Chapter 10 – How to impress a lady
Victoria was so relieved Diego was all right after that nasty fall that got him unconscious. When the soldier delivered the bad news at the stand, she had got in a state with the worry for him and the intense feeling of guilt she had felt then, because that was exactly what she had said it was going to happen: Diego would fall in the race and hurt himself badly. As if she was a clairvoyant witch. But everybody knew he was clumsy, so a fall was something to be expected, really, and nothing to do with her divination powers. Still, she felt as if it was her fault somehow, as if she had cast a spell on him with her careless words the day before.
Leaning on the stable's door frame, she watched Diego tending for Apollo. Felipe, Esteban, Don Alejandro and Don Emilio had helped initially but now Diego was alone, talking gently to the horse, unaware she had returned from the tavern.
Despite his clumsiness and apparent lack of physical skills, she admired her friend for being so resourceful and clever, and so kind in the way he was treating the animal. Diego had fashioned a bulky splint that allowed him to move Apollo to the tavern, walking slowly and patiently at his side until they got there. Then he had made up a sling with an old hammock, placing it under the stallion's abdomen and anchoring it to the walls, helping to support most of the animal's weight and relieve the pressure on the injured leg. Then he had prepared some poultices and medicines he administered to the horse, and now Apollo looked quite sedated and calmed, resting on the hammock with his head down, nearly falling asleep while Diego caressed him.
"You've done a fantastic job here," she said.
"Do you think so? I hope this works," he said, testing the tension in the hammock. "It was lucky we found this among all that stuff you had here in storage."
"You are very clever, Diego."
He looked at her, surprised. She felt bad again, because he probably wasn't used to hear nice compliments from her.
"I'm not so sure about that, but thank you. If I was that clever, I would not have taken part in that stupid race on the first place."
"I'm so glad you are all right. I was so worried about you."
Diego continued to look at her. He seemed pleased by her interest, but uneasy at the same time, as if he could not believe it, or even deserve it. His black eye was nearly back to normal, but now he had a bruise on his forehead that looked swollen, and some more bruises and grazes on his forearms. She suspected he was quite sore all over after that nasty fall, but for once he wasn't complaining much.
"Are you sure you are all right?"
"Yes, thank you. I think I was very lucky."
"Certainly, much luckier than the other rider."
Diego's expression hardened immediately when she mentioned that man.
"Yes."
She changed the subject quickly because she didn't want to think Diego could be the dead one instead.
"I think Apollo will be all right for the night. Should we join the others now at the plaza? Pilar gave me the evening off so I could go with you to the circus, remember?"
Felipe and Esteban walked into the stable then.
"Come on, Diego, there is not much else you can do for Apollo tonight," Esteban said, patting the horse's neck gently. "Let him rest for now. We'll come back later after the verbena, all right?"
"Yes, you are right. Let's go. A bit of distraction will be good."
ZZZ
They got out to the plaza. Lots of people were already there, enjoying the fiesta. There was a cucaña at one side, the long, decorated and greased pole a few young men were trying to climb to get the ham hanging at the top, and lots of stalls with amusements and attractions all over the place.
Wherever they went, people recognized Esteban and congratulated him for winning the race. In the early afternoon, while Diego was tending for Apollo, the alcalde had announced the winners and had given them the prices. Esteban had immediately donated the money to the church, and his popularity had soared.
"Behold the generous winner of the horse race!" shouted a man from one of the stalls when they walked by. "Señor, are you as good a shooter as you are a rider? Would you like to win one of our fantastic prices?"
"What is this?" Esteban said approaching the shooting stall, followed by the others.
"If you hit the moving targets five times, you can choose whatever price you want. It is only five pesos, one for each bullet."
"No, I'm not that good at shooting, thank you."
Felipe lifted his hand then, tapping on his chest.
"Do you want to try, young man? Very well," he said, signalling the old gipsy woman at the back. She started to turn a wheel, and the little tin targets which resembled ducks started to move at the back of the stall, in a continuous belt. Felipe handed the money, and the man gave him a small pistol and five little iron balls.
"Now, let's see what you can do. Load them like this, and you are ready to go."
Felipe aimed carefully and shot, hitting the first target which dropped down with a pinging sound.
"Well done, Felipe!" Diego said. "Keep going."
Felipe shot again, but this time the woman turned the wheel a bit faster and he missed.
"Oh, what a shame," Victoria said. "You nearly got it!"
Disappointed, Felipe kept shooting, hitting again the targets with the last two bullets.
"Well done, young man! Three hits is not bad. Not bad at all," the man said, taking the pistol. "But I can't believe you are the only brave one here. Sure these two brave caballeros can rise to the challenge to hit the targets."
He gave Esteban and Diego a pistol each. They tried to refuse, but he would not have them back.
"Come on, señor, you don't want these people think the winner of that exciting race is not brave enough to shoot some little tin ducks, do you? Come on, gentlemen, impress your lady!"
Esteban looked at Diego then, shrugging his shoulders.
"All right then. Come on, Diego. I bet you ten pesos I hit more ducks than you!"
He started shooting then, hitting the first two. Diego looked at the pistol in his hand, hesitating. Why was his cousin always getting him in a pickle in front of people? He could not show his skills in front of Victoria, nor the other passers-by who had stopped to look at them shooting. In the end, he decided to do what he had been doing for the past four years: play the fool. He shot all his bullets carelessly only hitting the targets once. In the meantime, despite the efforts of the gipsy woman to accelerate the wheel to top speed, Esteban hit the five targets.
