She opens the book. Each sheet has one or two antique photographs stuck with corner tabs. The images are neither black and white nor gray, but hold that brownish gold of time and exposure to air." This man is your great grandfather. Look at that face, Pedro. It is a mean mean face." He's standing in front of a wood pile, holding an axe. "I think he was only a teenager there, a long time before he met my mother. But look how handsome he was. And how mean." It's funny the way she smiles when she talks about him. Saying he's mean has a perverse joy for her, as if she can stick her tongue out at him and his hands are tied so he can't slap her for doing it. She's right, though. There's no lingering smile, no potential for mirth in the burlap of his skin. I notice snow on the ground at his feet, but he's wearing a thin, unbuttoned shirt, showing no sign of cold.Laurie Perez
About This Quote
The passage opens with a photograph that is stuck with corner tabs. The image is neither black and white nor gray, but holds the brownish gold of time and exposure to air. This photograph is of Pedro, the man who would become Pedro's great-grandfather. As the description of the photograph continues, we learn that you can see Pedro's youthful face in it. Pedro is standing in front of a wood pile, holding an axe.
He has a mean mean face, and he's standing in front of a wood pile, holding an axe. As you can see from this description, there's no lingering smile on his face. He appears to be smiling at something humorous that he thinks someone else should be smiling about as well as at himself as well as holding an axe.
But there's no potential for mirth on his face either, as if he could put his tongue out at us and we were tied so we couldn't slap him for doing it. The book goes on to describe how Pedro was married after this photograph was taken and how she might have been some sort of exotic dancer because she was always having people over at her house wearing some sort of exotic dance costume or shirt that showed off her breasts and stomach while some other people were there also dancing around her while she seemed very happy and seemed like she was enjoying herself even though Pedro would always be angry because he didn't like her dancing around him while he was working in the yard because he thought it made him look like a fool when she would always ask him to dance with her even though he would never agree to do so because he felt very foolish when she did it and this went on for many years until one day Pedro did get angry and did want to hit her just one time but then decided since she always asked him to dance with her then why not just dance with her once more and that's what he did but then just before they started dancing again Pedro did get angry again at her so much so that he actually did hit her across the face but before he could do so Pedro became angry at himself for hitting her so hard and he did stop hitting her even though she still kept asking him to dance which made him angry yet again so Pedro ended up leaving his house which had been their house together for many years now into a wood pile in order to keep from going back inside where he could be alone where the only company was in a wood pile in order to stay away from his wife who kept asking
Source: Torpor: Though The Heart Is Warm
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