Pet and owner

 The first warm rays of the day were getting ready to lighten the celestial firmament still sparkling diamonds to scare away the frost that slowly moistened the fresh grass of the morning that was announced.

 He walked their shadows toward the flowering trees.

 Soon, the man - a sir! - soft-mannered and honey-sweet looking, wearing a corduroy suit - always smelling of olive oil! - And invariably he will remove the padlock from the barn gate wearing his smile extended from plump ear to plump ear, erasing the detail of his aquiline nose.

 Imperishable, he greets me with a straw in his mouth:

 Hello clovis! - He greeted me every morning, cleaning the barn where I had spent the night - and I already tell you that I spent it alone, hard, because this man, whom I am going to call "sir" can only ever He said his name, nor did he appear to me on the first day I saw him with a broom in his hand and his straw hat tilted, sliding off his shoulders, until finally, he smiled when he saw me.

 - I came to see you earlier today. Look at the sun that wants to appear on the horizon - and after repeating it, like every morning, he usually put his bucket of water smelling of disinfectant on the floor, closed the gate most of the time whistling - although not: He forgot that he also sang with the worst voice in the world, out of tune every high note of that ranchera that had already gone out of style.

 However, that morning, in particular, I felt that there was something different, discordant.

 I began to review everything routine, such as the sun, his tilted hat, the bucket, the whistle, his unforgivable song out of tune, the gate.

 Everything was still there intact.

 So… what was it? Did he have any plausible explanation with immediate reality?

 (I began to search, sniffing the breeze like a dog, gossiping, wagging my tail from one side to the other - not only to scare away the flies that were chasing me at all times, but also to relieve the stress that the doubt caused me, well, I do not smoke.

 "What's up Clovis?" The Lord asked me, rubbing the lemon-smelling disinfectant on the floor, "I hate lemon! That smell mortifies me!" - I see you somewhat disturbed ...

 -      What did you say? - I looked at him seriously, warning him that he could, very well, knock him down with just one kick.

 The Lord, as would be expected, did not even take me seriously, because, as would say “nobody understands for sure what an animal expresses.

 - I think I'm going to give you a shower, friend, you suck!

 (That was a lot of offense! Or what did he want? A bull with disinfectant perfume?

 Was that dry and tasteless grass that he gave me to eat no longer enough and I still had to speak ill of my smell? )

 - Well, all this has a reason for being, because we are going out today.

 - (Go out? No wonder you want to clean me and perfume me. You don't want to sell me? Yes? Or no? - Doubts began to populate the thoughts of Clovis, a Taurus weighing more than five hundred kilos, short horns but pointed enough to skewer any unsuspecting bullfighter in life, killing him - I think I'll go with you, sir, but on the condition that you don't make me work. Today is Sunday and work is against ecclesiastical law.)

 And, the Lord, effectively washed him with a hose, and then brushed his fur, let's say, "without forgetting anything at all because we won't be able to go home or register him for the next competition", as he would say,

 - (sell? Competition? What is this A talking about? Is he somehow wanting to make money at my expense? A horror! I will not allow it! I refuse to participate in anything similar to gambling. I washed and perfumed myself, because that is where my goodwill goes).

 After finishing the job of cleaning the barn, grooming myself and feeding myself, slowly some oil passed on my somewhat grayish coat - before black, but age and stuff ...

 Nice and macanuda, denti that I only needed a red rosón as a gift.

 What would it be for? - The question made me think in several directions, without stopping in any of them, and inevitably creating the uncertainty of the omnipresent suspicion:

 It will surely make me fight against another bull, or against a bullfighter!

 That's death itself!

 Inadmissible!

 Therefore I must protect myself at any place.

 Thus, my most worthy Master, he led me to a carriage where he climbed on, and I was pulling it like a horse.

 So, using my intelligence, I began to memorize everything that happened:

 First, we left the barn, into a remote countryside where a lot of people passed by, with baskets smelling of paella and bottles of wine, I think fabrics, or were they tablecloths to hang on the grass? ,

 The children, innocently scampered from side to side, with balls in their hands and

 Rejoicing, in full jubilation riveted by the goodies they pulled out of their pockets in large bundles.

 People talked a lot, things that I couldn't understand.

 Reian.

 They jumped.

 What are you all?

 I didn't understand it very well.

 However, and putting together the pieces of the puzzle, the Catalina lit up, and, as if by a miracle, deduce :.

 a party!

 That was.

 As the wagon where the signal had installed me, I realized that there were many people but many people on the road.

