Page 45

By Jack Joseph Smith

45 and girls:playing and asked them if I could play too. There were two red head ed girls playing from different families and they were both sert ef leaders: that were against each ethers I brought them tegether and they beth said no that I couldn! tat the same time, I didn't lmew how to reach them because they were older than me, so I just steed there soca: quiet} |They started te laugh saying I wae tepfat to plays, I couldn't understand that, and I looked areund thinking that I wasn't any bigger than anybedy elses Then they asked Danial to play saying he could but I couldn't, He just looked at them with out saying anything and then looked at me and asked me if I would like to play in his garage with hime I walked teward him smiling and when I came te him we started BEY ier up his driveway and inte this great big garage with a high high ceiling. There were shields and swords that knights weuld have used to fight with hanging on one of the long walls; He reached up and unheoked two shields and two swords from there places: and handed a set te me, I held the leng thin feil tight in my hand and breught the shield up clese te my chest,.as he did the same, and then we steed there facing each ether in eur friendships’ | De yeu knew hew te swerd right? he said, No, I answered, I have never hadja sword like thiss These are French, and you can be|faster with these than with any other sword, he saids Are there really crazy peeple in Kennedy terete? I asked hims Lets go leeking fer them. oy; Will“yeu teach me hew te swerd signs? . Sure,

Original Scan

Page 45

AI Interpretation

GPT

Rejected by older children at softball, the child is drawn instead into Daniel's garage of shields and French swords, where friendship immediately links play-fighting to Kennedy forest and the lure of crazy people.

Humiliation at the game is brief but sharp, and Daniel answers it by making a private world that is older, stranger, and more binding than neighborhood play. The fencing gear turns companionship into alliance almost at once, with danger and fantasy already folded into their first exchange.

Claude

Sword-fighting in Danial's garage under hanging shields and foils — these are French, you can be faster with these — cements the partnership that will dominate the next stretch of the book.