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Recently in Salon Health & Body

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Loyalty cocktail
Researchers have injected a monogamy gene into promiscuous mice. But will this appeal to male humans?
By Virginia Vitzthum
[09/07/99]

Sexpert Opinion
Dirty bookstores 101
That gigantic dildo is not a toy, and other tips for the timid adventurer.
By Susie Bright
[09/04/99]

Faster Pussycat, Wax! Wax!
A Brazilian bikini wax changed Gwyneth Paltrow's life; it can change yours, too!
By Christina Valhouli
[09/03/99]

A shot in the dark
Is a hospital the perfect place for a doctor to kill -- and kill again?
By Dawn MacKeen
[09/02/99]

Urge
Hurried Harry, melancholy Matt
Nancy weighs the scales of hooker judgment.
By Tracy Quan
[09/02/99]

Complete archives for Health & Body

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Thursday morning, August 5

Why is it so much easier to forgive a client's transgressions than a boyfriend's? Last night, Milt and I had "make-up sex" in front of the VCR while a vintage Traci Lords video was running in the foreground.

I had been feeling kind of miffed with him for seeing April behind my back. A small part of me thinks, "It serves him right" when I hear about April's rotten behavior ... but, bottom line, I'm horrified by what she's doing.

"Are you kidding?" Milt said when I asked if he had seen her. "She's a blackmailing nut! She might be wired -- or using one of those hidden cameras. I may be a horny dog but I'm a smart horny dog."

I gave him a skeptical look.

"Well," he allowed, "a smart-enough horny dog."

I was embarrassed to be asking Milt about another girl. First of all, a hooker who exhibits jealousy is skating on thin ice. A john is paying for his emotional freedom. A jealous hooker reads as crazy, and a nutty hooker is as scary to a john as a crazy client would be to a hooker. While we worry about losing our lives, they worry about getting in trouble with their wives ...

"April needs a down payment to move into a new apartment on East End Avenue. I told her she would have to wait a week or so," Milt told me.

"And then what? You don't intend to pay her off! Do you?"

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I'm worried, Suzy. If I do pay her off -- well, I won't do it in person."

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 episodes to date. + Read the Diary from the start.

I looked away. No girl wants to see cowardice on the face of a man she admires, and I found myself thinking, "Why do I care? He's a john!" But I can't help it. I've known Milt for about five years. He's been in my life longer than any boyfriend. So have most of my clients -- and every year that goes by, it's harder to avoid that reality. I've been seeing him every week or so for five years, and he doesn't even know my real name. Yet, suddenly -- I care about how strong he is?

Saturday, August 7, after dinner, and much sake

When I offered to treat Allison to dinner at Sushisay with Jasmine, she reluctantly agreed -- "but not at the sushi bar because we won't have privacy."

Jasmine was waiting for us at a quiet table.

"Have you paid April back yet? You need to resolve that ASAP," she told Allison as soon as we sat down. Allison avoided her gaze.

"New bag?" she inquired, eyeing Allison's pink-and-green tote. "I hope you didn't pay retail!"

"I can't give April her money yet ..." Allison's voice trailed off.

Jasmine rustled indignantly in her seat, pissed off because she was outnumbered tonight by two dangerous spendthrifts.

"If you could get it together to pay that witch back, we could move on and sell your book to someone else. But if I help you sell it, I want 50 percent," Jasmine told her. "Your shopaholic spending has to stop!"

"Speaking of addictions," Allie said quietly, "there's something I want to share with you ..." Sensing she was going to launch into one of her rhapsodies about Prostitutes Anonymous, I excused myself to go to the ladies' room and check my cell phone for messages.

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