Page 21

By Jack Joseph Smith

21 \ I would not see-Mre,.Williems again fer a leng times §levhad called my mother after lunch, and'teld her ef the hall I called a-reom, New:in the mornings there-was-ne scheel, and my seconds: became: lifetimes: through dreams locking from our frent window across-Metzes ‘field touched white in the early winter sung The stery was that Mr; Metzes- lived alone on ,he other side ef the hill in an eld stone farmhouse, .that'was in shambles, Everyone knew that he wag a: mam of the depths and cared nothing fer the outside werld, Semeone said, that his wife and’children had been burned alive-in a terrible fire, that distreyed most of the house, Others- saidg that they had atl excaped the fire and Mrs. Metzes -had taken her children away,,while Mr, Metzes-had stayed on te live-in the ruins ef the houses The farm was-always-very still, and everyth#ing: grow wilds From ayr-front window’I could see the wild wheat bending ynder: the wind and snow all aleng-the hillj.Directly across-the street was-a-creek that. ran behind seme-neat and pretty homes~ covered’ with greeng.and I imagined’ that cows: @nce-came-to drink and te care ee part ef the fields My eyesstraveted'as-far-as: the-tops:of the-Allegany mountains-in the distances, and ‘stoped there -im the-wonderment of a-childd-heart wanting: his-imagination to go on{.Each’ day I'would stand’ on the couch and beg-my mother te let me leaves No Micheal, Yey should be im nursery school} if you can't stay in nursery ssheol; you can't go out and play. De yeu knew Mr§ Metzes mom? No Iden’, Michaeis Have-yeou ever seem hin? Ne I'haven't, and'den't you ever go over theres That's his property, . and

Original Scan

Page 21

AI Interpretation

GPT

After Miss Williams calls home, mornings without school open onto the haunted stillness of Metzes field, ruined-farm stories, distant Alleghenies, and the child's blocked desire to go outside.

Suspension from nursery school widens the imagination rather than calming it, and the front window becomes a lookout over rumor, ruin, wild growth, and mountain distance. The mother answers with prohibition, so the forbidden field gathers even more power.


Claude

The Metzes field mythology is laid down: wild wheat bending under wind and snow, the story that Mister Metzes's wife and children burned alive, and the stone farmhouse in shambles across from Michael's front window.