P13
1. leer: show unpleasant smile or side-looks 2.
Browned photographs leered or threatened from the
walls...: In her mind’s eye, the people in the photographs
glanced sideways or threateningly at her. “Browned
photographs” means photographs that had turned brown
with time.
3. gobble up: eat away quickly; swallow; to take in
sth. quickly in large quantity
P14
1. platter: big, shallow dish
P15
1. wafer: sweet, fried cake
2. expressly: clearly 3.
So I jammed the insides of my jaws…a dream come true.
I put the whole cake into my mouth and it got stuck
inside and would hurt the inside if I had not swallowed
it. 4.
…and if I hadn’t had to swallow, it would have been
a dream come true: and if I hadn’t had to swallow
the wafer, I would have been able to keep it in my
mouth and enjoy it for a long time. “…it would have
been a dream come true” might read “…it would have
been a dream that had come true.” The dream here refers
to keeping it in her mouth and enjoying it for a long
time.