 Some of them booed me as they watched me pass.

 Others applauded me - and I didn't quite understand the reason for any of the reactions.

 However, the road was not very long, although it was stony and full of potholes, pools of standing water, herbs - the ones that were not really very tasty, but they did serve to calm one of my stomachs, always hungry.

 The sun warmed my ears and my tail.

 Ears and tail?

 I have asked to speak that they take out the ears and the tail of bulls in those competitions, the runs

 Suddenly, I had the idea that they were going to want to sacrifice themselves, pulling out MUD ears and my tail.

 The heat of the sun began to make me sweat, for the simple thought that I could die at the hands of that Hidalgo who behaved so kindly with me and gave me food.

 He couldn't understand how men could be so cruel and bloody.

 They are animals! I thought.

 You have to forgive them because they don't know what they are doing, as the Bible says.

 Still sweating, perhaps out of fear of doubt, I realized that the road was becoming narrow and that people seemed to be increasing, concentrated on something that was to be a construction, or perhaps, an arena.

 - Bullfight! It was the only thing I could think of and that repetitive thought that took over my animal mind but rational, you make me suffer.

 Feel the smell of my blood, spilled on the floor.

 As if involved in someone else's business, 0 people looked at me with a steak face.

 Is it my end! - sobbing.

 Suddenly, the knight gives a strong tug on the straps that tied me to the cart.

 Stop.

 At that, I turned my gaze and I could see that there were other wagons ahead of me, and you stopped too.

 And two bulls and wild cows wore necklaces with flowers on their necks, their bodies painted in various colors, earrings of pineapple slices in their ears, muzzles painted red - a shame.

 And that a music band, with fifteen musicians already somewhat drunk - played carnival marches, zarzuelas, religious hymns and all kinds of songs according to the requests of the godparents, usually walking with the musicians, dancing.

 Later, there were pots of food that humans eat, that is, rice, noodles, that paella full of seafood (argh!) And there was also churrasco, chicken - poor things! 'And beef - (poor people) .

 In addition, there were barracks with fruits, many fruits.

 And also bullfighting costumes, typical hung in tents erected in the corners of one or another secondary path.

 In the distance, balloons of all colors could be seen, floating indefinitely in the air.

 Some women, dressed in dresses of the Spanish nobility of the bronze epic, when this land was blessed with the prosperity of k abundance

 Also, I saw men dressed as bullfighters, with those black hats and those shiny and fair pants that matched their jackets.

 Everything was joy, and everything was happiness for each face of those thousands of people.

 Everything was very nice.

 Very pretty.

 So much so that for a moment I almost forgot that I had my life hanging for a jioo

 At that very moment, we definitely dared, the wagon

 The Master guided me, slowly, towards the back of the arena.

 "This is where we go in," he told me, smoothing my forehead, broken by the mid-day heat, "if without realizing it, six hours had already passed since breakfast."

 We continue along a narrow path, full of stones and bushes

 Therefore, the lord, from the top of his gray hair, warns me:

 -      do not be afraid! - stroking my back very gently.

 (I didn't get it. It's really hard to understand an unknowable message like that.

 We took a few more steps.

 And we come to a type of fence, an entrance, full of oxen, wild cows, calves, sheep, chickens, ducks, pigs

 What are all those animals doing here?

 I don't get it - frowned

 my forehead as a sign of deep confusion.

 It is when a fat gentleman comes out, with thick mustaches and worse eyebrows.

 Carrying a cane in his hand, this man begins to distribute some tokens to the owners of those animals.

 And he wrote indecipherable things in a notebook.

 The animal owners, in turn, responded.

 I think that man called lusta just as I controlled the Master's routine, the same one who continued to caress my fur with his warm hand

 I kept observing everything, as my master smiled at some pretty girls in flowered dresses and hair blowing in the wind.

 What is all this?

 It is when, I realized that the animals entered that place, together with their owners.

 And the line advanced in great strides.

 We were behind a heifer, who was due to enter

 And us too.

 When we walked in I realized how wrong I was

 It was an animal fair.

 Not necessarily of trade and sale of animals but a fair where all the animals of the province were exposed.

 And like all human events, there was food, music, laughter.

 And that was exactly what set me apart from them, because I couldn't laugh.

 - I understood at that moment that I was wrong, because I no longer saw the enthusiasm for death, as other older bulls had told me when I was still a hundred kilos calf.

 Well, bullfights were not like before, when bulls were killed, without mercy

 This type of practice had been prohibited by law, according to a sign hanging on the entrance wall.

