The sand drawing at the market

Original fiction extract.

All morning, the artist had poured coloured sand into the shallow tray. A crowd formed whenever a new ring appeared inside the pattern. I returned just before closing and found the design complete: blue points, red paths, a narrow yellow centre. The artist waited until a child had finished counting the outer shapes. Then she took a wide brush from her bag.

The first stroke crossed the red paths like a road through a sleeping town. A sound escaped the crowd, not quite a protest, not quite a question. The careful borders collapsed into a soft argument of colours. People leaned forward as though their attention could hold the shapes in place. The yellow centre survived for one second longer, a small stubborn island in the spreading mixture. Then the brush passed over it. What had held us at a distance all morning became a loose hill beneath the artist’s hand.

She tipped the sand into a container and closed the lid. The child asked whether she would make the same design tomorrow. She said she would begin with the same colours. I looked at the empty tray and realised that I could no longer remember exactly how the red paths had met.

Choose three powerful words or phrases from the extract above. Analyse how the writer uses language to convey the spectators’ response as the sand drawing is erased.

Write about 200 to 250 words.