Pulling up with a screech, Jenna stopped her car. She began unloading the ‘necessities’ and headed for the rocks. She’d discovered her private little paradise the previous summer, and, coincidentally, during a difficulty with Brad. Jenna didn’t recall what exactly it was anymore. Thinking about the entire situation, she realized the incidences had begun to be too many to count. She followed the trail that brought her to ‘her’ cave. She sincerely hoped no one else had found this place. The need for privacy the cave and its natural springs gave seemed like a special gift from God. She didn’t feel like sharing it when she needed it to herself. Let someone else have it another day, she thought.
Looking around to make certain she was alone, she began undressing. As she took out her bathing suit to put it on, Jenna stopped. “What am I doing? I’m alone here. What’s the point of modesty?” she asked out loud, and crammed her bikini back into the bag. She stepped into the mineral waters that seemed the perfect temperature, found a submerged rock to sit on, and the relaxation process began. “Oh Lord”, she half-prayed, “please have these pools in Heaven! At least in my home!” Sighing in relaxed contentment, Jenna slipped the headphones on, with some soothing classical music playing, and closed her eyes.
Zorro continued his exploration of his surroundings. He yanked his mask down to hang around his neck, then continued. Coming to a fork in the pathway, he stopped. Both were otherwise pitch black. “Well, let’s see what lies to the left,” he thought, and started in that direction. Fortunately it didn’t take him far. It was a dead end with a few resident bats. Retracing his steps, he arrived at the path division and started down the other way, which turned out to be somewhat roomier. He was able to walk erect, but with just enough headroom. The pathway took him into a rather spacious area. “Strange,” he thought, looking around him, “I see none of the stalactites or stalagmites here, but mist?” Curious as to where the fog was coming from, Zorro decided to trace the fog to some source of moisture. There appeared to be further passages, and the fog led in their directions. Without having gone very far, Zorro didn’t have time to notice the steep drop. Having lost his footing, he tumbled down the incline, grabbing frantically at anything there might possibly be to stop him from serious injury. He had nothing with him that could have helped him, like Tornado, or his whip, or even a lasso. When he finally landed, he would soon be questioning whether or not he’d truly sustained injury.
The waters felt wonderful, Jenna was thinking. She had to be careful or she’d get so totally relaxed she might just fall asleep and drown. “Oh but what a way to go!” she thought. Suddenly she felt something tickle her face, like dust. She opened her eyes lethargically just in time to witness what looked like a landslide over in the one corner. Like a zoom lens focused in on a subject, she sat there defenseless and horror-struck. In the next second Jenna saw something or someone tumbling out of nowhere into her private little sanctuary and let out a scream she thought would surely bring the rest of the hills down around her. Losing her stability in the pool, she slipped under the water unexpectedly. When she surfaced, she was coughing to clear her lungs. Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm, trying to pull her to safety. In panic, Jenna looked up and screamed again. Her reaction caused the other end of the helping hand to fall forward into the pool.
Coming up for air, now, were two sputtering faces. Jenna found her voice quickly enough. “Who the heck are you? What are you doing here?” Falling around her neck were the headphones. Looking behind her, her discovery fueled her anger. “Oh swell. Thanks a lot mister. My CD player’s screwed up real nice!” Turning her face towards him, she noticed the look of shock on his face.
“Senorita! Please! I did not mean to startle you! I thought you were in trouble!” he replied, pleadingly. It fell on deaf ears.
“Look, you…you creep! Do you mind? I didn’t feel like sharing this Kodak moment with anyone. Will you please get out of here before I call the cops?” She looked furious. She was furious. Her solitude had been broken, her CD player wrecked. What more could possibly go wrong? Furious, she splashed the intruder over and over again.
“Please, senorita!” Zorro pleaded, covering his face from the onslaught of water. “Senorita, PLEASE!” He attempted to shield the water being flung at him. Failing, his own frustration took over and he flung water back. Jenna didn’t expect it and it provided enough distraction that she momentarily stopped, the water having hit her in the eyes. Suddenly she was grabbed around her waist, which sent her into a frenzy of panic and anger.
“Let go of me!” she demanded, thrashing wildly. She felt herself being lifted slightly. Oh no, she thought, panic-stricken, this guy means business! She screamed again. In her anger and panic, all her lessons in self-defense clicked in. She landed this would-be attacker an elbow to the stomach. That released the grip on her and Jenna heard a groan. She spun around, only to get a faceful of water again.
“Senorita, I was only trying to help! And to get out of here!” Suddenly he realized she had nothing on and released her as if she were a hot iron, and turned his head away in embarrassment. “Forgive me, senorita. I…I did not realize you..” he was stammering. Hoisting himself out of the spring, Zorro kept his back turned, standing drenched.
