Mario's compassionate reading of C.T.; Hal "will talk your ear off" about Mario

texture · 10 Nov YDAU

• When: 10 Nov YDAU (Hal's waiting-room narration).
• What: Where Hal finds C.T.'s bluff openness excruciating, "Mario's way of looking at it is that Tavis is very open and expansive and wordy, but so clearly uses these qualities as a kind of protective shield that it betrays a frightened vulnerability almost impossible not to feel for." The chapter also notes Hal's one exception to family-blankness: "Except for Mario, about whom Hal will talk your ear off."