I took to my work with great gusto. Following the recipes for Apple Pies, Rum Raisin Pies, Pear-Cranberry Pies, really whatever the pie cases needed it was up to me to deliver. But this was no “one-pie-at-a-time” type operation. It was more like 8 pies at a time, an assembly line of pie making that took a little getting used to at first. But once I got the hang of it, I was moving at lightning speed, increasing the output to 10 pies, 12 pies sometimes even 15 pies, at a time. A little detail that was not lost on Jim, who would periodically glance over at me from his bread ovens with a strange mix of disbelief and scorn. I think our personalities were strangely at odds. I was this perky little teenager on top of the world doing something I loved, in the presence of someone who, for whatever reason, had already “checked out” from life. He couldn't have been more than 30 years-old and looking back who knows what the poor guy could have been dealing with, I’ll never know. But it reminded me of the old dog in the presence of a new puppy. The old dog just tolerates the puppy, but isn't really thrilled with the situation.