Page 202

By Jack Joseph Smith

"You don't have to do. But it is a shame you are not young enough to be put on a tightrope. I mean, think of the arms! But I am becoming carried away; and I must tell you directly now: you will have to maintain. This instant there is a small weight on your left shoulder. Do you feel it?" "Yes." "That's nice." "What is it?" "It's a weight, of course." "Yes it is. Just like a basket without fruit." "So, let's put some fruit in it." He waited a moment; And then very poised; he raised his right hand. Then as if counting off seconds; he brought his second finger straight down upon his thumb ten times producing the sound of flesh taping. "Feel it?" "Yes." "Would you care for some more apples?" She barely nodded, and he made the action three times more. He smiled. "How about a bunch of banana's for the right shoulder?" Maria smiled slightly, but the rest of her face-

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The imagined burden becomes almost childlike in its staging, with Montreal placing fruit and apples into Maria's invisible baskets so that grief can be felt as manageable weight.

This page is oddly playful without losing seriousness. The whimsical language keeps the ritual from hardening into solemn fraud, and the finger-tapping action makes the invisible weight feel physically counted onto Maria's body.

Claude

Montreal turns the ritual whimsical: he regrets Marie is 'not young enough to be put on a tightrope' ('think of the arms!'), then has her feel 'a small weight on your left shoulder' he calls 'a basket without fruit.' The grief gets itemized as produce - he taps his finger to thumb 'ten times producing the sound of flesh taping,' loading invisible apples, then offers 'some more apples' and 'a bunch of banana's for the right shoulder.' The deadpan literalism (an empty basket that must be filled, fruit counted onto the body by sound) keeps the scene from hardening into solemn fraud, even as 'the rest of her face' stays unmoved - the playfulness and the seriousness held in the same gesture.