Hal and Mario on liars, in the dark — "I miss Family Trivia. Do you…"
‘I miss Family Trivia. Do you remember four times he let us sit in on when they played Family Trivia?’ ‘You’ve got a phenomenal memory for this stuff, Boo.’ […] ‘I think I especially have a phenomenal memory for things I remember that I liked.’ […] ‘I have a phenomenal memory for things that make me laugh is what I think it is.’
Context
Pre-dawn, 12 November, the brothers across the dark room — the book's memory-contrast scene, in two exchanges. Mario reproduces Orin's phone-bark prank in perfect detail and Hal, the certified eidetic, draws a blank on everything but the threatened punishment; then Mario defines his own gift twice: phenomenal and curated for joy, keeping what he liked and what made him laugh. One brother's memory holds the story, the other's holds the pain — and what Hal calls his own activity is "remembering" as prosecution. (Mario's Rub-Burns line lacks a closing quote-mark in print too — both this line and Hal's "bathed it" line, in the original and the 30th-anniversary printings alike. Quoted as written stands.)