Disclaimer: This story is inspired by the NWZ TV series (and, in this case, a certain other TV show popular in the '90s). It is dedicated to all the fans out there. It is not intended to infringe on the copyrights held by Goodman/Rosen Production, New World Television, Zorro Productions, the estate of Johnston McCulley or on any others who might have a legal claim on the characters.
The ideas, however, are my own, so the full or partial reproduction of the story without my express consent is prohibited. The use of the OCs can be granted after slight negotiation.
AN: This is a reviewed, improved and extended version of the story by the same name which I had published in April 2020.
A big 'Thank you!' for correcting it to my wonderful Beta, La Cuidadora.
Reviews are appreciated!
Enjoy!
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The coach driver had lost control of the horses half a mile down the road, after an unlucky encounter with a rattlesnake. Having lost the rains, he was barely able to prevent himself from falling. A few moments later, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a black-clad rider on a black horse chasing after him.
"I can't control them!" He shouted as he recognized the masked man chasing after the stagecoach.
"You're heading for a canyon!" Zorro warned but, since there was nothing the poor man seemed able to do to stop the speeding steeds, he carefully stood up on Tornado and jumped on the back right runner, finding the reins and pulling the horses to a stop.
"Señor Zorro!" Exclaimed the coachman. "Gracias a Dios you were near! These horses had gone mad, and there is a canyon up ahead."
"That's what I said." The black-clad man remarked as he dismounted, heading for the carriage.
As he opened the door to check that the passengers were alright, a beautiful woman, no older than 29, with curly blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, fell down straight into his arms and looked at him puzzled.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" She asked just as she fainted.
Surprised, Zorro lifted the woman and put her back in the coach.
"Is there no other passenger?" He asked the driver, as he was trying to help her regain her senses.
"No, Señor Zorro. Just the lady here. She's an American." Came the answer.
"But, the pueblo is expecting the new doctor to arrive today." Zorro replied, clearly disappointed.
"That's me!" The woman answered as she regained consciousness. "Why am I back in this coach?" She asked, puzzled by her surroundings. "I am never getting on one ever again, in my life!" She proceeded to declare.
"You...are the new doctor?" Zorro questioned. "But we were expecting a Señor Jessie Kent."
"No, you were expecting Doctor Jessie Kent and that is me. Why you assumed I was a man I have no idea!" She answered.
"Forgive me, Doctor! I meant no offense." Zorro replied, a courteous smile on his face.
"And now that you know who I am, would you mind telling me who you are?" Her question came almost as an order.
"I am Zorro! Your humble servant, Doctor!"
"Zorro? I heard about you, but I thought you were a tale to scare off bandits. I could have sworn you were a figment of someone's imagination. I still am rather convinced you are, since I am pretty sure I bumped my head quite hard at some point during the last 10 minutes." She asserted, touching her forehead.
"I assure you, Doctor Kent, I am quite real." Zorro replied with a sly grin.
"You do look real enough! But, in that case, Señor, I have a feeling it will be I your humble servant since, given your life choices, sooner or later you are bound to need my services." She answered quite sure of herself. "And, considering that you will soon be in my debt, would you do me the small favor of taking me into town on your horse? I have no intention of getting back on this death trap! She said, as she was pointing at the coach.
"It will be my pleasure, doctor!" Zorro agreed. "Although, for your safety, I can only take you to the outskirts of the pueblo. My presence makes the soldiers and the esteemed Alcalde rather nervous, and they tend to misfire their guns, you see. I wouldn't want to put you in danger." He then added, fully aware the soldiers would be in the plaza waiting for the doctor together with the Alcade.
She climbed on the horse, right between his arms, and he brought her to the entrance of the pueblo. Once there, he helped her down, but not before the people, gathered in the plaza to receive the new doctor, noticed the scene.
"What is Zorro doing here, today, Mendoza?" The Alcalde asked. "And who is that woman with him?"
"I don't know, Alcalde!" The Sergeant answered, also looking inquisitively towards the new arrival. "Maybe she is a lady friend of his."
"Sergeant, make sure you don't lose her from your sight! I must find out who that woman is and what is her relationship with that masked menace!" The Alcalde ordered.
That was an easy-enough mission for Mendoza as Jessie headed straight for the people gathered in the plaza where she arrived moments after the coach.
The Alcalde opened the door as the musicians started playing. "Welcome, Doctor Kent, to El Pueblo de Los Angeles!" He greeted the empty coach. "What is this?" He asked. "Driver, where is the doctor?"
Meanwhile, Jessie, who was standing right next to him, started laughing, an innocent, joyful laugh.
"Señora!" The Alcalde admonished at seeing her.
"I am sorry, Señor, but that was too funny not to laugh!" She replied.
"I am Alcalde Ignacio de Soto! Please introduce yourself, so that I know who I'll be putting in my jail for disrespecting a Royal official!" He asked infuriated.
