Ask The Dust

Pleased with his progress on his novel about Vera, Arturo goes to find Camilla at the Columbia Buffet. He notices a change in her and wonders if she is missing Sammy. He tells her to come see him sometime. A few days later, Camilla appears at his room with a “swollen lower lip” and a “purple and black smudge” around her eye (130). When he asks her who hit her, she claims it happened in an automobile accident. When he asks, “Was Sammy driving the other car?” (130), she begins to cry and tells him that she drove out to see Sammy in the desert after work. He punched her in the face twice for waking him up at three in the morning (130). She takes out a bottle of whiskey from her purse, and they both drink until they are very drunk. Arturo professes his love for her, and they finally sleep together.

Some time after that night, Arturo and Camilla go to Terminal Island together and spend the day on the beach. She is in a bad mood and has been drinking too much. When Arturo goes to join a group of Japanese children playing football, Camilla drives off without him, and he takes the bus back to Los Angeles.