Below the Mill

Text 1: A Streak of Blue, by Anselm Whitlow

An original novel extract.

Joe had left the house before anyone was up, because he did not want to hear the voices start again. He sat on the bank below the mill with his rod across his knees and did not bother to cast. The river slid past him, brown and slow and secretive, minding its own business. Mist lay on it in rags.

For a long time nothing happened, and he was glad of it. A moorhen ticked in the reeds. A leaf turned on the surface, went round twice in an eddy, and was carried off. He threw a pebble in and watched the rings widen until they reached the far side and were lost.

Then, from nowhere, a streak of blue. It went past so low and so fast that he felt the air of it, a flash of something electric, unbelievable, the colour of a gas flame, and it was on a branch across the water before he had even breathed. A kingfisher. It sat there, perfectly still, orange chest puffed, looking down into the river as if nothing else in the world existed. Joe did not move. He did not want to. He realised he was smiling, and that for the first time in days his chest did not feel tight.

How does Anselm Whitlow use language and structure to show Joe’s changing feelings by the river?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.