Gately's benchmark of uncomprehending politeness

texture · UNDATED — Gately's hospital stretch

• When: An undated point in Gately's St. Elizabeth's hospitalization (scene 169's header gives only "? Nov YDAU"), during the M.D.'s bedside visit.
• What: Watching an M.D. study his palsied written answer, Gately recognizes the doctor's nod: "the exact way Gately used to nod at Alfonso Parias-Carbo the totally ununderstandable Cuban." A reference, not an action — but it is the book's source for both his nationality and his defining trait, and it shows the nod-at-Alfonso routine so worn into Gately that it resurfaces as a hallucination-adjacent motif.