They would frequently encounter one another browsing books in the plaza.

Years ago, when they had spied one another across racks of revolutionary pamphlets and eighteenth century English novellas, they had recognized one another almost instantly.

Elihu Root had come to spend his twilight years in Cuba almost accidentally. In the mid 1940s, almost a half century following the passage of the Platt Amendment, which Root had been instrumental in crafting, he had come to Cuba to stay.

Roosevelt had abrogated the Platt Amendment in 1934, electing instead to wage heavy handed paternal control over the small island--viewed by some in the US government as the gateway to the Caribbean--through the Good Neighbor Policy.

Soon after, Root retired from government service and moved to a modest colonial home in Cuba, to be closer to his investments in sugar.

It was in one of these parking lots that Root first encountered the love of his life.

Root was a magnificent figure of womanhood in his pretty cotton dress and red pumps. So much so that the mechanic who had stopped to help Root when his car would not start in the parking lot had, after a few minutes of inspecting Root's engine, been moved to profess his love and undying devotion.

The two were married a few hours later.

Root made a beautiful bride.

And in the first moments of consummating the marriage, when the mechanic had learned that Root was in fact a man, he had stormed out of Root's lavishly designed bedroom and ran screaming into the night streets of Havana.