Lyle after JOI's death: the grief-therapy and the Whitman period

texture · YTSDB (2004) and after; recalled 5 Nov YDAU

• When: the grief-therapy: spring YTSDB (2004), just after JOI's 1 Apr suicide; recalled by Hal on the 5 Nov YDAU phone call with Orin
• What: Two Lyle data from the aftermath. (a) During JOI's final "underground" filming month, Himself "sometimes... would eat with Lyle"; when JOI flew off for three days, "If Lyle didn't go with him Lyle went somewhere, because he wasn't in the weight room" — his whereabouts oddly coupled to JOI's (mildly uncanny, reported). (b) After the death, Hal, tasked by a grief-therapist with performing grief, finally cracked it via Lyle: "Lyle turned out to be the key. He was down there reading Leaves of Grass," "going through a Whitman period, part of grieving for Himself." Lyle's counsel — empathize with the grief-professional, prepare from the pro's own perspective — reframed the whole problem. (Hal notes this doesn't sound like "The Lyle my class knew," a how-to-deliver-the-goods figure — a small character-range flag.)