Read Online Mexico by James A. Michener - Free Book Online
Authors: James A. Michener
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distinction arose from the fact that while on his Spanish tour he contracted marriage with a beautiful girl called Alicia from Seville, in the south. Her father took one look at his son-in-law in the classic ring of Seville and advised: "Son, leave the bulls. They are not for you."
"It is my profession," Anselmo argued.
"I have a meat-packing plant near Cadiz," the girl's father argued. "Work with me."
"My brother and I follow the bulls," Anselmo insisted proudly. "It's in our blood."
"Is your brother married?" the meat-packer asked.
"No."
"Why don't you introduce him to Alicia's cousin?"
When Veneno came south with Belmonte to fight at Seville, the introductions were made, a marriage was arranged, and Veneno promptly had two sons in quick succession. In 1933 Anselmo also had a son, whom he named Victoriano Leal, hoping that the boy would achieve more victories than he had accomplished.
Victoriano was less than a month old when the senior Leals were invited to the Palafox ranch to participate in the testing of some new cows that the ranch had recently purchased in an effort to strengthen the bloodlines and make the offspring bulls more fierce in the fight. Anselmo did not relish these trips to the ranch, for after the sack of their grandfather's Spanish house in Toledo, one of General Gurza's soldiers had turned up with the head of the bull that had killed Bernardo Leal, and Don Eduardo had purchased this grisly souvenir. Now it hung prominently on a wall of the entertainment room at the ranch, marked by a silver plaque that read: "Terremoto of Palafox. This bull of 529 kilos killed the matador Bernardo Leal in Mexico City 13 December 1903." After more than half a century the horns were still sharp as daggers and they terrified Anselmo, but robust Veneno was in no way dismayed. Unlike his brother, he appreciated every opportunity to fight Palafox bulls, and even though on this day he would be limited to cows, he would nevertheless have many chances to wound real bulls, to assail them with an abbreviated pic and to feel them recoil. If he could not deal with the grown bulls of Palafox with a heavy pic he would not setde for punishing the young cows with a light one.
So the brothers went by train from Mexico City to Toledo, where Don Eduardo Palafox met them for the long drive to the ranch quarters southwest of town. On the way he confided, "The reason I wanted you to attend this testing is that in addition to the new cows, I want you to see the new seed bull from Spain. He is being delivered after the testing tomorrow."
"Guadalquivir blood?" Veneno asked.
"Naturally," Don Eduardo replied, and he proposed that they join him in a copa at the long mahogany bar in the entertainment room, but as the three men were about to sit down in chairs built of bulls' horns highly polished, interlocked to form seats and backs, and then made comfortable by cushions of tanned but uncut sheepskins, Anselmo found that the chair he had chosen was one facing the great bull Terremoto, so that whenever he looked up he found the bull that had killed his father glaring at him as if the animal was about to charge an d k ill the son, too.
"I'll take this seat^Anselmo said, changing chairs, but Veneno noticed that even when his brother was safe with his back to the wall, he kept turning fearfully to look at the bull. When Don Eduardo left the brothers to greet a movie actor from Hollywood who had come to see the testing, Anselmo reached for his brother's hand and said hesitantly: "Veneno, if anything should happen to me, promise that--"
"What can happen to either of us?" the valiant picador asked contemptuously.
"He's always in the ring." The frightened man pointed over his shoulder to Terremoto. "Always waiting."
"I think only of live bulls," Veneno replied with some savagery. "You should too."
"But if anything does happen, swear you'll raise my son as if he were a Spaniard."
"What could that mean?" Veneno laughed. "What in the world do
"It is my profession," Anselmo argued.
"I have a meat-packing plant near Cadiz," the girl's father argued. "Work with me."
"My brother and I follow the bulls," Anselmo insisted proudly. "It's in our blood."
"Is your brother married?" the meat-packer asked.
"No."
"Why don't you introduce him to Alicia's cousin?"
When Veneno came south with Belmonte to fight at Seville, the introductions were made, a marriage was arranged, and Veneno promptly had two sons in quick succession. In 1933 Anselmo also had a son, whom he named Victoriano Leal, hoping that the boy would achieve more victories than he had accomplished.
Victoriano was less than a month old when the senior Leals were invited to the Palafox ranch to participate in the testing of some new cows that the ranch had recently purchased in an effort to strengthen the bloodlines and make the offspring bulls more fierce in the fight. Anselmo did not relish these trips to the ranch, for after the sack of their grandfather's Spanish house in Toledo, one of General Gurza's soldiers had turned up with the head of the bull that had killed Bernardo Leal, and Don Eduardo had purchased this grisly souvenir. Now it hung prominently on a wall of the entertainment room at the ranch, marked by a silver plaque that read: "Terremoto of Palafox. This bull of 529 kilos killed the matador Bernardo Leal in Mexico City 13 December 1903." After more than half a century the horns were still sharp as daggers and they terrified Anselmo, but robust Veneno was in no way dismayed. Unlike his brother, he appreciated every opportunity to fight Palafox bulls, and even though on this day he would be limited to cows, he would nevertheless have many chances to wound real bulls, to assail them with an abbreviated pic and to feel them recoil. If he could not deal with the grown bulls of Palafox with a heavy pic he would not setde for punishing the young cows with a light one.
So the brothers went by train from Mexico City to Toledo, where Don Eduardo Palafox met them for the long drive to the ranch quarters southwest of town. On the way he confided, "The reason I wanted you to attend this testing is that in addition to the new cows, I want you to see the new seed bull from Spain. He is being delivered after the testing tomorrow."
"Guadalquivir blood?" Veneno asked.
"Naturally," Don Eduardo replied, and he proposed that they join him in a copa at the long mahogany bar in the entertainment room, but as the three men were about to sit down in chairs built of bulls' horns highly polished, interlocked to form seats and backs, and then made comfortable by cushions of tanned but uncut sheepskins, Anselmo found that the chair he had chosen was one facing the great bull Terremoto, so that whenever he looked up he found the bull that had killed his father glaring at him as if the animal was about to charge an d k ill the son, too.
"I'll take this seat^Anselmo said, changing chairs, but Veneno noticed that even when his brother was safe with his back to the wall, he kept turning fearfully to look at the bull. When Don Eduardo left the brothers to greet a movie actor from Hollywood who had come to see the testing, Anselmo reached for his brother's hand and said hesitantly: "Veneno, if anything should happen to me, promise that--"
"What can happen to either of us?" the valiant picador asked contemptuously.
"He's always in the ring." The frightened man pointed over his shoulder to Terremoto. "Always waiting."
"I think only of live bulls," Veneno replied with some savagery. "You should too."
"But if anything does happen, swear you'll raise my son as if he were a Spaniard."
"What could that mean?" Veneno laughed. "What in the world do
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