tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14406555475635553552024-03-13T22:44:55.910-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel~1943-2006Brokeback Mountain read on line - Brokeback Mountain 2 pictures, Deleted Scenes, stills photos, Read Brokeback Novel on line free-Who killed Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain kiss-How did Jack Twist Die?-Brokeback Mountain tent sex scenes-Brokeback Mountain questions-trivia answers-Jake Gyllenhaal-Read Brokeback Mountain on line free. Heath Ledger-Ennis del Mar-Brokeback Mountain movie and DVDJethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-2404722036427666252014-02-24T13:03:00.006-05:002021-04-01T14:17:22.548-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 I<center><b><span style="font-size: 130%;">If your browser says this site isn't secure - DON'T PANIC - it's an old link that's brought you here, just click <a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>, and it will take you to the NEW secure blogger version. if you didn't get a notice you're already here and it's safe to continue. ...<i>and no pesky ads!</i></b></span></center>
<center><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXbRsj-N4E8/Vw7bJcv8QfI/AAAAAAAAL8k/WUdhHAl5NdgOSZnZ2exbOAh6RFe_czgcgCKgB/s640/Brokeback%2B-del%2BMar%2BFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oXbRsj-N4E8/Vw7bJcv8QfI/AAAAAAAAL8k/WUdhHAl5NdgOSZnZ2exbOAh6RFe_czgcgCKgB/s640/Brokeback%2B-del%2BMar%2BFamily.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>Four Places to start reading...<br />
<br />
Part One ~ Chapters 1-6<br />
<i>The del Mars From Riches To Rags</i></span><br />
Written by Jet Gardner<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: Ennis' family history, his childhood and teen years.<br />
An evangelical con man blames a gay teenager's suicide on a rancher and a mechanic.<br />
The murders of Earl & Rich. The deaths of Kyle & Frannie del Mar in a car crash.<br />
Orphaned - K.E. & Ennis wander hundreds of miles in search of a new home.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Two ~ Chapters 7-11<br />
<i>The Legend of Jumpin’ Johnny Twist</i></span><br />
Written by Jet Gardner<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: Jack's famous rodeo father's secret past and<br />
how it contributed to Jack's death over 40 years later.<br />
L.D. Newsome's father robs and then murders the owners of a rodeo.<br />
Uncle Harold gets swindled. Jack's childhood and teen years.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Three ~ Chapters 12-34<br />
<i>Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx<br />
</b><span style="color: #006d9f;">w/additions by Jet Gardner</i></span></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #006d9f;">Features: Jack's first summer on the mountain in 1962.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Ennis & Jack's 1963 adventures on the mountain. The short story has been<br />
expanded with additional material incorporating deleted scenes from the movie -<br />
Jack's gruesome death. A stranger falsely accuses Ennis of murdering Jack.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Four ~ Chapters 35-41<br />
<i>If You Can’t Stand it - Ya Gotta Fix it</i></span><br />
Written by Jet Gardner<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: What really happened to Jack's ashes and why he was cremated.<br />
A suicide becomes an arson at a Pentecostal Church in Lightning Flat<br />
Ennis struggles on after losing Jack. Who poisoned Jack's father and shot his mother?<br />
Jack's innocent son Bobby gets caught with planted evidence of Jack's murder and jailed.<br />
Who set the fire that destroyed the Twist ranch? Ennis' death in 2006 and his legacy.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><u>Important notice:</u> This work of fiction contains sexual content and very graphic violence.<br />
Because of the HUNDREDS of very large images/maps that can be clicked on to enlarge,<br />
a minimal monitor size of <b><u>16 inch - 1024 x 768</u></b> is recommended.<br />
Viewing from a pad or phone may move/misplace/lose images altogether.</span></center><br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><i>On a personal note if I may... through comments I've learned that a lot of people come up on something and say "He or she would never do that, or that event would <u>never</u> have happened." and they quit reading... but if you give it a chance and read further, you might find later on just why this or that event was necessary for the story and I'll always be faithful to Annie's original and bring it back to "canon."<br />
<br />
A lot has been made of the farm & place names. It's not from a lack of imagination - they are intentionally named after the actors in the movie that brought this story to life... For instance, the Proulx River where Jack and Ennis camped is named after Annie. Be patient with me - this is my first attempt at fan fiction.<br />
