During the first weeks of his retirement from the fire service, Max had felt lost. And that’s when Polly, a library manager, helped him sign up as a ____1____, for Robot Club in the library.
Max hadn’t volunteered before and he didn’t know anything about ____2____. He opened the packs containing the robots, nervously staring at the mess of parts. A dozen primary-age children gathered around the table, ____3____ eagerly. Almost double the number of adults crowded around them, watching.
Glancing around the library at the many parents and carers accompanying the robot builders, Max knew he had to face this ____4____.
“Okay, team,” he started ____5____, adopting the tone he’d used to brief his unit during his firefighting days. “We’re going to build these robots one step at a time.”
The children nodded, their hands busy with screws and plastic limbs. Max wandered from table to table, ____6____ words of encouragement, and slowly but surely, piecing together the instructions in his mind.
An hour passed, and the room was filled with the sound of chatter and clinking parts. As the final minutes of Robot Club ticked away, Max stood back and ____7____ the room. Robots of all shapes and sizes stood on the tables. The children were excited, ____8____ their creations to anyone who would look.
As they began to leave, many children stopped to thank Max. Each “thank you” and “see you next week” chipped away at the sense of ____9____ he had felt since retiring. He hadn’t put out a fire today, but perhaps he had lighted something far more important - a new ____10____ for himself.