Page 216

By Jack Joseph Smith

their buttons off." He then made the pantomine of removing a button from a lapel that wasn't on his tee-shirt, and tossing it out to the short space of sea between he with Jaque- line and the crowd; "I support nothing," he mimicked grandly of himself. "Do you want me to dive into the oilsalt, and bring it up in my pearly teeth?" bellowed Jiven Joe in an affected theatrical tone; as he moved through the gang toward the bottom edge of the gang plank. "No," shouted Animal above the increasing bangs of the pumps; and now coming high churn of the engines, "no, you clown, no!" "My fearful friend; do you really think I am such a fool?" replied Joe; more in an in- tonation to himself; as simultaneously Jaque- line viewed Animal's face formed in an un- characteristic frown, but let her mind flow away into the dream she expected during these moments before departure. The dream was soft with spring. The image being kind and sweet to a past, or future; of a now modern Hawaii. Colorful birds; and white ones too; danced their tracks down the perfect

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The noise of engines and dockside clowning pushes Jaqueline inward, where departure becomes less a logistics event than the threshold of a dream she wants the voyage to justify.

Animal and Jiven Joe remain loud and social, but Jaqueline's consciousness begins to detach from the crowd. The result is a page where outer machinery, theatrical joking, and inner softness coexist uneasily just before the ship truly moves.

Claude

Animal extends the bit, miming the removal of 'a button from a lapel that wasn't on his tee-shirt' and tossing it toward the crowd - 'I support nothing,' he 'mimicked grandly of himself.' Jiven Joe, 'in an affected theatrical tone,' offers to 'dive into the oilsalt, and bring it up in my pearly teeth,' drawing Animal's anxious 'no, you clown, no!' over 'the increasing bangs of the pumps.' Joe's reply, 'do you really think I am such a fool?' lands 'more in an intonation to himself,' and as Animal's face sets 'in an uncharacteristic frown,' Jaqueline lets 'her mind flow away into the dream she expected during these moments before departure' - soft, spring-lit, 'kind and sweet to a past, or future; of a now modern Hawaii' where 'Colorful birds; and white ones too; danced their tracks.' The clowning is loud, but the page turns inward and becomes hers.