The snowplough turns

Original fiction extract.

The street had lost its kerbs overnight. Snow lay across the road and pavement in one unbroken surface, interrupted only by the tops of parked cars. From my upstairs window, I could not tell where a person ought to walk. At the far corner, an orange light began to turn.

The snowplough shouldered its way into view, carrying a white wave against its blade. The wave curled, hesitated and broke against the pavement, releasing a powdery breath around the parked cars. Behind the machine, a dark ribbon unrolled over the road. It seemed impossibly narrow after the wide silence of the snow, yet it restored the street’s direction at once. A drain cover reappeared like a full stop in a sentence somebody had rubbed away. The driver leaned forward, following the edge of the buried kerb with the care of a person tracing a seam.

At our gate the machine slowed. Its orange light washed the bedroom ceiling, then moved on. A neighbour came out with a shovel and began clearing the short distance between his door and the new dark line. The street was not empty any longer.

Choose three powerful words or phrases from the extract above. Analyse how the writer uses language to present the snowplough transforming the street.

Write about 200 to 250 words.