Page 109

By Jack Joseph Smith

Horns honking and cue balls belting out their sound of climax through the cautious ears of bee boppers in their orange and pale with a shade of light green. Can you see me behind my greasy straight and jingle jangle? No. You stupid and slovenly bastard. Except him. Watch my long fingernail leap. He laughs. I see Him laugh. We both fancy the love of death. He will walk in the alley without fear. He dosen't give a shit where it takes him. And he will pass through unharmed. That's what white Willy's call a paradox. Is he pointing at me? But of course. What you selling there? Get smart pills. Let me have one. Where's your dime? Here it is. These get smart pills taste like chicken shit. Now you getting smart. Winding alleys snaking back to the dismal dragon of the past. There is fire on the other side of that door. Boys, you hear me. There is fire brought here from way within the south. It beckons you to pleasure. Do you know what that is? Have you even watched a fine brown skin move, like it was being tempted by a wasp that would never sting. Yes sir, just linger over. The wasp just lingers over her. The senses thrive on love. Do you know what love is? He stoped a singular moment and looked at me straight. Do you? I think you want to. You are walking through the alleys boy. I don't mean that word bad; I am being polite. You're looking, cause you can't find it nowhere else. You haven't made a mistake boy, and don't let anyone tell you different, because you have different eyes. There ain't nothing wrong in the dirrection you're walking. Pull that bottle down from your lips and wipe them clean,

Original Scan

Page 109

AI Interpretation

GPT

The Hill District sequence turns into a smart-pills exchange and an older street figure's charged sermon about alleys, southern fire, brown skin, love, and the direction Michael is walking.

The page works like an initiation speech. What begins as a small hustler joke opens into an argument that Michael's desire and wandering are not mistakes, even if he is not ready to follow the speaker all the way.

Claude

A small street joke opens into an initiation speech. The 'get smart pills' that 'taste like chicken shit' ('Now you getting smart') give way to a black man's prophecy at the alley door: 'There is fire on the other side of that door... It beckons you to pleasure.' He blesses the boy's wandering as no mistake - 'You haven't made a mistake boy... because you have different eyes. There ain't nothing wrong in the dirrection you're walking' - and tells him to 'Pull that bottle down from your lips and wipe them clean.' The argument is that Michael's desire and drift are not errors, even if 'You ain't ready yet.'