The paternity question: the hidden pregnancy, C.T.'s spring visit, the "possible half-uncle"

pivotal · ~1990 birth-circumstances, as printed

• When: The seventh month of a concealed pregnancy; C.T.'s "emotional-battery-recharging visit the preceding spring."
• What: The narration flags Mario's relation to C.T. as that of a "possible half-uncle": Avril did not show, and C.T. had come for a long spring visit (after the Toronto Skydome video-scoreboard snafu) and was in the house when labor began. Per Orin (170), during the birth-wait he "decocted" a Mrs.-Tavis / C.T.-parentage story from a distraught C.T. The novel hedges ("possible half-uncle") and never asserts paternity; Orin is an unreliable source (Hal: "Pinpoint accuracy had never been Orin's forte").