Solivagant

Chapter Five - Robinne

After she'd been able to shift her unwelcomed, unexpected visitor, Robinne had actually managed to get a lot done in the few hours after he'd left. She'd taken her bags upstairs, unpacked them, explored the house and set up her laptop and other writing essentials. She'd arranged for her other items, the few they were, to be delivered here by a moving company from Austin. They should arrive within the next few days.

     I hope.

     Putting her hands on her hips as she stood in her bedroom, planning on what she'd put where, her stomach grumbled loudly.

     "Guess I got to go shopping huh?" she said, rubbing her stomach. It wasn't like she didn't have a decent breakfast thanks to Mrs Jenkins, but working always did work up a hunger with her. Besides, if she was still back at home, it would be right around dinner time.

     People say that talking to yourself is often the first sign of insanity but personally, ninety-nine percent of the time she only got decent answers from talking to herself. The other one percent? Not so much. Utter drivel really.

     Making her way downstairs, she checked herself in the mirror by the doorway one last time before doing the standard check before leaving the house.

     Phone, check, Wallet, check. House keys, check.

     Everyone does this check before they leave the house, as it was a sure-fire way to make sure you never left the house without the essentials. Most of the time.

     Locking the door behind her, Robinne started to walk back the way which she remembered Joe driving her earlier this morning. The wind whipping around her hair as she leisurely walked down the road. She thankfully remembered to walk on the right side of the road, literally, the 'right' side. The last thing she wanted was to be walking on the path of incoming traffic because of her anglicised brain forgetting that they drove on the other side of the road here. She's seen many a people on those dashcam programmes back home when they drive 'accidentally' on the wrong side, claiming they're not used to driving on foreign roads when they perfectly know well that where they're going, they do.

     Idiots.

     Then again, she'd have to get used to driving on the right side of the road when her car came. In her tight budget that was her move, she just had enough money to find a cheap truck which like her stuff, was also being delivered from Austin. It should be arriving sometime later this week, luck be on her side. Even then, she's only on a provisional licence here until she took the U.S. driving test. That was a thought for another day though.

     One thing about she knew about Texas that for sure fit the stereotype, is the enormity of everything. Everything was truly bigger in Texas, especially the expansiveness of the sky. In all directions she turned her head around to look at, it was just simply so vast.

     Her pondering was interrupted with what sounded like horse hoofs in the distance. Looking to her right and squinting her eyes, she covered her eyes with both of her hands as she spied in the distance, a lone rider was perched on top of a horse. From where she stood, she couldn't make out if the figure was man or woman but whoever it was, they were tall and were not afraid to work a horse fast. She could never go near a horse, let alone get on top of one. Horses were one of her many flaws she wasn't afraid to admit. They absolutely terrified her.

     Turning her head away from the direction, she carried along the road towards town. She needed to stop getting distracted. Then again, being here was all about figuring herself out and beginning a new life, maybe being a little distracted by this and that wasn't so bad a thing after all.

     You just keep telling yourself that girlie.

     She eventually made it into the centre of the small town, making her way back towards the main street. Stopping under the shade of one of the store awnings, she paused to see what was going on before her eyes. As a budding writer, she had a habit of stopping every now and then to take in things around her, hoping that something would pop up and serve as inspiration for a scene, be it a character profile or an idea for a book. Anything could stir up her imagination, so she couldn't miss the opportunity to observe the new town properly this time without having anywhere she needed to be urgently.