She looked at him for almost half a minute, studying the man before her. He felt somehow embarrassed by her stare, and was glancing between her and Mendoza.
"Doctor Jessie Kent." She eventually replied, leaving everyone in awe.
"You can't be a doctor!" He answered. "You... you are a woman!"
"Fine way to state the obvious, Señor!" She replied sarcastically. "If I can't be a doctor because I am a woman, you can't be Alcalde because you have white hair! It makes just as much sense!"
The Alcalde's temper was being tested and a blood vessel appeared more visible on his neck.
"Señora!" He tried to make her stop, but no other word came out.
"Señorita! I am not married!" She stated. "But you may as well call me 'Doctor' since I assume you expect me to call you 'Alcalde'."
"Yes, of course... but I do not understand!" De Soto tried to explain. "We were all informed that an American doctor was coming, a man who had studied medicine in Madrid and Harvard, not a... what are you?"
"Doctor! Do you have trouble hearing, Alcalde? I am Doctor Jessie Kent. I graduated first in my class from the University of Madrid, I have five years of experience in Spain and The United States, and you are not making a first good impression on me so far, Señor!"
"I… I..." The Alcalde tried to reply, unwilling to accept such words from a woman, yet strangely unable to find his own. "I demand to know what you were doing riding with Zorro, Señorita!" He decided to ask.
"Doctor!" She defied him. "How many times must I say the word? Is there something wrong with his hearing?" She asked the Sergeant. "Perhaps I should take a look!" As she said that, right there, in the plaza, she reached for the Alacalde's left ear, determined to give her an ad hoc consultation, to everyone's increasing amusement.
"Zorro! Why were you with Zorro right now, Doctor?" He almost shouted, taking a step back to get away from her, and trying, yet failing, to sound threatening.
"Oh, Zorro?" She replied calmly, stopping her attempt to embarrass the Alcalde. "He was kind enough to save us from riding straight into a canyon, then chivalrous enough to bring me here on horseback, since I was not feeling inclined to continue my ride with those mad beasts, closed in a death trap!"
"But... But..." De Soto once more was at a loss for words, unsure as to why he found the small delicate woman so intimidating.
"Now, could someone be so kind as to escort me to my office?" She asked the crowd, completely ignoring De Soto.
"Allow me, Doctor!" Don Alejandro offered, his face still displaying a wide smile. "And may I welcome you to our little Pueblo? I am Don Alejandro de la Vega."
"Pleased to meet you, Señor! I am glad to see there are gentlemen in this town." As she said that, she turned her back to the Alcalde, who was practically boiling, an air of superiority on her face.
"Yes...Well, Doctor, I guess I shall see you later." De Soto uttered instead of 'goodbye' as she had already left, then headed with Mendoza towards the cuartel as Don Alejandro accompanied Jessie to her office and two lancers rapidly took her luggage from the coach.
ZZZ
"What is this?" Jessie asked Don Alejandro, looking at a sheet of paper with a list of names on it.
The list was carefully placed together with some tools for blood transfusion, a procedure most big hospitals were not practicing yet at the time since it was deemed too dangerous.
"I am not really sure, to be honest." Don Alejandro answered. "You will have to ask my son, Diego, when he returns from Santa Barbara, later today. He has taken over the office while the town didn't have a doctor."
"Is your son a medicine man?" Jessie wondered.
"Diego? No... not exactly... But, as he says, 'he does know a little something', and, since there was no one else to step in, he agreed to do it." The don replied.
"So, for the past three months, the only man giving medical advice in this pueblo was a man with no medical education?" Jessie inquired, rather upset.
"Well, he did read a few medical books before volunteering, and he has had some experience at mending bullet wounds and broken legs. But, trust me, Doctor, Diego will be quite relieved to return to his normal jobs!" Don Alejandro told her.
"Normal jobs? May I ask what are his normal jobs?" She became intrigued.
"My son, Diego, is the editor of the town's newspaper, The Guardian, he is an amateur engineer of sorts, he sometimes acts as a lawyer... And, of course, he helps me run the ranch, tend to the animals, that sort of things. That is, when he is not busy composing some sonnet, painting or fiddling with one of his instruments." Came Don Alejandro's answer as he was, himself just realizing how many things Diego was actually doing.
Jessie looked at him preoccupied. Such a busy man, she thought, could not have possibly found the time to offer reasonable medical assistance, not to mention, good medical assistance. That, of course, if what the don was saying was, in fact, true, and he was not just purposely exaggerating his son's accomplishments, as most fathers do. Imagining Diego, she decided he was no taller than his father, with glasses, probably quite full of himself if he thought he could perform so many jobs at any reasonable level of adequacy.
ZZZ
Later that afternoon, Diego entered the tavern and headed for Victoria, who was standing behind the bar.
"Good afternoon, Don Diego!" Victoria greeted her friend.
"Buenas tardes, Victoria! Did I hear right? The new doctor arrived?" Diego replied.