 (Uff! I was narrowly saved!)

 For a moment I could breathe, and I could even say that I could almost laugh, inside me, with satisfaction.

 - Joselo, they shouted into the megaphone - Joselo Sánchez

 And, trembling, I saw that this man who had been taking care of me all that time, given food, talked to me just when he needed him most — or did he need me? -raise her hand shy of him, the one he raised to indicate presence.

 For my part, I could only look at him from the corner of my eye, and I saw him in dismay, because, in reality, he had never treated me badly, which put me at an even greater disadvantage considering that I had thought badly of him, imagining that he it would lead to a fight to sacrifice myself for the obscene purpose of benefiting financially or in some other way that I could not understand, being very human ..

 However, and despite the simplicity of him reflected in his eternal light corduroy overalls - and, to top it all, we were in winter! , - or his mouth without teeth and without shame to say that he had no teeth to eat, and, even so, he had been faithful to me, he had respected my life before earning money or any other benefit in the name of a wrong tradition - or that I believe it.

 It is precisely when I realized that I really personified the meaning of laughter full of joy and joy that anyone feels when having it.

 And that, on that afternoon with a lot of sun, and many people crowded in that space not so wide so let it be said, I, a miserable bull and that I think I have been despised by many, I heard a name being uttered from a megaphone installed in the branch from a tree three cubits above my head:

 - Joselo.

 I repeated his name referred to times in my hollow head and full of feelings etched in my hollow memory: Joselo, Joselo, Joselo.

 That, was his name.

 That I am clumsy! Why did I never ask him?

 And just like life is, I ended up discovering something so normal, almost by chance - and sooner later than never - after the moon and moon in absolute ignorance.

 Happy, I sat down.

 By his side.

 He bought me some apple slices.

 And pineapple that had been given to him on the way.

 However, a man standing under the shade of a crab apple tree asked, pointing at me:

 - how much?

 - one hundred thousand - answered the old man, to which my heart wanted to go out through my snout, because every bull knows that, if a human wants to sell you, oi he will, even having to go through the family or friendship.

 At that moment, I began to sweat again, as I was used to the routine of cleaning and eating that I had in the barn, and, to tell the truth, I felt, for an instant, a bit betrayed by that human who at first I judged that he was entangled in the moorings that he owed injustice, because, seeing him with the equanimous eyes of reality, the master was a person, kind - unlike me, who had the courage to be wicked like a human being incapable of reasoning.

 Would all this be a mistake?

 I did not know, I did not know it.

 I could not define, because it seemed to me that I, despite my appearance, was afraid of being abandoned by a mistake. be.

 It was, in short, fear of loneliness that the mistake of abandonment could cause me in the short or long term, at any moment of my existence.

 It is when, a tear wanted to slide from my eye.

 But, more out of shame than strength, I kept it in my eye again.

 (I must be strong! Besides, I hope he doesn't have money! Let him be discouraged and go buy a chicken even if it is!

 Yes.

 I hope I say that I am old fat, bald! Yes! - I begged, putting in mu all the defects that were in the world, in a clear demonstration of attachment to that my master who did not lead me to kill, and who had not offered me to that interested party with an ugly, ugly face ugly. Period! )

 The interested one passed his hand on my back, on my horns, looking at my snout and even my teeth.

 He gave me a complete physical exam!

 And I, I only observed his rough gestures and his clothes a little, let's say, old, his soft straw hat.

 -      no! I thought firmly, rummaging a bit

 "Well," he said, "can the price be negotiated?"

 - Do you ask for a discount? - And he turned his gaze to me.

 -     I think…

 - Look, I would gladly do it but it is that….

 And he did not complete the sentence.

 (Would my master also be afraid of loneliness, like me? Would he be attached to me?)

 Not knowing what else to say, he put on and took off his hat twice, looking for time and words to fill the void of the moment.

 Seeing his indecision, the interested party simply wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his plaid shirt - to buy time, of course.

 Until in the infinite course of the moment, he said:

 already! Thank you

 And that man, he looked at me, measuring my ears with his fingers and my tail too - putting his hand square in the air.

 "Little one!" He said, without any syntactic analysis or orthodontic root.

 - But, thanks, again - fixing his head turf.

 And he left, without more or less.

 The only possible conclusion would be that, obviously, that interested party did not love me!

 Grateful for that "no", I looked at the Master with a certain sweetness, something uncertain for my species.

 And I bent down so that my Master could put the collar yoke on me, to go home.

 Respectfully and slowly, I showed him my respect.

 I respect my lord and master.