Character Study: Marisa Gonzalez

This is the tenth in a series of character introductions associated with my book, My New-Found Land.

Marisa had always been political. She was president of her high school student council and studied history and political science in college. In another time and place, a law degree or master’s in public administration would’ve been her goal, and then perhaps a bid for public office.

But these things were not to be. In college she met a young man whose anger at the way the nation was changing matched her own frustration with war, economic blight and the destruction of civil liberties. Under his tutelage she became a radical and took to the streets in protest with all the fervency of youth.

All it got her was a jail term which turned into a prison sentence when she refused to rat out her radical friends. Prison gave her plenty of time to read, and Marisa emerged from the experience chastened and conversant in Constitutional law, case law, and the Federalist Papers. She knew her rights as a citizen, but now favored peaceful change by legal means, instead of fighting for it in the streets with torches, bombs and bullets.

But her boyfriend remained a radical and was now a leader in the secessionist movement. Although he was the love of her life, they had each changed too much to try again.

So Marisa resigned herself to a quiet life, outwardly conforming to the prevailing political winds, but secretly doing what she could to support the Constitution and the eventual reunification of the United States.

Years passed and as she reached middle age, Marisa wondered if this was to be the sum total of her life, if she would die a lonely old woman who had failed at both love and action, neither daring nor achieving very much.

Then her cousin showed up with a delirious young woman lying in his cart. Ernesto didn't know what to do with her. The girl was obviously sick and Marisa was the only person he knew who had been immunized.

Marisa considered. Not only was the young lady babbling about plots and rebellions, but she needed a doctor. The town physician was a Constitutionalist like herself, handsome and recently widowed.

Here was Marisa's chance to have something amazing happen! With a mysterious stranger in her guest room and the nice doctor making daily house calls, life was about to get very interesting.

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