The second bell

Source: an original fiction extract.

At six o'clock the bell above the ferry landing rang twice. It had always rung once. Eva stopped sweeping and looked across the water, where the last ferry of the day was turning towards the island. Her father was bringing it in, one hand raised to shade his eyes. The passengers waited behind him in a dark, untidy row. She could see a blue suitcase, a bunch of yellow flowers and a man holding a sleeping child. Nothing suggested an emergency. Nevertheless, she left the broom against the railing and went down the steps.

A week earlier, her father had shown her the small brass lever beneath the ticket window. One pull meant that the landing was clear. Two meant that the ferry should wait offshore. She had asked what could possibly obstruct a landing with no traffic and almost no visitors. He had pointed to the water beneath the boards, but a customer arrived before he could explain. Eva remembered being relieved. She already knew how tides worked; she had learnt about them at school. She had returned to the ticket book, where the totals refused to agree.

Now the ferry's engine changed its note. It was holding its position, the bow drifting a little to the left and then correcting itself. Eva looked for whoever had pulled the lever. The window was shut. A coat swung from a hook beside it, moving in the wind. She climbed back up, lifted the coat and found its belt looped around the handle. When she freed it, the bell gave a small, uncertain click. Across the water, her father lowered his hand. She reached for the lever, ready to give the single signal.

Then something knocked beneath her feet. It was not loud: a slow wooden tap, followed by a scrape. Through the gap between two boards she saw a pale shape turn. At first it resembled a broad fish. Then the water lifted it high enough for her to see the nails along one edge. A broken section of fencing was caught beneath the landing, its pointed end rising each time a wave passed. The ferry would have drawn alongside exactly there. Eva kept her hand on the lever without pulling it.

Her father brought the boat in only after the harbour worker had dragged the timber clear. While the passengers climbed the steps, Eva told him about the coat. He looked at the empty hook and then at the wet fencing on the stones. 'Lucky it rang,' he said. She had expected a different word. At closing time she balanced the ticket book, put the coat in a cupboard and laid the broom flat beneath the bench. Before locking up, she went down the steps again to look under the landing.

Consider the whole source. Analyse how the writer structures the text to build uncertainty about the warning bell and resolve it. You could consider shifts in time, the order of revelations, changes in focus and the ending. Support your explanation with references to the source.