René Mariseau
Constancia archives
A Wintering in Cuba began as a collection of stories set at Constancia, a fictional sugarcane plantation situated a day's ride inland from the city of Cienfuegos, on Cuba's southern coast. In addition to telling the story of Mattie and Sarah's friendship, these early imaginings explored the personalities and conflicts of several other characters, including Adelaida and her brother Anastasio, Don Josep and his son Andreu, Helen Wolcott, and a real-life Cuban doctor named Carlos Finlay who happened to wander through.
Here I share some of these "other" stories from Mattie and Sarah's world—or from one very much like it.
WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
Photo: Author unknown
A visit from
Dr. Finlay
Years before he discovered the mosquito-borne vector of yellow fever, Cuban physician Carlos Finlay studied meteorology. In this unfinished story, I envision him as a young man passing through Constancia—and helping Don Josep solve a major sanitation problem.
Painting: Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1800)
Adelaida comforts
her infant
Adelaida was brought to Cuba with her brother Anastasio and a man called Anselmo. Anselmo, whose real name was Adisa, became father to Adelaida's child. In this story, Adelaida comforts her newborn and longs for a reunion with Anselmo in a place beyond the mountains.
Painting: Claude Monet (1866)
Mattie dreams of the palenque
After Adelaida flees Constancia, Mattie dreams that she has traveled with Adelaida to the palenque—the slave safehaven high in the Cuban mountains. In her dream, Adelaida blesses Mattie and sends her on the next phase of her life journey.