‘Moms?’ ‘I am right here with my attention completely focused on you.’ ‘How can you tell if somebody’s sad?’ A quick smile. ‘You mean whether someone’s sad.’ A smile back, but still earnest: ‘That improves it a lot. Whether someone’s sad, how can you tell so you’re sure?’
This little gesture of Mario's, so sweetly concerned for his brother's well-being, is a surprising wealth of both plot decoding and thematic resonance.
