Page 82

By Jack Joseph Smith

winter soon. Two football teams this year. The Blue will win them all. I wonder how many the Gray will lose. Blue and Gray. Sky and almost sky. No matter. This year everyone plays. He had walked into the rectory and up the old wooden stairs, and was now seated at his desk. He stared at his hands for awhile and then wrote his first notation of the day. Monday. Ask Michael Frost if he thinks he is the toughest kid in the school. Or not. She was a black and white nun. You saw nothing but her cloth and face, when her Authority was really the thing that made sure your eyes went no further. She leaned a bit over her spectacles and told me to come to her desk. Father Lawnegan would like to see you in the rectory. Okey. You have been causing a lot of trouble in this class. You know that, don't you. Yes. Well I'll be talking to him later, so make sure you tell him the truth. She said the truth as if she was yelling, no lies, no lies, no lies. Should I go now? Yes, you may go now, and make sure you get right back here as soon as he dismisses you. I walked out of the still room and down the echo hall, past the sister superiors office and through the large front doors. A strange excitement came over me as I ran up the hill against the crisp wind. Father Lawnegan wants to see me, I said at the rectory door. The house lady directed me into the dining room, and I sat down in a large straight chair and waited with my arms resting on the long leather table. I heard his footsteps on the stairway and I sat up strong with shoulders back and eyes ahead and set

Original Scan

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AI Interpretation

GPT

A black-and-white nun sends Michael to the rectory for causing trouble, and the summons fills him with excitement rather than fear as he runs up into Papa Joe's dining room and waits in posture like a soldier before inspection.

The nun's insistence on truth only heightens the thrill, because being called by Papa Joe feels like elevation rather than punishment. Authority becomes magnetic here, and Michael meets it by stiffening himself into readiness.


Claude

Still in Papa Joe's head, the football musing ('Blue and Gray. Sky and almost sky ... This year everyone plays') resolves into his first written 'notation of the day' - 'Ask Michael Frost if he thinks he is the toughest kid in the school. Or not.' The narration then returns to Michael's first person and the summons is relayed by 'a black and white nun' whose 'Authority was really the thing that made sure your eyes went no further', her warning to 'tell him the truth' delivered as if 'yelling, no lies, no lies, no lies'. The boy meets the call not with dread but 'A strange excitement', running 'up the hill against the crisp wind' and sitting himself 'up strong with shoulders back and eyes ahead' as the priest's footsteps descend.