"BULL" FIGHT
CHAPTER ONE – Chaos in the Plaza
It was a busy Market Day in Pueblo de Los Angeles and vendors had set up their stands all over the plaza. Many people, including quite a number of children, were everywhere. It was nearly noon. The cattle auction had begun at 11:30 a.m. and several prize bulls had already been sold.
Diego de la Vega rode up on Esperanza, dismounted, and tied her to the hitching post outside Tavern Victoria. It was his 'regular' lunch date with Sergeant Mendoza, and even though Diego knew, in all probability that no useful information would be gathered today, Mendoza was still his friend, and he enjoyed the soldier's company. Sometimes they played cards together, sometimes, the sergeant needed a friendly ear to listen to 'war' stories.
"So, Sergeant, what's new?" asked Diego de la Vega, as he joined Sergeant Mendoza at their 'regular' table by a thick pillar in the tavern.
"Oh nothing, now that the Alcalde is on a month's leave." The good-natured sergeant replied.
Victoria strode over and greeted them. "Hola, Sergeant, Don Diego. What can I get you for lunch?"
"What kind of tamales are you serving today, Senorita?" Mendoza asked.
"We have both chicken and beef tamales, Sergeant. What would you like?" replied Victoria with a smile.
"May I have some of both kinds, Senorita?" Mendoza licked his lips in anticipation of sampling both kinds. Sometimes he had a hard time making a decision as to which tamales he liked best.
"Of course, Sergeant. How about four of each?" Victoria answered, still smiling.
"That will do for starters, Senorita Victoria." Mendoza smiled back.
"And how about you, Don Diego? What would you like?" Victoria turned her attention to her best friend.
Diego returned the smile, a gracious, more 'brotherly' smile, even though his heart was pounding, because he was very near his lady love…only she didn't yet know he was her masked love.
"Arroz con Pollo, if you please, Senorita. And may I say, you are looking positively radiant today, Victoria. What's the occasion?" Diego knew why Victoria was so happy, but he wanted to see if he could get a rise out of her.
"Arroz con Pollo it is. And gracias, Diego. It isn't often you pay me compliments…and the occasion well – it is my business. But – thank you for noticing, Diego." Victoria's thoughts went to last evening, after close, when Zorro had paid her a nocturnal visit, and had given her a beautiful scarf pin.
Victoria continued. "Your orders will be out shortly, senores." And she left for the kitchen to help prepare the orders.
Just off the main plaza, the weekly cattle auction was in progress. Don Alejandro de la Vega was in charge of the auction today. Several prize bulls from surrounding haciendas had already been auctioned off. He was a little nervous about the next bull, however – which belonged to his friend Don Roberto Segura.
Don Roberto had brought the bull in earlier this morning with at least six vaqueros. The bull had gotten loose the day before at the Segura ranch, and was finally dragged back into the Segura corral. It took seven vaqueros to get control. Several of Don Roberto's friends, including Don Alejandro, recommended to Segura that he butcher the animal and be done with it, saying it was loco and would never be tamed enough to mate or be of use. Segura didn't listen, but decided to put it up for auction today.
It was next in line. One of Don Roberto's vaqueros had taken it out of the holding pen, and tied it to a post just outside the auction corral. He stepped away a moment to open the corral gate, when a group of children playing Soldiers and Bandits came running by. The bull seemed placid enough today. Maybe it was tired from its struggle yesterday. Alejandro hoped so.
Don Alejandro saw the loco bull and said to Don Roberto, "I see you're going to try to sell the bull instead of butcher it."
Don Roberto replied, "Si, Don Alejandro. I need to get something out of it."
"Just make sure he's securely tied, please. We don't want a repeat of yesterday at your rancho." Alejandro remembered how difficult it had been to get the bull under control the day before.
"Don't worry, Don Alejandro. My foreman knows how to take care of this bull."
"I see it is next to be auctioned. I've got to take my place as auctioneer. Remember what I said, Don Roberto."
"Si Don Alejandro."
As the group of children ran near where the bull was tied, the bull was startled and started roaring at a 'soldier' child nearest to it who had been yelling "Bang! Bang!" With two swift and hard swings of his head, he loosened himself from the post. The vaquero had turned his back for only a moment, while he opened the gate to the corral. The loosened slip knot didn't hold the bull for longer than a couple of seconds.
At that moment, a 'bandit' child picked up a rock to throw it in the direction of the 'soldier,' but missed his aim and hit the bull on the nose instead. The bull changed direction, roared, and started to charge the petrified 'bandit.' At only eight years old, the 'bandit' child, who was only about twenty feet from the bull, started running, screaming and crying for his mother. It was a miracle that the child got to his mother before the bull got to him. The frightened mother swept up her child up in her arms just as the bull raged by. The mother ran off in the opposite direction, not daring to look behind her. She was afraid the bull was chasing her, and prayed someone would do something – and soon.
The bull roared in anger and fright as he lumbered around trying to find someone or something on which to take out his anger. That contributed to the chaos and to the noise. The bull wasn't particularly coordinated or fast, which helped people get away from it. Sometimes the bull would step on a bit of the dangling rope, still tied around his horns, and that would slow it down, but after a few times, the rope broke off. That made it so the rope wasn't long enough for any kind of control – even if someone could get close enough without being gored.
Inside the tavern, Diego and the sergeant were waiting for their lunch orders to arrive, when they heard the clamor in the streets.
"What's going on out there?" Sergeant Mendoza asked in alarm as both he and Diego rose from their chairs the moment they first heard the commotion.
"Maybe we'd better find out, Sergeant!" Diego exclaimed, as they ran outside. The other customers joined them.
