Gary hired a South American woman to make subs during the day; before you ask, she’s legal. How do I know? Because I asked Gary and he told me.
Anyway, she communicates well in English, and Gary’s actually chided me for sometimes overusing my limited Spanish vocabulary trying to get her to do something. “Stop that, she speaks English!” “She does?!” Yes, she does, although as I mentioned her vocabulary could stand some improvement. To that end, when Gary’s dad brought in a few boxes of books to give to the store’s staff or be thrown out — I got A Simple Plan and an extra copy of Homicide — she selected Thomas Harris’ “Red Dragon”, one of his series of books about Hannibal Lecter. The book was turned into two movies - one starring William Peterson, the other with Ed Norton and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter.
So she’s reading Red Dragon, and she’s running into words she doesn’t understand, so Gary got her a little dictionary, and when its slow, she’ll be leaning against the wall, Red Dragon in one hand, the dictionary in the other.
It’s a little disturbing to be using Red Dragon as a way to expand your vocabulary … but I guess she could’ve gone worse if she’d picked up Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. At least that’s fiction.