A power cut in a library on a dark winter evening is not an ideal scenario. Linda and I had our mobile phone's torch apps running but the library is a big shadowy space. Judging by the whispering and some crying coming from younger readers, panic was only a whisper away.

“Do you have any candles?” asked a voice from the fiction bookcases.

“Funnily enough we’re not allowed to have naked flames. It’s something about books being easy to burn.”

That got a snort from Linda and more relieved laughter from our invisible library users. The crowd was on our side now and the children weren’t freaking out too much.

“Parents in the children’s section, if you can gather your kids, please do. And if anybody finds Bob, please hang on to him. He might ne...

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