Page 44
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Adult authority enters the sequence through the phone call and police station, showing how family and law close around the boys' night.
This page matters because it changes the scale of the scene. The gang is no longer just acting within its own excitement; fathers, doctors, police, and the accusation that someone lied through their teeth now define the meaning of what happened.
Adult authority closes around the boys' night. 'Doctor Kennedy', father of one of the smaller youngsters, phones 'quite late in the morning night', and Jack's parents simply send their 'haggard son to answer the phone downstairs'. The scene cuts to Jack and the doctor 'walking into the neighborhood police station', where 'a stout blond German boy' shouts the betrayal aloud - 'You asshole... We lied through our teeth for you!' - before 'the doctor immediately calls a conference with the police'. Fathers, doctors, and law now define what the night meant.