PLEASE HELL The town of Madisonville, Texas was hit by a strong storm in late July. Most of the city lost power for several hours, and damage was severe in parts of the city. The Lakeside Cafe, famous for its misspelled sign saying, “Chicken-Fried Stake,” lost its roof in the storm. Amazingly, no employees or customers were injured. John Paxton, who was eating in the restaurant at the time, said, “They told us there was no way to know if it was a tornado or not. Well, I’ve never seen this kind of damage from anything but a tornado.” Fallen limbs and downed power lines were also common problems across the city, blocking passage down dozens of streets. Crews worked for days without pause to restore power and to cut and haul away large limbs. With many businesses closed until power could be restored, hundreds of local residents found themselves stuck at home without electricity and therefore without air conditioning. Local woman Sally H. was sitting on her front porch, fanning herself with a shoe catalog. “It’s hot,” she said. “Normally, I would enjoy a day off of work, but this isn’t a normal day off.”
The hospital was able to stay open and powered by electricity generators. Furman Simms, working the front desk, said it seemed almost like a normal day. “We saw more people today than usual,” he explained, “but it wasn’t bad. We never ran out of beds. I expected it to be a lot busier.”The reader can infer that hundreds of Madisonville residents were probably
A.
glad they had generators.
B.
helped haul away tree limbs.
C.
enjoyed not going to work.
D.
not happy to be at home.