The last of the Menu Girls Summary

When Rocio's great aunt died in her home several years before, Rocio had decided not to go into the field of medicine. She remembers the horrible experience—the terrible odors of death and the loss of Great Aunt Eutilio's mind as she played an imaginary piano and returned to a childhood state. She wonders why, now, she has taken this job in the hospital, as a food worker. Mr. Smith, the dietitian at Altavista Memorial Hospital, is a "gnome-looking" man who takes great pride in his menus. Rocio, who will be working for the summer before going off to college, will be a "menu girl", a position that involves distributing menus to all patients on regular diets so that they may select their choices for each of their meals.

Arlene Rutschman, a...