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Find out: How did Jack Twist really die? What secrets did Jack Twist hide in his bank safe deposit box? Ennis del Mar's childhood. Did Jack's parents or wife know he was gay.
(A guide to Jet Gardner's novelization of Annie Proulx's classic short story and the screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.)
---This includes the prequel featuring Ennis and Jack's childhoods, the original enhanced story, and the sequel telling what happens until 2006.---
To read the completed novel (1943-2006,) click here... no strings attached-enjoy!
WELCOME: SPOILER ALERT! The following contains story elements about both of their childhoods, how Ennis survived after Jack's murder, and how Ennis died in 2006 that were not in the movie or short story. If you prefer to discover these for yourself, there are several links below that will take you to the novel's open and free Home Page.
Read how Jack Twist really died. Experience the love between Ennis & Jack first hand.
Question/Answer Guide by Chapter:
CAUTION: the following contains spoilers to elements of the story
The answer to each question below can be found in the chapter it is listed under.
Chapter: Prologue for a Pair of Deuces: Ennis del Mar's childhood
~ The waste of a perfectly good 1955 Chevy
~ The murder of Earl and Rich.
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~ How does Brokeback Mountain begin for Ennis del Mar?
~ What were Ennis del Mar’s parents’ names?
~ Where did Ennis del Mar grow up-what was Ennis' hometown?
~ Why did Ennis del Mar’s father Kyle beat and rape his mother after the birth of their first child?
~ Who caused Ennis to change from such a happy giggling toddler into an emotionless young teen?
~ If Ennis’ father didn’t teach him his attitudes towards homosexuals who did?
~ What was Ennis’ sister’s name?
~ What was Ennis' brother's name?
~ Where did Ennis’ older brother K. E. del Mar get his nickname?
~ How was Kyle forced to go into the military?
~ How was Ennis' father Kyle injured in Korea?
~ When did Ennis’ father join the rodeo as a roper?
~ What caused the del Mar children to hide in fear while their parents wept in the other room?
~ Who taught Ennis del Mar how to be such a good rifle shot?
~ What business was Earl in?
~ Who introduced Earl to Rich?
~ Who told the townsfolk that Earl and Rich were gay?
~ What forced Kyle del Mar to get involved in Earl and Rich’s homophobic torture and murder?
~ What part did young Ennis del Mar unknowingly have in his parents' deaths?
~ How did Ennis' parents die?
~ How did Ennis become involved in bronco riding as a teenager and why did he give it up?
~ Who bought the del Mar ranch, forcing them off of their homestead?
~ Whose suicide at eighteen made Ennis del Mar hide his feelings from everyone?
~ Where did Ennis del Mar learn such a love for ranching and livestock?
~ How did young Ennis eventually learn the true details of Earl and Rich’s murder?
~ What part did waitress Alma Beers have in Ennis seeking a job on Brokeback?
Chapter preview:
In the middle of the night a week later, some of the men in town came over to the del Mar ranch and while young Ennis and K.E. listened in fear at their bedroom door to the angry voices, the words “queer” and “pervert” were used loudly. Their father Kyle seemed to be defending himself against the men, and the kids cowered in fright when their mother suddenly said their names in defense of her husband not being “one of those.” She bravely stood her ground and became even angrier that all the trouble was because of just one gossiping woman who by now was claiming that she saw Earl and Rich necking half-naked in their repair garage's office at the ranch across the road, and that they were probably forcing teenaged schoolboys that they employed as journeyman mechanics to have homosexual orgies in the shower after work or they wouldn’t get paid. Then Fran pointed out that not one of the angry mob present had seen it with their own eyes.
The children cringed in fright when their father suddenly yelled at their mother to shut the hell up before she made things worse. All of the sudden things got real quiet and stayed that way. Everyone had left the house and from the sound of it Kyle went unwillingly. Francine was left behind and seemed to be quietly sobbing in the kitchen after pleading with Kyle not to go with them. Later on, the youngsters could hear a pickup truck driving up and down the road with a bunch of drunken men whooping it up and shouting with laughter. Blubbering tears, their mother made them go back to bed and sternly warned them to stay there. In the following silence they could hear her crying bitterly while standing at the door watching the road. Some time later that night the kids heard what sounded like an injured calf crying far off in the distance, but their mother made them go back to sleep and ignore it, saying some wolf or a coyote probably got hold of someone's livestock...
Chapter: Prologue for a Pair of Deuces: Jack Twist's childhood
The waste of a perfectly good match
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~ How does Brokeback Mountain begin for Jack Twist?
~ What were Jack Twist’s parents’ names?
~ What attracted Martha to John Twist?~ What turned Jack Twist’s parents into such a loveless couple?
~ Where did Jack Twist grow up-what was Jack's hometown?
~ What drove Martha Twist to religion and then later John too?
~ What first got Jack Twist involved in the rodeo circuit?
~ What would cause Jack Twist to follow in his father’s footsteps in trying to escape their ranch?
~ What make and year was Jack Twist's first truck?
~ What act of defiance made Jack Twist buy that first broken-down pickup truck?
~ Live first hand the storm that took 42 sheep during Jack Twist’s first summer on Brokeback
~ Jack hangs from a cliff trying to save his first herding partner's life.
~ What did two cherry trees have to do with Jack’s relationship with his mother and his eventual death?
~ Who was Jack Twist’s first partner herding sheep?
~ Did Jack Twist meet Lureen Newsome at a rodeo as a teen?
~ Why was Jack Twist’s first job on the mountain in 1962 cut short?
