The admissions-interview filibuster — the last glimpse

texture · late Nov YG (2010)

• When: late November YG (2010) — the novel's chronological endpoint
• What: At the University of Arizona admissions interview, Tavis ("C.T.," "Chuck," "Dr. Tavis here"), attending as Hal's Headmaster and half-uncle, filibusters the three Deans on Hal's behalf — inserting venue-praise, insisting Hal is "right up there among the very cream," defending E.T.A.'s Oxbridge rigor, alleging "minor-sport prejudice" — until, cornered, his voice takes "an odd timbre... as if he were shouting as he receded," and the Deans have him escorted out so the applicant can speak. When Hal's speech comes out as subanimal noise and he is ambulanced off, Tavis — "a truly unparalleled slinger of shit" — lays down "an enfilade of same" and stabs skyward with his cellular's antenna in outrage. Hal's closing trust: "I trust Uncle Charles." The obtrusive, overexplaining, loyal advocate, in the last we see of him.