the face that broadcasts without permission
the left side of his face still feels big and dead, with this persistent sensation that he’s drooling without being able to feel it or stop it
Context
Fresh from the dentist, half of Hal's face is anesthetized, and the horror is precise: it may be transmitting something — drool, slackness — that he can neither feel nor govern nor verify. His face has become an outbound channel he's locked out of, expression escaping his control and legible only to others. It is the whole admissions-interview catastrophe rehearsed in a numb cheek, a year early.