Haynes, who still lives in Ladbroke Grove, now runs breakfast clubs and free lunches in Paddington. Every Wednesday, Haynes _________ a full English breakfast for the 50-strong group. On Saturdays, it’s a three-course lunch.

“I do home-made soup, a cooked dinner with meat and two vegs and pudding.” she says. On Thursdays, she offers a food bag with _________ that people can take home and _________ themselves. But if people are _________ or can’t cook, she’ll make them ready-meals and sandwiches. She adds: “My whole life is _________ by food. In north Paddington, people _________ me in their phone book as ‘Jacqui dinner lady’.”

“Demand has only _________. When universal credit was introduced I had to buy two extra fridges to _________ the demand,” Haynes says. When the pandemic began, she had to purchase an extra freezer because “we needed more _________. Some people were __________ to come out of the house, so we had to make __________ deliveries.” She is concerned about the rising __________ of living.

“Food is getting so expensive,” says Haynes. “People are paying £ 7 a day __________ for gas on their meters. And that’s going to go up when it gets __________”.On average, Haynes __________ about 50 people a day, but she __________ to see that rise come in winter.

Whatever Haynes does, she does it __________. “I believe it is not without any reward. You’ll get back ten times what you __________” she says. In addition to her work at the food bank, she __________ a support service in North Kensington, offering people help with legal issues, advocacy and school appeals, and she is __________ involved in the post-Grenfell Tower recovery effort.

Nina had always felt like she was living in the shadows. Growing up, she was the shy kid who always sat in the back of the classroom and ________ spoke up. She had a few friends, but they were also quiet, so they never really did anything ________. As she got older, she wanted to break out of her shell and experience new things. However, she didn’t know ________.

One day, Nina ________ a group of people playing Frisbee (飞盘). They were having a great time. Nina felt a pang of jealousy (嫉妒) but she didn’t know how to ________ them. She watched from a distance, wishing she had the ________ to join in. As she was about to turn and ________, one of the guys in the group noticed her watching. He smiled and ________ her over. Nina’s heart started ________ as she walked towards them. They welcomed her with ________ arms and invited her to play.

It was a simple game of Frisbee, but for Nina, it was a huge ________. Over the next few weeks, she started meeting the group ________. For the first time in her life, Nina felt like she ________ somewhere. She has realized that sometimes all it ________ is one small step. She has also learned that life is too short to live in the shadows and that the world is full of ________ waiting to be seized.

Kathy managed to _______ me. With fake optimism, she even tried to reassure me that Perky would find a new _______ But I was far too clever to _______ that such a thing was possible.

Decades later, I watched my own _______ growing. We shared their activities, spending soccer Saturdays in folding chairs with the ________ of the kids’ friends, the Kissells. The two families went camping around Arizona together. We became the _______of friends. One evening, the game was to tell Great Pet stories. One person claimed to _______the oldest living goldfish. Someone else had a psychic dog. _______ Barry, the father of the other family, took the floor and _______ that the Greatest Pet of All Time was his blue parakeet, Sweetie Pie.

“The best thing ________Sweetie Pie,” he said, “was the ________ we got him. One day, when I was about eight, out of the clear, blue sky, a little blue parakeet just _______ down and landed on my finger.”

When I was finally able to _______ , we examined the amazing evidence. The dates and the locations and the pictures of the bird all _______. It seems our two families had been _______ long before we ever met. Forty years later, I ran to my sister and said, “You were _______! Perky lived!”