Page 50

By Jack Joseph Smith

the valleys of Mount Lebanon, Virginia Manor, and to the distant side, Kennedy forest. General ways of perceiving the truth are irrelevant, but to which side of the hill did the insanity lie? The spirit can be seen through eyes that are lit. I needed no mirror to see mine. They were turning in my head and interchanging with the forest. The force there was the sound of the soundless touching. You could see Morrison Drive winding in little curves through Old Virginia Manor. There were two Virginia Manors you see; There was the Old Virginia Manor, where we lived on Morrison Drive. And there was the new Virginia Manor, that began at the end of Morrison Drive. I suppose new Virginia Manor was supposed to be new wealth in another place. Look, you can see all of Morrison Drive, someone said; but Danial and I paid no attention and walked along watching for animal laughter in the summer growth of Kennedy forest. I can't hear anything, can you? No; but I see the leaves moving. I bet it's cool under there. Gee, it's a long way down there. We looked over our shoulders seeing Mount Lebanon in the distance and shouted, hey you guys, lets go this way. We cut over to Kennedys forest side of the hill so that we couldn't see Mount Lebanon any longer and moved along quietly discovering places to hide. The birds seemed cross fluttering away from us in flocks as they burned their wings through the thorns tangled beneath the undergrowth. Little purple berries grew along the ground and became red on the same bushes, when they were near the sun. We walked along touching each others hands

Original Scan

Page 50

AI Interpretation

GPT

Crossing the high field above Mount Lebanon and the edge of Kennedy forest, the children move toward the orchard with the landscape itself feeling haunted, watchful, and alive in their heads.

Some lines are rough, but the ridge clearly becomes a threshold where suburb, wealth, forest, and insanity start mixing into one felt geography. Daniel and the narrator keep their attention off the town below and on the leaves, birds, and hidden places, which makes the raid feel more visionary than practical.

Claude

From the peak the named suburban geography - Mount Lebanon, Virginia Manor, Kennedy forest, Morrison Drive - is suddenly cut by an adult, visionary register: 'to which side of the hill did the insanity lie?' and 'The spirit can be seen through eyes that are lit. I needed no mirror to see mine.' The narrator's eyes 'interchang[e] with the forest' while the literal town-naming (old versus new Virginia Manor, 'new wealth in another place') grounds the reverie. Danial and the narrator deliberately ignore the boy pointing out Morrison Drive, watching instead 'for animal laughter' in the leaves, the purple berries that 'became red ... near the sun', and 'each others hands' - the raid quietly becoming an intimacy and a trance.