Hemingway Adventure

Series: Hemingway Adventure
Chapter: Madrid, Spain (third day)
Country/sea: Spain
Place: Madrid
Book page no: 114

Madrid, Spain (third day)

Madrid, Spain
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The bull is, I'm relieved to see, not flesh and blood, but a set of horns and a padded cushion fixed to a bicycle wheel. One boy races this contraption fast across the ring and another has to go close enough to drop the barbed prongs exactly parallel to each other in precisely the right spot. Nine out of ten times they fail, but, as Fabian points out, only one or two of this class of thirty might be good enough to even contemplate fighting professionally.

Under Fabian's guidance I am allowed to try some moves with the cape, pink on one side and gold on the other, with which the matador tries to tire the bull in the second stage of a fight. The first thing that strikes me is how heavy it is, heavy enough, of course, to maintain its shape in all weather conditions.

Fabian corrects my posture, emphasising the importance of the strut, of thrusting the hips forward, of staring the bull down. I ask him what he thinks when he's confronted with the bull. Does he have to hate it?

'No, no,' he shakes his head firmly. 'The bull is my friend.'

I'm rather touched by this, until he adds, 'He makes me look good and make a lot of money.'

How much money?