Neal seems to be a social animal. He might not need them to wake him up every night but he does need them to at least be around, talk to him, listen to his stories. When he speaks of having done some time Doc does not fully understand what the time that Neal had done entails, but he understands the cravings that loneliness stirs up in the soul.

There must be something about New York that makes it a lonely place.

"Oh I don't know about that. When I met him and he figured out who I was he would have probably told me my entire life story." Doc hopes that they would get along, but saying that aloud sounds a little weird. As though he's scoured the township for a suitable playmate for his ward, vetted him and invited him into their house so that Malcolm would make more cowboy-approved friends.