Page 85

By Jack Joseph Smith

. a 85 Game over me to draw the line as streight as possible, and he had not given me a rulers When I Thad finished I Aas what he met by his continual statement,. : never tell a lies A simple statement, but so exact in my mind as I moved second #0 second along the papers After I had finished, I passed the paper back an the table to him,.and he looked at me and said, you may go now Michaels Thank you father§ I rose and walked out of the rectory thinking, that for awhile anyway, I ‘ wouldn't give the black and whites, and nothing else nuns t@) much troubles : The year went by quick, and I was away from Denigl for the summer, .because | we drove across the country to Californias The only thing I remember was seeing Indians in a slum desert, and spending the whole of my symmer alow@nce on a | five feet high totem pole Thad insisted on buyings.When we were leaving the eos i Indians shop he came to me and placed an old wooden carved charngfl snake whip H aroudd.the neck of the totem pole, and explained to me that it was-used during the snake dance by the witchdoctor to prevent the intrusion of the evil devil into the lives of their childrens "hen we réturned to Mount Lebanon, I put the totem pole with the snake whip around its neck in ny room, and prayed to it as : a false god the day I decided to stop burning fires on the hilds { It ‘iis the winhan oF my last year at Saint Bernards, that Father Lawmégan saved Davids life, It happened ona day toward the end of a very strong weeks A few days before, Papa Joe had told two cops to get the hell off hia playground | and quiek, when they had pulled aon ane up to the iron chain and walked across the playground in search of a young boy salléd2Tahk, who was accused of arsoni i The boys playing went silent, when they heard his voice ring out over the yard, His arm wag raised’ over the ice with his finger pointed directly at the cops

Original Scan

Page 85

AI Interpretation

GPT

After completing the line exercise, Michael leaves with a temporary resolve to give the nuns less trouble, then the year folds into a California trip, a totem pole and snake whip worshiped as a false god, the end of the hill fires, and the beginning of a week when Papa Joe saves David's life by facing down the police.

The page moves fast, but the continuity is strong: discipline, false devotion, renunciation, and rescue all circle the question of what kind of power Michael will submit to. Papa Joe's authority keeps outrunning church walls, reaching into fire-setting, private idols, and playground crisis alike.

Claude

The line-drawing lesson — drawn as straight as possible — translates the priest's never-tell-a-lie doctrine into a physical exercise; the page closes with the California family trip and the wooden carved snake whip wound around the totem pole.