Jet Gardner</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><span style="color: #006d9f;"><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 1~ In The Beginning Grandpa Ennis Begat Kyle Who Begat Ennis</span></b></center><i>A brief family history of the two generations that started it all...</i><br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TMO5hc-f854/Vw7bNUx_phI/AAAAAAAAL8k/g-25poTbJgcFWPHZluwVSFKv2rWF7PKBgCPcB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B0%2Bgrandpa%2BEnnis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" ps="true" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TMO5hc-f854/Vw7bNUx_phI/AAAAAAAAL8k/g-25poTbJgcFWPHZluwVSFKv2rWF7PKBgCPcB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B0%2Bgrandpa%2BEnnis.jpg" width="192" /></a><span style="color: #006d9f;"><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>B</b></span>ack in 1916 Ennis Abraham del Mar was orphaned at the age of sixteen. He lost his father in World War I and only a month later his mother and both brothers died in a flu epidemic.<br />
<br />
Forced to grow up fast, with no one to help him run it, the teenager sold their Illinois homestead for what he could get, sadly packed up his family's meager belongings on his horse and two pack mules, and then bravely journeyed westward alone.<br />
<br />
With the entire branch of his family tree now dead but him, his aim was to raise up a mess of kids and get a taste of the prosperity that the western territories promised in those days.<br />
<br />
After the Great Earthquake while San Francisco fought to rebuild an entire city from the ground up, it was very hard for anyone else to get local workers for any kind of major project. Sage, Wyoming finally resorted to advertising in newspapers in the Midwest and back east offering top wages.<br />
<br />
Del Mar set out hoping for a job as a laborer on their upcoming dam project there and if that failed to pan out, he'd just keep a'goin' west until he reached the Pacific, then head north to Frisco.<br />
<br />
When Ennis got there, he found a small community of only about 600 people in the midst of endless mile after mile of barren reddish hills, tumbleweeds, and dry wasteland. The town of Sage was started by a silver miner whose mother lode depleted a year after it was discovered, leaving him and the locals looking for another means of supporting themselves.<br />
<br />
By 1917 it was little more than a straight and wide business-lined main drag named Sage Street that ran level for half a mile or so south from the main trail, and then climbed halfway up a barren hill to dead-end at another trail that eventually was named "Camel's Back."<br />
<br />
The railroad line that ran parallel to the main trail didn't even think the town was worth putting in a depot. Folks had to journey 25 miles west across the state line to Lakton Utah to travel anywhere by train.<br />
<br />
Just north of Lakton was a big expanse of water known as Bear Lake that stretched miles up into Idaho. Sage's ambitious founder wisely decided to try to dam up Twin Creek for water in order to create a “tiny dot on the map” oasis of fertile ranch and farmland of their own.<br />
</span></span><center><span style="color: #006d9f;">Images can be clicked on to E-N-L-A-R-G-E them</span></center><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gLiUwiC1JOE/UjzVH0Ht61I/AAAAAAAAHw4/i5rLOwNUNTg/w1268-h829-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Sage+Map.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="center: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gLiUwiC1JOE/UjzVH0Ht61I/AAAAAAAAHw4/i5rLOwNUNTg/w1268-h829-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Sage+Map.bmp" width="660" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As with anything worth keeping, paradise is earned only with constant, hard and backbreaking work and Ennis was no stranger to it.<br />
<br />
The young man was one of the lucky few that looked towards the future and invested in Sage early.<br />
<br />
He'd spend months riding the deep stream valley, estimating where the water would rise to and where the future lake would be widest. Young Del Mar was laughed at after he collectively took all of his late father's savings, plus what he'd gotten after selling the family farm in the Midwest, and what he'd earned as a tenderfoot dirt hauler, to buy what was thought to be a completely useless parched hilltop.<br />
<br />
He had rocky peaks dynamited and then sold the resulting waste to his employers as material for the internal core of the earthen dam. The result was a flat platform of bedrock high up where he estimated the future shoreline of the lake would be. Those not thinking ahead didn't realize that those hills had the potential to become prime lakefront real estate.<br />
