her birthday presents had been gifts to herself.
When she was ready she picked up her shawl in case it got colder later, put her small gold coloured handbag on her shoulder and left the cabin. At home of course she would have taken her umbrella the weather being so unpredictable, but all she would need one for here was to keep the sun off her face.
She made her way to the town and the bus stop. She had checked the times of the buses to the next town which was five miles away, it was scheduled to arrive at 7.25; she looked at her watch, 7.15, ten minutes early. She had always preferred to be too early than too late. She had a fear of being late for anything, she was always at work ten minutes before everyone else, including sometimes Mr. Lowther, and she had had to wait for him to let her in.
People passed while she stood waiting, they looked at her and she found herself averting her eyes, certain that they could tell she was off for a night on the town by herself and thinking how sad that was. A young couple came to stand beside her giggling and kissing. She found herself blushing and looking the other way pretending they weren’t there…or that she wasn’t.
True to its word the bus was right on time. Adela got on thankful to be away from the kissing couple who stayed waiting by the bus stop.
There were only five people on the bus and she took a seat at the front by herself. She knew that at home this would go unnoticed but people here were friendlier and tended to sit together and chat. But she did not want to be the questioned about where she was headed and was she meeting anyone? This had happened several times over the last few days, but in the day time it did not seem to matter so much, lots of people were out and about by themselves, but for an evening out it seemed, well, sad. Besides there was the ever present danger of giving the wrong person this piece of information, or someone overhearing and following her with a malevolent purpose.
One would ask why if she was so nervous would she catch the bus or go to places by herself? And the answer was because she was nervous, but she had sworn not to let her fear and shyness stop her from exploring and enjoying every pleasure this country had to offer. If she did she would hate herself for the coward she was.
Twenty minutes later she thanked the driver, alighted from the bus and headed to the theatre, which thankfully was on the opposite side of the street from the bus stop. She had spotted the theatre when she had got off the bus here a few days before and on impulse had booked a ticket for the show tonight. She had been, and still was, nervous about doing this, but like the solitary walks and the bus rides, she had resolved not to let nervousness get in the way of enjoying herself. Besides, she wanted to know what a comedy play performed by Americans for Americans was like.
She took several deep breaths and entered the theatre. There were a lot of people milling around in the foyer chatting and laughing so because she didn’t want to stand there by herself she headed for the lounge bar. There were a lot of people either at the bar or just standing around talking. She really didn’t want to go the bar, but neither did she want to stand around so having a drink would give her something to do with her hands.
Squaring her shoulders she walked to the bar as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She expected to have to wait ages to be served there being so many people, but as soon as she approached the bar the bartender came over and asked what she would like.
She asked for an orange juice with ice not daring to take her eyes from the counter, sure that every eye in the place was on her speculating as to who she was and why she was alone.
Adela paid for her drink and told the barman to keep the change. She looked at her watch trying to look impatient as though waiting for someone who was late to join her, then instantly regretted doing this because maybe