Source A: The case on the carousel

An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.

At the station, the luggage carousel was a low oval belt beside a wall of timetables. My train had arrived early, a fact which made me feel unusually competent. I stood with a coffee and watched the cases emerge. A large black one came round twice without being claimed. On its third journey, I decided that somebody should do something.

The case was longer than mine and shaped oddly at one end. I assumed this was an expensive way of packing skis. A man near the exit seemed to be looking for something. I lifted the case from the belt and called to him. He came towards me quickly, which I took as confirmation. Only when he held both hands out, palms downward, did I notice that his expression was not gratitude.

He spoke in a language I understood only in pieces. I recognised a word for careful because it had appeared frequently during my attempts to hire a car. I lowered the case, then stopped when he made a smaller downward gesture. We remained for several seconds in an arrangement which must have looked like a very slow negotiation over the height of a box.

A station worker joined us and explained that the case held a musical instrument. The owner had been waiting for assistance to lift it from a particular point on the belt. He had not abandoned it. He had understood its route and my proposed improvement had interrupted the plan. I apologised, trying to convey that I had meant to help without making intention sound like a reason the instrument should forgive me.

Together, we moved it onto a trolley. The musician checked the fastenings, opened a small section and looked inside. I watched his face with an attention I had not previously given the case. At last he nodded. The station worker said everything appeared to be all right. I was ready to call this a successful conclusion when my own small suitcase passed behind us and disappeared into the belt’s next curve.

I retrieved it on the following circuit. By then, the musician was leaving through a side door, moving at the same measured pace which I had mistaken for inaction. He raised one hand. I could not tell whether it meant farewell or a general wish that I would keep both of mine to myself. I returned the gesture carefully. Outside, I put my coffee down before attempting anything useful.

Source B: From A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat — Emma Levine

Read Source B in the official Pearson anthology (printed pages 14–15).

Compare how the writers present their ideas and perspectives about the experience of being an uncertain outsider in an unfamiliar situation.

Support your answer with detailed examples from both texts, including brief quotations.