Gately, the wraith, and the figurants (v)
He’s remembering that he used to pretend to himself that the unviolent and sarcastic accountant Nom on ‘Cheers!’ was Gately’s own organic father, straining to hold young Bimmy on his lap and letting him draw finger-pictures in the condensation-rings on the bartop, and when he was pissed off at Gately’s mother being sarcastic and witty instead of getting her down and administering horribly careful U.S.-Navy-brig-type beatings that hurt like hell but would never bruise or show. […] the sober memory of his mother Mrs. Gately’s ex-significant other, the little-eyed former M.P. in khaki skivvies hunched drunk over his notebook’s record of his Heinekens for the day […] Gately’s mother on the floor trying to crawl off toward the lockable bathroom quietly enough so the M.P. wouldn’t notice her again.
Context
The counterfeit memory Gately built as a kid — sitcom-Nom installed as "organic father," a fabricated past detailed down to finger-pictures in condensation-rings — set directly against "the sober memory" of what was actually in the kitchen. Manufactured memory as childhood survival gear, and sobriety stripping the substitution. ("Nom" is the raw's spelling, as written.)