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Chapter 27
The map showed that she could cut off several corners by going across country and it would give a good chance to discover Exmoor.
The first part of her walk was on a small country road with high hedges and earthen banks. The birds were singing and the sun was shining down. She was determined make the best of it and to enjoy the walk. High trees were soon above her in huge arches and the way underfoot softened with a bed of pine needles that released their pungent scents as she walked over them.
"It's like having aromatherapy for free," chuckled Amelia-Rose.
She walked hard, climbing always upwards onto the moor. At the top, she paused and looked at the wonderful views all around. She could see for miles. The flat plains that extended to the sea were interrupted only infrequently by round hills. It was a landscape of curves and smooth shapes, very feminine.
"Don't worry folks," she said, as if she was addressing all the people down below. "Amelia-Rose is not going to give up. This is going to be my home."
She trudged on across the top of the moor. Occasionally, she came across walkers who waved and said 'hello' but there were no houses in sight and the terrain grew more and more isolated. She whistled to keep up her spirits but the sun had gone out of the sky and dark clouds were now rolling overhead.
A large spot of rain splashed down on her and she turned to run for the shelter of a nearby tree. A clap of thunder followed and then vivid jagged flashes of light exploded all around. It had almost become as dark as night except for the lightning.
Amelia-Rose shrank against the trunk of the fir tree, wondering which was safer - to stand in the open and get wet or to stay where she was. However, the thought of being soaked to the skin when she was still miles away from home seemed awful so she elected to stay under the tree.
After a while, she spotted a deer in the open, it seemed very young and uncertain. It skipped and dodged when the lightning flashed and shrank almost to the ground when the thunder rolled.
Amelia-Rose had heard there were deer roaming free on the moors but had never seen one. She wrapped her arms around herself feeling cold.
There was a sudden snarl and a dark black shape shot into the clearing and knocked the deer flat onto its side. The cat that had taken the little animal was huge and powerful. It's only sound was to snarl as it opens its jaws for the kill. Then it was gone and so was the deer.
Amelia-Rose found she was shaking violently - and now it wasn't from the cold. Suddenly the vast expanses of this countryside seemed unfriendly and dangerous. She looked for footholds in the tree that would enable her to climb to safety but found none. So she just stood there praying that the large cat would not return.
Soon, the rain stopped and the weather brightened. The ground underfoot was very soggy and Amelia-Rose hadn't walked far before her feet were thoroughly soaked.
She decided, after consulting her map, to use the road in the valley for the rest of her journey instead of staying on the high ground. She needed to get away from the large cat and walking on the road would be easier after the rain.
She slipped and slithered down the slopes and at one point almost fell. The branch she grasped to save herself cut into the palm of her hand. But at last she found the small road that ran parallel to the main road behind the hills. It would eventually take her home and all she had to do was keep walking.
She trudged on. Cars swept past her. She reflected that it was so easy for them. Their occupants sat warm and comfortable. For the first time in her life, Amelia-Rose new what it felt like to be an outsider. The wind blew on the wires stretched between the telegraph poles producing a hum and it had started to drizzle again.
She wondered if she should try to hitch a lift. But she felt too proud to beg a lift from a stranger. When she'd been driving, she'd never given a lift to anybody and remembered how she'd looked down on the hitchhikers as they struggled along the road with their noses full of fumes from the motor vehicles that uncaringly roared past.
Any hitchhiker knows that there are two types of people who give lifts to people on the road. There are the very good people and the very bad. Amelia-Rose had never been in this situation before and had no way to judge the executive saloon that halted beside her that was driven by a young man in his '20s with fair hair and freckles.
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