Writer's Corner

Pepe, El Limpia Bota by Joel Fernández

Once upon a time in Mexico there lived a boy named Pepe. He was the youngest of fifteen children, all of which were matadors (bull fighters). His father spent a great amount of time training all of his older brothers in hopes that one of them would become champion. Pepe was the youngest and smallest of all his siblings. Because of his size and apparent lack of ability they told him that he would never amount to anything more than a shoe shine boy (limpia bota). Despite all of the rejection that he got from his immediate family, Pepe managed to go about his business without any bitterness or resentment for the most part. It was only when the rejection stared him in the eye that he had his bad moments.

In order to pass the time and make a little bit of money during the few hours in between school and training, Pepe took a job as a limpia bota(shoe shine boy).Every day he would make his trip around his home town of Guadalajara. Because the job was so boring he always brought along Juancho his pet rooster. Pepe and Juancho would walk around asking the gachupines (Mexican nobility) if they needed their boots shined. After a thorough wiping, the client would then toss a gold coin in Pepe’s direction before riding away on their fine Spanish horse. Everyday at around noon, Pepe and Juancho would go to Pepe’s grand mother’s house where she would give them food.

“Here you go Pepe, some tortillas with ground beef and salsa. And here is some corn for you Juancho” said Pepe’s abuelita (grand mother) as she threw some corn on the ground for Juancho.

“Thank you very much abuelita, if it wasn’t for you I would probably die of hunger” said Pepe.

“Don’t exaggerate so much Pepe” said his grandmother.

“Its true abuelita, my family feels that I am not worthy to sit at the table with them.”

“No Pepe, the problem is that there are so many of you that its hard to keep you all fed.”

“Whatever their reasons are, it still means that I eat less. But one day I will make enough money to pay you back abuelita” said Pepe as he finished his food and ran out the door with his pet rooster. Pepe’s grand mother could only watch as he left.

After a good meal at abuelita’s house, Pepe and Juancho made there way to an old hacienda that was on the outskirts of Guadalajara. The large estate was owned by one of the more influential gachupines in the entire city, Don Pedro. Don Pedro is one of Pepe’s clients from the city who just so happened to be an ex champion matador (bull fighter). He agreed to instruct Pepe because he saw something in him that no one else seemed to notice. Despite what he heard Pepe’s family say, Don Pedro believed that Pepe had a big enough heart to succeed in the arena. Because of this, he agreed to teach Pepe the intricacies of bull fighting three times a week.

“Stand up straight!” yelled Don Pedro.

“I am standing up straight. It’s just that my back has a natural hunch in it” replied Pepe.

“If you are not going to take this seriously I will not train you any more.”

Pepe decided to heed his teacher’s warning. Because no matter how much he hated being bossed around, he hated being mistreated by his family even more.

“I’m sorry Don Pedro” said Pepe as he straightened his back.

“Good, we will continue then.”

Don Pedro took about ten steps backward and pulled out a dagger.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“I am going to see if you have the audacity to stare death in the eye and get away with it.”

“But I do not want to die.”

“Of course you don’t. When you are in the arena with a live bull you will have to stand still while it charges at you. One wrong step could mean the end of your life. So if you can stand perfectly still while I throw these knives past you, then that means that you have the audacity to succeed.”

Pepe was starting to consider being a limpia bota forever. But he quickly shook off those negative thoughts. Before he could even blink there was a knife stuck to a board that was right next to his head. And then another and another until Don Pedro ran out of knives.

“Very good Pepe, we are done for today.”

Pepe grabbed his shoe shining equipment and ran towards the front gate with Juancho following close behind.

“I will see you tomorrow!” he yelled with his back turned.

Later on that day while he was on his way home, Pepe found the time to go and see a girl that he liked a lot. An Aztec girl named Maria.

“Hey Maria how are you” yelled Pepe as he enthusiastically as he approached her.

Maria decided to take a short break form her chores and speak to her friend.

“Hello Pepe, I’m doing pretty well today. Thank you for asking.”

“In two weeks I will be entering the annual bull fighting championship. The prize is three hundred gold coins. That’s enough for me to move away from my family and start my own life.”

“I wish you the best of luck Pepe. I will even go down to the church and say a prayer for you”.

“Thank you Maria. I appreciate that very much.”

For the next three weeks, Pepe trained with passion and intensity. There was no way that he would live the rest of his life within range of his family’s gossip. The exercises that Don Pedro had him doing were getting harder and harder. One day he would practice balance by walking along the top of a very high wall. The next day he would be dodging horses at the last second before getting out of the way. There were moments when Pepe wanted to quit but his determination would not let him give up.

On the day of the bull fighting championship, Pepe was very nervous about his big day. He understood that there was a thin line between victory and total failure. All of the months that he spent getting ready seemed like they went by in a second when they opened the gate and let the bull into the arena. The bull’s name was Tormenta(storm). He had already killed the first five matadors that tried to beat him and that is how Pepe ended up in the championship. The bull charged toward Pepe with reckless abandon. It seemed that it was missing Pepe by inches as it charged by. Pepe’s entire family was in attendance as well as Maria and Don Pedro

They all watched in anticipation as little Pepe danced with death right before their eyes. It seemed as if Pepe actually had everything under control until he tripped and fell on his back.

“I knew he would do something stupid” said one of Pepe’s brothers.

Maria jumped to her feet and began yelling.

“Get up Pepe!”

Pepe could not hear his friend’s cries because he was to busy listening to the steps of the raging bull that was headed his way. The bull’s front hooves missed Pepe’s face by millimeters. Somehow Pepe was able to roll out from under the bull in time to avoid the back hooves. It looked as if little Pepe was doomed to a gruesome and embarrassing death until the he experienced a little bit of luck at the right time. The bull tripped over a rock and got his horns stuck in the wall. Pepe saw this and quickly stumbled to his feet. He ran over to the bull and stabbed it with his sword until it could not move anymore. And just like that, Pepe went from being a bastard son to a champion matador. The crowd erupted with cheers as if Pepe were one of the gladiators of ancient Rome. He looked towards Maria and Don Pedro and smiled. His family even showed relief on there faces because he had not been killed.

The next day pepe went to go see his abuelita.

“Here you go abuelita, one hundred gold coins. I will bring you more when I come to visit form Guanajuato.”

“I always knew you would make us all proud. You should thank God that you did not get killed.”

“I will abuelita.”

And with those words he went outside where Maria was waiting for him in a carriage.

“I prayed that you would not get killed yesterday and it worked” she said.

Pepe smiled and said “you didn’t pray for me. You prayed with me.”

“I did not know that you believed in God” said Maria.

“There is a lot that you don’t know about me. But I will begin to explain on the way to our new home.

And they rode into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

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