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Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan call girl
About the story and list of characters.
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[10/07/99]

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Tuesday night, August 24

Just got back from helping Allison move the rest of her things out of Janelle's railroad apartment -- into Liane's duplex. Janelle's walls are decorated with flat lifeless paintings that look like somebody's idea of refinement -- while Janelle herself was heavily made-up in way too much eyeliner. My eyes almost popped out of my head at the sight of her short dress. This is the Messiah of Prostitutes Anonymous? Not exactly what I expected.

Eschewing make-up, hiding in jeans and a loose shirt, I had hoped to avoid being pegged as an incorrigible harlot but my ruse was useless. When Allison went to the kitchen to collect her 20 different bottles of vitamins, Janelle confided, "You're still acting out your addiction so you don't realize how much your behavior hurts me. What you did yesterday was very damaging to my recovery -- not just Allison's."

"I thought you had recovered," I said, wondering why Allie had told her about the trick we turned together. Is Allie nuts?

"Recovery from prostitution and sex addiction is a life-long process," Janelle intoned.

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.

"Apparently so," I replied, giving her overexposed thighs a pointed look. Allie tells me she's a counselor at a rehab center in Queens -- do they let her dress like that there? Amazing.

In the cab, after Allie had packed her sundry belongings into the trunk, I completely lost it. "I have never seen a girl with such awful teeth! How dare she lecture me about my life -- that self-righteous hag! It's a good thing she's got a straight job -- she certainly couldn't expect to make any money with her looks!" I was powerless over my own ascending shrillness.

"Just because she's had a harder life than you," Allie said quietly, "doesn't make her less of a person. In PA, we're all equal."

"Please. She's jealous because you're pretty," I groused. "She never had what it takes to be a call girl like you -- so getting control of your mind was her revenge. Janelle's just a puffed up bridge-and-tunnel floozy who thinks she knows something about human psychology because she has a CSW."

"You look down on her because she was a streetwalker -- and for not being pretty," said Allie. "But she wanted to make something of her life and she succeeded. What do you have against that?" She gave me a quizzical look and I was immediately ashamed of my bitchy outburst but -- refusing to admit it -- I shot her a disgusted glare. The cab was turning onto East 69th Street, approaching Liane's building.

"At least you'll be staying in a properly decorated apartment," I muttered. "That awful drek on her walls! What appalling taste."

Now I'm secretly horrified by my viciousness. What came over me? I guess I'm angry at Allie for letting her 12-step "sponsor" supersede me. How dare she tell that girl about our private business dealings? What am I -- chopped liver?

Next page | An official letter, a probing French man and an art scandal