~ Where did Jack get his big fancy harmonica?
~ After such a miserable first summer on Brokeback, why did Jack agree to go back in 1963?
Chapter preview: It had been hours since the kid disappeared. When night came, Twist sat at the edge of the cliff pondering his next move. A low groan barely came from the empty space in front of him somewhere below. He dashed to his horse for a flashlight and after scanning the area beneath the ledge spotted Johnny on an outcropping of rock some thirty feet down. He was laying flat on his back; his face contorted in pain with his right hand reaching blindly towards Twist’s light.
Ten minutes later a terrified Jack dangled in midair in the dark from a rope secured to the same tree at the brink that the mules were tied to. To his dismay the lower ledge only jutted out about five feet and then dropped straight down at least a mile into the empty black night. The kid apparently hit a cushioned muddy patch covered with grass and rolled onto his back only inches from falling further. The fact that his injured spine left him unable to move probably saved his life. Jack lowered himself the final few feet and stood on the crumbling rocky edge that felt like it'd give way at the slightest misstep. After tying himself off for safety, he struggled to keep the kid from moving...
Chapter 1: Forty-three miles of Dead Horse Road
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~ Where is Brokeback Mountain?
~ What threats are carved into the wooden sign on the work trailer’s front door?
~ Live first hand Ennis and Jack’s thoughts and urges when they met.
~ Why did Jack Twist make such a point of finding out Ennis del Mar’s last name?
~ If they weren’t being trucked up to the jump-off point until the following morning, where were they spending the night?
Chapter preview:
As a child Ennis had once rode the entire 43 miles of Dead Horse Road on his bicycle, and his legs ached for days afterward. After half an hour or so of walking along a two-lane highway in the dark with his thumb out hitchhiking the sensation in his ankles and shins came back to him. Just as he became convinced he'd have to walk all the way to Aguire's work trailer, a brand new tractor-trailer hauling cattle picked him up and he was greeted with a friendly smile from a man that Ennis estimated to be about thirty as he climbed up into the cab half asleep. The driver was hungry for company and conversation to keep himself awake on his lonely journey northwest to Idaho, which is what he considered a fair price for giving this guy a ride. Except to tell the driver where he was going, Ennis only answered the driver’s friendly questions in grunts and one-word answers while absently staring out the windshield.
He was left off soon after at a dusty intersection just outside of Signal as the first pale blue light began to halo the distant mountaintops of Brokeback Mountain National Forest. The lonely gear-jammer probably would’ve taken him all the way into town but decided to dump the wayward cowboy half a mile from his destination. As the truck pulled away loudly in a cloud of diesel smoke, del Mar set off again, still half asleep and on foot towards the address that he’d scrawled on the back of an old envelope...
Chapter 2: No more beans!
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~ The boys herd 1000 sheep up Brokeback Mountain and learn each other’s abilities and limitations
~ Who broke into Joe Aguirre’s trailer to see Ennis’ work papers?
~ Explore the boy’s thoughts as they slowly discover their attraction for each other.
~ Ennis begins carving a toy horse and rider
Chapter preview:
The next morning Jack headed down for breakfast. His grin at seeing the ranch hand faded when he noticed two open cans of beans bubbling over the campfire’s grate, but the smell of coffee brightened his mood. Ennis lifted the lid of another pan by the fire that had been left there to keep warm and revealed eggs and fried potatoes.
Looking directly at Ennis, it came out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. “I’m in love!” he gushed and took a filled plate from the handsome young blond ranch hand. Jack sat down on a log facing him and gave out a huge eye-watering yawn declaring that he couldn’t wait to get a spread of his own so he wouldn’t have to “put up with Aguirre’s crap no more.”
Ennis claimed to be saving money for a small spread of his own; which meant a tin tobacco can with two five-dollar bills inside. He told him how he’d planned to marry Alma when he came back down from the mountain.
After only a few days, they fell into a pattern, each feeling he could trust the other’s abilities. Ennis had never done this before but he was used to hunting, fishing, camping out and fending for himself. Ennis’ sister had taught him basic cooking, so he could fry up eggs and simple things out of cans, sticking mostly to what he knew. Not knowing Jack’s distain for them, he heated beans over the fire with whatever else he cooked and had a stream cooled bottle of whiskey or a couple of beers waiting for Jack at breakfast and supper.
Chapter 3: Sick ‘n tired of your dumb ass missin’!
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~ Ennis del Mar becomes troubled as he tries to understand his physical attraction to Jack Twist.
~ Ennis is thrown from his horse and nearly mauled by a bear during his first supply run.
~ After they lose most of their food, Ennis shows off his hunting abilities and bags an elk.
~ What model/kind of rifle did Ennis use to bag the elk?
Chapter preview:
Ennis realized he’d been so deep in thought that he’d made it about halfway up the mountain. Distracted when one of the mules in tow began resisting as they came up on a narrow mountain stream, he turned around in his saddle to bitch at it.
Ahead of them a bear that’d stopped to drink roared a territorial warning and stood up on its hind legs.
Cigar Butt reared up in fear and kicked at the air in panic. Ennis got only the barest glimpse of the huge black beast before finding himself in mid-air falling first on his shoulder, then his face slammed painfully into the scattered muddy pebbles at the edge of the stream.
Scared as hell, dizzy and near panic, he had only seconds to determine if he were about to be mauled and was relieved to see the bear running away, spooked by the horse probably. In the moment’s distraction the mules ran off hawing into the woods scattering the packs of supplies everywhere followed close behind by his horse. Cussing his head off, Ennis took off after them, concentrating on Cigar Butt because he needed the rifle in case the damned bear had company…
Chapter 4: I think my dad was right!
