but I dared not to stop him because for the devil’s sake, I almost believed he was in a seizure or something like that and frankly, I didn’t want any of my other body parts get in the way of his hand. Ten minutes later and an ice pack on my back, we settled down in the sofa near the entrance, awaiting Larry’s return. By that time, Henry had understood the magnanimity of his slaps and had apologized over a hundred times. Totally whacked out and irritated, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep until I really did.
Henry woke me up just after two in the afternoon. Rubbing my eyes vigorously, I stood up lazily.
“Larry’s back, pal,” Henry said, “And he’s got some news that he won’t tell until you are fully awake.”
Saying so, Henry shook me to his heart’s content in an attempt to shake off my sleepiness and then he dragged me to Larry who was literally jumping on one of the old sofas by the poles.
“He’s here, Larry,” Henry said, “C’mon, tell us now!”
“THE OL’SHEIKH TRANSFERRED 225,000 POUNDS TO MY ACCOUNT FOR THIS PLACE!”
Larry shouted at which Henry literally threw me away in happiness. I crashed onto a pole and remained down.
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” Henry cried, joining Larry’s frenzy.
“IT’S TRUE! AND TO TOP IT OFF! WE’RE HAVING A PARTY HERE TONIGHT! THE SHEIKH HAS JUST HIRED TWENTY-FIVE STRIPPERS JUST FOR THIS NIGHT! ALONG WITH UNLIMITED BOOZE FOR US!” Larry cried, jumping more crazily on the sofa, until one of the springs popped out and pierced him on his bum.
Henry was beyond crazy at this point, he was just lifting things and throwing them and was shouting like a Viking, whose beard was on fire.
“I think I need some first-aid,” Larry croaked. I picked myself up, got to Larry and made it to safety, away from Henry’s hysteria.
“Why the hell is he like that?” I gasped under Larry’s weight against myself, as I dragged him.
“Booze and women make Henry a steam engine,” Larry said, wincing in pain.
“This day’s been quite eventful,” I said, laying Larry on the sofa near the entrance.
“Yep,” Larry croaked, “First-aid’s in the washroom.”
“Okay,” I said and rushed to get the first-aid.
Within a minute, I was back, with a large first-aid box made of aluminium.
“Oh boy! You have one large box for first-aid,” I commented, as I made a small wad of cotton.
“Smaller supplies of first-aid always used to run out within three days,” Larry said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, pleasantly surprised.
“More than often, my customers cross their lines when drunk and try to get dirty with my girls and often end up with a bloody nose,” Larry said.
“The customers?” I asked.
“Yeah!” Larry said, wincing a bit as I pressed the antiseptic loaded cotton wad against his bloodied bum. “I always trained my girls in self-defence before I exposed them to these shitheads, you call customers.”
“That’s good, I guess!” I said, “But didn’t it affect your business? Your customers getting knocked up like that by your girls?”
“That’s the crazy part,” Larry said, “Most of them don’t remember what happened and those who do, keep coming back because it turns them, well, on.”
“WHAT?” I nearly cried.
“Yeah, like I told you, they are crazy shitheads,” Larry said.
I sighed. The world was certainly a very strange place. I sighed again.
“So, you alright?” I asked Larry, tapping his shoulder.
“Yes,” Larry said, as I closed the large first-aid box.
“Henry’s still dancing crazy,” I said, looking at Henry who was now dancing around a pole like a baboon on booze.
“He’s only gonna get even crazier tonight,” Larry said and smiled.
“I hope not,” I whispered, knowing that nothing good can never come out of that.
Later that night, around 12, when we were all getting ready at Larry’s apartment, we heard a big fat knock.
“Check it out!” Larry told me. I went and opened the door, when the person on the other side of the door just barged in with a lot of force, crushing me in the process and trampling over me, soiling my favourite party shirt.
“Oh! I am extremely sorry,” the man said, lifting me as if I were a dandelion. It was the Ol’Sheikh and it took all my will power to not curse him.
