Hal at the Inner-Infant meeting (p. 807)
Hal finds the tantrum’s expression on an adult face sort of compelling. At a certain point hysterical grief becomes facially indistinguishable from hysterical mirth, it appears. Hal imagines watching Bain weep on a white beach through binoculars from the balcony of a cool dim Aruban hotel room.
Context
Kevin Bain in full meltdown, and Hal's response is pure anhedonic spectation: raw adult grief registers as "sort of compelling," an aesthetic object best viewed through binoculars from maximum distance. The grief/mirth superposition states the book's title-problem in miniature and pre-echoes Kenkle's misreading of Hal's face.