1. induction (noun):

the process of bringing someone into a new job or position, including enlistment in military service

“Didn’t ever have much to say about his family, or what happened in the years before we met, but Gerald was living in Biloxi when he enlisted in the Air Force, I always knew that for sure, it’s right there on his induction form.” (Chapter 1, page 3)

2. understatement (noun):

a comment that makes something seem less important or smaller than it really is

“To call that bad timing would be, as Mom later said, the understatement of the century.” (Chapter 1, page 5)

3. rotary dial (noun):

a circular disc found on old telephones that has holes around its edge which line up with numbers; users put their fingers in the hole of the number they need and rotate the dial until they hear a click, then do the same with the next number to dial the complete phone number

“The telephone is this big black thing with a rotary dial instead of buttons, and a receiver so heavy she has to lift it with both hands.” (Chapter 4, page 13)

4. riled up (past tense verb, idiom):

bothered, annoyed, or anxious

“Mom calls my cell phone every day, usually in the morning, and for the past couple of days she’s been concerned about this hurricane out in the Atlantic somewhere, which was supposed to be over once it hit Florida, but the weather channel has got her all riled up.