The marker in my pocket

Text: an original contemporary volunteering-memoir-style practice extract.

At the lantern walk, my post was where the path divided beside a dark field. The route map showed a left turn, and a temporary marker had been tied to the fence. I had not walked the route myself, but the organiser had tapped the map twice and said, “You cannot miss it.” With the marker shining under my torch, I believed him.

The wind removed that certainty before it removed the marker. One moment the arrow pointed left; the next it scraped along the ground and disappeared beneath the hedge. A family approached while I pressed the radio button inside my coat. Only fragments came back through the crackle. The youngest child looked from one path to the other and asked, “Is this definitely the way?”

“Yes,” I said. “We are just leaving a little space between groups.” I held them beside me, discussing their lanterns with an interest that was partly genuine and partly intended to fill time. My free hand kept trying the radio. When the organiser finally confirmed the left turn, I smiled as though confirmation had been unnecessary. “Off you go. You are exactly where you should be.”

Much later, one of the adults passed my post on the return route. She thanked me for making the confusing junction seem simple. I nearly explained about the missing marker and the unreliable radio. Instead, I said, “That is what marshals are here for.” After she had gone, I found the arrow under the hedge. I folded its wet cardboard in half and placed it in my pocket, where nobody arriving at the junction could see it.

In this extract, the writer tries to show that public confidence can protect other people while concealing uncertainty, leaving the reader to judge whether that concealment is responsible or misleading.

Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.