Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Health & Body

My first biopsy
Medical tests revealed a most insidious disease: Fear.
By Eleanor Stacy Parker
[08/19/99]

Voyage into the great unflossed
A dental-phobic writer takes a trip into the cavity we call the mouth.
By Susan McCarthy
[08/18/99]

Urge
Coming of age
A 40-year-old man masturbates for the first time.
By Steve Burgess
[08/17/99]

Love those chips!
One woman's olestra saga can be a lesson for us all.
By Liz Krieger
[08/16/99]

Urge
Out, damned cuff link!
When Milt called about an emergency visit, little did she suspect just how desperate he was.
By Tracy Quan
[08/16/99]

Complete archives for Health & Body

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Monday early evening

Matt's voice was exceptionally gentle when I called him back this morning. "Why don't we make up at Trois Jean," he suggested. "We can have dinner before Miranda's party." My cousin has a tendency to skimp on the non-liquid refreshments. I had been thinking of showing up at Miranda's birthday party solo, but I know this would provoke questions. When she "discovered" Matt at a gallery opening six months ago, he was "too East Side" for her Downtown sensibilities. She was convinced he'd be perfect for me and now she takes pride in our continuing courtship.

Jasmine called and I told her about April's scam. She was incensed. Weirder yet was April's asking Milt to support her financially -- before she blackmailed him: "That carpetbagger. She thinks she can come here and bully one of our guys into being her sugar daddy under duress?"

"Milt's thinking about giving her the $6,000 she asked for -- to shut her up," I said.

Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl appears in Health & Body every Monday and Thursday. + About Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl -- with links to all chapters to date. + Read the Diary from the start.

"Tell him NEVER to give in to a blackmailer," Jasmine practically spat into the phone. "Listen, meet me at D'Agostino's in the paper-towel section." She was getting nervous about the possibility of crossed phone lines.

When I found Jasmine at the supermarket, she was pushing a cart loaded with club soda and hydrogen peroxide. "Here's the thing about blackmail," she said. "The blackmailer distracts you with demands -- which you actually think about fulfilling. So you'll forget that the blackmailer's very existence is your real problem ... Addiction works the same way!" she added philosophically.

"I know what you're getting at," I said impatiently, "but what should we do about it? April's got my number, Allison's got her number -- but I don't have Allison's number. And Allison is still planning on selling her book to April."

"But you still have the book," she pointed out. "So it's safely out of April's hands. I guess she thinks this is an acceptable way to raise the money to buy Allison's book."

"I know this is a stupid question " I said, "but -- remember when we had that three-way with Milt? Did he ask for your number?"

Next page | Seeing betrayal on every front