Gately's evening staffer duties
Viz.: ‘You feeling better?’ ‘Will be soon.’ ‘Is that supposed to mean something? What’s that supposed to mean?’ ‘Nothing. Literally nothing.’
Context
Kate's "possible sideways comment about hurting herself," banished to a 24-word endnote the way the NA meeting banished the word depression: Gately's check-in question, and "Will be soon" — better soon because she doesn't plan to be feeling anything at all. Her walk-back is the theme's whole vocabulary compressed: "Nothing. Literally nothing" is at once a deflection, a plan, and the most exact available description of anhedonia's content.