Page 102
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Courtroom silence sharpens into accusation and spectacle as the judge takes up Michael's record, the blind probation officer submits his report, and Saint Bernard's begins to answer back in his defense.
The blind probation officer stands out as one of the few figures Michael reads with any respect, because he seems to feel children rather than merely process them. Against the judge's language of delinquency, Saint Bernard's reframes Michael's violence as loyalty to the underdog.
Watching his father's 'shaking fingers' force a pen across paper 'signing over our home,' Michael leaves the station wanting 'a gun so bad I now felt the angry taste of confrontation in my mouth.' The courtroom waits 'to suck on the unseen niple of the law.' Against the 'bull faces' he singles out the blind probation officer in shades as 'a good man' who 'only felt the kids' - the negro kids 'made way for him.' Michael reads the man with respect precisely because he seems to feel children rather than process them, while Saint Bernard's reframes his fist-fighting as defense of 'the underdog.'