Page 69

By Jack Joseph Smith

69 x a The puppetsshad ‘the knivess Every business man must Imow thigé: Be parinoid; . but be aware-at all timess: Any waiter speaking a feroign language:could’ be sayings okey buddy one falae-moves or any display ef incorrect attitudes; and I'1L cut’ your tigen’ apen as red’ as: the meat befere servings’ And what abeut mes Whe could tit Set ‘little kid shifting his eyes. areund like thats And leek at.the way he: locks at my wifes: She's so God dammed’ sweet te him: I'11- bet. she's trying te make the waiter think she:is an earth mother come down from the mountains in her husbands huntsmen furse' 7 - sme their 1 eet ot . , .Watched' atl the-men teuching their toungs te fat cigars, while their wives messed with their hair new and then when they stepped talking, Oh chy here comes anether question through the smoke; I wen't answer-it vight, and then they will. be aftaid te ask me anethers That. stepped hers Public-relatienss But there came- ny mother rationalizing me back inte another enes' I'll ask them a questiens One- questiorly two questions, three questions, got'en going, one mere-and then I'L. lock away te let her see me checking on her statementas’ She is calms We beth knew that those-pillars-are very highs My mem leeks se funny with all these fancy cleths-and she-moves:like a jigsaw: puzzles My dad dosen't cares Ged he's all ever the chair, One mere round here pleases The waiter looks at.him erazy fer a secend, and then says; yes sir, ,with his face-geing happy in the theught that my dgd°is-a dewmte it American Rhone’ epens it up fer anybedy with . r 5) aa 3 eneugh sense of hener te take-a good look at its’. Dinner weuld be finished’ atthe private club and eff we would ge te the club where anybedy with money bea ne The nightclub of lights deep red and green and 'purple-walls: that Wier semewhere-far away after your eyes had driven through all the: swimming shadows, Thick white cloth drepped ever the table

Original Scan

Page 69

AI Interpretation

GPT

Dinner and nightclub life become a paranoid, comic theater of cigars, suspicious waiters, business wives, public-relations chatter, and a child watching adults tip into ritualized money-world behavior.

The waiter becomes a dangerous fantasy figure here, turning ordinary service into an arena of class fear and masculine insecurity. The child keeps slipping between mockery and observation, reading his mother, father, and the businessmen as fragile performances rather than solid authorities.

Claude

The puppets have the knives: the child observes that any waiter speaking a foreign language could be saying what he likes, and watches his mother rationalize him back into answering one more question through the smoke.