From Adventure to Regret: A Former Los Angeles Call Girl’s Confession and Warning

Learning English is not only about mastering grammar and vocabulary, but more importantly, about using it naturally in real-life situations. However, textbook sentences are often too formal and far from how people actually speak. To speak authentic, natural English, you need to engage with conversations from real contexts. Here, we have selected high-frequency daily English expressions, covering social, work, and travel scenarios, to help you get rid of 'textbook English' and learn how native speakers truly talk. Below is the content of Episode 41 from Issue Four, titled 'Adventure.' Keep building your skills, and your English will become closer to real life!

Fall 1991. Brentwood Holiday Inn. When I was young, everything seemed easier. I had too many men, too little time, and too much money. Then it all changed. I thought I had given up hooking for the last time. I had a job as a receptionist at a real estate office in Beverly Hills. One night I returned home from work and the phone rang. The mysterious voice spoke with a southern drawl. "Hello, Linda." "Yes?" "This is Stanley. Can we meet for a drink?" "Where?" "The Brentwood Holiday Inn. I'll meet you in the bar." I agreed. I figured I would size him up. If he seemed like dating material, I'd act like I was on an innocent blind date. If he was more trick potential, maybe I could supplement my income. I showered and toweled off, taking stock in the mirror. I still looked great.

I showed up wearing riding breeches and a preppy looking blouse. I noticed an attractive man at a table in the corner of the bar. He looked up at me, smiled, and signaled me over. I skipped over to his table and sat down. Stanley explained that he owned a computer company and was opening an office in Los Angeles. I listened as if I cared and then went into my background. I presented myself as a damsel in distress who needed someone to help me get my financial situation together.

"Linda, do you need some money now?" "Well, I could always use the money." "How much would it take for you to show me a good time?" "A good time or a great time?" I purred. He laughed. "I'm kind of tired, but I'll go for it. How much for a great time?" "Three hundred dollars." Stanley smiled, paid the bill, and within a few minutes we were in the elevator on the way up to his room.

From the moment he opened the door, I should have suspected something. The room didn't seem lived in. The bed was made neatly and the bathroom was spotless, as if nobody had been there. But instead, I took the money, put it on the dresser, and began to do a sensuous strip tease. But as I reached back to unhook my lace bra and released my breasts, he suddenly flashed a badge. In minutes, the room was filled with undercover officers. I was busted. My life was never the same again.

Advice to young girls. I share my stories today from a Los Angeles County jail prison system halfway house in Sylmar, California. I see my life more clearly now than I ever did while looking through those drug-hazed, rose-colored glasses I used to wear. Take it from someone who thought she was on top of the world: if you're on drugs, nothing seems real, including what you see when you look into a mirror. You may be young and beautiful now, but if you take the road I took, before you know it you'll be all used up with no place to go. In Hollywood, people want you when you're young and beautiful, but as the looks fade, so do the good times.

As an ex–call girl who worked for both Madame Alex and Heidi Fleiss, my life may appear to have been exotic and curious. In reality, it has been tragic. What I'm about to say may sound like a cliché, but believe me, it is meant from my heart and from my experience. First, I was too nice when it came to sharing my body. Girls are often raised to be polite, but nice girls are easy marks for anyone who wants to use and manipulate them. I wish that I'd learned that it's okay to disappoint your boss, your pimp, your boyfriend, or even your husband. I remember once seeing the mother of a teenage girl who had been murdered. She looked sadly into the television camera, tears in her eyes, and said, "If I had one thing to do over again, I would have taught my daughter not to be so nice."

Second, I wish I had been suspicious of things that were too good to be true. It took me a while to learn that if it seems too good to be true, it is. There will always be a price to pay. I've learned the hard way that only hard work, discipline, and persistence—and maybe a little positive visualization—will help me achieve a goal. There are no easy shortcuts. Also, drugs and alcohol have been my nemesis. They took over my life before I realized it. In order to make the decisions necessary for a career in life, you need to be clear-headed and sober. I wasn't.

Finally, I wasn't true to myself. I betrayed myself. As a young student, I had goals and dreams. I also had boundaries and limits, but then I compromised my integrity, and it didn't work. Instead of the easy money I made leading me to the fulfillment of my dreams, it only led to more compromises, and to finally abandoning my goals altogether. I betrayed myself. I lost the strong sense of self I once had. I lost my confidence in myself. Sitting here in jail today, it is very clear to me that the ends don't justify the means. More often, if you take the wrong means to reach a goal, you will sabotage the ends you desire to achieve.

The above is the content of Episode 41 from Issue Four, 'Adventure,' compiled by Qicaiwang. I hope it is helpful to you!