“Looks like you’re ready!” Mr. Sheikh said, after taking a good look at me. I bit my tongue and forced a smile.
“Ah! Mr. Sheikh! We’re ready!” Larry said, coming into the living room along with Henry who was busy zip his pants.
“Good! Good!” Mr. Sheikh said. “Everything’s ready at the joint. You’re in a sweet surprise, I say!”
“Sure! We’re gonna have one hell of a night tonight,” Larry exclaimed, punching his fists together.
“There’s one little hitch tonight,” Mr. Sheikh said, “There might be some people coming to look for me at the joint. Make sure they don’t come to know I am there!”
The three of us looked at each other and right back at the Sheikh. We didn’t know what to think.
“Who might be looking for you?” Henry asked.
“Just don’t allow anyone who comes looking for me inside that joint!” Mr. Sheikh said, looking sharply at Henry.
“Alright!” Henry said.
“Okay then! Let’s go and have the time of our lives!!!” Larry cried, pushing all of us towards the door.
The Sheikh’s limousine stopped right in front of the joint. We all got down excitedly but however on seeing Larry’s old place all our excitement seemed to melt away. The entrance was covered in black covers, as if the place were undergoing reconstruction or something.
“What’s this?” the question escaped my mouth unconsciously.
“No one can know what’s happening here,” Mr. Sheikh said and walked towards the black covers.
“Oh!” I said and followed him. Just behind the black cover were two big muscular men covered in black. The Sheikh nodded his head at them and went in through the door. The two bouncers looked warily at me as I passed them. I gulped and hurried behind the Sheikh. Inside the joint, I was really amazed at the work that the Sheikh had got done in just half a day. Everything looked new and bright.
The old sofas, lights and the poles were gone and were replaced with new ones. Twenty-five poles adorned the place with an equal number of strippers dancing around them. My jaw dropped looking at all the guilty pleasures around me.
“How do you like it?” Mr. Sheikh asked me, with an evil grin on his fat face.
“It’s beyond words,” I said, grinning back at him. Henry sprinted past us at that moment, holding a bottle of booze towards a stripper. The Sheikh laughed at this, I mean farted and shouted, “LET THE PARTY BEGIN!”
Music started playing and the party with four men and twenty-five strippers began. I don’t remember anything that happened that night but I only remember the next day, when I was about to wake up.
I was in a dreamy state, in which exotic women wearing nothing but tutus were dancing in and out of my mind. I was happy and exhausted. I didn’t want to do anything but just be lost in pure ecstasy. I didn’t want to know what time it was. I didn’t want to know where I was. I didn’t even wanna know who the hell I was. I was in such a drunken stupor when suddenly something hit me strongly, like a jolt of electricity that woke me up and put me on my feet. I rubbed my eyes as a message ran through my head like a banner. I had just had an epiphany!
The banner read, “Booze and women together, destroy man’s soul forever.”
I had no idea what the hell it meant for a few seconds after which I started understanding the gravity of the banner’s meaning. Slowly, I opened my eyes to look at myself. I was stark naked.
What the hell? I thought and looked at my surroundings. My heart jumped to my mouth seeing two olive-skinned women sleeping, without a piece of cloth on their bodies, by my feet. I shifted my eyes to see around the room, where I found my friends also sleeping naked with two other olive-skinned women, also naked.
What happened last night? I thought to myself and I started panicking. I had slept with two complete strangers albeit hot women.
For a couple of minutes, I stood right where I was and tried recollecting. When that failed, I tried calming myself down and when that failed too, I started panicking again. First, I looked around for my clothes and found them lying in a pile near the door, that is when I realized that I was in the same room where I had seen the Chinese guy make out with the chair. The chair was however missing. I put on my clothes and went through the other clothes that were lying there, I found two shirts and two long skirts which I used to cover the women with whom I had slept. I did the same for the other two women. Then I took up my friends’ clothes on my arm and went about to wake them up.