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~ Ennis’ fantasies turn toward Jack, despite his unwillingness to explore them.
~ Why did Ennis really trade jobs with Jack herding sheep instead of tending the camp?
~ Jack and Ennis begin opening up about their childhoods and attitudes.
~ What started Jack’s on-going emotional game of getting Ennis to smile?
~ Jack Twist becomes troubled as he tries to understand his physical attraction to Ennis del Mar.
Chapter preview:
Ennis stripped off his shirt in the warm afternoon sun and began shaving. “Shot a coyote up there at first light,” he told Jack casually with a hint of pride, sloshing his face with hot water, lathering up soap and scraping his beard off while Jack peeled potatoes. “Big son of a bitch; he had balls on him the size of apples. Looked like he could eat hisself a camel. I’ll betcha he took a couple of the sheep ‘fore I got ‘im. You want some of this hot water, there’s plenty?”
It irked young Jack that Ennis bagged the damned coyote that he’d missed so many times. He gingerly picked up a can of beans that’d been heating on the grate and took the opener to it. The red sauce spat out of it under pressure as the opener pierced the tin and sprayed all over him. “It’s all yours,” said Jack disgusted, indicating the water kettle, clumsily dropping the hot can back down on the grate. He found himself fighting the sudden urge to explore the ranch hand’s nearly naked torso with his eyes. He picked up another potato and began peeling it to distract himself.
“Well, I’m gonna warsh everything I can reach,” he said, pulling off his boots, jeans and everything else until he was completely naked but for his cowboy hat. Jack noticed he too didn’t wear underwear under his Levis. The brawny ranch hand was crouched down at the fire slopping the green washcloth lathered with soap.
Jack began to panic, not understanding the strange desire he felt to watch Ennis as he rubbed and probed every part of his lean and muscular horseman’s body. It was a fight but his eyes dared not move, though he could see him out of the corner of his eye.
Chapter 5: Damned tent don’t look right
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~ Jack and Ennis move camp
~ Live and breathe inside of both men’s minds and bodies that night of their first sexual encounter.
Chapter preview:
Jack finally choked out “Gun’s goin’ off,” and Ennis screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged forward in a final thrust and choked out more babbled gasps as his loins emptied, feeling as if he’d never stop cumming, fighting desperately to get his breath back. Both men felt as if they were about to pass out from exhaustion and joy.
Jack collapsed forward in a pool of his own sperm and at first faked sleep. Ennis had fallen forward with him, his cock still buried deep within Twist’s quivering ass. Del Mar marveled at how the muscled shoulders, back and firm pillowed butt beneath him seemed to have been molded by god or fate to fit his chest and hips perfectly as if destiny had meant them to come together.
Jack silently loved the weight of the young horseman’s body glued to his back, and waited for an impassioned kiss good night from his new lover, but dozed off waiting for something he wouldn’t get. As sleep came he felt completely spent, happier than he could ever remember being. It was as if Ennis were trying to crush him under his weight and it felt thrilling, as if he would always belong beneath this man.
Chapter 6: I ain’t queer
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~ Jack suffers guilt that maybe he’d unintentionally gotten Ennis drunk in order to seduce him.
~ Ennis del Mar becomes convinced that he lost control and raped Jack.
~ What briefly convinced both young men that each might be out to shoot the other in revenge?
~ Why was Jack Twist waiting for Ennis del Mar at the top of the hill that night instead of staying in camp?
Chapter preview:
…On his way up the trail Jack heard Ennis' gunshot at the coyote and spurred his mare into a gallop in case del Mar was in trouble. When he arrived half an hour later, he yanked his rifle from the saddle and stood guard on the top of a knoll surveying the herd and looking for predators. After a minute of searching, he spotted his friend down below seated next to one of the blue heel herd dogs as if resting. About ten yards away hung the corpse of a coyote. Twist spent the next ten minutes scanning for additional threats and debated with himself about going down to Ennis to apologize for getting him drunk and seducing him...
…Meanwhile Ennis was still deep in thought when the dog suddenly jerked his head beside him. Ennis glanced up on the hillside to see what had caught its attention. In the cloudy sky stood the silhouette of Jack Twist looking directly down at him. Del Mar’s chest tightened and his breath caught when he realized that the young rodeo rider was carrying his rifle in a way that said he’d come to use it.
It was a very rare occasion when Ennis felt scared and this was one of them. At this range, considering what he’d seen of Jack’s rifle skills, he knew that even if he tried, Twist would never hit him. If the roles were reversed and Jack had raped him, would he go gunning for him? He nodded to himself that he probably would’ve, and then walked over to his horse and pulled his own rifle out checking it over.
Chapter 7: The forever joining of souls
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~ Live the emotional turmoil and surrender as both Ennis and Jack fall in love with each other
~ Witness it as forbidden sex turns into making love past the point of turning back.
Chapter preview:
Out next to the crackling fire, suddenly the loneliness got the better of Ennis and he felt himself drawn to Jack and the feelings within himself that he couldn’t understand. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in surrender, cursing under his breath.
Jack almost jumped up to comfort him when Ennis suddenly stood, as if making a decision and then slowly advanced on the tent. With his hat meekly in his hand in respect, he parted the flaps and was startled to meet Jack’s eyes right in front of him.
Both felt it, but either young man knew yet that in that precise moment their souls had been joined together by fate for the rest of their lives. Jack drew closer, but hesitated with a bewildered look, and without a word their eyes locked.
