Page 28

By Jack Joseph Smith

4 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 hughe 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

Gibbons walks at night in soft black sandals, meets Harry and John at a restaurant, and leaves in John's car while Murf drives elsewhere.

Harry eats eggs and considers Murf's bad teeth beyond Murf's control. Gibbons still has not had a drink when John turns down the long hill.

Claude

Against a youth that knew evil only as 'fast', Gibbons moves slowly through the night alleys in 'soft black sandles / that didn't click'. At a restaurant Harry eats eggs while Murf drives by laughing and Gibbons slips into John's black car, 'leaving the shuffle on the sidewalk', and the page ends with 'Gibbons still haden't had a drink.'

The page sets Gibbons' slowness and quiet against the speed of cars, dragsters and chatter, making him almost 'young enough to be a cat'. The restaurant scene is dry comedy built from small gestures, teeth, eggs and a shuffle of a man, and the closing line works as a deadpan refrain of delay.