Journal
July 11, 2026
CHAPTER VIII SERRATO (STOCKY, HURRIED) The Rosebud offered little in the way of charm or innocence; perhaps only the tender age of some of its hostesses and dancers—mostly Arabic and Filipino girls—could evoke any semblance of purity. They appeared far too young to be...
Continue reading →June 22, 2026
Baguio Girl She came to the interview with Carla (June’s sister we found out later) and I was relieved that at least she wasn’t too humble to speak, like the ones who came before her. She asked if she could hold the baby. ‘Vaughan, Vaughan, aiaiaiai…nice boy, what a good...
Continue reading →June 8, 2026
Benjamin’s Women “Stop it! Are you nuts? Let go of me!” Elaine fought to break free. She stood at the top of the stairs in off-white organza, a little crepe hat with ostrich feathers already sliding at a perilous angle across her forehead. “You are not marrying that… that man!...
Continue reading →June 2, 2026
Whimsical whereabouts I was taken there with three other girls, two from the Philippines and a Sudanese woman. The procedure didn’t take long. There was already another group of women inside, all entertainers, though I...
Continue reading →June 1, 2026
The Fabulous Twin Sisters 'No, he don't say that, let me tell the story—' 'He say he has the power to—' 'That woman was with him, dress very poorly—' 'He has the power to take the—' 'We must rusho, big party tonight. Six hundred people—' 'No, no, not six hundred — always too...
Continue reading →May 23, 2026
Laugh to Keep from Crying “Anna, dear, you look wonderful,” Sarah announced as she collapsed into a chair. “Look who’s here… Arthur, you old fart!” She cackled at her own joke. “No, no, keep your insults to yourself. Stay away from me, you menace! Oh, Anna, before I forget,...
Continue reading →May 18, 2026
‘No, no, no, no…it’s not what I’m looking for.’ Irritation marks Evelyn’s features. ‘How about these?’ Her stout husband, in his Bermuda’s and the lime-green polo shirt, holds up a pair of sunglasses. Evelyn looks up and instantly her face contorts with rage. ‘God! You...
Continue reading →May 14, 2026
Tuesday, February 21, 1978 Hurrah, we’re in London, in the Grosvenor Court Hotel: a nice, very comfortable room with a bath, shower, television, radio, and an electric kettle to make coffee and tea. It is so lovely and costs sixty-three guilders a night. It’s foggy here, but...
Continue reading →May 9, 2026
April 1, 1962 For the first time in my life I have been really, really sad. It is the biggest sorrow I have ever had. I am a little better now, but it still shocked me very much. My dearest friend, and the boy I loved most, Frits, died on March 19. On Monday morning at half...
Continue reading →May 4, 2026
“I hear the drums going every night.” Jetta — white-haired, nearly forty, Danish, and teetering on the edge of anorexia — sits down beside her two friends. Lena, a Finnish blonde of the same age and walking that same thin line, and Maite, ten years younger, petite,...
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