In the book "Dogwood" by Chris Fabry there is this text from the beginning of chapter 6 about a prisoner:
There are dime-size holes in the Plexiglas, and it's all I can do not to put my fingers through them as I consider the list of possible visitors. There have been only a handful in twelve years. Carson. My mother came after my father's funeral to show pictures.
From the text that follows I can understand that the prisoner in the special cabin is meeting his relative. Can you explain to me why author is using the sentence construction: "and it's all I can do not to put my fingers through them".
Did the author mean:
- it's all I can - I don't need to put my fingers through them to see the list of possible visitors.
or
- and it's all I can considering the list of possible visitors (besides putting my fingers through dime-size holes).