Lorenzo was gentlemen

 Page 5.

Lorenzo was gentlemen but sometimes liquor got him into trouble bringing out a less than honorable side of his personality. When he walked he took long direct strides, with his eye’s fixed forward it appeared he was fighting an imagery bull. His hands and feet were enormous and for some unknown reason that part of his anatomy was a frequent topic of discussion among most of the womenfolk, married or not? Some of the children said he looked like a crane trying to ice skate with snow shoes, while the men reported he may have sat on something very pointed or sharp sometime in his lifetime. But Lorenzo insisted his walking style was the result of an encounter with a difficult bull and he had many encounters.? At the beginning of the journey before the winter’s cold, he never wore a shirt so everyone could see a circle shaped scar near his right shoulder. He also had one of the men during a heavy night of drinking carve a small cross into his left bicep with a green river skinning knife two weeks into the journey. Lorenzo bragged that should they come across any natives of hostile Indians they would surely be impressed with his customized body work.

This unneeded drunken backwoods surgical procedure however immediately became infected swelling up Lorenzo’s arm the size of a tree trunk. He spent almost a week in the back of a wagon nursing the infected arm back to normal but not without nearly losing the limb. If it had not been for Granny the appointed doctor of the group who attended to the young man’s arm he came very close to joining becoming just another losing bull in the ring. After recovering from his ills Lorenzo paraded around the party displaying his new homemade cross as well as the mark from the bull. The scar from the bull looked like Lorenzo had been gorged near his upper right shoulder, however; the scar ran completely through to the other side . Some folks wondered if Lorenzo was facing the bull when injured or had he turned tail and run? The real answer could probably be found on his backside but no one really wanted to ask or know except perhaps the womenfolk. Lorenzo said he killed the bull that marked him with a sword made from Spanish steel and had a tobacco pouch made from the dead bull’s manhood?

On evening after stealing a bottle of whisky used to treat ills and sickness over the long journey, Lorenzo attempted to reenact what he called a show down with the bull. The bull in this case was Jessie Parson’s mule named Doris. Doris was more of an companion then a beast of burden and she was a gentle and affectionate creature. Lorenzo rushed at Doris staggering and bare-chested and in one hand he waved an old saddle blanket yelling out, Toro, Toro, Toro at the top of his lungs. In the other hand he pointed a stick at Doris pretending to be a sword. Doris remained steady as if understanding Lorenzo’s inebriated condition but her whiteners started to twitch indicating she’d had enough. Doris was not in the very least impressed with Lorenzo’s drunken challenges and advancements and with one swift kick she ended the spectacle in short order. Luckily, Lorenzo suffered only a broken rib and a grazed forehead but swore he wanted a rematch after he recovered from his injuries. But Doris stood her ground and whinnied loudly excepting the challenge by stamping her hooves sharply into the snow.