A/N: Sorry about the delay again…but I had to spend the day with my hubby yesterday. After all, it was our 25th wedding anniversary. The closer we get to Christmas and I tweak the ending, the quicker it will go.
CHAPTER SEVEN – Timely Visitors
Diego heard a knock on the door. That's Victoria. Wait – how do I know that? He shook his head. He got up, took the cane and limped to the front door from the Library.
"Victoria! It's good to see you! Come in, come in!"
Victoria looked at him with a strange expression. She was holding a pan of vanilla flan in her hand.
"Diego! I didn't expect you to answer the door. I got a note from your father that you'd been struck by lightning. Are you all right?"
Diego smiled, gesturing. "Come into the Library with me. But, to answer your question – si, I'm doing exceedingly well, considering."
Diego limped on his heel and followed Victoria into the Library. He motioned for her to pull up a chair. "My foot feels better if it's stretched out, but it's healing very quickly. We're all quite pleased." He noticed the flan.
"Victoria, you shouldn't have! Is that my favorite – vanilla flan?" Diego smiled a huge smile.
"I thought it would cheer you up. I'll put it in the kitchen." Victoria rose quickly.
"Oh, don't bother. Just put it on the end table over there. When Father and Felipe get home, I'm sure it won't take any of us long to eat it. How are things at the tavern?"
"We're busy. But I think Sergeant Mendoza misses you. He's had to pay for his own lunch." She giggled.
He chuckled. "Si. That would be a hardship for him. He so loves his tamales, but hates to pay for them."
The both chuckled at that. Victoria's expression grew serious. "Diego, are you sure you're all right? You look all right, but I understand it was very serious. I expected to see you bedridden, but you're up walking around. What must you have been through?"
Diego's smile thinned out. "It has been an odd and difficult experience, in more ways than one. But I am very thankful to be alive, even though life is very strange right now."
Victoria looked puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
Diego looked down. "Victoria, I'm not sure how to process everything. Physically, I'm doing very well. I'm healing at a rate two-three times faster than normal. How that is happening, I don't know. Emotionally, I'm dealing with a lot of different things. Some peculiar things have been happening, things I don't understand. There are things we don't have knowledge to know how to describe."
"Diego, now you're confusing me. What are you talking about? I understand the first part where you said you're healing quickly. But the last part – I don't know what you're saying."
"That's just it. You see that I can't fathom or explain all of this either."
"What aren't you able to comprehend? You said unusual occurrences were happening? What things?"
"Well, three strange things, to begin with. Father's watch went crazy the other day. A magnet lost its ability to pull when I nearly touched it. I frightened Father the other day. He said – and this is another odd thing – he said I 'glowed.' I have weird dreams, as well."
"Diego, I can't begin to grasp anything you've told me. Have you talked to Father Benites about any of these things?"
"Not yet. I believe I will though – probably tomorrow. Si, tomorrow, he will come." He nodded, then shook his head. "Where did that come from?"
"What do you mean?"
"Victoria, when you knocked on the door today – I somehow knew it was you. And just talking about Father Benites, I know he'll come visit me – tomorrow. I can't explain it." He shook his head again.
Victoria thought a moment, and was reminded of an unusual event in her own life that recently occurred. "Diego? Can I ask you something?"
"Certainly."
"Do you believe people get – premonitions?"
"Forewarnings? Oh si, absolutely. Why do you ask?"
"I – I think I had foreboding feelings about Zorro the other day."
"Really? What were they? When was it?" Diego's interest was piqued.
"Well, after you and Felipe left the tavern, all of a sudden, I got really dizzy a moment. I had to sit down. Sergeant Mendoza was very concerned and helped me as much as he could." Victoria looked down at her hands in her lap.
"Please – tell me more."
"I just got this horrible, heavy feeling that Zorro was in some sort of terrible danger. I can't explain it. But I was terribly frightened he died – or something. I first felt something when you and Felipe were in the tavern, but I dismissed it. Sometimes in the past, I've gotten feelings, but never this strong before." Victoria looked down at the floor a moment.
Diego eyes were wide with shock, but he deliberately brought them back to normal. She felt it, when I 'died,' she felt it. What is going on? When will this end – or will it ever end? It seems like it might be just beginning. Diego ran his hand through his hair, trying to make sense of it. So far, only Felipe knew Zorro had a near miss with lightning. Her love for Zorro caused her to know something happened.
"That's very interesting, Victoria. Have you heard from Zorro? Is he all right?" He knew the answer.
"I haven't heard from him for a few days, not since the day of the two storms. Oh!" She put a hand to her mouth. "That was the day you were struck by lightning, wasn't it?"
Diego thought a moment. "Si, it was." He looked at the floor, staring.
He saw Victoria looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "Diego? Diego!" Diego was aware, but concentrating on his own feelings when it seemed like from a long distance away, he heard Victoria harrumph softly, pick up the flan and go to the kitchen. He knew she usually kept after him verbally to make sure she was heard, but this time, she didn't.
