The town beneath the table

Source: an original fiction extract.

Before the doors opened, Mara crawled beneath the exhibition table to retrieve a fallen chimney. Above her stood a model town: six streets, a river made from painted glass and a station with a clock permanently set to ten past four. She had spent the winter helping her uncle build it. Now a single chimney had slipped through a gap between the boards and landed beside a table leg. She found it, brushed dust from its base and held it up through the gap. Her uncle's fingers appeared and took it without a word.

From beneath the table, the town had no streets. It had wires, brackets and a label saying THIS WAY UP. Mara followed the cable that would light the houses. One plug had worked loose. She pushed it firmly into its socket and heard her uncle say that the bakery window was glowing again. She stayed where she was for a moment, listening to the little electrical hum. Seen from above, that light would suggest someone beginning work before dawn. Down here, it was a connection and a strip of tape.

At home, her uncle had always insisted on finishing the hidden parts properly. Mara had wanted to paint the shopfronts while he was still measuring the supports. Nobody would see underneath, she had argued. He had answered by making her hold one end of a board until she understood how far it could bend. Now she checked the other plugs and found them secure. Footsteps entered the hall. The first visitors had arrived early. She heard a child ask whether the miniature river contained real water. Her uncle said it was glass, but invited the child to look at the reflection.

Mara emerged from the far end and stood among the visitors. From there the town seemed unexpectedly distant, as though it no longer belonged to their kitchen evenings. A woman pointed out a building that resembled the library where she had once worked. A boy decided the alley behind the station was a good hiding place. Neither detail had been planned for them. Mara watched their faces while her uncle described the moving train. When it stopped at the station, the room seemed briefly to wait for passengers who would never climb aboard.

At closing time, Mara switched off the houses one street at a time. Without the lights, the painted glass returned to being painted glass. Her uncle asked whether she thought the exhibition had gone well. She said the supports had held. He laughed, then asked what people had said. She told him about the library and the hiding place. Before they covered the town, she looked beneath the table once more. The cables lay where she had left them, carrying no stories at all until somebody turned on the power and came to look.

Consider the whole source. Analyse how the writer uses changes of viewpoint and repeated details to develop Mara’s understanding of the model town. Support your explanation with references to the source.