Page 19

By Jack Joseph Smith

No I don't want to come in, I said, as gently and directly as I felt. In that hour I truly went away from myself. Mountains in the mind were really climbed, and I could feel the power. Seas were really sailed, and I could smell the salt rising with the waves through my brain. Time was really gone, and I could see my white vision passing through the blackness. I was the prince of light tasting the fruits of my nobility and listening to my servants chatter, as they came bearing gifts for me. My foot soldiers were guarding the door at the end of my kingly corridor, and there was a shy and curly haired little girl beckoning indiscriminately. But Mrs. Williams told me to tell you to come in. No I won't come in, unless Mrs. Williams tells me herself! I wanted a reality that was wanting me. I wanted Mrs. Williams to take me from my timeless dream illusion, for she had placed me there. Then I heard Mrs. Williams voice, and a fear I didn't want went through me. Please have Michael come in here. He won't come Mrs. Williams. I didn't know what to do, when I saw Mrs. Williams standing in the doorway. Michael come in here this minute. You should be ashamed of yourself up setting little girls like this. I didn't upset her Mrs. Williams. When Mrs. Williams asked her if I had upset her she said, I don't know, just like a little girl. Well, I think I'm going to have to talk about this to your parents Michael. I don't mind you talking to my parents Mrs. Williams.

Original Scan

Page 19

AI Interpretation

GPT

Refusing to come in, the child vanishes into a prince-of-light fantasy until Miss Williams appears in the doorway, breaks the spell, and turns the standoff into shame and threat.

The noisy lines still hold a very clear structure: private sovereignty in the hall, then collapse under institutional command. What he wants is not simply to rejoin the room, but to be personally fetched and recognized by the one who placed him outside.

Claude

Refusing the little girl's summons, the boy reports a genuine dissociative reverie: 'In that hour I truly went away from myself', mountains 'really climbed', seas 'really sailed' with 'the salt rising with the waves through my brain'. He becomes 'the prince of light tasting the fruits of my nobility', foot soldiers 'guarding the door at the end of my kingly corridor', a 'shy and curly haired little girl beckoning indiscriminately'. The point is not rejoining the room but being personally fetched: 'I wanted a reality that was wanting me', that Mrs. Williams 'take me from my timeless dream illusion, for she had placed me there' - until her real voice brings 'a fear I didn't want' and a threat to tell his parents.