Anne listened with growing disquiet as local residents heckled her husband. Ranging from children to the elderly, all appeared passionate about keeping their library open.

‘I’m afraid these are the times we live in,’ David said, looking around with a bland smile. ‘I assure you I share your dismay and deeply regret that this is necessary.’

‘Oh, it’s “necessary”, is it? And you “share our dismay”? How very decent of you,’ the tall man retorted with a sneer.

Anne shuddered. These people were fuming about the threatened closure of their local library, and even she had to admit that David was behaving like a smarmy bureaucrat. His protestations of sympathy fooled no one.

‘Stop avoiding the issue!’ his tall antagonist countered. ‘You’re the people who are making this happen. You can pretend you’re helpless to prevent it, but we all know you’re the leader of the council. You have the power to keep this library open if you want to, along with all the other libraries in the borough. You have the funds; you’re just not releasing them.’

‘There are other priorities –’ David began.

‘Like your council dinners and your glossy brochures,’ the tall man replied, brandishing the questionnaire in the air again.

As a murmur of support for the complainant rumbled around the room, a small boy raised his hand.

‘If the library closes, what will happen to all the books?’ he asked, peering earnestly at David.

‘And where will Miss take us to get our library books?’ another pupil demanded shrilly. ‘We can’t get library books if there isn’t a library.’

‘We come here once a month, in term time,’ their teacher explained. ‘It’s a very important outing for the children. And a lot of our parents bring the children here for the story-time sessions in the summer.’

‘Who’s going to organise that if we have no librarians?’ someone else asked.

David nodded and forced a smile. ‘It’s admirable that you want to encourage children to visit the library. No one would want you to stop doing that, and you have the full support of the council in what you are doing. There are other libraries that would welcome your visits.’

‘Not within walking distance of the school,’ the teacher replied testily.

‘You won’t be the only school in York that doesn’t enjoy the luxury of having a public library near enough to walk to,’ David pointed out.

‘Which is surely a reason for opening more branch libraries,’ the tall man called out, with a note of triumph in his voice. ‘It’s hardly an argument for closing the ones we have.’

A lot of people began shouting their agreement, and the librarian who was chairing the meeting stepped forward.

‘We can’t all talk at once,’ she said, ‘or Mr Armstrong won’t be able to answer any of our questions.’