Gately's dream and the M.D.'s temptation
Memories of good old Demerol rose up, clamoring to be Entertained. The thing in Boston AA is they try to teach you to accept occasional cravings, the sudden thoughts of the Substance; they tell you that sudden Substance-cravings will rise unbidden in a true addict’s mind like bubbles in a toddler’s bath. It’s a lifelong Disease: you can’t keep the thoughts from popping in there. The thing they try to teach you is just to Let Them Go, the thoughts. Let them come as they will, but do not Entertain them. No need to invite a Substance-thought or -memory in, offer it a tonic and your favorite chair, and chat with it about old times.
Context
AA's entire memory-etiquette codified: memories rise unbidden (the bubbles again), and the addict's one move is hospitality-refusal. Note the capital E — the novel's Entertainment lexicon annexing memory-practice, so that remembering wrong becomes literally being Entertained. This is the doctrine the Abiding-by-memory installments run on, stated as house rules.