Gately's dream-M.D. temptation (p. 889)
He’s halfway to the door, moving with maddening slow care like always, as if walking on ice […]
Context
Dream-Francis's exit, refusing to rule on the Demerol for his sponsee. Carlisle's reading, recorded not adopted: the "maddening slow care" is the wraith's dictum — death is just everything outside you getting really slow — experienced from the inside, along with the whole hospital's glacial visitors and untold time.