Ennis didn’t know what to do as Jack reached out and took his hat, tossing it aside. Jack only knew that he wanted to do it again only this time with feeling. Ennis’ pent-up emotions began to spill out and his fear caused him to draw away and try to back out of the tent. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry that I… I’m so sorry, Jack.”
Jack grabbed his forearm and held it, keeping him from chickening out and tenderly whispered, “It’s alright, come lay down here with me, it’s alright,” as Ennis’ eyes seemed to glaze over with want. The comforting palm of Jack's hand found Ennis' cheek as they became lost in each other's eyes.
Chapter 8: Invisible
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~ As Jack and Ennis relax they try new sexual positions and experience the joy of kissing
~ Ennis fulfils a fantasy born the morning they met in the parking lot.
~ What sexual position does Jack experiment with that has Ennis forever craving more?
~ How much did Aguirre see that morning with his binoculars and why didn’t he fire them on the spot?
~ A violent rainstorm scatters 1000 sheep that become lost in the night.
~ Why did Ennis begin sleeping separately from Jack so soon after their relationship began?
Chapter 9: The stairway from heaven
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~ Live Ennis’ emotional turmoil when he finds out that he has to separate from Jack before he’s ready to.
~ What really caused the playful wrestling on the mountain to turn into an angry fight?
~ When and why did Jack steal Ennis' shirt?
~ What was going through Ennis’ mind when he finally parted with Jack in the parking lot?
~ Why did Ennis throw up after Jack drove away?
~ What made Ennis cry when he separated from Jack?
~ What event from his childhood had Ennis punching his fist against a wall and weeping?
Chapter 10: Junior and Jenny (Ennis from 1963 to 1967)
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~ Ennis marries Alma Beers and struggles to raise a family.
~ Why would someone want to kill Ennis del Mar over his ’55 GMC pickup truck?
~ How did Ennis and Alma barely survive the first four years of their marriage?
~ What were Ennis' kids names and who were they named after?
~ How did Alma talk Ennis into reluctantly moving in over the dry cleaners?
~ When did Alma start cheating on Ennis with Monroe?
Chapter preview:
He had Alma pregnant again in less than a month, hoping for a boy this time so he’d have a namesake.
By the end of October the Hi-Top ranch folded without warning. The del Mars began worrying about where to move. Alma’s mother lived near Riverton and she was sure she could get her old job back at the market. Ennis knew of a ranch near Signal that’d take him.
The problem was money now, with no paycheck coming in.
Circumstances made up their minds for them.
In late November, Ennis came home after working all day on a snowplow crew to discover their electric had been turned off. Alma was burning fence posts in an old stove with the baby next to it to keep warm. After going to town hall the next day, he had it turned back on under his name and while there discovered that no offers had been made on the ranch. They chanced it and stayed put where they were, figuring that sooner or later the new owners would come along and either evict them for squatting rent-free, or offer Ennis a job.
More and more Ennis began seeing himself as a ship lost in the middle of an enormous uncharted sea with nothing but endless miles of water everywhere he looked. He began resenting Alma for wanting to steer the damned boat even though she had no idea which direction to go either.
Chapter 11: Send in the clowns (Jack from 1963 to 1967)
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~ What demand convinced Jack that he could no longer stand to live on his parents’ ranch?
~ How did Jack Twist accidentally take revenge when Joe Aguirre threw him out of the trailer?
~ How does Jack Twist deal with his sexual attraction to both men and women after Ennis?
~ Ride along with Jack as he becomes a semi-successful rodeo star.
~ Jack tries to seduce the wrong rodeo clown in a bar.
~ Does Jack Twist love Lureen, or is he just hustling her for her daddy’s money?
~ What, or who saves Jack Twist after he is drafted into the army in 1965?
~ Who secretly took out a very large insurance policy on Jack Twist’s life?
~ Why did Jack Twist give up the rodeo?
~ Why did Jack decide to move into the spare bedroom after his son Bobby turned 4 years old?
Chapter preview:
Later on that evening, Twist sat in a dark bar eyeing the girls, listening to the music and incidentally watching the young guys playing pool within a haze of cigarette smoke. A tall good-looking shorthaired blond man in his late twenties, with a stark white cowboy hat entered. The overhead light at the door bounced off his white Stetson and the shoulders of his shirt, causing a flash that made heads turn in the dim room.
Jack frowned to himself a moment and then realized it was the brawny clown he’d been eyeing earlier. He wore a pair of “tight enough to be painted on” Levis, black boots and a fancy white cowboy shirt that highlighted his V-shaped muscular torso and arms. The man was spectacular and knew it, possessing the pecs, the swagger, the biceps, the slim waist and the impossible crotch bulge of a Greek god in western disguise.
He also possessed a heart-melting grin, which never left his face. One of the barmaids yelled out "Hey, Jim!" and he tipped his hat towards her.
All eyes couldn’t help but follow him cross the room, both male and female. The cowgirls wanted his body-the cowboys wanted his leftovers. His face didn’t look as much like Ennis’ as he’d thought, but that body kept drawing his gaze and quickened his breath. Scenarios of Twist getting him drunk and using the prize money to spend the night with this Adonis in some cheap motel began filling his head.
The popular rodeo clown went straight over to a group of his friends shooting pool. He dropped a couple of coins on the table and then glanced over towards the bartender. Moving forward again, with a friendly smile and a few nods, he met many eyes in the crowd with a grin... including Jack's.
