Page 175

By Jack Joseph Smith

rr oi. Chapter X She wore a yellowdress and her blond hair was fluffed over her ears, She danced and movediwith laughter about the room; The guests moved aside and the men almost seemed to curtsy to here Her introductions were complamentry and her smile was complete with twinkling eyes She was the lady director and writer for such a marvellous childrens theatre and how wonderful it all was, I was the actor who was going off to adventures on the long lonesome roads. 0, how classic it all wase Everyone who was brillant and gallent was there, Vocka and German beers Lots of olves to plimk and home made onion dip and go@d cheese to toych a taste so fine to the> toung before drowning. your insides with the flowing bulk of cold beers A sefistacated carnival is how it had all loaked to me, A fancy group of men and women with long-hair and mustaches and bright colored hats, I loved to watch myself flip and fancy here and there, and into:a restraunt we would go with oyr makeup on) : Hello to youg hello to there, Lots of time we have for mischief, and we are none, F byt childreng: Around the countryside we had gome singing songs and sipping brandy on the ways A bys or tow or three or four, they were always breaking downy and a little ‘ cart that pulled behind, with props and sets and scenes. pilled within, with the faces of comedy and tragedy as a clown, painted without, : I had the rich girl on my arms She was a priceless gems’ Fit for love, fit for loving; i Next to my shoulder she walked with meg Pretending to be unhurts pretending not to be j bending to the tearsy. that were forcing like a hard wind, her soul over the underneath F thorns: of a blossomed seasons I watched painted intellects chase their immaginations 4 around the room, They.were going to become tissue paper people, if they didn't watch i oute Many peoples personalities were being flung around the room, like forest leaves : falling in the fell, I hadn't seen O'Dandy and company hardly at all during the past : year, and I remembered them nowy as I noticed that power didn't seem to have much to i i 1

Original Scan

Page 175

AI Interpretation

GPT

Remembering O'Dandy's invitation to Santa Monica and feeling the sadness of the rich girl at his side, Michael turns the party into a launch point for fantasies of islands, drums, sun, turquoise patterns, and a long lonesome road out of his current life.

The page is saturated with departure fever, but it never quite becomes freedom because the girl beside him is already fading inside the same dream. O'Dandy's Los Angeles pull and Michael's island visions both read as escape myths rather than plans.

Claude

Chapter X opens on the blond yellow-dress director's party — Vodka and German beer, olives, home-made onion dip — with Michael the actor going off on adventures and the rich girl on his arm as a priceless gem pretending not to bend to the thorns.