Page 28

By Jack Joseph Smith

The only thing young men knew about evil then was that it was fast. Gibbons gate was always slow. He wore soft black sandles that didn't click. The alleys were always gentle when he was alone. In the night, Shades. Trees from moon, from house light, from his eyes picking up crome plated cans. Elm, oak, cedar. He called his hands small for a quarterback. Trees too at the ends with huge arms that could whip with any wind? Slow, thin faced he moved, almost young enough to be a cat. The dragsters from under the lights who went to the country would wait for him to drink at shotgun? Harry squinted his eyes inside the restraunt. He was strange. He was prostant and looked exactly Spanish. He didn't see Gibbons mount the hill, but he saw him now in front of the glass. Gibbons and John seemed shy the way they shrugged and paced one another with slight smiles. Murf came by in a green car. He was laughing through the side of his face like he didn't know if his teeth should be in it or not. Harry was intellectual. He knew that Murf's rotten teeth were no fault of his own. The door swung open and a shuffle from John yelled, "let's go Harry. Murf knows where to go." "I'm eating eggs." replied Harry. Gibbons looked through the yellow electric light and caught a glimpse of Harry bent elbow coffie on his stool, took a step towards Murf's green car, and then slipped into John's black one shutting the door leaving the shuffle on the sidewalk. The shuffle came into the restraunt and explained that although he had just had prime rib the Irish went over his head. Harry's smile let it be known that that was just slop off his yokes. No two persons know where Murf went. But John turned down a long hill, and Gibbons still haden't had a drink.

Original Scan

Page 28

AI Interpretation

GPT

This page contrasts Gibbons's slow inwardness with a louder social world of cars, restaurants, and rough companionship.

The strongest thread here is attention. Gibbons moves carefully through a world that is noisy, comic, and half-threatening, and that difference defines him. The verified reading keeps the draft's odd spellings and the small correction from hugh to huge in view.

Claude

The page opens on a definition - 'The only thing young men knew about evil then was that it was / fast' - against which Gibbons moves slow, in 'soft black sandles / that didn't click,' alleys 'gentle when he was alone,' 'almost / young enough to be a cat.' Then a comic restaurant scene of cars and faces: Harry, 'prostant and looked exactly Spanish,' eating eggs; Murf in 'a green car' laughing through rotten teeth; John in his black one. Gibbons steps toward Murf's car, then 'slipped into John's / black one,' leaving 'the shuffle on the sidewalk.' The chapter closes on its quiet refrain - 'Gibbons still haden't had a drink' - his slowness set against everyone else's speed. Source spellings ('crome,' 'restraunt,' 'prostant,' 'coffie,' 'haden't') are kept.