I went first towards Henry, since I knew he would be the hardest to awaken and shook him hard but he just kept mumbling something. I tried waking him for the next five minutes but to no avail. At the end of that time, I was just left irritated so I gave one tight slap across his cheek to which he woke up with a gasp. He looked disoriented for a while and then upon seeing me, he exclaimed, “What the hell, Harry?”
I motioned him to be silent and to look around him. He wasn’t surprised like me to see his state and the naked woman lying beside him.
“Here,” I said and threw him his clothes. Henry put them on and got up.
“What happened?” Henry asked, in a casual tone.
“I don’t know,” I said, “Do you know these women?”
“Yes!” Henry said, “These hot women came through the back door last night.”
“WHO LET THEM IN?” I hissed.
“I did,” Henry said proudly.
“Why did you?” I asked, boiling with rage.
“I don’t see what’s your problem here, pal. You see they are hookers,” Henry said lethargically.
“How do you know they are hookers?” I asked.
“Well, they said that the Sheikh sent them for us,” Henry said, with an annoying smile.
“Are you sure?” I asked, not being completely convinced.
“Yes,” Henry insisted.
“Alright!” I said. “Let’s wake Larry up.”
It didn’t take much to wake Larry. Henry and I slapped him on both his cheeks simultaneously. Larry woke up with such a jerk that it almost frightened me.
“YOU IDIOTS!” he swore, feeling his cheeks.
“C’mon, Larry! Let’s get outta here,” Henry said.
“What the hell is this?” Larry suddenly said with morbid fear in his eyes. “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!”
“What happened?” I asked, not knowing what was frightening him so much.
Larry took a look around the room and jumped onto his feet, holding his head.
“WE’RE DOOMED!!!” Larry cried.
“For Christ’s sake, put on some clothing and do the talkin’” Henry chided. At once, I threw to Larry his clothes. Larry didn’t seem to care about the clothes which ended up at his feet.
“Come on, Larry! Why are you freaked out?” I asked, a little amused as well as a little afraid.
“These four women are the Sheikh’s daughters!” Larry said slowly.
“Say what?!” Henry asked, having not heard what Larry had said.
“THESE ARE THE SHEIKH’S DAUGHTERS, YOU PATHETIC CLOWNS!” Larry cried. “How the hell did they end up here with us?”
I looked instinctively at Henry, who gulped and looked at Larry with an innocent look.
Larry got the hint. He launched onto Henry and pinned him to the ground, “YOU ARSE HEAD!
LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO US!” I immediately pounced onto the duo trying to separate them.
“STOP IT! STOP IT!” I hissed, as we three rolled on the ground dangerously close to the four naked women in the room.
Larry and Henry went at each other’s throats and seemed hell-bent on killing each other but I didn’t want to be the only one left out alive for the Sheikh to poach and cut to pieces.
“Break it out, men!” I continued hissing, “All is not lost! The Sheikh doesn’t know about his daughters yet! We can escape in the meantime!”
The rolling stopped. Both Larry and Henry looked at me as if I were Jesus without a beard.
“Where would we go?” Henry asked.
“India,” I said, to this moment I have no idea as to why I had said that. “Larry’s got the money. Let’s escape to India.”
“That’s a sensible plan.” Larry said, “I do have the money.”
“Let’s not waste a moment here, gentlemen,” I said. “Larry, put on your clothes. Let’s get moving.”
For the next ten minutes, Larry and Henry obeyed every word that came out of my mouth. I wonder what they would have done if I had asked them to kiss each other as if they were kissing Megan Fox but some things, I decided are best left unexplored.
Once Larry had put on his clothes, I asked Henry to check out the joint and Larry to check out the back door. Despite both being clear, I decided to go out through the back door. Silently like ninjas, we took the underground back to Larry’s place.
“Okay guys,” I said, “The most critical thing is what we do now.”
“How did those girls end up there?” Larry moaned.
“Henry thought they were hookers sent by the Sheikh for us,” I said.
