I was born and grew up in the small town of Pineville, which I left at the age of sixteen. Twenty years 1 I came back on a visit. I went to see my old friend Tom Clark, who, active as ever, was head of a Reading Club. He was 2 getting ready to welcome a famous writer, who had been invited to come to give a talk on novels at the public library that evening. Since I happened to have read a book or two 3 this famous writer, when Tom asked me to go with him, I gladly 4.
Tom was going to introduce the writer to the f audience. 5we went to the library a little earlier to welcome him. As the writer hadn't arrived yet, I left Tom and went into the reading room. A large number of people had already been there. I was sorry to find that I didn't know 6person. So I found a seat in the corner and sat quietly waiting.
When it was just about time for the 7 to begin, I saw Tom standing at the door making a sign for 8 to come out. He looked worried about something, so I got up right away and went to him. He said that he had just had a telephone call from the writer. He had 9 his flight and would not be arriving! While we were considering the problem, Tom suddenly asked me if I would mind giving a talk instead of the writer. I never had time to 10 it when all at once I found I was being pushed back into the reading room to speak to the waiting audience.
