Cohabitation begins; the last pre-Subsidized Thanksgiving with the Incandenzas

pivotal · B.S. 2001, Nov

• When: B.S. 2001, late fall (move-in); the Thanksgiving = Nov 2001, "that last pre-Subsidized Thanksgiving"
• What: Orin and Joelle move in together in an East Cambridge co-op; Joelle meets and "survives" Avril at a midnight Thanksgiving encounter (scene 068's compressed telling). In full (scene 150): Joelle attends a non-turkey Thanksgiving dinner at E.T.A.'s Headmaster's House: Avril graciously runs the table (every guest inclining toward her "like heliotropes," Joelle's follicles puckering); JOI sits silent behind a shimmering tumbler, erupts once into a Studio-system monologue, rises to freshen his drink and never returns; ~ten-year-old Hal performs definitions; a spotless doggie-dish sits under the table with no dog and no mention of a dog; organized sports go unmentioned. Joelle leaves with a guts'-pit certainty of Avril's capacity for smiling menace.