<br />
By selling those huge boulders, he'd cleverly let his detractors unknowingly pay for the leveling out of his future home ranch. He would later chuckle at them when they learned the valuable business lesson that it's better when you're investing in something to use other people's money.<br />
<br />
He built a small shack there to live in and quietly began hauling seed from the depot in Lakton for corn, wheat, barley and other staples in order to find out what would grow there. The general store owner thought he was plumb loco when he even inquired about apple and cherry tree seedlings. In the coming years some crops would thrive, but more often than not failed, but at least he was gaining a head start knowledge that no one else had.<br />
<br />
He was high-stakes gambling now because if the new dam didn't hold or was lower than projected, he'd lose everything on a thousand acres of dry hilltop.<br />
<br />
Through more hard work, he impressed his bosses and became a foreman on the dam project. Using his new management position, he little by little redirected a lot of the displaced waste dirt that wasn't rocky enough to be hauled to the dam site onto his own already prepared and waiting property while hoping the dry winds didn't blow it all away. Instead of a spillway, dozens of large concrete pipes were buried to separately carry water and sewage beneath town, emptying back into Twin Creek on the west side of the business district. Treated water was also pumped into scattered large water tanks where wells weren't available or too expensive to drill.<br />
<br />
Within a year after the completion of the dam and the lake that slowly rose up behind it, Ennis had his acres of prime ranching and fertile farmland surrounded on three sides by life-giving water. He was ahead of everyone else in town by at least a year and was selling crops while his neighbors were still preparing their fields for their first plantings.<br />
<br />
The resulting much smaller Lake Sage may not have had the tourist appeal of Bear Lake, but Sage's new farms thrived from it and relished in its “in the middle of nowhere” reputation. Del Mar, still looking towards the future, began paying local fisherman in Utah to start a “catch and release” program… "Catch ‘em at Bear Lake - release ‘em at Lake Sage!"<br />
<br />
Determined not to let the del Mar name die with him, he married at eighteen and sired four boys by 1922, eventually more than tripling that with the success of his ranch. The shack was replaced with a proper house and one by one; he built barns and equipment sheds that sprouted up everywhere.<br />
<br />
After a few years of experimenting, he settled on growing hay, sugar beets, barley, dry beans, and wheat. Cherry, apple and pear trees thrived too. Prize cattle and horses soon followed the abundant crops.<br />
<br />
As the years passed he built a fine home with eight bedrooms and lots of room for love.<br />
<br />
With his early profits, he bought hundreds of assorted tree seedlings from all over the country and had them planted on the northwest shore near the dam, then named the resulting public recreation area Heath Ledger Park after his wife's late father as a fifth anniversary present. Sage thought it was a wonderful and generous donation, but actually all he was doing was figuring out which trees would survive here and what wouldn't, and rather than take up his own valuable farmland doing it, decided to let the town tend to and water them for him.<br />
<br />
His wife's favorite willow trees soon lined the shoreline the length of his property along with tall fast-growing poplars and spruces.<br />
<br />
With the growing popularity of the automobile, Utah would through the course of years eventually extend its scenic Valley View Highway to the Wyoming line just outside of town to accommodate the increase in commerce and traffic.<br />
<br />
Ennis sold parcels of land to finance a long narrow lane back behind the east shore of Lake Sage all the way to his home. As it grew to serve several ranches, the town eventually extended it farther east and then north along the reservoir's shoreline and then connected it with the county road. The improved throughway became known as Del Mar Pike.<br />
<br />
Del Mar’s fourth son, christened Kyle del Mar, and his neighbor Mark's daughter <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiZTN_O-qCY/Un0qUocONyI/AAAAAAAAJEE/TXpcun5T4A0/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+Mother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiZTN_O-qCY/Un0qUocONyI/AAAAAAAAJEE/TXpcun5T4A0/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+Mother.jpg" width="189" /></a>Francine Bowers were practically twins, both farm-born on June 1st 1922. Both were blond like their mothers, grew up on ranches across from each other, went to school together, and were practically raised as brother and sister… in fact they did everything together.<br />