For a moment their gaze locked across the noisy bar, then just as quickly flicked away. Jack began breathing hard, as the hunk seemed to be coming directly toward him, but at the last moment detoured to the rail twenty feet away to sit down and order a beer from the friendly bartender.
Was it an invitation or a casual glance?
Before he could wonder why or chicken out, Jack grabbed his beer from the bar and found himself walking the length of the rail to sit next to him...
Chapter 12: The kiss
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~ Ennis settles into fatherhood and becomes a caring husband.
~ Alma is never satisfied with Ennis as a provider, and becomes more and more critical of him.
~ The sixties become the hippy generation with long hair, free love, free sex and freethinking.
~ Where did Ennis del Mar encounter Joe Aguirre and his grown son?
~ Experience Jack and Ennis’ emotional reunion and the fiery first kiss.
Chapter preview:
In the flash of a moment, the years vanished and their pent-up emotions spilled out as their lips locked and relocked repeatedly, each running their fingers through the other’s hair, while both tried to climb into the other’s clothes craving any bare skin they could reach. Neither man could see, hear or think of anything but the one he held in his arms, as the world seemed to disappear for both of them.
It was the goodbye kiss they’d wished they’d shared back then, but couldn’t. The kiss that filled both of their private fantasies, dreams, and hopes for the last string of very long, long years. Like two stallions in rut, their bodies and breath trembled as they clutched one another more and more tightly. It was as if they each feared that if either let go the other would disappear and they’d wake up from the dream.
Upstairs, Alma came back out to the living room to see if she could find their usual sitter’s phone number and wondered what was taking Ennis so long outside. Checking the window, she saw nothing but a strange truck so she went to the front door, opened it and looked out. From above, she peered down at the foot of the neighbor’s stairs for a few seconds in disbelief. Her husband was in a clinch with another man and for a moment of panic, she thought they were fighting, possibly trying to strangle each other.
When her mind finally processed what she was actually seeing, her jaw dropped. She watched Ennis’ straining shoulders feverishly pulling the other man closer. She couldn’t help but see the passion in Jack’s urgently searching arms as they explored her husband’s body holding him so close. As their hips began grinding at each other's, she went into a sort of shock at the sight of them holding such a fiery kiss, not believing what she was seeing. It was something she never even had imagined or heard of.
Chapter 13: Not just yet cowboy
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~ Revel in the love and anxious sex that takes place in that cheap motel.
~ Join in the stories told that night, and the needed words that were left unspoken.
~ Who kept Alma del Mar from finding Ennis and Jack at the motel, despite her repeated tries?
~ What did Ennis tell Jack about his boyhood that was not in the movie but was in the original short story?
~ How did Jack keep Ennis from leaving the motel that night?
Chapter preview:
Outside of the cheap motel window a light misty rain fell. Just inside the newly closed door the two men stood transfixed in each other’s eyes.
Jack was trembling with passion so hard his teeth were chattering. Ennis was having trouble breathing as he reached over and shut the lights back off. Dim light filtered through the curtains giving them just barely enough glow to make out the other’s silhouette. Yet they still stood there not touching only inches apart as though afraid of the other vanishing in a dream come true.
Finally Jack raised a severely shivering hand to tenderly touch Ennis’ face, feeling his stubble rasp as the horseman pressed his cheek against it. Ennis swallowed hard, rested his palms on Jack’s hips, and slowly pulled their bodies together. Both closed tear filled eyes as slowly their heads found the other’s shoulder and their arms tightened.
Jack began quietly sobbing in joy as they pressed the sides of their heads together tightly; breathing slower now, taking their time, their arms exploring each other’s muscled back while their cowboy hats joined each other on the floor. In the dark Ennis moaned, running his fingers through Jack’s hair, comforting him.
Tears were flowing uncontrollably down both men's cheeks now.
Jack backed up, pulled him to the side of the bed and fell backwards onto it, bringing Ennis down on top of himself. He then rolled them over and straddled Ennis' lap as the ranch hand laid back and sighed, his eyes still closed tightly.
Twist leaned down to kiss his lips tenderly and then moved to his neck as del Mar’s hands fondled the short bristled hair on the back of his lover’s head. Jack ran his tongue down to Ennis' muscled chest and quickly undid the man's shirt buttons. As anxiously as a child on Christmas morning, he began pulling it apart as he yanked del Mar’s t-shirt up and kissed his abs.
Ennis sat up and pulled both his shirts off over his head, then laid back down as Jack undid his lover's belt buckle greedily, opened the fly buttons and kissed his pubic hair while del Mar kicked off his boots. Twist moved to the foot of the bed, grabbed the jeans and urged Ennis to raise his hips while he shucked the denim down and off taking his socks with it.
Jack smiled-Ennis still didn’t wear underwear; just like old times.
Chapter 14: You seen that?
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~ Why did Ennis really agree to go up into the mountains with Jack, risking his job and his marriage?
~ Alma frantically tries to understand the threat that Jack poses to her marriage before it’s too late.
~ When Jack stops for supplies on their way up the mountain, what did he buy that made Ennis burst out laughing?
~ Witness Jack’s heartache when Ennis turns down his proposal that they ranch up together.
~ Ennis goes into full, painful and bloody detail about how both Earl and Rich were tortured and then murdered.
Chapter 15: The year dreams died
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~ Who secretly rented a safe deposit box in Ennis’ name without his knowledge?
~ What caused Martha Twist to make a secret detour alone during her brother Harold Caine’s funeral in Signal?
~ Why did L.D. Newsome semi-retire, leaving Lureen to run his business?
~ How does Ennis react to Alma‘s suddenly finding religion?