He seemed unable or unwilling to break himself out of his reverie. It stunned Diego to know Victoria was on some sort of spiritual level with him. That she was close enough to him spiritually to experience a premonition rather surprised him – even if it was his alter ego she sensed things about. What she didn't know was that he and Zorro were one and the same.
He heard a rustling and in his peripheral vision, saw she returned from the kitchen. As she set his piece of flan on the table, she made a noise that brought him out of his contemplation.
He shook his head, looking a bit startled. "Oh! Sorry, Victoria. You brought some of the flan." He saw two pieces. "I hope you're joining me."
"Where were you just now, Diego? You were somewhere else in your thoughts." Victoria took a bite on her fork.
"I was just thinking of the past few days. It's been very overwhelming, and sometimes, the littlest of things takes me to other places. I'm sorry." He picked up the plate and ate a bit of flan off his fork. "Mmmmmm. Delicious – as always, Victoria!" He closed his eyes while eating, savoring every bite.
Diego noticed Victoria's eyes widen a bit, then narrowed.
I wonder what she's thinking? What did I say to elicit that expression from her?
Z
The next afternoon, Diego sat on the couch in the Library reading a science book absent-mindedly. His mind wandered after the first paragraph.
Don Fernando's voice echoed in his mind.
"The first step on your spiritual journey will be one of exploring your property. You are to examine and explore everything you have, everything you own, and everything that is yours.
"Evaluate how feel about it. What if you had nothing in this world – no property, no books, no horses.
"Remember this: What profiteth a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul. Learn what that means. Explore how you would feel if you had no property…"
As Diego's mind drifted, he remembered the first time he saw Don Fernando. It was Christmas Eve almost a year ago. He had a miserable cold and his father was angry. He felt useless and frustrated.
A strange atmosphere seemed to pervade the house. Diego heard a tinkling sound of a soft bell. He sensed something too. He felt someone was watching him. He turned around. He heard footsteps but saw no one. The hall was empty.
He turned and looked in the mirror. He saw the reflection of someone he had never seen before, a pleasant-looking man in a white formal caballero suit with blue trim. Diego kept looking around, but the man wasn't there. He looked back in the mirror where he first saw the reflection, but no one was there, either.
"Buenos Dias!"
Diego whirled around. The shorter, older man stood in the foyer between the rooms.
"Forgive me if I startled you. I let myself in." He smiled sweetly.
Diego looked around, wondering how he had gotten in.
In a gentle, comforting tone, the man said, "Talking to yourself, dear, oh dear, Diego."
Diego was puzzled. "Do you know me? Are you a friend of my father's?"
"In a way."
"I don't believe we've met."
"My name is Fernando."
Diego looked up and down at the strange man with skeptical eyes. He noticed the little man's red boots. They looked odd and out of place with his white and blue suit.
"The boots…I'm sorry about the boots. Christmas is a very busy time for us. Everything else was taken."
Fernando went into the sala and poured himself a drink. Diego followed, astonished at the audacity of this bizarre little man who seemed to make himself at home. He seemed to lack social graces.
"Taken?" Diego was frustrated at the man's ability – or inability – to answer a direct question.
Don Fernando showed his irritation this time. "If you're going to stand there with your mouth wide open repeating everything I say…"
Diego realized his mouth was hanging open, and closed it. But he was dumbfounded at the brazenness of this stranger who acted with such familiarity.
"…we're going to have a very tedious conversation, my friend." And in the next beat…
"So – you're Zorro!" Don Fernando made the statement as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He quickly moved from the foyer into the Library and tripped the latch to the fireplace.
Diego followed him in a panic. "I beg your pardon! There must be some mistake. I just –"
Fernando tripped the latch. Diego's blood was beginning to boil. What's going ON? Who IS this man?
Fernando smiled and looked up. "I've always wanted to do that! Couldn't resist – just once!"
Diego's annoyance and exasperation grew. Through a severely congested sinus, he exclaimed, "This has godd far e-duff! (This has gone far enough) Who exactly are you? I de-badd add ex-plad-daayy-shudd. (I demand an explanation).
"Very well. When you first put on the mask of Zorro, you swore to be a champion of the poor."
Diego gaped at him in shock, but remembered that the little man in front of him had already made a crack about his wide open mouth. He knows. Who told him? Diego had only entrusted Felipe with the knowledge of Zorro. Sir Edmund was the only other person who had discovered his identity, and only learned of it right before he died – not that he would have revealed it even if he had lived.
"Don't worry, Diego, your secret is safe with me."
The wind howled outside, causing both to look up "And Him."
Diego shook his head at the memory and brought himself into the present. And now, he's come back twice. He's telling me more things – things I need to answer. I'd better be ready.
He heard a knock at the door and cocked his head questioningly to the side. I know who that is. How do I know that?
TBC
