Spoken by Wendy in No.7 as a way to “tie up” the negative around how Jack, while drunk, dislocated Danny’s shoulder, it’s supposed to give a sense of time.
In between we’ve got Jack promising Ullman that “five months of peace is just what I want”.
When we see Jack in No.47, he’s claiming “Here’s to five miserable months on the wagon, and all the irreparable harm it’s caused me”.
Here’s where it gets tricky: Danny’s injury and Jack’s current attempts at sobriety are not occurring at the same time.
Jack vents that Danny’s injury was 3 goddamn years ago. Jack’s accountability for his alcoholism and the harm it causes is lacking severely.
In this image · No.7
Wendy sees Danny’s dislocated shoulder as an “ends justify the means” to Jack’s sobriety.
Jack’s level of control is so deep that Wendy is presented with permission to leave in response to physical harm to their son.
Hearing this, we assume Danny’s shoulder incident happened five months ago, but earlier it was conflated that Danny had the accident around the time of nursery school. Based on his age, that would be 1–3 years ago.
During No.47, we hear Jack’s side of the story and he exclaims “It was 3 goddamn years ago”, in reference to The Incident, but “Here’s to 5 miserable months on the wagon” in relation to his sobriety.
Alcoholism: No.15, “We don’t drink”, and No.47, “Here’s to five miserable months on the wagon, and all the irreparable harm it’s caused me”.
The thematic reflection here is time and lying. We are not told when No.7 is, and we are not really sure of the exact date of No.9, but by No.47 it has been at least six weeks since they arrived at The Overlook.