The light on the ceiling

Original fiction extract.

My cousin found a small mirror in the dressing-up box. Standing by the window, she sent a bright oval onto the ceiling. It ran ahead of her hand like a pet which had never learned to wait. She tried to place it on a painted star, but a tiny change in her wrist sent it to the far wall. I moved the chair to help her stand nearer the window. The oval leapt again. At last she held it still for a moment, and both of us stopped talking as if noise might frighten it away.

Choose one example from the extract and explain how the writer uses language to suggest the child’s apparent control of the reflected light. Use your own words in your explanation.