Page 14

By Jack Joseph Smith

Was it fun, even if it was cold? The Roosters were awful mean. Did they peck at you? Your always telling mom not to peck like an old hen. Hens are the ones who lay the eggs Michael. Oh; Are the roosters the men? Yes. That's why they're tougher. Huh? Well, that's why the old hens lay the eggs. The girls Huh? Yep, those the girls. What's the coldest day you ever remember? When I was older I was the milkman for a big farmer down the road, and I had to get up at three thirty in the morning and that was colder than hell. Isn't that hot Dad? That's only an expression Michael. What's an expression? Oh. Its just a way of putting a point across. What's a big farmer mean? Well, one that had more money than we had. You mean he had more money than grandfather, so you had to work for him? I didn't have to Michael, but I did. Why? I had to have money to go to College. Did you go very far-away, when you went to college? A couple of hundred miles.

Original Scan

Page 14

AI Interpretation

GPT

Farm talk slides from roosters and hens into harsher labor, with predawn milk routes, bitter cold, the meaning of expressions, and the practical need to earn money for college.

The comedy of rooster talk gives way to class facts very quickly, so the page feels like a child worrying at adult economics until education comes into view. Work becomes the bridge between farm life and leaving home.

Claude

The father's farm biography continues in clipped call-and-response — roosters are the men, hens lay the eggs — and the coldest day at three-thirty in the morning becomes Michael's first encounter with the word expression.