The Blue Bull

There is a lame bullfighter. Because, as a bullfighting master explained, a bullfighter is one who feels to be one, whether in front of a bull or holding a bath towel in the living room. And the lame man is very much a bullfighter. He reads Belmonte, practises, draws the moves, and rehearses the passes: naturales, right hand passes, verónicas, and chest passes – salon bullfighting as well as road bullfighting. He fantasizes about getting gored, the sublime moment in which man and animal merge – the payment glory requires. He greets the balconies and receives the imagined ovation. Finally, the oft-dreamed afternoon, the perfect performance arrive. The lame man is a bullfighter – a bullfighter without a bull who, maybe, once had one