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On the use of the dash -
First I'd like to correct a glitch in my previous post in which I said a dash is needed between "freshly" and "opened" when a hyphen was intended. As to when to use a dash, stylistically I can think of at least two instances - to provide emphasis - or to vary the flow of the narrative, much like you do when you alternate between using long and short sentences. Beyond that, when to use it I think is something you more or less unconsciously absorb by reading the work of others. At the risk of getting too far into the weeds, there is a formatting issue associated with the use of the dash, however - either to set it off with spaces before and after, as it has been in this post, or treat it as if it were a long hyphen, with no space before or after the dash.
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