When the café lights went out

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

The lights went out halfway through the afternoon rush. The coffee machine fell silent in the middle of a hiss, and the fridge stopped humming. For a moment the café seemed to be holding its breath. Then the owner said that the power had failed along the street, and the room released a collection of small, uncertain laughs.

Without the machines, conversation sounded unexpectedly exposed. A teaspoon touched a cup with a clear little bell-note. Outside, daylight pressed against the windows, quite sufficient and somehow overlooked until now. The owner opened the door and offered cold drinks while checking whether food could still be served safely. Nobody pretended this was a charming alternative business model. Orders were delayed, cards could not be processed and one customer needed to leave. Yet the interruption made us look up from separate screens and notice the people sharing our inconvenience.

When the power returned, the machines resumed together with a busy mechanical sigh. The ordinary soundtrack fitted itself around us again. I was relieved to receive my coffee, but surprised by how quickly the brief conversation at our table ended. The lights had restored the service and, with it, the comfortable permission to stop paying attention to one another.

Refer to the whole of Source A. Analyse how the writer uses language to convey the change in the café’s atmosphere during the power cut. Explain the effects of specific words, phrases and language choices, using evidence from the passage.