Page 36

By Jack Joseph Smith

36 married: Ons: . Now Michael} yeu lock nices Except we need some-shoess Would you like to wear the shoes “Grandmother Fros, sent yeu for Christmas; They are very good shees=though, ani ‘you myst take care ef thems Mom, hows-come its:se dark new, when it was:s0 sunny *,his-morning? Things change Michael} and'the-weather-is-ne exceptions New pu yeur shoes: en, and ‘yeu ean wear this jacket from Grandmother Faolainj’ I wish they were: ere to see yous’ The house became a-nen idenified shifting of many faced carnival, but there was ‘ne mystery in their eyess The Women smiling. like false eyelashed children, And the man: balancing: the OE sateen his-grownup head, No matter. to me and I went dancing threugh the dining reem and around 4he high backed chairs= and into the kitchen smelling and seéing all kinds of strange things like burben glasses being filled with cherries and oranges and the toasting te. the- turkey in the pan with its bare legs sticking up in the airé Itweuld' run going through their different werlds- appearing and ‘disappearing; and they weuld greet me as-I came and Michael would be my mame as-I answered all their quest iens-fer them, They were like flash cards r,ning abdweemp eyes, while I moved beneath them in my own underworldé I could see im their stretching fages:fill ed'with straining: laughter zhat they all wanted te be happier than they werey ne matter hew happy that might bes The laughter: was not real, because they did ‘net belong therd; tegethers' The enly thing they knew about each ether was that they were begining to be the silent wealthy that nobfay ever hears abeut, because-their ‘place was te be executives and not dictators: hat they might

Original Scan

Page 36

AI Interpretation

GPT

Once the child is dressed and fitted with Christmas shoes and jacket, the house fills with holiday guests who look festive but hollow, and the adult laughter begins to feel like a performance of rising wealth.

The domestic room turns into a carnival of faces, bourbon glasses, cherries, oranges, and business manners, but the child reads strain beneath the surface almost immediately. Wurlitzer success and executive aspiration are present less as pride than as a social costume everyone is trying to keep on.

Claude

Christmas shoes from Grandmother Frost are put on, the house fills with false-eyelashed women and balanced-drink men, and Michael becomes a dancing boy passing under chandeliers that are crystal with a drop of yellow flickering within.