Page 134

By Jack Joseph Smith

The women and the man were followed in by a man as a duck; Animal watched the duckman move easing the dog. The dog felt the presence, and wondering around looking over its ass it wished for the duck to go away. But the duck was steady on its haunches before kneel; it appeared for keeps. The dog knew that wings without feathers could not fly, but all the same could make waves; and the duckmans flesh stretched to move as slowly as possible. Animal watched waiting for the wings to pick up speed. He knew for at least laughter to flutter, there had to be an exciting quickness. The dog began to make shifts in its behavior. Sometimes on its hines, to then fully in a squirry. With no mussle on the tips, the dogs ears were tuned as though they were wired. Animal looked to and fro from the dog down at the end of the bar to the duck nearby the doorway. The ducks squat was neatly purposed. Somehow the duck had a chance to be wise here. First the way to field out. Of course the smoke was mist; The tables flat mushrooms; and the glazed lights could be manipul- ated into a tarnished golden shade. The duck went to move along the outer tables glimpsing about as he balanced on his seperated webbs. The dog rose up in scent, and quivered its supprised nostrols.

Original Scan

Page 134

AI Interpretation

GPT

A dog and duck scene at the bar becomes an elaborate study of tension, instinct, speed, and comic observation.

The animal comedy matters because it mirrors the human room around it. Smoke, lights, movement, waiting, and bodily alertness turn the bar into a small theater where intelligence appears as timing and posture rather than speech.

Claude

A 'duckman' - a man costumed 'as a duck' - enters and unsettles a dog at the bar's far end, and Animal watches the standoff with close, almost naturalist attention. The dog, sensing 'something inhuman in pretending not to be', shifts 'on its hines' then 'fully in a squirry', ears 'tuned as though they were wired', while 'the duckmans flesh stretched to move as slowly as possible' on 'his seperated webbs'. Animal reads the room's smoke as 'mist', tables as 'flat mushrooms', and the 'glazed lights' as 'a tarnished golden shade', waiting for 'the wings to pick up speed' and 'laughter to flutter'.