Page 107

By Jack Joseph Smith

Chapter VII It was in the summer and I was walking through the Hill district of Pittsburgh. Brows were lined with yellow beads of sweat that went sweet in final moans behind falling doors. There was lots of noise and negro women sitting on white washed steps in front of Victorian shacks drinking their coffee black. Its steam rose and moved only slightly in the air, like still street papers caught in a silent breeze. My suit felt light on my widely presented shoulders, and the sent of sweet and sour smell made me feel dizzy and yet conscious of my swishing presence. I was fancy in my step and I felt my hair blow just a little bit in the stiff air. Listen to the red and blue of the music fading with its memory through the edges of the brick street. I am the colorful man. Already the man of many stories. I say hi in the market and smile at the response. I know the jukebox men, the gamblers, pimps I hate, and whores I love, they know me too. The cop says hello, but can't remember me. My dress changes. No, you can't catch me. Someday, if I am a big bookie, I will only know the eyes and never watch the faces. The faces; they interchange. From question to laughter they turn, and those men always have their hands in their pockets. I like the eyelash of the Jew. It twitches. What a funny sight behind black eyes. But the black men like them; they say, go fuck yourself, nose to nose. Neither hides behind the ever popular skin and both wear their pants high. Its a cap to me, a hat to him. What the fuck is the difference? Corn beef or spare ribs; it only depends on the time of the day. Give me the ribs hot at six o'clock, with plenty of juce to burn me up for the evening. Later after whiskey, I'll have corn beef and beer. And maybe a chick to laugh at, while she spills her mustard. I can see the heat waves rising out of that tight dude's shirt. The hotter the better. I can feel my pumper churning. Center Avenue with all the pimple faced pimps and hoping children, white with teeth they would give gladly for a silver coin. Nothing worse

Original Scan

Page 107

AI Interpretation

GPT

Summer in Pittsburgh's Hill District opens into a swaggering walk through black streets, jukebox trade, gamblers, pimps, whores, cops, food, and heat, as Michael imagines himself already a many-storied man.

The page is full of self-invention, with Michael dressing himself in movement, appetite, and urban fluency as if the district can ratify a new identity. Race, class, and style are watched with fascination rather than distance, and the whole street feels like a stage for becoming.

Claude

Chapter VII opens on a summer walk through Pittsburgh's Hill district as a stage for self-invention. The street is rendered in heat and color - 'Brows were lined with yellow beads of sweat,' women 'drinking their coffee black,' steam rising 'like still street papers caught in a silent breeze.' Michael declares himself 'the colorful man. Already the man of many stories,' fancy in his step, known to 'the jukebox men, the gamblers, pimps I hate, and whores I love.' Race, class, and style are watched with appetite rather than distance ('Corn beef or spare ribs; it only depends on the time of the day'), the district treated as a place that can ratify a new identity.