# Counter-Strip Audit — Chapter 20

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

Question: did audit repair overstrip the chapter into flat compliance?

Checks:
- Humor remains character-sourced after Comedy repairs: "We have a car" / "And a hand truck"; "ok now the boring parts"; "That's a worse offer" / "It is."
- Emotional warmth remains embodied: Ruth self-implicates her silence; Sam moves the chair; Asha protects qualification; Nia invites June to see the program after the no.
- June's decision remains costly: Tasker is still "GOOD," after-hours access remains "in writing," and the New York path still has "February... blank."
- Motif/action texture remains: blue dish, catalogs, receipt, notebook, index card, study on wall.

Strongest overstrip candidate: cutting "Go get your clause" and several narration jokes could flatten the Asha text exchange. It survives because Asha's eleven-second reply and "ok now the boring parts" still carry the unsentimental warmth.

Chapter verdict: `NOT-OVERSTRIPPED`.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
