Page 72

By Jack Joseph Smith

72 his liquid juggling throat; Kiss-that ees ass goodby, when they get home, said acbusiness man: somewhere from the tables: What are they talking about, I expressed by asking for ‘everyones: cherry and getting what I wanted in the confusgions' I always -Imew~that:they didn't really want to give up their cherriesg! The narténi@ man. dropped his ‘olive in his-mouth as though he wished’ he:had the talent: to balance-it'on his nosey Martgnié men dropping olives in their final mouths: was: alwaysthe signal’ it seemed for the closing of the girly shows, Now that'.the money men nere-wamod’ wf Soke entertainment for everyones And who Wasi always: the drawing card during the entertainment for everyone? Me,' But’ of courses: Meg For I was: in. the middle of everyones ‘souls They were all’ so kind to make my mother smile away a wringles Introducing pladies and gentlemen) There he was again, leaving the martdnig man in Sage’ onl me waiting for the sacrifices Gentlemen and ‘ladies; I caught’ hing! He said it backwarda;’ Introducing the great, and’ it wasfor ‘sure- the changing man of my weekend nights: in his cape again, Felix What! Felix? Felix is a cat ane BSN moved in a-straight ling, like a silver daggers ahd I forgot his namey.when he towed to my curiosity; It never took the magician men very long to come to me, Their black eyes. would peer acroos the many tables, and they would come as if cutting through the uncertainty of winding alleys; Is he ready for deliverence,s was*thé: *> question, on. their VWiroveable facess He was looking over the -heada of those- at my table and smiling with his eyes thin and his lips barely moving into the flesh of his face; I watched him eveningly; feeling very good about his overpowering presences With him, my sacrifice would be as: free as the robes drifting from his shoulderss I didn't feel so good about all the magicians; !

Original Scan

Page 72

AI Interpretation

GPT

When the girly show closes and the money men want a new act, the child becomes the center of nightclub attention again as a caped magician advances on him like a chosen sacrifice.

The cherry-taking and olive-dropping keep the room comic, but the emotional turn is toward surrender, because this magician feels commanding rather than merely flashy. The child wants to be taken over by that presence, which makes the act feel closer to initiation than entertainment.


Claude

Cherries collected in the confusion from every adult glass, the martini man balancing his olive toward closing, and the magicians introduced as the only figures who cut through the uncertainty of winding alleys to reach the child.