Page 56

By Jack Joseph Smith

Which way shall we go? Asked Daniel, his eyes excited. Lets run along the ridge. Okey. Everyone toward Kennedy forest, Daniel and I said with whispering depth. We were off and runing again with our feet rising with our spirits like a flat rock skimming across a smooth lake. We ran along the ridge over the forest loudly laughing and yelling at the ghosts that were clearly being burned in waves of heat that were falling like the sun through the trees. The late afternoon was bringing a wind and the sky was changing. We headed home across the field and the little girls were happy. We boys were playing and paying no attention to them, but they liked us now and keep close behind us. When we started walking on the road I asked Daniel if he thought Mr. Metzes had gone away. We really wanted to see him. He was so alone and all. Living by himself with no one to talk to. And his wife and children burned alive or living far away from him, because he wouldn't leave his place. He just wanted to stay there I guess and look around at what he had built on the top of the hill by the apple trees. I bet he loved to see them blossom in the spring when all the birds were singing and he was sad, because all the humans he loved weren't there to talk to him any more. He really gave us life when we were telling stories about him. Gee, we really did want to see him. Cause we wern't afraid of him, even if he had chased us with his gun and shot it so loud so that it scared us out of our wits. Something like that did happen you know, because our heads were banging so much when we were runing away from him. But he was so big we couldn't stay and talk him into puting his gun down. I guess he did go away, I said to Daniel, but I

Original Scan

Page 56

AI Interpretation

GPT

Michael and Daniel lead the children toward Kennedy forest, then walk home and imagine the loneliness of Mr. Metzes, whom they want to meet despite his gun.

Michael guesses that the man's wife and children burned alive or live far away, leaving him with the place he built beside the apple trees. He admits that telling stories about Mr. Metzes gave the children life. He insists they were unafraid while recalling their panic during the chase, and wishes they could have stayed to talk.

Claude

After the raid the children run 'along the ridge' over Kennedy forest 'yelling at the ghosts', then walk home as the wind rises, the little girls now keeping 'close behind us'. On the road the boy asks Daniel whether Mr. Metzes has gone away and imagines the old man alone, his 'wife and children burned alive or living far away', loving his apple trees in blossom, while insisting 'Cause we wern't afraid of him' even though he had once chased them and fired his gun.

The page shows fear turning into empathy: the ogre of the children's stories becomes a lonely, grieving man whom the boys 'really did want to see'. The narrator admits that Metzes 'really gave us life when we were telling stories about him', a sharp insight into how children need a feared figure to animate their play. The guessing, run-on voice keeps the reflection childlike while letting real sorrow show through.