John McDonough and Friedrich Hayek.

Brandi Bunko works the Vavoom Room at the Tattered Top Hat Club on Iberville Street, between Bourbon and Royal. It’s next to the bar where the B-girls are really transvestites. Brandy Bunko is a woman. She will show you for a small fee.

Paisley Malone is a nice name for a woman. That is why she chose it herself. Her other choices were Incense or Pepper Malone. Pepper Malone is a spicy name.

Paisley also works the Vavoom Room because, after all, Paisley is a real woman, not a passable transvestite. She is genuine. She harbors no surprises. The pleasure of her company is pure afternoon delight. She works the dayshift before Brandi Bunko starts her shift. The two make small talk at shift change but they’ve never been close.

They do share an admirer. This fellow shows up about an hour before Brandi is due. If Paisley is free, he buys her a drink and retire to one of the curtained rumpus rooms in back. They talk about macroeconomics. Paisley is smart for someone so big-breasted. Everybody thinks she’s an airhead until she opens her mouth.

If Paisley isn’t free, this mook will sit in the corner and mope until Brandi shows up. If Brandi is already booked for her time, it runs this poor guy’s day. He goes somewhere else. No one at the Tattered Top Hat knows where he goes. Maybe he goes to the transvestite bar next door.

Maybe he goes around the corner and takes a nap.

Truth be told, this unnamed gentleman prefers the company of Brandi to the company of Paisley. Brandi is more his type. He and Brandi talk about microeconomics. Brandi is as smart as she looks.

Brandi Bunko is her stage name. Her real name is Margaret. She is and after a bar in Birmingham, Alabama. The Margaret in Birmingham is a New Orleans-themed bar where Brandi Bunko’s parents met. She says that it’s because she is named after this bar that she ended up a B-girl at the Tattered Top Hat. She is hoping to break into the burlesque circuit next.

Brandi Bunko is a fitting name for a fan dancer.

Margaret Bunko has a daughter. Margaret is married to Case Officer Jerry Bunko, of the CIA. She has not seen Jerry in years. He is on special covert assignment. She is very proud of him because his country is depending on him.

The daughter’s name is Pepper.