The dawn phone calls to Hal; lying about meaningless details

timeline_event

pivotal · 9 May–Nov YDAU

When: the calls run YDAU: first "this spring" (the 9 May YDAU call, scene 006), then a Nov cluster (3 Nov scene 041; 5 Nov scene 064; 7 Nov n110)
What: After two years' silence Orin abruptly began calling his estranged youngest brother again — dawn calls that open on non-sequiturs ("My head is filled with things to say," then a hang-up) and rove over Strategies, Separatism, and family history. Hal "estimated over 60% of what he told Orin on the phone… was a lie," lying "about meaningless details" for no reason he understands; the brothers' mutual mendacity is a load-bearing motif. The renewed contact is driven by the Steeply profile (event 30) and Orin's need to know "the really forthright answers" before he answers Steeply.