the suitcase too heavy for the Higher Power to lift — "he’s sitting in the linen closet…"
he’s sitting in the linen closet with his legs sticking out of the linen closet with his eyes bugging out with like smoke coming out his ears and duh-duh duh-duh going like He Can but He Can’t but He Can, respecting the suitcase
Context
The doctrine weaponized against beginners: the old omnipotence paradox trotted out to trap newcomers whose whole fragile purchase on sobriety depends on a Higher Power they've just been asked to trust. The new kid folds up in the linen closet, mind seizing on the loop (He Can but He Can't but He Can), because the Program asks a broken person to lean their weight on the one thing a clever question can seem to knock out — and Gately treats the prank as a genuine Staff matter, because it is.