Small conversation in the afternoon with John Fante (Bukowski)

he said, "I was working in Hollywood when Faulkner was working in Hollywood and he was the worst: he was too drunk to stand up at the end of the afternoon and so I had to help him into a taxi day after day after day.




"but when he left Hollywood, I stayed on, and while I didn't drink like that maybe I should have, I might have had the guts then to follow him and get the hell out of there."




I told him, "you write as well as Faulkner"




"you mean that?" he asked from the hospital bed, smiling.