Dr. Rogelio Lopez Barril aka Dr. Roger Cohen and his wife Barbara Gomez Larralde first met when he interviewed her for a position as a nurse on staff of the newly installed (by coup) President of Bolivia. It was three years after the end of World War II and another coup when they fled their mother land for America; the land of opportunity. They had brand new identities and settled in New York's "El Barrio."
Dr. Cohen is Cruzita's OB-GYN and attending physician when she gives birth to fraternal twins Adina and Rhys (RJ). He alone is responsible for deciding that RJ would be better off with another family; the Prestons in Lebanon, PA when he officially declares his deformity.
I've often wondered about doctors who have God complexes. This is the reason why I created Dr. Cohen. The man was smart enough to anticipate a second uprising in his native Bolivia. He was smart enough to prepare in advance and made a quick escape to America when it occurred and he built a new life as a doctor alongside his wife. His singlehandedly deciding that a child born with a physical deformity such as RJ's should not be left to the devices of its biological parents because of their ignorance is nothing but pure hubris.
When his wife questions his actions; when she expresses concern about his decision, he blows her off and wonders what her problem is. They're going to be paid, aren't they?
But in the end, his arrogance did not serve him well as there is such a thing, at least in this story, as karma. Barbara did the best she could under the circumstances throughout their lives together and when their health began to falter, she did everything humanly possible to ensure they would be taken care of.
"Divergent Lives" is not for everyone. It is a kaleidoscope of personalities; psychological misfits whose lives collide when they temporaily converge then violently diverge and splinter the mosaic of their human lives.
~~ML
