Of Blue Envelopes | ON HOLD

II: Of Deserts and Stetsons

Sara's family had a long history of never buying the new version of what they could still use, constantly, old appliances broke down and were immediately sent to be fixed, but never replaced. Sara, as result, was considerably materialistic, but never wasted any money. That, combined with the hopelessness of the old truck, added up to lots of unfortunate and unexpected breakdowns.

The truck did not do things that it did not like, and among the things it disliked was very long trips. Gabrielle had overlooked that fact in the flurry of excitement of driving to an adventure and now faced the consequences.

Two kilometers without that old dump. She had been walking for two very long kilometers. If it hadn't been for the fact that she was only carrying a light backpack, Gabby surely would have been crawling by only one kilometer. Long walks to clear her mind was one thing, but hiking on the side of a desert road was another. Gabby strongly preferred the long walks.

However, if she wanted to get to the mysterious meeting in time, she needed to keep walking - and keep up the pace. It was lucky she'd planned to get there early, otherwise she'd already have been late.  As it was, she still had a few minutes.

Just ahead of her, a bright red car was parked. An old american model, like one of those huge ones from the sixties. Gabby wasn't one to obsess over cars, frankly, knowing how to drive one and describe one on paper was enough for her. Her father on the other hand, he loved cars. Perhaps it had been out of some resentment for him, that she refused to take interest in that particular subject.

But this red car, despite being seemingly unoccupied, certainly hadn't been abandoned by its owner. The top of a cowboy style hat was visible just past the roof of it, and it was clearly placed on someone's head. Inanimate objects had the tendency not to float in midair.

"Hey!" she called out, trying to pick up her pace to get to the front of the car. Already exhausted from her walk, she could only work up to a jog, still it was enough to see that the hat was being worn by a man sitting on the hood.

The man on the hood didn't seem to mind meeting her halfway, and in a moments notice he'd slid off the car and onto the road. "Gabby!" he exclaimed, with an excited smile on his lips and a look of recognition in his eyes. 

Gabby had a moment to observe that he was wearing a light brown tweed jacket and black pants before she realized exactly what had been wrong with what she'd just heard.

She froze, stopping her approach. The man noticed, and stopped too, a look of realization crossing his face. "Who are you?" she demanded, panic lacing her tone. She took two steps back from him, "How could you know my name?"

"I'm the Doctor," he said cautiously, raising his hands as if to defend himself. "The next bit is a bit more complicated."

"How complicated?" she challenged, her eyes narrowing on him. Her stance was confident, but she could only hope her words didn't betray the fear she felt coursing through her. She'd walked into this all alone, and there wasn't anyone for miles. She'd made a foolish mistake, and though the man didn't look threatening, it didn't mean that she'd put herself in any less danger.

He stared at her for a few moments, his eyes weren't cold, but she could still see that he could see her fear. He seemed to be at a loss for words, before his eyes brightened abruptly, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head.

"Think of it like a science fiction story: character 1 is a time traveller. The first time he meets character 2, she's already met him. But likewise, that would mean the first time character 2 met him, he would have already known her!" He finished his explanation with a proud grin, as if he was expecting some form of applause.