A few passages from the book "Telex from Cuba".
In yesterday's comment on this book, I made a point of not including quotes, there were too many. Some either linger, or on looking back seem interesting enough to repeat. Well, I have time.
---"Anyone who buys a psychic telephone doesn't really believe it's going to work. That all you need is $19.99. Buy the machine. Take it home. Plug it in. Dial a number and hear the living voice of someone dead and vanished. People buy things for other reasons. They weren't born yesterday. They don't need the law to tell them that the equipment is faulty.
Let the people learn for themselves:
You don't call the dead.
The dead call you."
And that is the end of the book.
---"That is incredible---our chauffeur, mayor of Preston! But that's communism. Ho Chi Minh started out as a fry cook at the Ritz."
---"He refused to believe that anyone who should be loyal wasn't. Just as Batista wasn't capable of understanding that none of the girls was loyal... it was beyond the scope of what he deemed possible, even as he made himself aware of every last detail."
---"Mother had been a May Queen, and she was president of Kappa Kappa Gamma at DePaux. I had to return her sorority pin when she died. Harlan Sanders---that's Colonel Sanders---he was from Indiana, and had always been in love with Mother. We were his guests at the Sanders Motor Court once on our way to Cumberland Falls. You could tell he had that fatal thing for Mother. His hands shook and his face turned red when he greeted us. I think Daddy was amused."
---"Suppose you could speak to someone you love who's no longer living. Would you cross a continent to speak to that person for just fifteen minutes?
You would.
When it's someone you love, the answer is that fifteen minutes is limitless if it means getting information about how to proceed without them. The chance of a clue is worth the journey. Because you don't know what that person will say to you. You can't guess what you might be turning down."
---"He said he wanted the pictures for when he was old and depressed, Mrs. Carrington said. To remind himself of the good times he's had.
Her husband's secret catalogue of mistresses. Mrs. Carrington seemed strangely proud of the photographs, as if they belonged not to Tip Carrington but to her.
My husband loved life. And she had proof."
---"Anyone who buys a psychic telephone doesn't really believe it's going to work. That all you need is $19.99. Buy the machine. Take it home. Plug it in. Dial a number and hear the living voice of someone dead and vanished. People buy things for other reasons. They weren't born yesterday. They don't need the law to tell them that the equipment is faulty.
Let the people learn for themselves:
You don't call the dead.
The dead call you."
And that is the end of the book.
---"That is incredible---our chauffeur, mayor of Preston! But that's communism. Ho Chi Minh started out as a fry cook at the Ritz."
---"He refused to believe that anyone who should be loyal wasn't. Just as Batista wasn't capable of understanding that none of the girls was loyal... it was beyond the scope of what he deemed possible, even as he made himself aware of every last detail."
---"Mother had been a May Queen, and she was president of Kappa Kappa Gamma at DePaux. I had to return her sorority pin when she died. Harlan Sanders---that's Colonel Sanders---he was from Indiana, and had always been in love with Mother. We were his guests at the Sanders Motor Court once on our way to Cumberland Falls. You could tell he had that fatal thing for Mother. His hands shook and his face turned red when he greeted us. I think Daddy was amused."
---"Suppose you could speak to someone you love who's no longer living. Would you cross a continent to speak to that person for just fifteen minutes?
You would.
When it's someone you love, the answer is that fifteen minutes is limitless if it means getting information about how to proceed without them. The chance of a clue is worth the journey. Because you don't know what that person will say to you. You can't guess what you might be turning down."
---"He said he wanted the pictures for when he was old and depressed, Mrs. Carrington said. To remind himself of the good times he's had.
Her husband's secret catalogue of mistresses. Mrs. Carrington seemed strangely proud of the photographs, as if they belonged not to Tip Carrington but to her.
My husband loved life. And she had proof."
posted by John Borden at 12:30 PM
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