ZZZ
Victoria stood by the stall counter between the two cousins, surprised to see Esteban hitting all the targets so easily, because he had said before he wasn't good at shooting. Diego was having trouble but there was no surprise there: she wasn't expecting Diego to do well at all.
The gipsy woman looked at Victoria while spinning the wheel, making her uncomfortable. Her gaze was fixed in her eyes, as if she could read into her mind and her deeper thoughts.
"And we got a winner!" the man announced then, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. "Please, señorita, choose one of the prices on display. Anything you like."
"Me? But I didn't win. He did."
"Victoria, I was going to give you the prize, anyway, so you may as well choose it yourself," Esteban said, with his best smile. "What would you like?"
"Oh, I don't know. Let's see…" She eyed the trinkets on display, but she didn't fancy any of them. Suddenly, the old gipsy woman grabbed her arm, fitting a bracelet around her wrist.
"There you go, niña. This bracelet will bring you luck. Luck and children, many children."
"But I don't —"
"Luck and children, just what you want," the gipsy insisted, ignoring her complaints. She turned then Victoria's hand to have a quick look at her palm. "You'll need the luck, because there will be trouble ahead before you can have the children. Decisions to make, and difficult ones…"
Victoria pulled hard to free her hand from hers, bewildered. She didn't believe her future could be written in her palm, but there was something about that mysterious woman that gave her a chill up her spine.
"I think that's enough, señora. We'll keep the bracelet, thank you," Diego said, taking Victoria by her elbow to get her away from that odd woman and the shooting stall.
"Niña, remember to follow your heart," the woman said while watching her go. "Sigue a tu corazón, y no a tu cabeza."
Esteban gave the man a few coins quickly and followed them.
"That's a pretty bracelet. They didn't have many good prices there, anyway. I think you got the best one."
"Probably," Victoria said, clinging to Diego's arm. "Thank you, Esteban."
Walking between the two men, she knew perfectly well what the gipsy was talking about. Decisions to make, and so many choices.
ZZZ
The same as Diego, Esteban didn't want to admit how sore he was after falling off the horse. He didn't have any obvious bumps to show, but his back hurt every time he moved. And now he had been challenged again by another shouting showman at a stall to throw a few balls and tumble some tin cans with them.
After the successful shooting, some people had been following them, and now they were cheering and booing to get him throwing the balls.
"Come on, De la Vega! Show us what you can do!"
"And you too, Don Diego," someone else said, laughing.
"No, I don't think this is—" Diego started, but someone put the balls in his hands and pushed him forward.
"All right. Give me the balls," Esteban said, unable to resist a good challenge. He threw the first one, but he didn't manage to knock all the cans down at once. A young child collected them all and rebuilt the pile. "Your turn."
"I don't want to play," Diego complained.
"Come on, live a little! Besides, they are watching you," he added, whispering, signalling back to the spectators behind them.
Precisely, Diego thought. They are watching me, damn it.
He was feeling increasingly irritated with the whole charade, tired of repressing himself. And his shoulder hurt after the fall. He hadn't told anyone, but he had a large bruise in there. He threw one of the balls then, and the same as his cousin he hit the pile of cans but he didn't topple them all.
"Hey, Diego, not bad! But try throwing the ball a bit faster the next time," his father said, joining the crowd.
Just what I needed. Thanks, Father.
Esteban threw the ball again and he managed to tip over all the cans except one. The crowd let out a disappointed cry.
"Nearly, señor, but you have to hit all the cans in one go to win."
Increasingly angry and frustrated, Diego threw another ball, this time hitting even less cans than before. He knew that to tip them all he had to hit the lowest one with a much greater strength and speed, which would be difficult for him right now because his shoulder hurt, and because he could not do that in front of the crowd.
"Third time lucky," Esteban said, throwing the last ball. He applied himself to throw it harder and faster despite his painful back, and this time all the cans tumbled off the stand. The crowd cheered and clapped happily.
"That's the way, Esteban! Well done!" Don Alejandro said, clapping.
"You'll have to choose another price, Victoria," Esteban said.
"Me? Again?"
"Yes, of course. Who else?"
"Thank you. I would like that pendant then. I think it matches the bracelet nicely."
"Yes, it does." He got the pendant hanging from a rack at the top of the stall and approached her from behind. "Allow me."
She shivered when he touched her neck after moving her hair to a side, enjoying the light contact of his fingers on her skin while he fiddled with the fastening.
"Muchas gracias."
"De nada. Diego, your turn. Finish it off."
Most of the people in the crowd were already moving on, not paying attention when Diego threw the last ball, only hitting the top of the pile, leaving most of the cans standing.
He watched the group go, lagging behind. The boy replaced all the cans again and then went to the back to collect some stray balls. When the showman was distracted, leaving the stall for a moment to talk to his neighbour, Diego grabbed another two balls from the counter. Despite the pain in his shoulder, he threw one of them with all his mighty strength to vent some of his frustration. All the cans flew from the stand as if blown away by gunpowder, and the ball crashed loudly on the wooden back panel of the stall, breaking it, nearly hitting the kid behind it.
Diego looked around, whistling a random tune as if he had nothing to do with the mess, leaving the other ball still in his hand on the counter, and walked away quickly, following the others.
"Hey!" said the man in charge of that stall, coming back to find a hole in the back panel. "Hey! What happened here?" but Diego ignored him and kept jogging to join the others.
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