By Carolynn Bjorkman
Jenna stood there half in shock, half in disbelief, and shook her head. Then, grabbing her water bottle out of the car, she went to the passenger side, looked down at the increasingly gorgeous hunk of man, sighed, and began squirting water on his face. It was mere seconds before Zorro began sputtering and appeared to be fully conscious.
“Bernardo! What are you doing?!” he asked exasperatingly. He blinked the water from his eyes and looked up at Jenna. Realization blazed in his eyes.
“The name’s Jenna,” she said, “but I’ll overlook the mistake. Who’s Bernardo? Wait! Never mind. We’ll cover that when we start to get things straightened out.” She squatted at his feet. “Are you okay? It must’ve been something I said that put you out cold.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and slightly nodded. Jenna offered her hand. “Look, Zorro, it’s no big deal. There’s no need to feel embarrassed for passing out.” The look on his face revealed a great deal of masculine pride. He must feel like some sort of sissy or something. “Poor baby,” she cooed. He gave her a look of irritation and still said nothing. Jenna managed a fraction of a smile. “Let’s go for a walk and sort this out, okay? I promise you I don’t think any less of you for what happened here. I mean for Pete’s sake, if what you’re trying to tell me is true, I should think it’s a safe secret, hmmmm?” Her hand remained stretched out until he nodded and took it. Jenna cocked her head and asked him again, “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Si, senorita, I am alright,” he answered quietly. His head stayed lowered and he looked anywhere but at Jenna, which told her he was not a happy camper.
Jenna sighed. They got to their feet and began walking, saying nothing at first. The silence seemed to work its wonder on Zorro. His irritation began to fade with every step. Jenna looked toward a small, grassy spot up away from the shoreline and headed in that direction and flopped down. Zorro came up from behind and sat beside her, still relatively quiet. He still wouldn’t look her in the eyes. Jenna broke the silence.
“Okay, Mr. Zorro, why don’t you tell me everything that happened just before you came diving into my mineral bath in the cave and see if we can’t make sense of all this.” She still sounded disbelieving, but at least she was opening up the dialogue.
“I already told you,” he said, “but you don’t, or can’t believe me. I know it sounds incredible, but I swear to you I’m telling you the truth.”
Jenna decided on the old stand-by tactic to try and slip up people trying to lie about their age. “Okay, Zorro, when..”
“Senorita, I beg of you, please. My name is Diego. Diego de la Vega. You must not call me Zorro. I cannot take chances of being discovered. Even here in…2000?”
Jenna continued looking at him after the abrupt interruption. She let out a sigh of exasperation. “Fine! Diego! So tell me how old you are.”
“I am 24 years old,” he said.
“What year were you born?” she asked with purpose.
“1796,” Diego answered without a single hesitation to think about it.
Jenna smiled at him, but it was a smile of someone telling her a joke. “No really, what year were you born?”
Diego turned to her. “I just told you: 1796. I was at the university in Spain and finished only three years before I was summoned home. It was several months ago the ship brought me back. My father called me home because of the current comandante in our pueblo. His name is Monastario, and he’s been treating the dons and the peons unfairly for his own personal gain. My father expected me to come home and help eliminate Monastario. I have been a constant disappointment. We disagree on how to get rid of this tyrant, but at least agree he must be stopped.”
Jenna listened intently. If she made up her mind to believe what seemed to be the impossible—that he had stumbled through a window of time—it’d make things easier to sort out and solve. She otherwise couldn’t help him, if she branded him a fruitcake.
“Okay,” she surrendered, “I’m going to take a leap of faith and believe you. It’s beyond reason, but I will. Why do you call yourself Zorro?”
Diego looked at her and found trust in her eyes. He pursed his lips together, and felt confidence that he could divulge his secret. “I trained in military and legal matters in Spain. I learned to fence, competed, won trophies and medals for it. When my father began writing me of the situation here in California, I had to keep my accomplishments a secret from him. The less he knew about my skills, the better. I came home pretending to be a man of books, a scholar, instead of a man of action. But in fact, I became El Zorro, the fox, and began fighting Monastario and his crooked regime. My father still does not know that I am this outlaw. I was being chased by Monastario and the soldiers when I hid in the cave and ended up here.” He chuckled and added, “I wonder if I ever got married or died!”
Jenna snickered along with him, making a mental note to check public records of the 1800’s. “Who’s Bernardo?” she suddenly asked.
“Bernardo is my friend, helper, confidante, and my mosa…he attends to me personally.” He was having a difficult time to find the correct wording, but he sensed Jenna understood.
Jenna allowed everything Diego had told her to sink in. It was still beyond her realm of credibility that he had been born over two hundred years before and was sitting here talking to her. It was as if he were a three-dimensional ghost. But he sounded sincere enough. And the differences he displayed in his behavior, his speech, and his manners just didn’t jive with the average man today, from any class. And his total ignorance of everyday things like cars or airplanes….it would only make sense if he had indeed slipped through a window of time. And the actuality of it was about to make her faint. The thought of stepping into another time was something scientists had been pondering for years. And now here was someone who was claiming to have done exactly that. And it hadn’t taken any fancy time machine. Jenna heaved a sigh of defeat.
“Okay. You’re here. I take it you want to get back. This is probably too much cultural shock. I can imagine if I was in your shoes. Although, the air is probably cleaner, it’s more than likely a lot safer, and life was simpler back then.” She snickered. “But there have been advances made since then that I’m not sure I’d want to do without. And a few luxuries.” Jenna dug into her satchel and pulled out two Milky Way bars. “This, for instance, is one of my lifelines!” She handed one to Diego and urged him to indulge. After a few bites, he nodded.
“I can understand the attraction,” he said with a smile and worked the creamy caramel around in his mouth. They both began laughing.
“So, Diego, how long do you want to be away from home? What ‘wonders’ can I tempt you with here in the future?” Jenna asked with delight. “I think I could provide some memories to take back with you. Are you game?” The look on her face told Diego she had plenty to offer. It might not be bad at that, he thought.
“What do you mean, ‘game’? He asked her.
“It means ‘would you be interested?’”, she replied. “There’s a lot to offer. We’re kind of spoiled. Too spoiled, actually. Sometimes I think…no, I often feel suffocated by everything there is. You could be very fortunate not to have as much as present day Angelinos. But I think it’d be a lot of fun to treat you, if only to see your reaction.”
“I am ‘game’, senorita. When do we start?” he asked.
“We start as soon as you start calling me ‘Jenna’”, she threw back with a smile.
“Very well. Jenna. There’s no time like the present!” Diego said, and they both broke into gales of laughter.
“Aptly put! Ha! That was good, coming from an old man!” Jenna teased.
Diego stopped suddenly and look at her with just as teasing a look on his face. “You should show respect for your elders, young lady!” he admonished with mock severity. “Shall we go now?”
They left laughing for yet unplanned adventures. It was sure to be beyond their wildest imaginations.
