Page 38

By Jack Joseph Smith

38 cluttering up the kitchen, My father was still rather new at this kind ef runing around, but he enjeyed it because he was an entertainer from the eld scheel, who could warm a tied up heart: wi,h his innecenkeg He would take his big business friends, .whe knew about the inneoends; just like the big farmer dewn yhe read, and walk them to his new found ‘neighbers, He was the new distributer whe showed great premise living in a world Wurlitzer people placed areund him;' Net that he didn't bele ng3 yhere-was nothing te be sad abeyt when your farm dreams ef the depressien were all around yeu, Anyway taking his business people acress the room was but. a moment, but going dewn the read te bring. the big farmer back to meet his ; parents would have been a procedure that took many steps with theught on the way, Everything was being taken away from me and I ceuld feel it passing thre ! ugh their hands in bright celered teyss After awhile the meaning or feeling ef the day became very cenfused and I asked my mother if I could go out and plays She said no because I had my Christmas -eutfit en and in any event the weather was getting darker, The night was begining before 4,6 sun fell; .and my father turned on the lights ef the inside and ‘outside Christmas-trees and an erangeness filled ;he reem and thre ugh the windew pains I ceuld see its reflection gn the snows Through the day peeple had ceme and gene and new most ef the people had went. and none were-comings Uncle Jackie had been there most ofthe day and in hia: leaving was-reminding me on the technique used in knecking a monsterous Joe pode blown up bag to the fleer and te cateh it again en ite way up with a good right cress; Keep your thumb eutside your hands; he would says And den't feld'yeur arms-when I am talking to you, that's for aagsgtes Se I would DARA

Original Scan

Page 38

AI Interpretation

GPT

The father is seen as an old-style entertainer and new Wurlitzer distributor carrying business people across the room, while the child feels Christmas slipping away into adult hands, lights, darkness, and Uncle Jackie's boxing lesson.

Work, class movement, and performance all collapse into one figure here, so the father is both salesman and warmth-maker even while the child experiences the day as something being taken from him. Uncle Jackie's instruction on thumbs, fists, and folded arms gives the holiday evening a hard masculine aftertaste.

Claude

Father juggles three oranges on the kitchen floor — the soft-shoe, the distributor-showing-great-promise — while Michael learns the class distinction between walking his big business friends across the room and walking down the road to the big farmer.