My 7-year-old daughter Leeny always had her nose in a book. She even _______reading in the car on the long drive to summer camp, which was where she _______the book. All my family were well-educated, but we were _______, so I didn’t own books. I borrowed books. However, when Leeny realized she had lost the book, she _______. “Sorry. I can’t find it,” she said. “It’s only $20, right? What’s the big deal?”

I felt the need to make her feel _______for the book. She agreed to help me clean the chicken coop(笼子) _______my paying the library fine. I thought this idea was very clever because cleaning the coop is some work I had been _______for months. It was summertime and dust floated in the air. But my girl thought shoveling chicken poop(鸡粪) was the most _______she’d had on a Saturday morning. In fact, she looked as if she might lose another _______in order to clean the coop again. I stood, somewhat ________, watching her.

It took me a while to realize why my punishment had ________. The fact was that I was there, too, shoveling chicken poop and fetching the clean straw and feed. Leeny’s little sister, Vicki, was watching a cartoon when my husband paid bills. Only Leeny and I were ________. She had me all to herself for the first time ________Vicki was born, and she was enjoying all the attention for once. I didn’t know what she learned about responsibility, but I didn’t ________the book any more. We ________over that unpleasant job and spent quality time together.