Page 62

By Jack Joseph Smith

= 62 re Walkedfeff the field,.There were the Linceln bums sayingyseay hey, Big Duke, and Turtle and Hambene and others laughing and giving acknowledgement te the Cat Man, the eagle ef the Lincelm:walls After I left Kindergarten the werld went one inte a moment of excitement, There-was Thankegiving with my fathers parents on the farm and watching the : pigs: being slaughtered and the chickens heads being cut eff on the stumps The pigs became nothing but bleod falling the deep red ef the deads They had ne metien and only hung there as I watched in amazement standing next to my grandfather whe had insisted that I POST ae part of mand earth work, But the chickens nervous system was alive for many moments after the aze-cut through IRA erenbiing necke, I watched them go jumping without: ! heads-and felt that they were really talking to these with wide eyes areund thems I would walk alone along the creek watching the frest leaving the bent weeds touching the slew water in ¢he morning, The breakfasts were hot and big and the milk was thick and sweet and everything around me was busy and interchangeable; My grandmother Frest played the acordian in the evening while we all sat areund cating sweets without my father smoking because of Papo eee beliefs Christmas with my mothers parents was loud with Irish whiskey instead of cozy with German het chocolate and my father would pass eut expensive cigars in his: new found family freedoms I finaly went slay shew riding en Hickeys) hill and watched my cousins play heckey en lake ice with te er skates before I would go away from them with my wee etmted BLAS GE DI j slay te feel the wind cutting across my face as I sped down Hickeys hill alone-in the crystal days My Grandfather Faelain was dying the next time we went te Hébdttrarid 11 7 a

Original Scan

Page 62

AI Interpretation

GPT

After kindergarten, family holidays split between German farm slaughter and Irish whiskey mourning, while sledding, creek mornings, and the first approach of Grandfather Faclain's death place pleasure and death side by side.

The page moves abruptly but coherently between blood work, thick breakfasts, accordion evenings, and crystal sled days, making family identity feel sharply divided by custom and mood. Farm killing and winter sport are both absorbed as ordinary childhood texture, which makes the mention of the dying grandfather arrive with extra force.

Claude

The Lincoln bums greet Cat Man with nicknames — Big Duke, Turtle, Hambone — while Michael's Thanksgiving is spent watching pigs slaughtered and chickens run headless, his grandfather insisting he be part of man and earth work.