~ Why did Alma really leave Ennis?
~ What happened when Ennis encountered Monroe coming out of their apartment one night?
~ Experience Ennis’ emotional torture when Alma divorces him.
~ Witness the disillusionment as Jack realizes that the divorce wasn’t so Ennis could be with him.
~ How soon after the divorce did Alma get pregnant and marry Monroe?
~ What happens when Jack takes Lureen and Bobby to surprise his parents in Lightning Flat?
~ Joe Aguirre and L.D. Newsome are introduced at a farm equipment convention in Casper sealing Jack and Ennis' fate.
Chapter preview:
After a particularly spiteful and loud fight over his refusal to take a second job with the electric company, Ennis went out to the bar to cool off. He’d never laid a hand in anger on Alma in their years of marriage, but that night he’d come close. When he came back home that evening, the sounds of the kids laughing up there, the TV playing loudly, and Alma singing, "Jesus loves me-yes I know..." was too much for him and he sat out in the night air on the tailgate of his truck for about half an hour smoking and wondering if his life would ever turn around for the better.
He layed on his back in the bed of the truck and looked up at the stars through a clear night sky, remembering that night with Jack looking for something up in heaven. Things would be so much different if they’d followed through on Jack’s idea to ranch up together.
Above and behind him, he heard their storm door open and didn’t bother to sit up and look because he figured it was just Alma. He didn’t want to hear her bitch at him for staying out so late. The girls started calling out “Goodbye!” so he frowned and peered out from the pickup's bed to see Monroe come out on the landing under the porch light and down the stairs.
He must’ve not seen Ennis in the dark until he was right beside him, because he practically jumped out of his skin...
Chapter 16: Almost knocked into next week!
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~ What were Lureen’s mother and father's names?
~ Jack finally gets fed up with his father-in-law’s attitude and tells him so.
~ How did Alma react to Monroe befriending Ennis and then inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner?
~ How did Jack and Ennis manage to have two Thanksgivings each that year?
~ When did Jack introduce Ennis to smoking weed?
~ Who hired a private detective to follow Jack around and why?
Chapter 17: Tied to the line
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~ Thanksgiving with Monroe, Alma and the girls results in disaster.
~ Alma reveals to Ennis that she’s known about he and Jack for years.
~ What dirty legal trick backfires in L.D’s face and loses him control of his farm machinery business?
~ What prompted Jack to sue L.D. Newsome for defamation of character?
~ Mrs. Newsome files for separation/divorce
~ Who emptied L.D’s bank account when he vanished.
~ What’s Jack’s reaction to Lureen’s mother moving into their house?
~ Did L.D. Newsome’s careful plan to fake his own death go deadly wrong?
Chapter 18: A new lover by chance
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~ Did Jack Twist cheat on Ennis del Mar?
~ Does Jack sleep with Foreman Randall Tanny?
~ Does Jack sleep with Randall Tanny's wife?
~ Does Jack fall in love with Randall or is it just sex?
~ Jack starts an affair with Randall's wife LaShawn!
~ Jack offers to take Randall with him up to his parents’ ranch to help run it instead of Ennis.
~ After resisting going back for so long what prompted Ennis to return with Jack to Brokeback?
~ Randall becomes a more and more tempting lover almost enticing Jack away from Ennis.
~ Who does Jack begin secretly shacking up with in Childress; Randall or LaShawn?
Chapter 19: You got a better idea?
Newsome hires a couple of roughnecks
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~ Jack suffers trying to decide on a sure-thing relationship with Randall or a hopeless one with Ennis.
~ In a grocery store parking lot, two oil company roughnecks are hired to beat up and rob Jack.
~ Ennis threatens to kill Jack if he finds out Twist is cheating on him in Mexico.
~ Jack finally lets out his trapped resentment at how Ennis has treated him for twenty years.
~ "I wish I knew how to quit you"
~ Who is waiting in a motel nearby to monitor Jack and Ennis’ final confrontation?
~ The “perfect storm” is coming together from all directions that all point to Jack’s death.
~ What is on an audiocassette that Ennis encounters with his name written on it at the campsite?
Chapter 20: Cherry trees and the Lord’s Prayer
Two deaths in Lightening Flat
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~ Did Jack Twist really die?
~ Experience first hand the gay-bashing ambush turned murder of Jack Twist.
~ Was Jack Twist murdered, or just a revenge beating gone wrong?
~ Who killed Jack Twist?
~ Who accidentally witnessed Jack’s killing and is forced into silence?
~ Was Jack beaten to death for insurance money, revenge, family honor or jealousy?
~ Why was Jack’s body really cremated?
~ What was Lureen’s reaction when a quarter million in Jack's stock investments turned up missing?
~ How does L.D. Newsome justify his disappearance allowing everyone to assume he’d died?
~ Who is murdered in the outskirts of Lightning Flat two days after Jack Twist’s death?
Chapter Preview...
It took Jack two hours, sometimes with tear-blurred eyes to drive the long miles to his boyhood home. Randall Tanny’s offer to leave his wife, take up with Jack up in Lightning Flat, and start a new life together would be impossible unless he could free himself of a lifetime of loving Ennis.
Trying to balance the scales between the hopelessness of ever having something permanent with the man he loved, and with never being able to love Randall as much, weighed heavy on his mind.
Tanny was left to wait at the hotel until Twist could talk to his parents. By the time he crossed the town limits of Lightning Flat and spotted his family’s battered, faded and rusted mailbox, he decided he’d discuss building that cabin, but had also decided to give Ennis just one more hopeless chance to give in and show him the love he’d been hiding all these years.
