Page 53

By Jack Joseph Smith

Such gentle and certain laughter was climbing out of our complete innocence that we could see our feelings lifting the pollen away so that it no longer was hanging on our wishes. All those faintly red tongues dripping freshness on a summer afternoon, that was going way beyond all the love words of bathing angles. Hey, there goes my tops, said a little girl giggling above me. How did she get up so far? I thought. Me too, said another voice and me too, said another. I better take my pants off, before they beat me, I thought. There go my bottoms, I said. Danial took his shirt off very slowly and held it in his finger tips for a moment and then let it drop away watching the cloth curl up on the ground. I took my shirt off quickly and tossed it above a reaching limb and watched it catch its own wind and flutter finally below me with the weeds. Danial was the last boy to take his pants of and as with his shirt he let them hang awhile until he decided to open his fingers. All we boys were in our underware watching delicate little girl giggle under their skirts. Gee it was embarressing just to listen to the silly little things. After a few minutes they had all taken their skirts off and began hanging them in the trees. The white ones were the prettyest with the sun so bright among all the other different colors. When they had finished we all looked into our dreams and slowly and one by one began picking our second apples. We were in the tree for a long time listening for noises and moving our faces with the sounds of each others presence. It was almost as if Mr. Metzes was waiting for us to strip all the way, but we didn't dare. We all wondered where he was and

Original Scan

Page 53

AI Interpretation

GPT

Stripping down to underwear and hanging garments in the branches, the children turn the apple tree into a secret bathing world of innocence, embarrassment, watching, and unfinished daring under the imagined gaze of Mister Metzes.

The transcript is noisy in spots, but the action is clear enough: the boys follow the girls, clothing becomes part of the tree, and everyone drifts into a dreamy, half-erotic child play that still stops short of complete exposure. Mister Metzes remains important not because he appears, but because his possible watching gives the scene its edge.

Claude

The undressing is staged as gentle ceremony rather than transgression - laughter lifting the pollen 'so that it no longer was hanging on our wishes', the moment going 'way beyond all the love words of bathing angles'. Danial twice performs his slowness, holding shirt then pants 'in his finger tips' before letting them drop, while skirts hang in the branches and 'The white ones were the prettyest'. The children pick 'our second apples' and listen, half-hoping: 'It was almost as if Mr. Metzes was waiting for us to strip all the way, but we didn't dare.'