Page 87

By Jack Joseph Smith

; ay * I'm not afraid of yous I could feel the emptyness passing between me againy.as I said thies ony Frost, let's see how honest you areg We stood about five feet apart looking each other in the eye, but I felt him holding back a grin, But he always used to gring I think he was a little bit crazys His suit coat came off, and he tossed it to a kid standing near him, Then he took off his tie, with hie face unchanging, Holy shit, I thoughts He tossed his tie to the boy, and then we both began to yabetten our shirts, Here we go tossing our shirts to two boys together, Man,.he's really going to do it, The crowd was gathering, Young mischief faces, taking betes in their minde, Not a trace of sound, Off went the TEinirte and there we were facking each other bare chested, ae barren under a single ray of sum ta never shine for my heart. pounding,,if we don't begins. Let's-goy I saids wo He laughed, Okey Frostyyou were telling the truth, We both put our tops back ony.and he went about his business, I looked at David, He hadN't said a word, and he was very frightened, In a aimee ie was @ayght up in the sane-of Sebastdiany.and I told David that everything wes alright; That had been one of the few..days David was on the yard during lunch hours On this pertioular day that Father saat nes his life, he was at his usualy place standing with the traffie eop who brought the little children acroos the street running behind the iron chainy The gray of black rain yng over ice and cements David had reason to be afraid, Or maybe fear was his wisdom, for that hour was a fierce elash of human : skulls, The mad look was in the eye of any boy running in the game of, Kill the Man. *

Original Scan

Page 87

AI Interpretation

GPT

A near fight with the ex-boxer coach turns into a test of nerve and honesty, then the focus shifts to David standing frightened on the edge of the brutal schoolyard game of kill-the-man.

The coach's refusal to finish the fight matters as much as the challenge itself, because Michael reads it as recognition rather than defeat. David enters under a different sign entirely, already marked by fear and fragility before the game closes around him.


Claude

Michael almost fights the Polish coach over a misread scene, they strip shirts off facing each other bare-chested, and the coach finally laughs — okey Frost, you were telling the truth — the lie-test administered violently and dropped.