After traveling about a hundred yards down the long private dirt lane that led to his boyhood home through the blowing dust, he saw old lumber or a post from the barbed wire fence that’d somehow fallen over and he smiled that his new truck could run over it without even noticing.
Fifty feet directly ahead of him were two cherry trees that he’d planted in his boyhood as a Mother’s Day gift because she liked them when they flowered in the spring. Twist smiled at the memory as he bumped over the lumber. The front driver-side tire blew out and he cussed his head off as he struggled to stay in control.
Jumping out to inspect it, he exclaimed, “Shit!”
He pulled off his jacket, slapped it across the hood over handed and reached in to shut off the Silverado pickup. After scanning the surrounding weathered out-buildings of his youth and hearing only cows, he rolled up his sleeves, got under the back of his truck and pulled down the spare, jack and tire iron, then set to work getting the front wheel off.
A sound distracted him as an old battered Chevy pickup pulled up from behind that he recognized...
Chapter 21: Ashes to ashes
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~ What went through Ennis’ mind when he discovered Jack was dead?
~ Why did Ennis buy a pawnshop pistol for the trip to Jack’s parents’ house?
~ Did Lureen warn John and Martha Twist that Ennis was coming to see them?
Chapter 22: Bound by blood
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~ How does Ennis react to a scorched patch of ground in a wheat field by two cherry trees?
~ Does Ennis take the gun into Jack’s parents’ house?
~ Ennis finds a toy he carved on Brokeback in Jack’s bedroom.
~ What else did Ennis find in Jack’s bedroom that convinced him that Twist was murdered there?
~ Did Jack’s mother make a point of sending Ennis upstairs specifically to find those bloody clothes?
~ What was Martha trying to tell Ennis when she practically begged him to come back again?
Chapter 23: MURDERER!!!
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~ Who painted Aguirre’s office trailer door blue and why?
~ Who discovered Jack Twist’s obituary in Joe Aguirre’s office trailer?
~ How did a lady blackmailer’s plot nearly cost Ennis his life?
~ Was Joe Aguirre’s death linked to Jack’s murder?
~ What man planned an elaborate con job that depended on eventually killing Jack Twist’s parents?
~ Who went to the county seat to get Ennis’ address off of the child support judgment papers?
~ Who burned Ennis’ house to the ground on the Stoutamire ranch and who was trapped inside?
~ Who accused Ennis of murdering Jack, and wanted him dead before he could go to trial?
~ Was an escaped convicted killer hired to kill Ennis, and if so who paid him?
~ What became of Jack Twist's watch and wedding ring?
Chapter preview:
Ennis' house was reduced to an unsavable smoldering ruin.
Both cops grabbed one of Ennis’ elbows, looking back at Carl to join them in case they needed help. As they paced him back to the patrol car in the midst of the smoke-hazed field, del Mar was instructed to look only down and away from the squad car, which he did. He caught the barest glimpse of a man sitting angrily in the back seat wearing the female deputy's handcuffs.
Reaching it, she said softly, “Okay, Mr. Del Mar, I want you to turn slowly and tell me if you recognize this man.”
Ennis looked up and through the window and laid eyes on a complete stranger, about his age with a dark well-trimmed beard. With a frown he shook his head no.
The man scowled out the closed back window. Through the cage between the seats, he asked in an unsure tone, “You’re Ennis?”
Perplexed, del Mar frowned and nodded.
Flashing into a rage, the man in the car began struggling in his cuffs trying to kick out the window with the heels of his cowboy boots. “Son of a bitch-you killed Jack! He killed Jack that son of a bitch! ”
As the car rocked back and forth on its springs they all jumped back. Laura swiftly and smoothly pulled a little bottle from her belt and jumped into action, squirting pepper spray through the open front window and into the back. As he continued screaming and coughing out his accusations, everyone turned to Ennis.
“Murderer!” the man whimpered.
The county cop asked Ennis, “Want to tell me who he is now?”
Carl looked over at Ennis quizzically because the implication from the male cop’s tone was that Ennis was lying about knowing him.
Totally aghast Ennis only shook his head again unable to take his eyes off the stranger still struggling in the back of the rocking car, “Ain’t never seen him a day in my life.”
“MURDERER!”
They turned to Carl, “You?”
“KILLER!”
Stoutamire only shook his head not taking his eyes off of del Mar...
Chapter 24: If you can’t fix it, you’ve gotta stand it
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~ How many people were separately plotting Jack’s death at the same time?
~ Was the blackmailer that almost killed Ennis the one who killed Jack?
~ Who reopened the Jack Twist death inquiry and who else quickly got it closed again?
~ Who died in a private jet crash on Brokeback’s peak?
~ Who showed up outside of Ennis’ trailer driving Jack’s truck, causing him to frantically look for his gun?
Chapter preview:
Early one morning Ennis had just come from the ranch after spending a rough night with some newly bought horses. After making a detour to pick up some supplies and finally getting around to buying some numbers for his trailer's mailbox, he came home tired and hungry. He parked a couple of bottles of whiskey in the fridge with some eggs, sausage and bread. He sat down on his couch and instantly dozed off. As usual the dream was of holding Jack in his arms while they peacefully slept in the tent by the stream the last day they spent together on Brokeback Mountain at the place Twist had declared "his" spot.
Sometime around noon, he woke with a start.
He yawned and stretched, and was about to get up when a car door closed outside. Frowning he got up and looked out the window, stretching his mouth wide with a tear filled yawn. He studied an unfamiliar middle-aged man in a black suit and tie who was walking toward his front door but at the last moment he detoured around to the other side of the truck.