Jenna looked at him incredulously. She could still feel the adrenaline flowing in her veins, but she was calming down quickly. She stared at the intruder—dressed entirely in black, she noted---and was appreciative of the fact he wasn’t out to assault her one way or another. She turned to her bag by the side, pulled out her towel and raised herself up and out of the water. Pulling the towel around her, Jenna turned back to the guy in black.
“Okay, fine. Mistakes were made,” she said softly, but with an edge to her voice. Jenna sighed in exasperation. “It’s okay, you can turn around now. I’m covered up. Sheesh! You’d thing you’d never seen a naked female!”
Zorro turned around halfway then turned his head away again. “ I thought you said you were covered up, senorita. This is very awkward talking to the stone walls here when I should be addressing you to your face.” Slightly turning his head in her direction, then back again, he calmly pleaded, “Por favor, will you please put something on?”
Jenna frowned in disbelief. “What planet are you from?” she asked sarcastically. “Fine! I’ll get dressed.” Grabbing her satchel she ducked out of his sight and dressed. Coming out she asked, “Better?”
Zorro turned, pursed his lips in disbelief. “Better. But not much. Why are you dressed in men’s…short pants? And what do you call that shirt?” Looking at her bare feet, he remarked, “Are your parents unable to provide you with shoes?” He simply could not believe his eyes.
Jenna looked at him in amazement. “You have a problem with shorts and a T-shirt? Gee, mister, and here I spent a small fortune getting them straight off the Paris line-up! Y’know, you aren’t exactly in the latest Tommy Hilfigers or Calvin Kleins yourself! Yeesh! And you criticize my duds? You give new meaning to chutzpah!” she spat out. “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong with my clothes or yours, for that matter, or are you going to explain yourself? What are you doing here? Who are you? And I warn you, mister, I’ve been training in martial arts and could take you down before you knew what hit you, so don’t try anything!”
Zorro acquiesced. He nodded and raised his hands in defeat. But he began shivering. “Very well, senorita. I bow to your wishes. But could we find some sunlight?” He sneezed heavily. “It seems a bit damp in here. Por favor?”
Jenna grinned slightly and let out a chuckle. “Sure, c’mon. This way out, sir.” The chuckling soon began to graduate to light giggles as Zorro’s boots let out squishing sounds with every step and Jenna noted the uncomfortable face he made because of it.
“I can bet your boots are going to be…well would ‘ruined’ be putting it too mildly or too strongly? The springs in here are mineral-laden and not the best thing for leather. I’d at least take them off and let them dry out.” She continued snickering as they approached daylight and the squishing sounds continued.
“ I don’t think it’s funny!” Zorro said, peeved. “I paid good money for these. And the bootmaker is back in Spain!”
“Spain!? Wooooo! Fancy-schmancy. Must be nice,” she mocked. “Look, whatever-your-name-will-soon-be, there are plenty of stores to get good shoes. And there are plenty of equestrian shops to boot. No pun intended. You are not without sources. It may not be Spain, but California does boast some pretty exclusive places to shop.” Shaking her head, she added, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You ought to know that. Where the heck are you from?”
“I may not be without sources, but I am without the money to pay for them with!” he answered indignantly. They emerged from the cavern and found Jenna’s car. Zorro looked at it in disbelief and horror. “I am beginning to think I might not be from around here. What is that? Where is your horse or carriage?”
Jenna looked at him in utter shock. Her mouth hung open. “My horse? Carriage? Well actually this is my carriage of sorts. With the horsepower of…never mind. We’d better get formalities straightened out, pal, because I’m beginning to think I’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone!”
Zorro looked at her as if they were speaking two different languages. “I don’t know what you’ve stepped in, but it looks to be something we scrape off before entering a hacienda.” Jenna looked down at her feet. She’d stepped in fresh coyote dung.
“Eeeewww!” she moaned disgustedly and began scrambling around in the sand to remove the offensive ‘residue’ from her foot. Zorro stood by chuckling at the sight of her frantic actions. Jenna looked up, insulted that he was laughing at her.
“Will you lay off? It’s not funny!” she pleaded, but lost the battle and was soon laughing herself. Finally, the dung gone from her foot, she found a semi-sunny place to sit where they could dry off.
Jenna sighed. “Okay, I think we’d better at least introduce ourselves. I’m Jenna Goldenberg.” She held out her hand for a salutary handshake, only to have it accepted and turned as he kissed the top. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. This wasn’t anything she was used to. Rather formal, aristocratic, and…old-fashioned an action. “And you are…?” she probed.
Zorro sat down in the sun. He was chilled to the bone and the sun felt glorious. “Well, senorita, who you see before you is known as Zorro, or ‘the fox’.” He looked around and saw the skyline off in the distance, noticed a plane flying overhead, and looked over at the ‘thing’ she called a carriage. How could one have a carriage without horses to pull it? He thought out loud, “I do not know how it could be possible, but I don’t think I’m where I belong.”
