# Quote — John Fante, Ask The Dust

> I opened the door, and there he stood, a telegraph boy. I signed for the telegram, sat on the bed, and wondered if the wine had finally got the Old Man's heart. The telegram said: your book accepted mailing contract today. Hackmuth. That was all. I let the paper float to the carpet. I just sat there. Then I got down on the floor and began kissing the telegram. I crawled under the bed and just lay there. I did not need the sunshine anymore. Nor the earth, nor heaven. I just lay there, happy to die. Nothing else could happen to me. My life was over.

- Author: [John Fante](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante.md)
- Book: [Ask The Dust](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante/ask-the-dust.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fante#Ask_the_Dust_(1939)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante/ask-the-dust/i-opened-the

## More from this book

> The trouble with trouble was that trouble was looking for Coldwater Gatling. They don't like Texas Rangers down in Arizona, consequently Coldwater Gatling figured shoot first and find out who you killed afterwards. That's how they did it in the Lone Star State where men were men and the women didn't mind cooking for hard-riding straight-shooting people like Coldwater Gatling, the toughest man in leather they had down there.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante/ask-the-dust/the-trouble-with.md)

> We drove into the Los Angeles Black Belt, Central Avenue, night clubs, abandoned apartment houses, broken-down business houses, the forlorn street of poverty for the Negro and swank for the whites.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante/ask-the-dust/we-drove-into.md)

> I turned around and saw the crease on the bed where Camilla had been seated, the sensuous contour where her thighs and hips had sunk beneath the softness of the blue chenille bedspread. then I forgot Sammy, and wild with longing I threw myself upon my knees before the spot and kissed it reverently.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fante/ask-the-dust/i-turned-around.md)
