Nothing More, Nothing Less

In March of 2020, the residents of Santa Fe became aware of unexpected viral visitors. Calypsa Rioja’s high school play hadn’t yet been canceled. Nine-year-old Diné Huerta Eyre could still mingle with her friends outside Frida Kahlo Elementary. Jamaican Marley Smith was still singing in clubs. Restaurants were still serving margaritas, chips, and salsa.

Yet an inland tide was arriving with little more fanfare than coughs, congestion, and fatigue. Tourists from neighboring Texas slowly evaporated like water in Elephant Butte reservoir. Home solitude, masks, and remote teaching all would become commonplace. Hotelier Cash Carson had to lay off hundreds renovating one of his five hotels.

Many Americans were angry, the country divided and unsure if developing vaccinations would lessen mounting severity. Then just when those at 7,000 feet of elevation thought the scourge might slowly subside, an antagonist of the great divide brings a new virus in a bottle to try to effect political change…