All Quiet in a Darkened Library
After my mother died, my father, who was 75 at the time, began to regularly visit the local library in Epping. He loved going there ____1____ he enjoyed reading different kinds of books, especially reading the newspapers on Saturdays. The library had a small area, where the soft carpet, folding chairs and lap desks ____2____ a comfortable space for independent reading. My dad would sit there for hours. This particular wintery Saturday, at about 12 noon, after being there for two hours, my dad ____3____ that it was very quiet and darker than usual. He looked around, realizing that all the staff had left and he had been ____4____ locked in.
My dad was a “panic merchant” at the best of times, so I can only ____5____ what he was like when this happened. The doors had been locked from the outside and he had no way ____6____. He must have felt completely at a ____7____, since he didn’t know some ____8____ for handling this kind of crazy situation. My dad looked at the noticeboards to try to find a ____9____ phone number-a staff member or someone he could ring to help let him out-but without ____10____. So he rang the police station and they kindly got in touch with the head librarian.
The head librarian immediately rang my dad back at the library, and ____11____ that she would be soon there. She tried to ____12____ him and even explained how he could make a coffee if he wished. This was very nice, but my dad was in too much of a “____13____” to do so.
Thankfully, the head librarian arrived ____14____ the hour and let my dad out. She apologized for the ____15____ it had caused my father and sent my father back home in person. We were very grateful, since she could easily have been ____16____ at having to come back to work. The next day my dad seemed to ____17____ from this accident. He almost forgot all about the unpleasantness, and even found his experience quite ____18____.
I guess the entire staff now makes extra sure that the library is ____19____ before they leave. What’s more, my dad has learned an important lesson by himself-never again became quite so ____20____ in his reading.