The tram ticket

Original fiction extract.

At the tram stop, the ticket machine accepted my coins one by one. I waited for the printed slip, watching the slot below the screen. The machine cleared its throat with a dry little click. Then a white tongue pushed towards me, stopped, and waited to be taken. I pulled too early and tore one corner. Behind me, a woman held her coins in a careful stack. The screen had already begun inviting her to choose a destination, as though my small disaster belonged to a previous conversation.

Choose one example from the extract and explain how the writer uses language to suggest the machine’s manner of issuing the ticket. Use your own words in your explanation.