by Carolynn Bjorkman
Arriving at the apartment, Diego asked her, “Where are we now?”
Jenna looked at him strangely for a moment, then answered, “We’re at my home, Diego. I share it with a girlfriend, so if you’re squeamish about the idea of getting some sleep in a clean, quiet, respectable place, the alternative is a homeless shelter or underneath a noisy overpass with the possibility you won’t wake up alive. Of course, the choice is yours.”
“Do you not live with your parents? A young, not to mention beautiful, senorita like yourself not living where her parents can protect her?” he asked in utter amazement.
Jenna sighed. “Diego, times have been changing since before you were born. Nothing ever seems to stay the same. Women have been working for years, decades, to earn a living. Sometimes she’s forced into fending for herself to support a family if she’s a widow, or a husband deserts her. Anybody who’s able to work and old enough to support themselves can. There are always those who don’t have any parents, and either they become wards of the state, or they make something of themselves. We have to eat, just like you and your father need to, right? I got an education, found a position, and I support myself. It’s a good feeling to be able to accomplish that. My parents deserve to enjoy their retirement, without having to keep supporting me.”
Diego listened intently. He understood the basic elements of what Jenna was saying, but something still didn’t make sense. “But is it not the responsibility of a husband? He should be providing for you, if you do not live under your parents’ roof. When a senorita leaves home, isn’t it to start a new life as the mistress of her new home with her husband?”
The thought made Jenna smile. “It still happens, Diego. Yes it still happens that way, a lot of the time. But these days people our age like to take advantage of their education and, perhaps, earn a living in order to have some money saved up when the time comes to be married. It’s usually a planned effort, but what’s the use of an education if you don’t use it, right? That sense of accomplishment really makes a difference with people. And you sometimes meet your future wife or husband at your new job, or moving to a new city. It’s all part of a new life. There’s a world out there to learn about. You went to school in Spain you say? Then you know what I mean. It’s just a whole world out there waiting to be discovered all over again by another person, then another, and another. You understand what I mean? I don’t necessarily need to have a husband to be happy and content. You have to find that for yourself. Even you’ve said as much. Another person can’t make you be happy if you aren’t happy with yourself to start with. I learned not to depend on another individual for my happiness in life. But we learn from each other and can add to each other’s lives. It depends, I suppose, in what capacity. There are certain people I do not or would not want in my life. Then there are people, like my roommate or you, who have entered my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are a lot of people out there yet to meet!” She’d gotten a dreamy look to her face and in her tone of voice. Suddenly Jenna came out of her reverie. “We’d better get in and start planning our itinerary.” She looked over at Diego, who was looking at her with amazed admiration. Jenna blushed at how it made her feel. “C’mon,” she whispered. They got out of the car and headed for the apartment. Jenna suddenly stopped, tipped her head, and turned to him. “’Beautiful’, huh?” she asked.
“Si,” Diego answered with a smile that could only be described as ‘quiet’, “very beautiful.” Then he rewarded Jenna with a blazing white smile that took her breath away.
It didn’t take long for the introductions and formalities. Eva just stared at Diego at first. He’d kissed her hand as he’d done Jenna’s earlier that day when they’d met. The guy obviously had impeccable manners. But something didn’t seem right to Eva. Hours earlier, Jenna had stormed out of the apartment, upset about her break-up with Brad. Now she’s coming home, not only with a new guy in tow, but a drop-dead gorgeous one! After showing Diego the “facilities”, Eva grabbed Jenna and pulled her aside.
“Jenna, are you out of your mind? Or have you been taking Prozac without my knowing?” she asked, rather agitatedly. “When you left here you were going ballistic because of Brad. Now you show up with..with a hunk that ought to be arrested for being so good looking! What is wrong with this picture?? That just isn’t smart to go rebounding, Jen! What do you know about him? Where did you find him? This just isn’t right!” Eva was waving her arms around in disbelief. She was to the point of hyperventilating. Finally she turned away and heaved a big sigh before calmly, wearily turning around and asking, “Does he at least have the good taste to have a twin brother?!”
Jenna laughed lightly, and gave Eva a hug. “Evie, honestly, if I told you the story, you’d call the men in white. I’m not even a hundred percent sure I believe his story. But I do trust my gut instinct: he is above board. Diego’s ‘lost’. He’s not from around here. We ran into each other, he needed help, and I’m helping him.”
“He’s lost? Needs help? Jen, no one that looks like that needs help. Where is he from? Did he say? Essentially what you’re saying is he’s a perfect stranger. Men don’t come any more perfect than that! But he’s a stranger! This isn’t like you, Jen. You do not bring home a new guy just hours after losing another one. Not in L.A.! For all you know he could be another hillside strangler or something!” Eva was genuinely alarmed.
Jenna looked at her. Pursing her lips together, she could only answer Eva truthfully. “I know it’s out of character for me. And I know the risks. But don’t you think I’d be dead by now if he weren’t exactly what he appears to be? Evie, I’ve spent the entire time with Diego. If you want his story, you’ll think he’s crazy and stepped out of some sci-fi story. But gut feeling tells me he is not making it up.”
