The night display

Source: an original fiction extract.

At five on Wednesday afternoon, Callie arrived at the bookshop to help change the window display. The manager gave her a box of paper stars and asked her to arrange twelve books around a model moon. The theme was journeys through the night. Callie left her umbrella in the stand beside the entrance and carried the box to the front window. She was to finish before the shop closed at six. Outside, a delivery cyclist stopped beneath the awning to fasten the strap on a parcel while rain ran along the gutter.

The moon was made from painted card. From the shop floor it looked round and convincing, but behind it were tape, bent wire and an old cereal box holding the base upright. Callie knelt inside the display space and tried to hide the supports. Each time she moved a book, another piece of wire appeared. She had imagined arranging a window as something like painting a picture. Instead, it involved balancing objects that wanted to fall over and removing fingerprints from glass she had already cleaned.

A small boy stopped outside with his father. He pointed at the moon while Callie was still holding it in place. She froze, hoping he would not notice her hand. The boy pointed again, this time at the cereal box. His father said something that made him laugh. Callie felt her face grow warm. She waited for them to leave, then asked the manager for black paper to cover the base. The manager brought it and helped her make a sleeve, leaving a narrow opening so that the support could still be adjusted.

Near closing time the boy returned. He tapped the glass gently and held up a paper star he had folded from a receipt. His father explained that he wanted to contribute it. Callie opened the door. The star was crooked, with one point much shorter than the others, but it held its shape. She asked the boy where it should go. He chose a space beside the moon, exactly where the wire had been visible. Callie attached it with a small piece of tape and stepped outside to look with him.

From the pavement she could no longer see the cereal box. The books curved around the moon and the uneven star cast a thin shadow on its painted surface. After the boy had gone, she took a photograph for the shop's page. She almost cropped out the bottom corner, where her own reflection showed beneath the display. Then she left it. In the caption she named the theme and thanked the young visitor for the extra star. When she switched off the main lights, the window remained bright enough to be seen from the opposite side of the road.

Refer only to the first paragraph. Choose one answer for each item. Write the four letters in order, labelling them 1 to 4.