# Performance Check — Chapter 20

id: performance_check | owner: codex | target: `output/chapters/chapter_20.md`

Mechanical lead: quality gate WATCH `ruleset-three-part-cadence` at line 39 ("time, knees, and carried").

Checked candidates:
- Sam box action: "picked the box up properly this time, knees, and carried it to the door..." This is not applause cadence; it is compressed physical blocking and belongs to Sam's care mode.
- June refusal list: "deadline, a sink issue, a class roster" is a three-item list. It carries the caretaker pattern with specific job interruptions, not keynote cadence.
- Execution sequence (text/email/text/notice/index card/study) risks montage rhythm. It survives because each action changes external state and uses documentary form.

No "keynote," applause-ending, or polished thesis-close pattern found. Strongest performance candidate, "I'd still be the person with keys," survives because it is the plain name for a motif that has been materially established.

Chapter verdict: `PERFORMANCE-CLEAN`.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
