Gately, the wraith, and the figurants (x)
The wraith says Just to give Gately an idea, he, the wraith, in order to appear as visible and interface with him, Gately, he, the wraith, has been sitting, still as a root, in the chair by Gately’s bedside for the wraith-equivalent of three weeks, which Gately can’t even imagine. It occurs to Gately that none of the people that’ve dropped by to tell him their troubles has bothered to say how many days he’s even been in the Trauma Wing now, or what day it’s going to be when the sun comes up, and so Gately has no idea how long he’s gone now without an AA meeting.
Context
The scene's two clocks collide in one paragraph: the wraith's (three subjective weeks spent motionless to be seen for one bedside night) and Gately's (no count at all — nobody has told the mute man what day it is, and the count that matters to him is days-without-a-meeting). The wraith pays time to communicate; Gately, who can't communicate, has had time itself withheld from him.