Page 202

By Jack Joseph Smith

"You don't have to do. But it is a shame you are not young enough to be put on a tightrope. I mean, think of the arms! But I am becoming carried away; and I must tell you directly now: you will have to maintain. This instant there is a small weight on your left shoulder. Do you feel it?" "Yes." "That's nice." "What is it?" "It's a weight, of course." "Yes it is. Just like a basket without fruit." "So, let's put some fruit in it." He waited a moment; And then very poised; he raised his right hand. Then as if counting off seconds; he brought his second finger straight down upon his thumb ten times producing the sound of flesh taping. "Feel it?" "Yes." "Would you care for three more apples?" She barely nodded, and he made the action three times more. He smiled. "How about a bunch of banana's for the right shoulder?" Maria smiled slightly, but the rest of her face-

Original Scan

Page 202

AI Interpretation

GPT

The imagined burden becomes almost childlike in its staging, with Montreal placing fruit and apples into Marie's invisible baskets so that grief can be felt as manageable weight.

This page is oddly playful without losing seriousness. The whimsical language keeps the ritual from hardening into solemn fraud, and the finger-tapping action makes the invisible weight feel physically counted onto Marie's body. This reading remains provisional because one handwritten mark near the apples question still needs follow-up.

Claude

The imagined burden becomes almost childlike in its staging, with Montreal placing fruit and apples on Marie as if grief could be itemized. The page's literalism is the whole point.