“Mother went out again tonight, looking like a courtesan.”

“I went up to the terrace again and looked out on the tawny, many-alleyed city. At night it looked carved from brown sugar.”

“Went to Jude's party tonight in a tight little black dress to show off figure feeling v. full of myself... ... There's nothing worse than people telling you you looked tired. They might as well have done with it and say you look like five kinds of shit.”

“How is it that one woman is…enough…for three men?”“I don’t know.”“She must be a very talented courtesan.”“Callie.”“Well, that was what she was. Wasn’t it?”“Yes.”“How very fascinating!” She smiled brightly. “I’ve never met a courtesan, you know.”“I could have surmised as such.”“She looked just as I imagined they did! Well, she was rather prettier.”Ralston’s eyes darted around the room as though he was looking for the quickest escape route.“Callie. Wouldn’t you rather gamble than talk about courtesans?”

“Well for starters, my mother always taught me never to get into cars with strangers. But I’m also curious as to what name I’ll be screaming out later tonight.”

“But I liked the writing better. I could make it look beautiful. I could keep it. The spoken words just went out like the wind, and you always had to say them all over again to keep them alive. But the writing stayed, and you could learn to make it better. More beautiful.”