The balloon from the road

Text C: an original fiction extract.

Faye arrived for her first morning with the balloon club wearing the bright jacket she wanted to appear in photographs. Her uncle had said that volunteers could join the ground crew. She had understood the first word more clearly than the other two. Beside the field, the balloon lay in a long coloured heap. A trained team was preparing it while the passengers listened to the pilot. Faye searched for a place to leave her bag before climbing aboard.

The crew leader, Maris, explained that her place was in the support vehicle. Faye would help keep a written record of messages and directions while Maris drove. She would not be directing the flight. Faye said she knew, although she had pictured something else. When the balloon rose, she watched the people in the basket become small and enviable. The cloth she had seen lying in wet grass turned into the morning's most impressive object, and she was still beside a car.

At the first junction, Faye suggested a shortcut. A lane ran towards the balloon, which appeared just beyond a row of trees. Maris asked her to check the road map. The lane ended before the next village. Faye had been following the object in the sky rather than a route the vehicle could use. Maris continued along the public road. The balloon disappeared behind the trees while the car travelled in what felt like the wrong direction.

The pilot's next message gave a possible landing area, not a promise. Faye wrote the name hurriedly and missed the second part. She wanted to fill the gap from the map rather than ask the pilot to repeat it. Maris asked her to read the note back. Faye admitted the omission. They requested clarification, and she wrote the complete message with the time beside it. Ten minutes later, another message changed their destination. The earlier note was still useful because it showed which information had been replaced.

Near the landing area, the crew stopped at a farm entrance. The pilot was speaking to the landowner about access. Faye could see the balloon across the field and wanted to start carrying equipment towards it. Maris asked her to wait for the agreed arrangements. Being able to see where someone had landed did not mean the crew could choose its own way across the land. Faye watched a tractor pass through another gate and understood how much activity their exciting visit had entered.

The passengers were talking when the crew reached them. One described the river; another had photographed the village roofs. Faye helped with the tasks Maris assigned and listened to the trained crew's instructions. The balloon became a large quantity of material again. In the photographs she took now, people were mostly bending, carrying or looking for something somebody else had just put down.

Afterwards, a passenger asked whether she had enjoyed her flight. Faye explained that she had followed it by road. He said that sounded less exciting. She almost agreed. Then Maris asked for the written messages to complete the morning's record. Faye handed over a page of crossed-out destinations and corrected words. It did not resemble the photograph she had expected to bring home. She kept a copy anyway, and asked which weekend the ground crew next needed help.

You are Faye. Give a speech to prospective balloon-club ground-crew volunteers about your first morning.

In your response:

• explain what you expected and what your actual role involved
• describe the difficulties of following the flight and handling information
• advise new volunteers about working with the team and respecting other people’s responsibilities

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.