Teach-Primary-Issue-19.3

chapter 19, pages 170-171 www.teachwire.net | 61 170-171 Sim closed his eyes. This was it. The Council had found him. He’d never see his mum again. In his head, he stepped the A played by the tuning fork down to an F, humming the harmonising note so that his skull buzzed with it. F was the first note of the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude. With his back and hands flat against the metal door, Sim imagined the keyboard of his piano back home and played the opening phrase of Chopin’s piano piece, as if it could reach through time and summon his mum. He let the music fill him up until he was brimming with it. Until it radiated out of him like golden sunlight. Until he felt he was no longer physical but pure music and he was falling backwards. His eyes flew open in shock as he hit the ground. The metal door had opened behind him. Except now it was closed, in front of him. Sim scrambled to his knees, opening the door a crack, peeping into the burial chamber. Trying to see Penhooligan. There was no longer a terracotta sarcophagus outside. Instead, an enormous stone box almost filled the room. Above it was a system of pulleys and ropes. There were tools scattered on the floor. His mum and Jeopardy’s footprints had vanished. ‘What?’ A noise in the room behind him made him spin round. He saw a flickering candle in a lantern. Kneeling in its glow, on the rough-hewn stone floor, at the feet of a black dog statue on a gold plinth, was a man with his head in his hands. Extract from T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG The ‘Raindrop’ Prelude is a call-back to the music Sim has played to his mum earlier in the story. It connects him to her, almost like he’s calling to her by playing it in his head. Showing Howard Carter on his knees, with his head in his hands, indicates that he's not a threat to Sim. Showing this to the reader allows them to guess who this person might be before Sim tells them, which involves them in the story. These last four words act as both internal and external description; it’s how he feels and what is happening. Sim cannot discriminate between the two because he’s frightened. Using the verbs flew and hit communicates movement and impact. This body blow brings Sim – and us – back into the physical world. The choice of words here shows that music has a transformative effect on Sim, described first as if it were liquid ( brimming ) and then as if it were light ( golden sunlight ). These short sentences indicate the effect of the threat on Sim. His breathing and his thoughts are quick and short. He closes his eyes and retreats inside himself because there is nowhere else for him to hide. The description here is provided in drips and drabs to show that Sim doesn’t understand what he is looking at. This is the first indicator to the reader and Sim that he is in the same place but a different time. Each of these sentences is a new paragraph because they conflict. The first sentence is what Sim experiences. The second is what his eyes are showing him. Both things can’t be true. This is the first indication that something uncanny has happened. Both sentences end with ‘him’, because Sim is the constant and it’s the world around him that has changed.