Fragment #9 - Surprises

A bicycle. How did Antoinette manage to obtain a bicycle for us? Granted, it's one of the more utilitarian 'comfort' style bikes (as we Americans would call them) but it's perfect for our needs, a basket hanging off the handlebars to carry my pack, taking some of the load off my back. It also means that we're no longer dependent on the charity of others to travel.

Antoinette has let me control our travels again, since I seem to be the one who actually enjoys looking at maps and trying to plan our route. If it were up to her, she'd just ride where the wind led her, then find out where we were. However, she did ask for one more stop. I don't know why, but she wants to see the place where her father and his friends tried to abuse her, before she learned about her... difference. It's almost as though she wants to remember when Tigresse first emerged, despite the pain and fear associated with that event. One thing I do know, she's always wanted some kind of real closure to every event, good or bad, in her life. This was a bad event, but over time led to her finding the one she could truly love. What she didn't tell me was that the country got so hilly once you left the coast.

It's beautiful. The springtime growth is turning the hills green and the ancient towns and villages seem to blend with the countryside rather than dominating it as most American towns do. The ride is difficult, but because I stop so frequently to take pictures, I hardly notice.

I guess the good news is, she can't find the house where that piece of her history happened. I can only hope that it's because she just doesn't remember. That was a very trying time for the young girl she was when it happened. Fully a woman physically, she'd not really experienced the world as it was until then. I'm glad, though, that her mind was resilient enough that she finally accepted what she became and learned how to use it for the benefit of others. Not many people, given that frightening start, would take such awesome power and use it unselfishly.