"With that name, she is probably Mexican." Danny snickered "And yet they have her played by a blue eye blonde."
"Actually, Mimi Diaz was a blue eyed blonde. After all her father was blond with blue eyes."
"But according to genetics, she would need to have both parents be so."
"It came down from one of her ancestors, a Flemish mercenary that had come with the Spanish, and married a native woman."
"Married and Indian woman?"
"The Spaniards did not have our hangups about race. Social position mattered more. And native women were desirable from the Church's point of view, since they could not be relatives. According to the Church, you are not supposed to marry your cousin."
"Really?'
"Different value system. What the King of Spain wanted was that they were properly married, and not give scandal living in concubinage. Race did not come into the equation."
"How do you know these things?"
"I read a lot. When you are up all night, you find that everyone else is asleep, and while that is good when you are feeding, the rest of the time it can get boring. Well, let's get back to Mimi Diaz. It is amazing how they make her infatuated with Thomas when she always despised him. But I guess the show needed romantic couples, so Mimi Diaz was made the lover of a man she despised. That was the nature of the show, after all."
-0-
Mimi was full of bitterness that she had to conceal in her job. The moment Amos bit on her, and his mind touched hers, he found a listening ear to pour out her outrage, both at the way she and her mother had been treated by her father, and by what was done with Thomas' wife."
"I heard that she died."
"No, she is locked up. Went crazy, they say. Thomas left her and went away with his sister-in-law. So she had a breakdown. To avoid a scandal, oh, what crimes are committed in the name of family honor… they locked her up and took away her children."
"Were there children?"
"Yes, but they were not blue eyed, blonde, white children. Their skin was too brown. They were not proper WASPs, so they had to be disposed of. I am the one who knows where they are, and I look out for them, as best I can. If you knew what a struggle was to get permission to give the children the medals that Thomas, in a moment of weakness or whatever, had commissioned for them. They did not want the medals to be given to the children, but I pointed out that the medals only had the first names of the children, and there was no mention of the Benchleys. Frederick agreed. It would be better if those medals with children's names that were not in the record left the estate. And Dame Alice agreed."
"Did Dame Alice agree to it?'
"Yes. Dame Alice does not think that people with darker skin belong in her home. She endured Thomas' wife for Thomas' sake, but that was all. Oh, how I despise the lot of them!"
-0-
"The show makes a point that anyone I bite becomes my "slave" and that I can push my thoughts into their minds. But they do not point out the other side of the coin, that their thoughts and feelings find their way into my mind to the point that sometimes I forget that these are not my thoughts and feelings. That's what happened with me and Mimi. Her outrage, her bitterness became mine. I chafed at the injustice perpetrated upon Thomas' wife and children. I NEEDED to do something."
"So, you did that?'
"Not immediately. I was mulling what to do, when I heard that Reverend Moore and his family had come "to assist Dame Alice in her last journey" as he unctuously proclaimed (or rather to predispose her to give him money for "a worthy cause." I heard him come, and I remembered that I had to contact Patience Moore. I let Mimi go, and I began to stalk Patience from a distance. I needed to know where she slept. And yet while I watched and waited, the feelings that Mimi had given me would not allow me peace. How could my family be so cruel? And yet I knew that they often were…"
"I watched how Reverend Moore employed all his charm on Theresa, and how his wife, Agnes, looked upon them with mistrust. She had learned long ago not to trust Joseph Moore's honeyed words. Patience said little and tried not to be seen, because she had been scolded more than once, I imagined.
"Finally, they retired, and I could fly into her bedroom. I gave her a little nip, a quick swallow, to inspire trust in her and then I woke her up. I gave her Thatcher's letter and explained the details of how they would elope. I will never forget the smile that came upon her face as she realized that she was finally going to escape.
"And then it was going to be dawn, so I flew back to my refuge and fell into my daylight trance. Not knowing what Irina was planning."
-0-
"I call on the will of the wisp" Irina intoned. "Let it come to me."
The will of the wisp showed up with a small laughter which resembled the tinkling of small bells.
"Go find Miriam Dunn. Lure her away. Take to the edge of the cliff, and then let her fall." Irina smiled maliciously. "I cannot hurt Amos, but nothing protects the woman he fancies. Let her die to pay what he did to me."
….