Chapter 5 Summary

An attractive young woman named Ishtar arrives at her friend Tiffany's apartment, carrying a bag of groceries. Tiffany is in a bad way, either hung over or sick. Ishtar cooks her breakfast and tries to prepare her for the day. They discuss their job as exotic dancers and past relationships. Ishtar mentions an old relationship that ended because of trouble with the man's family. They drive to work. The meet up with another dancer on the way into the building and begin talking about temple prostitution. Ishtar talks about how, in Babylonian times, young women would go to temples and be selected by young men to engage in sexual intercourse in order to praise the gods. As she dances her first dance that night, Ishtar reflects on how what she currently does, taking money for lust, is a shadow of the power she...