No Bull

I once had a friend, a charming fellow who was, in fact, the first Chicano to graduate from Harvard Law School. His name was Enrique, but he Americanized it to "Hank." His wife, Millie, was often in India meditating with the Maharishi, so Hank spent a lot of time with my then-husband and me. He was old enough to be our father, but we all shared a passion for literature and travel.

The day his teenage son got into a wreck and killed his best friend, Hank was having dinner with us. In the aftermath, we all spent many hours trying to help his son cope with his enormous guilt. I pointed out to Hank that it was actually a blessing that his son had sustained a broken leg in the accident because if he had walked away without injury, his guilt would have been even worse. He agreed.

Hank's oldest friend was Anthony Quinn, whom he had known for many years. One night, it was arranged for my husband and me to have dinner in Manhattan with Hank and Quinn. I was thrilled, as Anthony Quinn was one of the actors I most admired. He had captivated me in "Zorba the Greek." At the appointed hour, the three of us arrived at the restaurant and sat down to have a drink while we waited for Quinn. An hour and several drinks later, he still had not made his entrance, so we decided to order dinner.

Halfway through the meal, which was excellent Mexican food, Anthony Quinn arrived with his date, a 19-year old bimbo named Bambi who was prancing like a filly at the starting gate. Quinn, on the other hand, practically crawled to our table, looking utterly exhausted. He downed several drinks but was too drained to eat. The young lady made it clear that she expected to go several more rounds in the sack with Quinn after his obligatory appearance at his friend's dinner party. While I listened to her preen and prattle, Quinn and Hank had a brief conversation in Spanish.

it turned out that the three of us were delegated to give Bambi a ride home, while Quinn slunk away for some restorative R&R. All the way there, she sat in the back seat glowing as she effused over what a "wonderful person" Anthony Quinn was. For years, my husband and I used "Wonderful Person" as code for great lay. Later, Hank told us that Quinn had muttered the phrase that bullfighters use when they want another bullfighter to take their bull.