Slices

The first warm rays of the day were getting ready to clear the celestial firmament still twinkling diamonds to chase away the frost that slowly moistened the fresh grass of the announced morning.

He traversed his shadows to the blossoming trees.

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

Undeterred, he greets me with a straw in his mouth.

Hello Clovis! - He greeted me every morning, cleaning the stable where I had spent the night - and I already tell you that he spent it alone, harshly, because this gentleman, whom I am going to call "sir", can only ever He said his name, nor did he introduce himself to me the first day I saw him with a broom in his hand and his straw hat on one side, sliding down his shoulders, until he finally smiled when he saw me.

- I came to see you earlier today. See that the sun is wanting to appear on the horizon - and after repeating it, as every morning, he usually put his bucket with water smelling of disinfectant on the floor, closed the gate most of the time by whistling - although not: I I 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, especially, I felt that there was something different, discordant.

I began to review everything routine, such as the sun, his hat tipped, the bucket, his whistle, the unforgivable detuned song, the gate.

Everything was still there intact.

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

(I started looking, sniffing the breeze like a dog, rummaging, wagging my tail from one side to the other - just to scare away the flies that all chased me all the time, but also to relieve the stress that doubt caused me, well, I do not smoke.

- What's up Clovis ?, the Lord asked me, scrubbing the disinfectant smelling of lemon on the floor- I hate lemon! That smell mortifies me! - I see you a little disturbed ...

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

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

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

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

Was that dry and bland grass that gave me food to eat and still had to speak ill of my smell? )

- Well, there is a reason for all this, because we are going out today.

- (Go out? No wonder he wants to clean and perfume me. Will he not want to sell me? Yes? Or not? - Doubt began to populate Clovis's thoughts, a Taurus of more than five hundred kilos in weight, short horns but spiky enough to skewer any lifeless bullfighter, killing him - I think I'm going to go with you, sir, but on the condition that you don't make me work. Today is Sunday and the work is against ecclesiastical law.)

And, the Lord, effectively washed him with a hose, to later brush his fur, let's say, "without forgetting absolutely nothing because we will not 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? Horror! I will not allow it! I refuse to participate in anything similar to gambling. What I wash and perfume myself, because that's where my good will goes).

Finished the task of cleaning the barn, grooming and feeding, slowly I was passing some oil on my somewhat grayish fur - before black, but age and things ...

Nice and gorgeous I felt that I only needed a red rose 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 ubiquitous suspicion:

I'm sure it's going to make me fight another bull, or a bullfighter!

That's the same death!

Inadmissible!

Therefore I must protect myself as to place.

Thus, my most worthy Master, guided me to a carriage where he got on, and I pulled her like a horse.

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

First, we left the stable, towards a remote countryside where many people passed, with baskets smelling of paella and bottles of wine, I think fabrics, or would they be tablecloths to hang on the grass? ,

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

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

People spoke very

things that I couldn't understand.

Laughing.

They even jumped.

What will you all be?

I did not understand 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 senot 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 go by.

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

However, the road was not very long, although it was stony and bumpy, stagnant pools of water, herbs - the 1ues 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 remove the ears and the tail of bulls in those competitions, the runs

Suddenly, I got 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 gently with me and gave me no food.

He could not understand how men could be so cruel and bloodthirsty.

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 began to realize that the road was becoming narrow and that people seemed to be increasing, concentrating on something that came to be a construction, or perhaps, an arena.

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

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

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

Is my end! - sobbing.

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

Stop.

At that, I turned my gaze and I could see that there were other carts ahead of me, and stop too.

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

And that a music band, with more than fifteen musicians already somewhat intoxicated - played carnival marches, operettas, religious hymns and all kinds of songs as requested by the godparents, usually walking alongside 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 steak, chicken - poor things! 'And cow - (poor.) .

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was all very beautiful.

Very pretty.

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

At that very moment, we finally dared, the wagon

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

- Here we go - he told me, smoothing my forehead unmade by the midday heat - if without realizing it, it had already been over six hours since breakfast.

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

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

- do not be afraid! - rubbing 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 gate, an entrance, full of oxen, wild cows, calves, sheep, chickens, ducks, pigs

What are all those animals doing here?

I don't get it - I frowned

 my forehead in deep confusion.

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

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

And he wrote indecipherable things in a booklet.

The owners of the animals, in turn, responded.

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

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

What is all this?

That's when I realized that the animals entered that place, together with their owners.

And the line moved forward in huge steps.

However, and despite its simplicity reflected in its eternal light corduroy overalls - and, to top it all off, 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 so I believe it.

It was precisely when I realized that I really embodied the meaning of laughing luck and full of joy and joy that anyone feels when having it.

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

- Joseph.

I repeated his name several times in my hollow head and full of feelings engraved in my hollow memory: Joseph, Joseph, Jose

That was his name.

How clumsy Why did I never ask him?

And as life is, I ended up discovering something so normal, almost by chance - and sooner than ever - then you slip and slide in complete ignorance.

Happy, I sat down.

At your side.

He invited me some apple slices.