James wrote a play for television about a family who came to England from Pakistan, and the difficulty they had 1 in England．The play was very 2 , and it was bought by an American TV company．
James was invited to go to New York to 3 the production．He lived in Dulwich, which was an hour’s ride away from Hesthrow Airport．The flight was to leave at 8∶30 a．m, 4 he had to be at the airport at about 7∶30 in the morning．
He ordered 5 for 6∶30, 6 his alarm clock for 5∶45, and went to sleep．Unfortunately he forgot 7 the clock, and it stopped shortly after 8 ．Also the driver of the taxi had to work deep into the night and overslept．
James 9 with the terrible feeling that something was wrong．He 10 his alarm clock．It stood there silently, with the hands 11 ten past twelve．He turn on 12 and discovered that it was 13 ten to nine．He switched on the electric kettle．
He was just pouring the boiling water into the teapot 14 the nine o’clock pips(报时信号)sounded 15 the radio．The announcer began to read the news…“ 16 are coming in of a crash near Heathrow Airport．A Boeing 707 leaving for New York crashed shortly after 17 this morning．Flight number 2234…”James 18 ．
“ 19 ,”he said out loud,“If I HADN’T 20 , I would have been on that plane．”
I was with my oldest son and we were on the lookout for an open parking space in our jam-packed shopping center．We spotted a(n) 1 one in the next row of spaces, and I drove our van around the turn, all the while hoping no one else would spot it and grab it 2 I could．And, as luck would have it, a lady was 3 her shopping cart right in front of us, and it looked like 4 was getting away from her, filled with bags and cartons of soda underneath．She herself was carrying three extra bags in her hands while trying to push the cart 5 a strong spring wind, and looked 6 ．Suddenly the cart hit a bump and everything fell off．
At that point I felt something sudden in me．I pulled the van into an unloading 7 and told my son to wait for a moment．I rushed over to her and the 8 thing she did was to apologize several times．I helped her 9 everything up, took the extra bags 10 from her hands, and walked her to her car．She told me she was trying to 11 home to her son’s thirteenth birthday party and her whole day had been “just one of those days”．I helped her load the 12 , and she stopped and looked at me and just said, “Thank you so much”．I smiled and said, “I am a mother of three and do you think 13 has ever helped me out? I am just returning the 14 ．” She smiled and said, “God bless you” and got in her car．
I walked the row over to my van 15 my son was waiting and had been 16 ．“Who was that, Mom?” he asked me．“She was a 17 too, trying to get home for her son’s birthday party．She needed our help,” I said．And I just knew he 18 with that clarity children all seem to have．We found a good 19 and walked together towards the store．As we were walking, my son took my hand．It was the most touching 20 of all, and I realized more than ever that our children are always watching．
