The restaurant moves

Original fiction extract.

Uncle told me not to stare at the floor. The restaurant turned so slowly, he said, that I would stop noticing. He had already chosen a table and spread his napkin across his knees. Beyond the glass, the city lay in the clear afternoon, familiar enough for me to name the tower beside the river.

During the first course, that tower began to slide away behind Uncle’s shoulder. The skyline was a procession with no visible feet. A church arrived where the river had been; then a white office block took the church’s place. Our table remained an island of glasses and cutlery while the world performed a slow, unreasonable circle around it. I set down my fork to check that the plate had not moved. Uncle continued eating, his calm face the fixed centre of a disagreement between my eyes and my stomach.

When the river returned, the waiter was bringing dessert. I had expected recognition to make me feel better. Instead, it was unsettling to see a place come back without having gone anywhere myself. Uncle asked whether I wanted to choose the next restaurant. I said that I wanted one with a door directly onto the street.

Choose three powerful words or phrases from the extract above. Analyse how the writer uses language to present the narrator’s disorientation in the revolving restaurant.

Write about 200 to 250 words.