“’Belong’?” she asked. “You mean you’re lost or something?” What he seemed to allude to didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be possible. “Well, Toto, we definitely are not in Kansas.” She snickered and looked up at his puzzled face. “Sorry,” she said, “I suppose you’re not acquainted with ‘Wizard of Oz’, either.” Then, letting out an exasperated breath, Jenna continued. “Oh come on, now. You can not tell me you’ve never seen a car, you’ve never heard of ‘Wizard of Oz’, or anything else I’ve said. Okay, Mr. Zorro, where have you been all your life; in a monastery?”
“I mean what I say when I tell you I have never seen anything like your ‘carriage’ before, or whatever that is up in the sky. And over there; is that your village? This is not Los Angeles.” Zorro replied, his face etched in confusion and perplexity. “And the name is simply ‘Zorro’,” he countered.
“Well, this is Los Angeles, FYI. That ‘carriage’ is my car, and that plane overhead….that’s nothing new. Of course, neither is my car or L.A. Where have you been hiding away? Or have you been in some kind of coma? No, even that’s not possible. You’re not young enough to be ignorant of ‘Oz’, or cars or planes. C’mon, give! What is going on with you?”
“Senorita, por favor. I assure you I am telling you the truth.” Zorro dropped his head in frustration and confusion. “I have no idea where I am. You say this is Los Angeles, but I am telling you I was just riding my horse on the other side of these rocks and caves, to get away from the soldiers. The next thing I knew I fell into your cave. I think you’ll have to fill in some of the gaps. I can only tell you what I know.”
Jenna sighed. She frowned and pursed her lips together. The guy seemed half like a nut case, half like he was dead serious. “Soldiers?” she asked doubtfully. He nodded lightly. She was sure that she’d question her own sanity if she came remotely close to believing any part of what he’d said. Maybe he was suffering some type of amnesia. Her stomach let out a growl. Jenna dropped her forehead in her hand and breathed in deep. “Alright. I don’t know why, but I’ll help you out. But first, I’m famished. How about some food? B.K.’s alright with you?” she asked in tired resignation.
Zorro looked at her, slightly shaking his head. “B.K.’s?”
“Burger King? Y’know, ‘home of the Whopper’?” she reminded.
“The king? You can dine with the king? He’s here in Los Angeles? Well by all means let’s go! Perhaps he can help, eh?” he asked in surprise.
Jenna moaned. This was unbelievable. Her hunger dictated her sarcasm. “Oh sure. And they might still have some crowns left over too!”
Zorro smiled broadly, which caught her off guard. What a beautiful smile he had. He had called himself ‘the fox’ earlier, and Jenna found she couldn’t agree more. He was a fox! His smile alone nearly took her breath away. Zorro got up and helped Jenna to her feet. She looked at him oddly when she’d gotten to her feet. Her hand still in his, Jenna felt an odd sensation. But more than that, she instinctively knew she was safe with this guy. Her stomach growled again and Jenna let out a light chuckle. “Let’s go, Zorro. Before I pass out and you have to drive!”
Zorro followed her to the strange contraption she called her ‘car’. He suddenly realized his clothes would surely give away his identity. “Senorita Jenna. I cannot be seen. Not in these clothes!”
“Just plain ‘Jenna’ will do, and what’s wrong with your clothes?” she asked impatiently.
“I cannot explain to you…please! I do not want to be seen in these clothes!” he pleaded with her.
“Oh pul-leeze! Zorro, I’m hungry! Your clothes are fine! It’s no big deal! This is California, remember?” Her tone was exasperated. “It’s only Burger King, not some ritzy joint. Now get in the car before it overheats or something bad happens. No one’s going to bug you about your clothes. Compared to what I’ve seen lately, you have nothing to worry about.” She held up a hand to cut off his protest. “In! Or else you walk!” Zorro climbed in, not knowing how to work the opening latch on the door. Jenna watched in disbelief. She noticed him inspect the seat, sort of bouncing in it to test its comfortability. Amazing, she thought. She simply couldn’t believe her eyes. She started up the engine and turned the car around to head for the highway. Stealing a peek at his response, Zorro’s eyes were nearly bugging out in shock. Jenna laughed out loud in his direction and stepped on the gas. This was hilarious! She was suddenly having a ball watching Zorro’s reactions. It was a near accident when a semi approached from the opposite direction. He was covering his head with his arms. Jenna pulled over. She was laughing hard. It got worse when he lowered his arms and his face was covered in sweat and white as a sheet. Jenna thought she’d really lose it when all he could say is,“Have we arrived at the king’s yet?”
