The Museum Store

Text 1: Still Life, by Elin Rowe

An original short story extract.

Everything in the museum store stayed where Mara put it. That was what she liked about the room. Shelves stood in straight aisles, each object carried a number, and every number had its place on her list. Nothing wandered. Nothing changed its mind.

She worked deliberately, reading each label before making a neat blue tick. Silver cup, 1842. Three boxes of coins. A cracked ship’s compass. At the far end of the room, a wooden carousel horse waited beneath a grey dust sheet. One raised hoof made a sharp peak in the cloth. Mara had passed it every evening for six months and had decided it looked ridiculous rather than frightening.

A scrape travelled across the concrete floor.

Her pen paused. The sound had come from somewhere beyond the shelves, but the aisles showed only their usual collection of corners and shadows. A trolley wheel, she thought. A box settling. The building cooling after a warm day. She added another tick.

The scrape came again. Longer this time.

Mara stopped. Listened. The silence seemed to listen back. She called, ‘Is someone there?’ and heard her own voice return from the walls, smaller and less certain. No one answered.

She began walking towards the carousel horse. The orderly aisles now forced her to turn again and again, hiding the far end of the room each time she passed a shelf. Her list trembled against the clipboard. She held it tighter, annoyed that her hand had betrayed her.

At the final corner, she saw the dust sheet lying in a heap on the floor. For a moment, its folds still suggested the curve of a neck and the point of a raised hoof. Then the cloth settled flat.

The space beneath it was empty.

Mara stared at the bare concrete. She thought of the opening words on her inventory sheet: OBJECTS MUST NOT BE REMOVED. She thought of the locked door behind her. Then, from the aisle she had just left, wood touched concrete with a slow, careful scrape.

How does Elin Rowe use language and structure to show Mara’s confidence giving way to fear?

You should explore how details from the opening take on a different meaning by the end, and use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.

The Museum Store

Text 1: Still Life, by Elin Rowe

An original short story extract.

Everything in the museum store stayed where Mara put it. That was what she liked about the room. Shelves stood in straight aisles, each object carried a number, and every number had its place on her list. Nothing wandered. Nothing changed its mind.

She worked deliberately, reading each label before making a neat blue tick. Silver cup, 1842. Three boxes of coins. A cracked ship’s compass. At the far end of the room, a wooden carousel horse waited beneath a grey dust sheet. One raised hoof made a sharp peak in the cloth. Mara had passed it every evening for six months and had decided it looked ridiculous rather than frightening.

A scrape travelled across the concrete floor.

Her pen paused. The sound had come from somewhere beyond the shelves, but the aisles showed only their usual collection of corners and shadows. A trolley wheel, she thought. A box settling. The building cooling after a warm day. She added another tick.

The scrape came again. Longer this time.

Mara stopped. Listened. The silence seemed to listen back. She called, ‘Is someone there?’ and heard her own voice return from the walls, smaller and less certain. No one answered.

She began walking towards the carousel horse. The orderly aisles now forced her to turn again and again, hiding the far end of the room each time she passed a shelf. Her list trembled against the clipboard. She held it tighter, annoyed that her hand had betrayed her.

At the final corner, she saw the dust sheet lying in a heap on the floor. For a moment, its folds still suggested the curve of a neck and the point of a raised hoof. Then the cloth settled flat.

The space beneath it was empty.

Mara stared at the bare concrete. She thought of the opening words on her inventory sheet: OBJECTS MUST NOT BE REMOVED. She thought of the locked door behind her. Then, from the aisle she had just left, wood touched concrete with a slow, careful scrape.

How does Elin Rowe use language and structure to show Mara’s confidence giving way to fear?

You should explore how details from the opening take on a different meaning by the end, and use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

Question 113

Markscheme

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

Question 113

Markscheme

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

Question 113

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content Questions

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

Question 113

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content Questions