Juan de Dios Wagers with Dr. El Ocio

An excerpt from the epic El Ocio

—Soy Juan de Dios Gallegos, Don Domador, dueño del Rancho del Río y el Vadito de Chicos en la valle de la Piedra Lumbre, vaquero de por vida y el último genizaro del mundo. I can break that striped horse,” he said, speaking around a pipe of polished wood clenched in his teeth. “What do you say?”

Dr. El Ocio leaned backwards and examined Juan de Dios from hat to boots. Then he leaned forward and scrutinized his wrinkled, weather-worn face.

“Care to hazard a wager?”

Juan de Dios crossed his arms. He twirled his mustache. He never looked the strange stranger in the eyes. He took a deep breath, looked at El Ocio’s festive facial hair and asked:

“What is your bet?”

“If you break the zebra, you keep the zebra.”

Juan de Dios furrowed his brow and nodded. El Ocio continued.

“If you cannot, I keep you.”

The crowd that had gathered around reacted in a wave as the proposed terms were passed on and translated. Vidal caught a couple of expressions.

—Ay no, ya tiene más que noventa años, ‘stá loco. Hasta las leyendas tienen que morir —A middle-aged man in a white shirt told his son, shaking his head—. Tiene más años que tu abuelo fallecido.

“He can do it, papá. Sé que puede —The boy responded, climbing up onto the corral for a better view.

“What a fool! Those old bones will snap like kindling. I hope he does it, I’ll put money on the striped ass,” said a grinning gringo in a yellow summer suit standing next to his fiancée. She was gawking at Dev the giant, looking him up, and up, and down, and not paying any attention to her meddling, middling beau.

—Yo lo haría. Sin duda. Tener un caballo así, imagina —a young man with an old hat said.

—Oh, sí. Ni siquiera podrías montarlo, joyo —his “friend” replied.

—Pero imagina.

A little girl who was holding her father’s hand pointed at the zebra and said:

—Papá quiero ese caballito, gánamelo por favo-o-or.

The father blushed and looked around before leaning down to whisper:

—¿Que tal si te compro un conejito? —he counter-offered, having seen the rabbits in cages during the parade.

—¡Nooo! —she wailed, pulling her hand away to begin further appealing her cause with unrestricted gesticulation. Vidal turned away to capture the Juan de Dios vs. Dr. Magnus El Ocio exchange instead.

Juan de Dios Gallegos extended his hand. Dr. El Ocio took it, shook it four times, and gave it back. Without taking his eyes off Juan de Dios, he called out to Cybele:

“Get the zebra into the chute, Wild Woman! Halter! Reins! And…” El Ocio winked at Juan de Dios, “that is all!”

Cybele heeded the call and stepped into the corral to lasso and herd the stubborn animal into the chute, no easy task. Juan de Dios watched the struggle, his eyes never leaving the beast, his face stoic. Dr. El Ocio watched Juan de Dios, his eyes never leaving the man, his face smirking.

The zebra whined, whinnied, wheezed and wrenched its neck back and forth all the way to the chute. Once Cybele had backed it in, it calmed a bit, though it was still breathing heavily, stamping its hooves and rolling its eyes every which way.

De Dios’ blanketed companion leaned over and whispered something in his ear that Vidal couldn’t hear, not that he would have understood it even if he did. Juan de Dios nodded, hitched up his pants, stamped his boots and walked over to the chute. He placed one boot up on one of the rails and paused there for a moment. He removed his hat, took his pipe from his mouth, stowed it in his shirt pocket, and bowed his head. Vidal could see his lips moving but couldn’t hear his words. After a while, Juan de Dios turned his head up to face the sky and continued quietly praying. The crowd that had gathered began shouting encouragements. Finally, he pounded a fist against his own chest, climbed up to stand atop the chute, and looked out at the people gathered around.

—¡Anímame, mi gente! —he called out to them. They began to shout even louder, whistling and clapping and stomping their feet.

—¡Órale! ¡Ay-yay-yay-ayyy! —Juan de Dios Gallegos cried. Then he leapt upon the zebra’s unsaddled back, the chute opened, and out they shot.

The zebra galloped straight out, zigged to the left, zagged to the right, spun around and began to buck. De Dios, holding on only by the reins, leaned back and bounced with each buck. The zebra spun again, and again, and again. De Dios leaned to the inside of the turns, twisting the reins so they tightened against the zebra’s neck. The zebra galloped forward then planted its hooves and threw down its head but the old cowboy dug in with his spurs and hung on. The man yee-hawed, the zebra hee-hawed and brayed, the crowd oohed and ahhed and ayy’d. The battle went on.

Rather than tire out, the zebra seemed to be further energized by its challenger’s tenacity. It ran close to the fence posts and threatened to jump out altogether several times, but Juan de Dios yanked the reins at each attempt, tugging it away. The bucking and bouncing continued until both the rider and steed were slick with sweat. Desperate, the zebra changed its tactics.

It galloped into the center of the corral and then jumped, with all four legs, straight up into the air, arching its back and thrusting its head down. They soared together for a moment before crashing back down. De Dios’ head whipped forward, striking hard against the bristly-maned back of the zebra’s neck and the crowd gasped as one of his hands lost its grip on the reins and his hat flew off his head.

With lightning-quick reflexes, de Dios’ free hand reached out, not to grab the reins again, but to snatch his hat out of midair. A spatter of applause sounded in the crowd. The people reveled in the extraordinary showmanship.

“Damn near dusted ‘im!”

—¡Dale carnal! ¡Míralo, galopiando a la machina! Ay, pero qué bofetazo...

“Thought he was licked!”

“The best cowboy en el mundo is an Indian!”

© 2020 Sage Vogel

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Dear reader,

You have just read an excerpt from my epic tale titled El Ocio. This is a small part of a much larger work, which I soon hope to find a suitable publisher for. If you are in the industry and believe you could assist me in this endeavor, please send an email to sage@sagevogel.com

Thank you,

Sage Vogel