This unsettling image replays a familiar Wall motif: that of the storyteller. But what are the stories being told by the ventriloquist and her dummy? A sense of constriction and claustrophobia is created by the unusual viewpoint, showing the low ceiling and trapped balloons, and by the tiny windows, and details such as the box for the dummy with its strait-jacket arrangement of buckles. The solemn expressions of the children and their over-formal dress add to an air of disquiet that suggests that this is not the province of happy endings.