In the after-glow of a wonderful Dunkirk Lighthouse presentation of “Romeo and Juliet,” along with a recent airing on television of “West Side Story,” I’m putting a new spin on the ancient theme of “Forbidden Love.”

ACT I. Hector is 16, olive skinned, with wavy black hair and blacker eyes. His father is a middle school social studies teacher, his mother an immigrant from Guatemala who has risen from maid to lobby receptionist at a downtown hotel. As modest city dwellers, they are proud and active liberals, and they have raised Hector to not only appreciate American diversity, but also to distrust Republicans as largely self-serving whites who refuse to acknowledge their privileged status and who blame the “Left” for all society’s problems.

Diana is 15, with shiny auburn hair, green eyes and full lips that seemed to pout and smile at the same time. Her father is an insurance salesman and outspoken member of the NRA, her mother a part-time office worker. They live in the suburbs, where neighborhood watch groups keep an eye out for strangers. As staunch conservatives, they view liberals as either 1) extremists who wish to change the constitution, or 2) irresponsible, lazy individuals who suck off the system.

Hector and Diana first meet when their parents force them to attend a large demonstration in the city where hundreds of gun regulation and gun rights activists are marching against each other. Hector spies her marvelous red hair from across the street where she is carrying a sign that reads “SAY NO TO GUN CONTROL.” He is enamored, and in the shifting of the crowds manages to slip over near her where he offers her a stick of gum. She smiles and takes it, but then ignores him. After rejoining his parents’ group he turns to discover that her sign has changed, now reading SAY NO TO GUM CONTROL. Hector quickly borrows a sign from a protester near him. He crouches, pulls out a sharpie, and comes up with an altered version: STOP GUM VIOLENCE. Diana notices right away, scowls at him, and pretends to chomp her gum angrily.

Later, as the groups disperse, Diana ducks her parents, races across the street and gives Hector an empty gum wrapper with her phone number on it, then hurries away.

That night Hector sneaks out to woo her in the watched neighborhood, somehow eluding the alarm systems, his speedy shadow switching across the yards, the motion lights unable to keep up.

From her balcony, she says something philosophical about how the world is biased against left handed people, and that liberal means free and that’s a good thing. Hector thinks deeply, then responds, asserting that conservative-ness is good for the environment. All is beautiful for a moonlit moment, but just as Hector attempts to climb the drainpipe to her room a neighbor’s alarm system goes off.

There are several gunshots as Hector races across the yards. Somehow he makes it back safely to the Country Fair convenient store — that contested territory which marks the boundary between the city folks and the suburbanites!

ACT II. Enter Jimmy Smith, the suburban quarterback who suffers from unrequited love of Diana and therefore must hate Hector. He and his team begin to frequent the alley behind the store looking for action. Of course the liberal city boys oblige, and there would be a Saturday night drumble (a dance and a rumble, where a lot of fancy kicking and leaping into the air and even singing prefaces the violence). One of the conservatives — an overzealous offensive lineman who can’t dance — climbs onto a dumpster, then falls to his death. The violence escalates and there are more deaths, one at the hands of Hector. He is now on the lam, heartsick and paranoid.

ACT III. Meanwhile, Diana’s parents suspect something is awry with their daughter, who is more argumentative than usual, a virtual steaming libidinal force. She is grounded, her phone taken away indefinitely. However, with the help of the housemaid, she manages to get a handwritten, perfumed note to Hector, who is in hiding and working a night shift in the ghetto.

Hector is moved greatly by the scent of the note, which professes her deepest love and commitment. With the help of his computer genius friend Harold (who has ventured into the Dark Web!), he devises a plan to elope with Diana to Guatemala, where he has relatives that own a fish hatchery in the mountains.

ACT IV. The plan is hatched: The lovers will meet at a secret river bank near Laredo, Texas, where each night a raft attempts to transport illegal immigrants from Mexico across the Rio Grande. The real danger is for those coming to America; there is little concern about folks going the other way, and for a small fee they would arrive safely in Mexico. From there they would make their way south to Guatemala.

Hector must leave right away, as his job is getting riskier. Harold the computer genius would email secret instructions to Diana:

“Take the 10:00 a.m. Greyhound to Laredo. Take the local bus No. 37 to Rio Bravo and wait until dark. Walk west on Margarita Lane to the river. Someone who speaks English will ask you for gum. You will ask for Alligator. He is the one who will lead you to Hector and the raft that will take you across the border.”

ACT V. Two things go bad for the star-crossed lovers. First, in her impetuousness, Diana leaves a day early for Laredo and arrives before expected. Second, Harold has a serious flaw. He is a poor speller and relies heavily on his spell-check app. The name of the real contact person he discovered is El Gato. His computer has auto-corrected to make it Alligator, who is a notorious human trafficker. Alligator is pleased to accommodate a beautiful young American runaway. He would have use for her. Hector would take desperate measures in pursuit of his love…

The last scene: Maybe there is a moral to this story. Maybe someone should stand up and say that this tragedy, this loss of life and virtue, is the result of hatred and intolerance. And that Americans need to re-learn how to compromise if we wish to preserve the fundamental values of democracy.

Pete Howard is a Dunkirk resident, writer, musician and teacher. FOCAL Point strives to make insightful social commentary through the integration of Facts, Observations, Compassion, Awareness, and Logic.