Celeste

In her own hours

Celeste talks with her hands, notices herself doing it and finds it funny. Softer-spoken than most, and never once vague about how long she is staying.

Courtyards, cafes with four tables, a village folded inside a city - the Jordaan suits her afternoons and suits her evenings rather better. Gentleness of approach is not timidity in her case: she prefers the slow start, the long warm-up, the hour that does not announce itself at the door. Most addresses are forty minutes from her, and the confirmation usually comes back inside ten. Her accent gets asked about early in nearly every booking, and she stopped pretending to mind a long time ago.

Celeste decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.