The photo that illustrates these lines may be considered politically incorrect and may even offend the sensibilities of some people; but it is not shady or scandalous, but rather the real image of a madman.
His name is Marco Pérez, he won’t be 17 until October, he’s from Salamanca, with a small body and a beardless face, considered a child prodigy of bullfighting, a novillero with horses since October of last year, and in whom many hopes are placed for the future of bullfighting.
(Spanish bullfighting regulations — Article 6 of the National Regulations, updated on September 21, 2001 — allow bullfighting in public at the age of 16. In fact, José Miguel Arroyo Joselito He took the alternative when he had not yet turned 17; Espartaco and El Juli had to emigrate to Mexico due to the ban on being able to bullfight in Spain until they reached the regulatory age and Marco Pérez himself delayed his presentation in the bullrings for the same reason).
This Saturday he triumphed in the morning in the French bullring of Mont de Marsan, and after a long journey by road, at 18.15 in the afternoon, he was in the bullring’s courtyard in Santander, which was inaugurating its July fair. He was dressed in an immaculate white and silver bullfighting suit, his face serious, as it should be, and open to an occasional smile in the presence of his admirers.
An hour or so later, his image was this other one, his gaze lost, his hair disheveled, his nose possibly broken, his own blood on his lips, his fingers lost. brackets teeth, the nail of the third finger of his right hand raised, his whole body in pain, his white shirt discolored, his right sleeve red from someone else’s blood, his bag covered in mud, and he still had a wound on his foot caused by the descabrero.
In a ring that had become a quagmire due to persistent rain, he had summoned his first bull to a pass with gaoneras, with the cape on his back, and, in one of them, the animal approached him at full gallop, with its eyes fixed on the boy’s body, ran over him with tremendous force, lifted him off the ground as if he were a sheet of paper, threw him on his back, turned him around and crashed him to the ground; when Marco tried to recover, the bull gored him again on the gluteus, raised him again above the height of the animal’s head and threw him with furious rage into the mud. Marco fell face downwards with unusual violence, all of him contracted, broken, shattered and motionless.
His companions carried him to the infirmary amid general consternation, not knowing if he was alive or dead, unconscious or simply bruised, but all with their souls overwhelmed by such a Dantesque somersault.
Fortunately, the first news was encouraging, and Marco went out to fight his second bull, the fifth of the afternoon, with pain in his pockets and the commitment of an admirable determination. The capricious fate still had two more surprises in store for him: in the second round of long and deep natural passes, that other bull again turned him over in a bad way, searched for him viciously in the mud and trampled him at will, and moments later, a violent turn of the descabello caused a wound in his foot.
He was awarded an ear for his dedication, and Marco, like a eccehomo in miniature, he still had the strength to walk around the ring and sketch a smile.
As I said, a madman.
There are human beings who are born crazy, others are geniuses from the cradle and many, more than usual, are fools all their lives.
Bullfighters are crazy about a dream that seems, quite rightly, irrational to the rest. But that’s how they are and that’s how this kid is, who this Saturday overcame what was, without a doubt, the most dramatic experience of his life.
If it is true that we do not mature with age, but with damage, Marco Pérez bravely overcame the hard ceremony that turned him into a man. Because he did the greatest thing: get up after falling.
Today is the day when he will not be able to stand up. Or who knows if he has already been using the tricks in his hands to scare away the bad memories. However, before that he will have to undergo medical tests to check the condition of his nasal bones, buy some brackets new and heal the fingernail and foot wound.
Marco Pérez’s image is politically incorrect, no doubt; but real and exemplary, a reference for those who pursue a dream. But, as we know, to do that you have to be crazy…