He was thirty-nine. Felton's an interesting cop. A white guy, he has been with the Arlington department for over five years, and speaks Spanish, which he learned during a good many years of working with Salvadoran migrant workers in Burke, Virginia. He gets called a lot as a translator. The Hispanic presence in Arlington is large and growing.
Social patterns are pretty clear.
Many buy flashy cars with most of their paychecks and barely make the rent. The adults may or may not learn English, though a lot of them learn enough to get by. The kids do learn. They aren't bad people. For the most part they are courteous and likeable, but most aren't going anywhere.