the sponsor who won't decide for him — "Might want to Ask For Some…"

The whole Crocodilian pedagogy in a refusal: Ferocious Francis, begged by Gately's eyes to step in and forbid the narcotics, declines — because the choice has to be Gately's, the one who's feeling it, the only one who can — and leaves only the suggestion to Ask For Help. It is the opposite of rescue, and it is the point: the program cannot want the sobriety more than the addict does, so the sponsor hands the unbearable decision back and walks out.