Ominously, he checked something in his inside breast pocket.
Someone small, a woman, was sitting on the passenger side, but he couldn’t make out whom.
He’d seen that truck before. Suddenly his breath caught.
It was Jack’s truck!
As quietly as he could he stooped low and grabbed the revolver out of the kitchen counter drawer, making sure it was loaded.
Crawling back to the window he peered out and his jaw dropped at what he saw...
Chapter 25: Come Hell or high water!
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~ Who was the woman that moved into Ennis and Alma’s old apartment?
~ Who told Ennis what really happened to Jack’s ashes, and where they are now?
~ Who told Ennis that Jack’s father was dead?
~ How did Ennis find out the details of Jack’s murder… and who it was that killed him?
~ Who discovered that Jack Twist had kept a diary?
~ What made Ennis so paranoid about the numbers on his mailbox?
~ Who demanded that Ennis swear to carry out one last task in Jack’s memory?
Chapter 26: “If you don’t got nothing, you don’t need nothing.”
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~ What’s going through Ennis’ mind when Alma Junior tells him about her engagement?
~ What was Alma Junior’s fiancé’s name?
~ Ennis first resists and then agrees to attend Alma Junior’s wedding.
~ Why did Ennis reverse his shirt with Jack's
~ What promise was Ennis swearing to keep in that final scene?
~ Jack, I swear...
Chapter 27: The key to an unfinished task
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~ What threat almost prevented Ennis from attending Alma Junior’s wedding?
~ Who eventually walked Alma Junior down the aisle?
~ How did Ennis take the news that Jack’s father had actually been murdered?
~ Was Jack Twist’s father’s death connected to Jack’s murder?
~ What must Ennis do in order to get the key to the mysterious safe deposit box in his name?
~ How and why was Jack's father John Twist murdered and by whom?
~ What did an attorney sell to Ennis for a dollar that changed his life forever?
~ Who later killed Jack Twist's mother and why?
Chapter 28: Fulfillment, release and redemption
~ Why did Ennis take Jack’s Silverado and drive it to Brokeback Mountain?
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~ What was on the mysterious audiocassette with Ennis’ name on it?
~ What really became of Jack Twist’s ashes?
~ Who from Jack’s past helped Ennis recover from listening to that audiotape?
~ What was built on Jack and Ennis’ favorite campsite?
~ Would Ennis make the same mistakes with his new love that he’d made with Jack?
~ What of Jack’s treasures from their past did Ennis discover in his safe deposit box?
~ What was in Jack’s final letter to Ennis?
~ Why would two cherry trees on the Twist ranch play a role in the rest of Ennis’ life?
Chapter preview:
Raising the hinged lid on the big metal safe deposit box revealed some carefully folded writing paper, a torn and yellowed label from a can of Better Most pork and beans, and an unopened bottle of whiskey with a faded store receipt from 1967 taped to it with a note-“Do not open until we buy our new ranch.” Ennis smiled to himself, remembering he’d bought that bottle for Jack the night they reunited in Riverton so long ago, but they’d never opened it. Del mar choked back a sob as his eyes landed on an old beat up harmonica that brought tears running down his cheeks. Next to it in unopened clear plastic envelopes were five shiny belt buckles from his bull riding days. Another one lay out loose beside them and was careworn and beaten up, and Ennis recognized it as the one Jack wore on the mountain back all those years in 1963.
A crumpled piece of bank stationary held an unredeemed I.O.U. from Martha Twist to Jack for $200 in cash.
The bottom two thirds of the box contained something bulky enclosed in an oblong heavy dark green burlap bag.
After fondling the nicked and tarnished buckle, with shaking hands he picked up the 3-year-old letter that Jack appeared to rewrite to him every so often...
Chapter 29: Jack Edward Twist II
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~ Why would Ennis change his name and what did he change it to?
~ Who fathered Jack Edward Twist II?
~ How did Ennis become involved in Wyoming’s infamous 1998 Matthew Shepard murder?
~ How did Monroe become the mayor of a revitalized Lightning Flat, Wyoming?
Chapter 30: 12 months of celebration, death and destruction
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~ What caused Alma Junior's husband to lose his sanity and die shortly afterward?
~ The laying of Jack Twist's memorial head stone reveals who it was that really killed him twenty years earlier!
~ Daughter Jenny comes out of the closet as a lesbian and opens a bar called “Jack Nasty’s.”
~ What caused Alma Monroe’s death in 2005?
~ What member of Ennis’ family was almost killed and stranded in the 911 attacks?
~ What husband and wife moved up from Texas to take over the Twist Ranch operation?
Chapter 31: Together
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~ Who were the three gunmen that threatened Ennis’ life on Brokeback Mountain?
~ How did a silly argument with his lover ultimately lead to Ennis’ death in 2006?
~ How did Ennis del mar and his husband die?
~ What ultimately became of Jack’s ashes and their famous shirts after Ennis’ death?
~ What circumstances would prompt Ennis to scrounge $10,000 together for Willie Nelson?
Epilogue: He was a friend of mine…
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~ Why did Ennis’ brother and sister disown him, and then later try to recant.
~ What became of Bobby Twist?
~ How did Willie Nelson become involved in the aftermath of Ennis’ death?
~ What keepsake lay secretly hidden in L.D. Newsome’s bank for 20 years?
~ Who was wrongfully convicted by DNA evidence of Jack Twist’s murder?
~ Where was Ennis laid to rest and why?
Please let me know what you thought...
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