Page 123

By Jack Joseph Smith

to convince them, that the eternal mahogany bar was the greatest characters show; rather than a perpetual stumbling block detouring them from the actual sensation connected with accomplish- ment. They were political drop outs; They were neolists who cared less about the psychological excuses. Some young men who visited the tavern of O'Ma- honey's had an intention of becoming old fast, for others drunk to a point where laugh- ing at death was not a boisterous accompaniment to no particular game theatrical or otherwise for they had no-one on their arm. At the same time Animal, and Colonel also felt believable to themselves there; Understood, which was to say to themselves, that here there was no need to explain. No person here, no matter of stand- ing, could justify judgement. Animal being wealthy, had not to regard jealousy. The filled glass seemed to level the daydream, and the old men were lost hippies, carrying the forced smile surged up from the last surfaces of abysmal dignity. Colonel gazed around. Through the smoke and smell (the table that was be- coming his was near the toilets) he could witness the physical reason for his father's death; Father

Original Scan

Page 123

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page turns the tavern into a place where dropouts and self-made men briefly feel exempt from outside judgement, even as Colonel's mind keeps circling inheritance and decay.

What gives the page force is the mix of social philosophy and bodily mood. The bar is not just a room but a mechanism for suspending explanation, jealousy, and status long enough for Animal and Colonel to believe in themselves, even while the handwritten revisions push the scene toward theatrical self-invention and failed accompaniment.

Claude

The narration surveys the tavern's regulars as political dropouts and aging drinkers using laughter to blunt the presence of death, while Colonel, seated near the toilets, begins to reflect on the circumstances of his father's death.