23. I was walking along the deserted main street of a small seaside town in the north of England looking for somewhere to make a phone call. My car had broken down outside the town and I wanted to contact the AA. The street ran parallel to the sea and was joined to it by a number of narrow side streets. Low grey clouds were drifting across the sky and there was a cold damp wind blowing off the sea which nearly threw me off my feet every time I crossed one of the side streets. It has rained in the night and water was dripping from the bare trees that lined the street. I was glad that I was wearing a thick coat.
There was no sight of a call box, nor was there anyone at that early hour whom I could ask. I had thought I might find a shop open selling the Sunday papers or a milkman doing his rounds, but the town was completely dead. The only living creature I saw was a thin frightened cat which was hopelessly sniffing at some empty paper bags that had been dropped outside the fish-and-chip(炸鱼与马铃薯片) shop the night before.
Then suddenly I found what I was looking for. There was a small post office, and almost hidden from sight in a dark alley next to it was the town's only public call box, which badly needed a coat of paint. I hurried forward, but stopped in astonishment when I saw through the dirty glass that it was already occupied. There was a man inside. He was very fat, and was wearing a cheap blue plastic raincoat and rubber boots. I could not see his face- he was bending forward over the phone with his enormous back pressed against the glass and did not even raise his head at the sound of my approaching footsteps.
Discreetly(小心地), I remained standing a few feet away and lit a cigarette to wait my turn. It was when I threw the dead match on the ground that I noticed something bright red flowing in drops from under the call box door.(10分)

23.1  According to the passage, the A(Para. 1) is most probably____.(2分)
A. a hotel providing accommodations for traveling motorist
B. the local police station
C. a British motoring organization that helps members when their cars break down
D. an inquiry office