Page 144

By Jack Joseph Smith

146 for mes They seemed’ so ugly, when I was sobers. There faces were bulkgy and distorted, somewhat like Dolveskey characters, there was a blind hate raging somewhere down wifriny them, and their laughter was a reléived crys On one such occasion, a short time after they had arrived, Young Ben came running over a far hill yelling that there was a monster over there; and he had just been picked up by him and tossed’ twenty feet in the airs Everyone began to rn down the BLL; and TI stood there watching my penic disappear, Some, who were drunk, fell face-first into the creek on their way to see the monszer, In a moment, followed like a fool, to protect my patrons; I had’a certain reputation to maintain, as I made enough money on that day to live for the rest of the week, and I didn't want to lose any drinkers; When-we arrived at the other side of the next’ hill, we were startled at the sight of a huge negro man, who must have weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, He was with a group of people who were having a picnic: such as ourss which seemed’ to be ima slight disarreys I stepped up to him and askedy what the trouble was? He immediately swmg at me: But he was very fat and reminded me of someone who might be married to Ancha Mima, and his arm moved like a-huge treee branch coming at you from high in the sky, It was frightening as hell, but with a little bit of wit and gaging, I was able to move aside,’ I quickly ran around hin, and'yp to the high side of the hilli’ He began moving toward me, and I backed uP slowly, making sure he wouldn't find position on the above ground, Watching his feet carefully, .I caught a slight stymble in his movement, and let him have its Smack, right in the noses He went backwards, his big face shaking, and his weight brought him down,’ But to the unfortinate suprise of a college boyy who found him self in the way, .of what must of seemed to him to be, falling tons of flesh, Thomas, I later in a quite pecular way founé this to be his name, began to pound zhe college

Original Scan

Page 144

AI Interpretation

GPT

Seeing O'Dandy's crowd as ugly and distorted once he is sober, the narrator watches his Sunday picnic erupt when a huge man named Thomas is called a monster, and he steps into the trouble to protect both his patrons and his rough little enterprise.

The scene keeps the loose, boozy carnival of the picnic but strips the glamour from the old crowd by making them look swollen, hateful, and absurd. Money, reputation, and the need to manage the crowd matter just as much as courage, so the fight begins already tangled in business and performance.

Claude

Running the Sunday beer picnic in the park — calling it a picnic, college kids, the more questionable Mount Lebanon girls — gets interrupted by Young Ben yelling there is a monster over the hill, introducing the huge man Thomas.