Page 177

By Jack Joseph Smith

"Millionare bums don't know the tricks. They don't have to being to busy bouncing, but someday the need- le gonna be put in the balloon your sitting on buddy." The men who had slapped his back, and waved recog- nition actually waving themselves into corners and singular spaces from it; now siped their beer through tight enough lips for the refusal of laughter. "If I was floting," Animal picked up, "I wouldn't be standing in the middle of eyes," he had not sat down upon the stool of his choice for leaning, which was the occasion of his personality, "and I'll tell you something else my black side of the white race friend," he buldged his temples and swallowed his cheaks, "the Animal ain't got a dime..." "Now you're not bouncing Animal. You're a relaxed intestened bird tighting up his beak to do it on me." "Let's give the boys a drink Blacky; I mean anybody afternooning can quietly sip on a..." "Thursday; dear one," she gave to answer meaning it. "Yes Thursday." (So many faces pass me on thursday.) Blackie startled; Surely an eyebrow raised, for for a second he saw not himself. Didn't know, just asked. "You two together?" "Better get those beers rolling." "So we can be on our way." She was stubborn and clear. (To find out) his motions said onto himself as he

Original Scan

Page 177

AI Interpretation

GPT

Back in the bar, Animal uses comic swagger to disrupt the room's stale social codes while Jaugeline's presence sharpens the tension between performance and actual connection.

The page is full of posture and counter-posture. Animal keeps refusing to settle into the role the room wants for him, and the shared beers become less about drinking than about making a temporary breach in a stagnant atmosphere.

Claude

Blackie needles the room's 'Millionare bums' who don't know 'someday the needle gonna be put in the balloon your sitting on', and the back-slapping men sip 'through tight enough lips for the refusal of laughter'. Animal works the floor without taking 'the stool of his choice for leaning', insisting 'the Animal ain't got a dime' and addressing Blackie as 'my black side of the white race friend'. He buys the house a round - 'Let's give the boys a drink Blacky' - while Jaugeline's stubborn clarity cuts under the banter ('Thursday; dear one'). Blackie's startled question 'You two together?' and her flat redirection - 'Better get those beers rolling' - leave the performance suddenly exposed to a real bond he can't read.