Dumped at E.T.A. from a barely-slowing Lincoln; Hal runs his Orientation

pivotal · UNDATED — pre-YDAU, on transfer

• When: UNDATED — some prior year, when Struck transferred in; recalled in an August-YDAU flashback frame
• What: Struck reached E.T.A. at the end of a string of academies, booted from Palmer Academy after his pet tarantula, Simone, escaped and — as Struck told it — would never have bitten the Headmaster's wife had she not screamed, fainted, and fallen on it. At the drop-off his parents' Lincoln barely slowed, throwing gravel; Hal Incandenza, in charge of his Orientation, helped gather the suitcases tumbled across the drive and walked him in to shower the gravel out of his hair. The arrival establishes both the indifferent-family motif and his place inside Hal's circle; by YDAU he is senior enough to have to shave daily.