# Dialogue Doctor - Chapter 04 - Round: Reader-Directive Sweep (2026-07-24)

Scope: full cold re-read after: Ben math-tic replacement, interiority beat added inside the enrollment-evasion run, tail-zinger cuts ("menus sorted the table into pairs", "tipped as if the table had been twice the trouble"). Updated style rules applied. Prior rounds preserved on disk.

SCENE S1 (booth seating/orders): all modes CLEAN. "Eight Tuesdays, this booth. Watch." re-verified: prediction in Ben's voice, speakable; no taxonomy skeleton.

SCENE S2 (how-you-met):
- 2: CLEAN - interleaved long/short turns; June's Thursday speech against Theo's confirmations.
- 3: CLEAN - added interiority ("split the story into alternating halves, each true, adding up to nothing extra... including the tins") orients the four-beat evasion run; checked for over-explanation and retained on the strength of the concrete callback.
- FAKE-SHARP: CLEAN - "Good room," is Luis-plain; "It isn't." / "It isn't. But it's close." is marital shorthand with distinct functions.
- Remaining modes CLEAN.

SCENE S3 (Ruth's comped question): all modes CLEAN; "I didn't ask what she owed," is correction, not portent; Theo's over-offer is card-true and self-registered.

SCENE S4 (checks/scarf/register): all modes CLEAN. "You're still at work. We're not at the gallery." lands with no rejoinder, per Rule 8 friction. Tail-strip verified: "tipped well." now plain; remaining buttons ("It was not shorter.", "She had not needed him to.") are distinct in shape and carry the scene's comedy and theme respectively; within cap.

OVERALL: CLEAN
