Page 112

By Jack Joseph Smith

their pretense would be part of their living. Nothing seems different to them. Their minds have wondered through it all. And look at the world calling them unintelligent. What have we done to our imaginations? God, it's a long long way back to a foreign master, and I am remembering my childhood. It just reached out and grabbed me by the throat and moved its fingers up into my hair. Its uncombed again. So caught am I in my living pain of image. Yes, I am, more than all. No lies Papa Joe. You're dead now. How long ago? Maybe a year. It was raining. Yes, a black day with umbrellas hovering over stone of faces and landmarks. Who cared? The Bishop did. Ha ha, I am really laughing, and Daniel is turning. I see his face clearly in the dim blue. I have made the desision to wander within the bounds my imagination can not touch. Please let more come home to me now as I walk to him. We have no identity, and we have chosen this symbol. That which can not be touched, that which can not be seen, that which can not be related. It has been five years; yet the world pretended to see us together in the same inviorment. We spilled out the same lies together, but refused to speak to each other about it. My laughter is so high and he is smiling. The reminiscence of an era nither one of us saw is approaching. The darkness must be kissed. Where have we been? The laughter is too high and now I must touch him. Hello. Hello, Michael. Hello, hello Daniel. What? What? And at once, what are we doing here? This laughter is attractive and attracting, we once again said together.

Original Scan

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AI Interpretation

GPT

The reunion finally breaks into speech as Michael and Daniel greet each other in laughter and mutual surprise, with all the years between them suddenly crowded into a single unstable moment.

The actual words are simple, but the emotional charge comes from how overfull they are after so much distance and avoidance. Laughter arrives first because neither of them can yet say what the meeting really carries.

Claude

The crossing toward Daniel carries more than its plain words can hold. Childhood 'reached out and grabbed me by the throat'; Papa Joe is mourned in passing ('You're dead now... It was raining'), and Michael declares his choice 'to wander within the bounds my imagination can not touch.' The two have shared 'the same lies' for five years while refusing to speak, and now 'The darkness must be kissed.' When they finally meet, the dialogue is almost nothing - 'Hello. Hello, Michael. Hello, hello Daniel. What? What?' - and laughter arrives first because neither can yet say what the meeting carries: 'what are we doing here? This laughter is attractive and attracting.'