"Yes! And guess what? Our new doctor is a woman!" She replied with a giggle.
"A woman? Really?" Diego faked being shocked by the news.
"And what a woman!" Mendoza intervened at hearing their discussion. "A very beautiful Señorita, Don Diego!"
"Who already managed to annoy the Alcalde!" Victoria emphasized.
"How did she do that if she just arrived?" The tall caballero inquired.
"By putting him in his place!" Victoria answered with a smile on her face that made Diego regret that he had not witnessed the scene
"I would be very careful not to upset her!" Mendoza cautioned. "She is not like the women around here!"
"Really, Sergeant?" Diego asked. "Well, maybe I should go meet this wondrous creature." He stated as he bowed his head slightly at Victoria and headed for the tavern's doors.
"Good luck, Don Diego!" Mendoza wished him seriously, watching Diego exiting the tavern
ZZZ
Diego was a little surprised at seeing his father as he entered the doctor's office, the same in which he had spent a large part of the last three months.
"Buenas tardes!" He greeted.
"Diego! Son, allow me to introduce you to our new doctor, Señorita Jessie Kent. Doctor, this is my son, Diego." Don Alejandro made the introductions
"Pleased to meet you, Doctor Kent!" Diego answered as he bowed to kiss her hand, his face not betraying any bit of the surprise she was expecting to find there.
Jessie studied the caballero from head to toe, just as she had previously done with the Alcalde.
"You are a handsome one, aren't you?" She couldn't stop herself from voicing out, surprised by the fact that he looked nothing like she had imagined. Her remark, however, made the two men stare at each other, confused whether that was a rhetorical question or she was, perhaps, expecting an answer. "So, you are responsible for all this equipment, here?" She continued, pointing at the medical tools and medicines carefully arranged in the office, while ignoring the two men's embarrassed faces.
"Not at all, Doctor." Diego replied, happy she had changed the subject. "It was left by our former physician, Doctor Hernandez. I merely added a few pieces to it."
"If you'll excuse me," Don Alejandro interrupted, in his head already planning his son's wedding to the beautiful new doctor, "I will take my leave since I still have some business to attend to. A good day, Doctor Kent! And feel free to keep Diego as long as you need him. There's not much to do today at the hacienda."
"A good day, Don Alejandro!" Jessie replied, then turned back at Diego. "And this list? What is its purpose?" She continued her line of questions, expecting it to reflect some sort of payment arrangement.
"Well, since we do not lack for people getting shot here, in Los Angeles, and some die because of blood loss," Diego started to explain, "I have been doing some research on blood transfusion. I realized that the blood of one person reacts when mixed with the blood of another person. It can be seen in a test tube and even clearer under a microscope. I, thus, concluded that it clogs when the types of blood do not match." He continued, leaving the woman even more astonished.
"Which could account for some people dying when receiving a blood transfusion?" She asked incredulously at realizing the man before her was certainly far from what she had imagined.
"Exactly!" Diego continued. "It also presents no reaction when the blood matches. I tested that with two samples of my own blood and then by mixing my blood with that of my father. From what I was able to make out so far, there are 4 types of blood, which I numbered from 1 to 4 according to the way it reacts to the tests. As long as the blood type of a donor matches the one of the receiver, transfusions should work – or they did, so far. I did have one puzzling case, though. A patient whose body accepted a transfusion the first time..."
"But reacted violently the second time, although using the same donor." Jessie finished his sentence.
"Indeed." Diego took a small break and continued. "Now, I have not yet been able to discover why. I believe there might be something else I am overlooking, something I don't know how to identify."
"And this list?" Jessie returned to her original question.
"The people in the pueblo which I have already tested. I believed it was a good idea to know who can donate to whom in case of an emergency." Diego stated.
Jessie looked at him in complete disbelief. "That is, indeed, a very good idea!" She agreed.
"I have also left you detailed instructions of my research on blood and I am happy to offer you the microscope I have used as a welcome gift."
"That is very generous of you, Don Diego. And is this what I think it is?" She wondered, taking a type of very thin string.
"It is a self-absorbing string for internal sutures. I made it by applying some indications I found in one of my books." Diego answered, making her even more intrigued with him.
"And you did all this without any medical training?" She continued her line of inquiry.
"Well, I have always liked chemistry, I know a little medicine… and I read a lot. As editor of the local newspaper I do keep myself informed about the new discoveries in all sciences." He told her modestly.
"I see..." She replied. "Well, Señor, this conversation has been most enlightening."
"Glad to have been of service. Should you need me for any reason, my family's hacienda is about two miles north of the pueblo, and my newspaper office, The Los Angeles Guardian, is just next to the tavern." Diego said. "I wish you a pleasant afternoon ... and welcome to the pueblo!" He added with a smile, taking his leave
"A good afternoon to you too, Señor De la Vega!" She wished him as he exited her office, just as four of the lancers were carrying in her luggage.