The hair on the back of Diego's neck stood up when he saw the bull dashing awkwardly across the plaza in search of a target. There wasn't time for anything but response. He quickly looked around, remembering Sir Edmund's lesson of "whenever truly threatened, use any weapon at your disposal." Unfortunately, the only thing he saw – was a broom on Victoria's porch. He knew he couldn't 'swish' away the bull, but the stick end would get the bull's attention. He would be able to distract the bull until help arrived.
"Madre de Dios!" Sergeant Mendoza exclaimed. He ran towards the cuartel, supposedly to get soldiers ready to fire on the bull, should it be necessary to destroy it. That was always a last resort.
Diego yelled to the other customers. "Stay on the porch, stay out of the plaza! Don't move unless the bull comes straight at you!"
The plaza was in chaos. People were running everywhere, screaming with panic. Don Alejandro was the first to respond, and started barking orders at vaqueros.
"Get ropes! Four of you, get on horseback! The rest of you – surround the bull at a safe distance and start roping! We've got to get control of that bull!"
Once he'd given orders to the vaqueros, Alejandro ran to the garrison for the lancers – trying to get an organized response ready. On his way, he literally ran into Sergeant Mendoza.
"Sergeant! Get your lancers ready in case we have to shoot the bull!"
"Si Don Alejandro, I'll get them!" Mendoza ran into the cuartel to rally the troops.
Then, Alejandro turned around to see what had to be done next. He froze in his tracks when he saw Diego, his eyes widened in surprise. What on earth was Diego doing, he thought.
Diego knew there was no time to wait. He also knew that one man could do a better job of distracting the bull than several. He grabbed the broom, and ran towards the bull to distract it. He bashed it on the nose, followed by a swift bang on its rear to try to guide it back towards the corral. The bull roared and started charging him, but Diego deftly got out of the way. He'd seen some bull fights while in Madrid, and even 'played' with the wooden training bulls one day – just for the fun of it. But there was a big difference between a wooden bull and a real one. The real one didn't always respond the way you thought it would.
"Diego! What are you doing, Son? Get out of the way, you'll only get hurt!" Alejandro yelled at his son when he saw what Diego was doing. Diego ignored him and concentrated on the bull.
For ten minutes, Diego taunted the bull, distracting it until the vaqueros could rope it or until the bull tired so someone could easily capture it and guide it to the corral. That was the plan, anyway. The townspeople watched in awe. Diego's distraction worked for quite a long time. Vendors were able to move their stands and carts out of the way. The people cleared the plaza within just a few minutes. Diego de la Vega's quick thinking saved many of their stands and products – that could have easily been totally destroyed. And, everyone else had gotten out of the way, and no one was injured.
Once the vendors were cleared away, the vaqueros came with their ropes – some on horseback, some on the ground, but all were a safe distance away from Diego and the bull. Diego was the only person in the line of fire, so to speak, but his grace of movement and his agility had the townspeople, as well as some of the vaqueros – mesmerized. Alejandro stood gawking as well. The only sounds heard from the crowd were "Ole!" every time Diego evaded the bull.
His father thought to himself…Diego is so graceful. I never knew, he always seems so…clumsy…And how he has handled himself today…distracting the bull so that the vendors and townspeople could get out of the way…his agility reminds me of someone…who? But his thoughts were drawn back into the action.
Finally, a group of vaqueros roped the bull with four ropes, just as Diego gave it one more stinging rap on the nose with the broomstick. The bull's head quickly snapped to one side with vicious rage. In order to keep from being roped himself from a vaquero positioned behind him, Diego sidestepped. His sidestep unfortunately put him in line with the bull's head. His horns grasped Diego's right leg in between them and with one last powerful and swift toss of the head, the bull sent Diego flying up ten feet or more into the air.
When he came down, his long legs got tangled beneath him. He landed wrong on his right foot, his boot catching a stone. It turned his whole leg at a weird angle. Then he fell on top of it, stunned a moment, with the breath knocked out of him. Snap! Everyone in the plaza heard the bone break at the moment of impact. Everyone and everything seemed frozen in time. The crowd watching from a distance collectively held their breath.
What just happened here? Diego thought to himself. He struggled to a sitting position, then fell back as he felt severe pain in his right lower leg.
"Aaaahhck!" A sharp cry escaped his lips; his breath became labored, as panic tried to take hold. He tried to pull his foot up to hold his leg, but found he couldn't move it. "OH NO!" he yelled. Inwardly, he screamed at himself. Oh no! No, no, no, it can't be! Not a broken leg, no, no, no, he thought.
All of a sudden, a flurry of activity occurred. Alejandro rushed over. His face was flushed by frustration and alarm. "Are you all right, son? What were you thinking? Of all the…Never mind, it's all right. You're going to be all right."
He started barking orders to whoever was around. "Vaqueros! Get that bull back in the corral! Someone get Dr. Hernandez!" To the crowd he shouted, "I need three to four men to help me get Diego up and into the tavern!" When Don Alejandro got into command mode, people obeyed. They were afraid not to. He had command presence.
He put Diego's face in his hands checking his eyes for lucidity. Diego looked him in the eye, but Alejandro could see his son was in great pain. "Fa- Father…I'm…sorry… this – can't ... be happening…"
"Diego! Diego! Listen to me. Just stay still. Don't try to move. Don't try to get up. It appears your leg is broken, so just take it easy."
Diego's breath came in short gasps as waves of pain continued to overtake him and the shock of the impact wore off. His first thought was, Oh no! How can Zorro ride? This is not good!
TBC