Larry looked at me and then glared at Henry, who pretended to be blind and hit his head on the wall just to convey the idea to Larry.
“Anyway, how do you know that they are the Sheikh’s daughters?” I asked.
“I have seen his family photograph that he keeps with him always,” Larry said.
“Are you sure it’s them? I mean, the Sheikh has one huge family, seven wives and God knows how many more sexy daughters?” Henry said.
“I am sure! His other daughters haven’t hit puberty yet!” Larry lashed out.
“Oh! Thank God for that!” Henry laughed, “Only He knows what would have happened if they already had!”
“I AM GONNA KILL YOU!” Larry cried and jumped onto Henry again, punching his eyeballs out.
“OH! SHUT IT AND BREAK IT! YOU TWO OVERGROWN MONKEYS! I’M TIRED OF IT!” I shouted.
“Oh! Listen to Jesus, he’ll save your soul!” Henry mocked.
“Zip it, Henry!” I said. “We gotta leave immediately. Larry, make arrangements.”
“We need to get visas, first of all, it’ll take at least a week. The Sheikh will find us before that and turn us to kebabs!” Larry argued.
I turned to Larry, placed both my arms on his shoulders and said, “You’re a rich man, Larry and we are going to India. I hope you get it.”
“What?!” Larry said, looking completely clueless.
I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. “Bribe the Indians at the Embassy,” I said.
“Will it work?” Larry asked.
“Of all the people, thank God that it’s those Indians that we gotta bribe. The Indians even have a God of money, Larry, a woman called Lakshmi, just how much more greedy and convoluted do you think they can get? Now just go and tell those officers, they have a gift from Ms. Lakshmi and see where it gets you,” I said, with a faint smile and looking extremely pleased with myself.
“Alright!” Larry said, with the faith of a reborn Christian, went inside his room to grab a few documents and found his way out the door. Then he came back in, asking for my passport.
I promptly took out my apartment key and gave it to Larry.
“You know where it is,” I told Larry, to which he nodded.
Then, Henry babbled about his passport being with Larry.
“I know, I got yours tosser!” Larry said and stomped away.
“We leave tonight, Larry, make all the arrangements,” I said, as Larry exited the door.
Then, I turned towards Henry and said, “Let’s get packing.”
Henry and I literally lived at Larry’s place, though we had our own flats, it was here we spent most of our time, so we had our clothes and our toiletries here. We started packing our clothes, rolling them and throwing into suitcases. We were done in less than ten minutes.
“It’s done already?” Henry asked.
“Yes, it is!” I beamed.
“Can you believe that we’re going off on a holiday so soon?” Henry said, with a cackling laugh, still high on booze.
“We’re running for our lives now, Henry, this is not even close to a holiday!” I said, settling on the couch in the living room.
“Then what do you reckon we’re gonna do in India, huh?” Henry asked, lighting a cigar.
“I guess, we roam and hope that the Sheikh doesn’t find us for the rest of our lives,” I said.
“Maybe, I could find myself a girlfriend there and settle down in the Himalayas,” Henry said.
“No sane woman would be your girlfriend, Henry,” I quipped.
“I’m counting on that, chap” Henry said, blowing rings of smoke from his mouth, “You know my sex drive, no sane woman can satiate it!”
“You are bonkers, you know that, Henry?” I said.
“What about you? Don’t you wanna settle down?” Henry asked, between puffs.
“Me?” I said, taking time to hesitate. “Thinking about that, I do have someone in mind.”
“Who is it?” Henry asked with evil curiosity.
“You haven’t met her,” I said, “I saw her for the first time, many months ago, the very next day I had met you guys.”
“Have you seen her since?” Henry asked.
“A couple o’times, yes!” I replied, smiling.
“So?” Henry asked, with a naughty tone.
“So! Nothing, I just like her!” I said. Then looking at Henry’s expression, I continued, “A lot!”
“So why don’t you invite her on our holiday?” Henry asked, pretty excited.