The House Clearance

Text 1: Paper Stars, by Carys Bellamy

An original short story extract.

Owen arrived with tape, labels and a stack of flattened boxes. Within minutes he had made neat islands out of the confusion: BOOKS, KITCHEN, CHARITY, BIN. He sorted, sealed and stacked while Bea wandered from room to room, opening drawers he had already closed.

‘We have until four,’ he reminded her.

Bea nodded and lifted their grandmother’s green scarf from the back of a chair. She pressed it between her fingers, as if testing whether warmth might still be folded inside it. Owen took the scarf gently but firmly and placed it in the charity box. The tape tore across the cardboard with a sharp, final sound.

By midday, the sitting room had become almost obedient. Shelves stood empty. Pictures had surrendered their pale rectangles to the wallpaper. Only Bea remained untidy, kneeling among loose photographs while Owen carried another box towards the van.

Then Bea opened a blue biscuit tin.

Inside were two paper stars, crushed nearly flat, with OWEN and BEA written across them in purple pencil. Owen stopped at the doorway. Bea remembered making them at the kitchen table, their grandmother patiently holding the paper while their small hands failed again and again to fold the points.

‘Bin?’ Bea asked.

Owen looked towards the labelled boxes. ‘Obviously.’

He carried the tin into the hall. But when Bea turned to wrap the last photograph, he slipped one star into the inside pocket of his coat.

How does Carys Bellamy use language and structure to show the contrast between Owen and Bea as they clear the house?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.