“My spies told me you went through Saltillo last week with a busload of women – a whole busload of females, all females, hah! How many you laid so far? Hah!”
Maxine is aware of Shannon's behavior of sleeping with young women. He is a bus tour guide who brings visitors to Maxine's hotel and other destinations frequently. He left last week to escort a group of female tourists and Maxine suspects that he might have slept with most of them. Therefore, as soon as she sees him, she asks him how it went. She wants to know the exact number of women that Shannon slept with during the trip. However, Shannon is quick to evade answering the question and instead introduces a new topic about Fred.
“Yeah, and I’m the Football. Are they out of the bus?”
Shannon utters this statement in response to Maxine's description of the eleven tourists on the bus as the football squad of old maids. According to Maxine, those female tourists are sex pets of Shannon. Shannon does not disappoint too. He accepts that he is the football, which the eleven women are playing. Maxine knows Shannon to be a womanizer, especially female tourists. Shannon does not deny this because he considers that as part of his career. Largely, the reader can see that Maxine is jealous of these female tourists. She does not understand what she lacks in front of Shannon because he has not sown sexual interest in her. She is sexily dressed in unbuttoned blouse but Shannon has not reacted and instead, he says that he is sick.
“Hah, so you took the young chick and the old hens are squawking about it, Shannon?”
Maxine is metaphorically meaning that Shannon chose a younger woman and the old women are squawking about it. Shannon has a taste for younger women and it seems that inside the bus there is only one younger woman who Shannon must have laid down already. Maxine thinks that is the reason why he is pretending to be sick because he does not see the reason why he should proceed with the party. There is nothing to chew according to Maxine.
“How is this place better?”
Miss Fellowes is trying to inquire from Shannon why he prefers Verde Hotel as one of the best tourist destinations as opposed to other places. Shannon responds by describing the nature surrounding the hotel. He says that if you stand on the Verandah, there is a spectacular view than that from Victoria Peak in Hongkong. However, Miss Fellowes is not satisfied with that answer. She says that her primary interest is not having a spectacular view, but a hotel with a clean bed, tasty food, and a conducive environment to stay in. She argues that the current hotel is filthy with faulty plumbing making it inhabitable. Shannon tries to use his sexy language to convince her that Verde is the best place but that is ignored.
“I told you to button your shirt. Are you proud of your boobs that you won’t button your shirt up? – go in the office and see if she is calling Blake Tours to get me fired.”
Shannon makes this statement because he is not happy with Maxine's scanty dressing. She is exposing her boobs and he seems not to be happy about it. He also suspects that Miss Followers despite complaining of the living conditions of the hotel, might as well be annoyed with Maxine's dress code. When Miss Followes complains and demands to make a telephone call, Shannon is afraid that she is calling Blake's and Tours for his sacking. He asks Maxine to follows her and hear she is saying in the call.
