"But then you took up sex work again with Robert's partner", I say to Carl.
"That was pure survival. I completely loathed what I was doing, I completely loathed Dave for putting me up to it, and myself I loathed more than anyone for feeling so helpless and backed in a corner. I really no longer had the stomach for it. But there was Melissa to consider. I really did it entirely for her."
"Tell me more about your stepfather."
"They'd only been married for two years. We didn't see much of him, and he always seemed to want to avoid us, so Melissa and I nicknamed him the Ghost. You know, we weren't even invited to the wedding. She married him in Switzerland, then told us in a letter about it. To cut her a bit of slack, we were out here at the time with our dad. He was really a nebbish, and seemed to have a very narrow and constricted view of his religious faith.
"The first time I saw him at Stella's, he didn't even seem to know who I was. In fact, only after three visits did it finally dawn on him that I was his stepson. He was just on his way out, and I was at the kitchen table trying to piece together a Rubik's Cube. So, Stella calls me asking me to get her guest a glass of water. So, I brought him the water, and he was just waiting by the door, and I said, 'Hi Ahmed.' And he replied, 'am I supposed to know you?' and I simply replied, 'Well, I am your stepson', and then he nearly choked on his water..."
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