Eva sighed heavily and started rubbing her temples. “Tea. I need some tea,” she chanted. Jenna knew it’d be the brew that would calm her and help the headache she knew was beginning with her roommate.
Diego stepped out of the bathroom, a concerned look on his face. Jenna knew immediately he’d heard enough of the exchange to realize he’d innocently created a problem.
“How can I help?” he asked quietly. “Perhaps it would be better if I leave? I do not want to be the cause of an argument.”
Jenna shook her head lightly. “It’ll work itself out. Somehow. But maybe some tea would be good.” She couldn’t ask him what flavor he’d like, because it’d be just another question mark. Jenna pulled out two teabags of Earl Grey and set about getting it ready.
It was about an hour later that, having related Diego’s appearance to Eva, and not without groans of disbelief, the three of them felt much more relaxed. Eva turned on the TV to the cable station showing reruns of the old favorite shows. “Bonanza” was on. It was one of her favorites. To Eva, there wasn’t anyone handsomer than Michael Landon. That is, until this Diego showed up. But this was an episode she hadn’t seen before: “Return to Honor”. Seconds later, there was a crash as Eva dropped her mug of tea. Diego and Jenna looked over at her. Eva’s face was as white as a sheet and her mouth was hanging open as she looked over at the two of them.
“Eva! What’s wrong?” Jenna asked. She rushed over to her friend who just stared at her in mute silence. She didn’t even feel the heat of her tea that had splashed on her jeans. Eva just pointed and whispered, “Look.” Turning to the TV set, Jenna found herself reacting the exact same way. The character on “Bonanza”, Will, was a spitting image of Diego. Or vice versa. The two girls both looked over at Diego, their mouths hanging open. He walked over to see what it was that had two grown women as silent as Bernardo. He found it rather comical. Then watching the program that held their interest, he felt like he was looking into a mirror.
“Is it possible, Diego, that you’re an actor? Or a former actor?” Eva asked. She thought she might have solved the mystery of this stranger. Amnesia? But these TV episodes were over thirty years old. Diego would be much older if, in fact, this was the answer. Maybe he was the son of this actor in front of her.
“I assure you, I am no actor,” he answered. “The only performances I have ever publicly been a part of are my fencing competitions, back in Spain. But,” he said, with a smile of imagination, “perhaps it is the other way around. Maybe who you see there is a descendent of mine, eh?”
Jenna and Eva looked at each other, rolling their eyes in question. Diego laughed at the two of them and sat down on the couch. “Senoritas! Por favor. Can we perhaps do that planning we had discussed, Jenna? The longer I am in this time frame, the more impatient I become.”
Jenna snapped back to reality. She really felt she was in the Twilight Zone now. This was just too weird. But she pulled out a legal pad, sat herself on the floor by the couch where Diego sat and they began their schedule of escapades. She had two weeks of vacation. Perhaps one week Diego should experience here, and, she began to imagine, maybe a week to slow down in his time would be an idea. Several minutes later, Eva joined them, “Bonanza” having concluded.
“Evie, if you were a stranger from the past stepping into today, what would you want to experience?” Jenna asked. It wasn’t the easiest question to put to her, and Jenna stumbled with it. Eva gave it a few minutes thought.
“Movies, Seaworld, a plane ride, Six Flags; I don’t know. I only imagine what’s ahead of us and think of cars like in ‘The Jetsons’, stuff like that,” she said.
Jenna thought. Museums would be able to explain a lot. But so could books or the computer. She was just about to ask Diego his opinion when she saw he’d fallen asleep on the couch. She looked down at him, tilting her head and feeling a bit sympathetic. She pulled the afghan down off the back and covered him with it. Then, she took in his sleeping face and felt a tug at her heartstrings. Reaching down to smooth back a lock of hair, Jenna then kissed her fingertip and touched it to Diego’s lips. “Sweet dreams,” she whispered. Then she went over to the computer and logged on to the internet. Accessing the public records, Jenna typed in Diego’s name. The pounding of her heartbeat was getting stronger and stronger as the information began filling her screen: DE LA VEGA, DIEGO. SON OF ALEJANDRO, WIDOWER. DATE OF BIRTH: 29 AUGUST, 1796.
Jenna began to feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Her palms were sweaty. She got out of the public records before she could read any more that she might not want to know. She sat there feeling as if the breath had been kicked out of her. Rubbing her eyes, Jenna decided she couldn’t ignore what was staring her in the face: Diego was telling her the truth. However it happened, as beyond reason as it was, Diego had slipped through that crack in time. “What to do now?” Jenna thought. She came to the conclusion that she’d told her time-traveling guest that she’d show him a good time. Looking over her notes on the legal pad, she then grabbed the yellow pages and opened them up to ‘Airplane Rides’. Jotting down a couple different numbers, she then went into the kitchen, poured a glass of wine, swallowed it in one gulp, and went to bed. She anticipated strange dreams, due largely to the events of the day. And she truly believed it’d be hours before she would fall asleep. Thankfully, she was sound asleep in minutes. And the dreams began: A flashing white smile saying “Beautiful”, walking around in black clothes, 1796.
All was warm and fuzzy and Jenna slept with a smile on her face.
