Ask The Dust

The next day, Arturo sits at his typewriter, reimagining the scene at the beach as if he and Camilla had actually had sex. He then goes to eat at a restaurant before heading to the Columbia Buffet. He gets too nervous to enter the bar and instead goes to the telegraph office. He writes out the message, “I love you Camilla I want to marry you Arturo Bandini” and pays the clerk to deliver it to the Columbia Buffet. Soon after, he sees the telegraph boy and tries to pay him to not deliver the telegram. The boy refuses, and Arturo follows him to the bar, so he can watch Camilla open the telegram. She laughs when she reads the message and hands it first to the bartenders and then to a nearby group of men, who all laugh afterreading it. After witnessing this scene, Arturo becomes sick to his stomach and goes to a dancehall, where he pays to dance with a blond woman.

The next day, Arturo decides that he wants to write Camilla a poem. He goes to church and asks to speak with the priest. In the priest’s office, he spies a copy of the magazine with “The Little Dog Laughed”and shows him his story; the priest replies that the story was blasphemous and “a piece of hogwash” (74).