Only a Pasodoble Was Missing to Complete the Harmonious Ensemble

The corrida formed an orchestra ready to interpret the score of bullfighting, but the soul was lacking. The corrida was varied, with a noble overall character that should have ended with at least one more ear being dragged around the ring. For one reason or another, that did not happen.

What was missing was that special form of the music of bullfighting, the kind that is capable of moving the heart, as Johann Sebastian Bach once declared. The one who put his heart into it most genuinely was Roca Rey, in a performance marred by his sword work with the descabello, which changed his prize into two avisos. A boy in the barrier seat number 7 rolled and unrolled the white card on which he had drawn his red 'cuore' with the Peruvian's surname in capital letters.

He lamented the failure more than the matador himself: he would no longer be able to tell his classmates on returning to school that he saw his torero triumph during his San Sebastián summer vacation. Sebastián Castella took the only trophy of the afternoon from the bull Clarín.