Hal's tooth removal at Zegarelli's; the numb, drooling, dead-feeling face

texture · 10 Nov YDAU

• When: 10 Nov YDAU, "earlier today," at Dr. Zegarelli D.D.S.'s Enfield office
• What: Hal has just come back from a dental "removal": "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." He keeps his right hand over his left cheek all scene to be "confident of his face's symmetry and saliva." Recalled: the cold gum-stab, "the slow radial freeze, his face ballooning," Zegarelli's olive-eyed mask. Advances the dental-decay motif into an actual extraction and a numbed, uncontrollable mouth — a bodily rehearsal of the mouth/communication failure that ends Hal's arc. (Scene 154's 11-Nov report of "a tooth thing" at Zeggarelli's may re-attest this visit or a second one — see Dating notes.)