Page 92

By Jack Joseph Smith

of his garden. She turned to me and said, do you want to be with her? With who? I watched you from the window when the party was so dim and everyone was locked in rooms or lying on the floor. I even saw boys drinking and their faces were strange. You kept wandering around and looking at her. She is so wicked with the lock she wears on her belt and the way she leans on the fence and talks to Cat Man when all the Lincoln bums are shooting crap beneath her skirt. I went to the party because I am the leader and I had to take the others. But do you want to be with her? Are you thinking of her now? Do you see her when you ask me to dance? I don't know how to dance that way, or I would for you. Have you ever been? Have you ever been all the way with a girl? I mean, I know I shouldn't ask you. But you are so sweet to me. And I am really not afraid when you want me to dance for you. But I don't know how. Who are you I say, when my mind is away and not praying in this pew. I only see you fleeting through me in a pasing memory. Your eyes so shining beneath your veil of wedded white. There is no blackness covering you as the other girls in blue. The nuns are singing strained, the puzzle of their throats unseen. Where did their voices twitch and miss the chance? You're such a flower. Please be with me in hand, when we are walking. We are young, but let them think. Someday I will dance for you, if you want me to. I don't like her. Why didn't you ask me to come? Even Father Lonnegan almost said he hated her, when he called her mother evil from the alter. You are his favorite. Everyone knows that. Every day I watch you play basketball now from the balcony. The sisters think I am really silly, the way I delight.

Original Scan

Page 92

AI Interpretation

GPT

A flirtatious, half-dreaming exchange gathers around a girl, her dancing, her veil, and the danger of wanting her under Papa Joe's watch, with desire and religious discipline pressing against each other.

The transcript opens mid-stream, but the central tension is clear: she is both devotional figure and forbidden companion. Papa Joe's presence hovers over the scene as a threat strong enough to turn romantic talk into fear.

Claude

The pew-side dialogue opens with the girl's quiet jealousy: 'do you want to be with her?' She describes the dim party with boys 'drinking and their faces were strange' and 'the wicked' girl with 'the lock she wears on her belt' whom the Lincoln bums circle. His defense is hierarchy, not innocence - 'I went to the party because I am the leader.' Her repeated, almost liturgical refrain ('do you want to be with her? Are you thinking of her now?') interleaves with his half-praying mind, so courtship and confession share the same hushed key.