<br />
The only discernible difference in their life trajectories was that while Francine was an only child, Kyle eventually became one of fourteen brothers and sisters.<br />
<br />
In the coming years, young Kyle grew up quickly, toiling hard in the fields alongside his daddy and brothers. The boy developed into a thin, muscular and gangly teenager with wavy blond hair. When he hit puberty he suddenly realized that Frannie might potentially be more than just his “bestest friend in the whole world.”<br />
<br />
He learned to brawl by fighting off his elder brothers’ attentions towards her.<br />
<br />
He was born with a defect in his cleft palate that left him with a slight life-long lisp that got him picked on a lot by his many brothers and sisters, and especially by the other kids in his classroom. Heartless school tormentors toughened him up by labeling him “Sissy boy” early on and by the time he’d reached the 6th grade he’d been expelled four times for bullying and belligerent behavior.<br />
<br />
By the time Ennis Abraham del Mar turned 29, he was heavily invested in the growing New York business stocks back east trying to make sure his moderately rich family stayed that way, but America's luck ran out nine months later in 1929 when the stock market crashed, leaving the family nearly penniless. Not one to give up easily, he still had his farm and everybody needed food, but for many many years afterward, no one could afford what he managed to grow with the seed he had barely enough to buy.<br />
<br />
...Then came the dust storms that turned the sky dark at noon, and then The Great Depression. Ennis quietly began hauling spare tractors, tools and prize livestock out the back road east to Diamondville to sell it out of the view of prying eyes in Sage.<br />
<br />
He lost his pride in his accomplishments and became depressed as his success and prestige became as hard to hold onto as a handful of sand.<br />
<br />
Ennis struggled and fought to keep his spread alive, sometimes barely getting ahead - but mostly falling behind. Seeing his father's burden supporting such a large family, his oldest boy Jake left to get a low-paying job in Sacramento California. Randy left soon after and settled in Salt Lake City working as a typesetter for a newspaper. David moved to Sandy Utah and became a Presbyterian preacher surrounded by Mormons.<br />
<br />
With money tight in 1937, out of desperation Ennis took out his first ever loan on his valuable land to try to make ends meet... then abruptly saw the prices that farm products could be sold at fall through the floor again. Instantly half the ranchers in town went bankrupt with unharvested crops rotting in fields, lots of livestock, but no one to sell either to.<br />
<br />
That fall, lightning struck the del Mar mansion and the family found themselves crammed into the empty<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9nlIqK3Wnlk/UzCnRwgSt1I/AAAAAAAAJ88/sd9cVRe8zXE/w599-h435-no/Brokeback+Mountain+delmar+fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="290" ps="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9nlIqK3Wnlk/UzCnRwgSt1I/AAAAAAAAJ88/sd9cVRe8zXE/w599-h435-no/Brokeback+Mountain+delmar+fire.jpg" width="400" /></a> first house Ennis had built. Three rooms downstairs two upstairs<br />
<br />
Still Papa stayed strong and proud, but he was growing tired of fighting and if it hadn't been for the support of his loving and devoted wife and kids he wouldn't have made it.<br />
<br />
Come November after a meager harvest, Ennis was thirty-seven and Kyle was fifteen and a half. Del Mar couldn’t find a job anywhere to support his big family, but was determined not to sell the ranch they'd all worked so hard for. With winter snows approaching fast, he began giving his oldest remaining son Kyle crash courses in farming and ranching, buying and selling animals, and managing the money.<br />
<br />
Young Kyle became worried after being told that he might soon be the "man of the house," because his old man would have to leave town in order to find work.<br />
<br />
In a last-ditch effort, Ennis, who by then everyone in town knew affectionately as "Papa," took what was left of his life savings and paid the mortgage up for six months. Hope spread around like wildfire, because if Papa still had enough money on hand just lying around to make such a large payment... and if he could survive in those times... then maybe they could too.<br />
<br />
With talk in the press of Germany starting a war in Europe, Ennis left town without a word to anyone but his wife. Even though the U.S, hadn't become involved yet, he enlisted in the army back when there were no age limits for joining, willing to try anything to support his struggling family.<br />
<br />
Everyone in town grew puzzled when he didn't rebuild his fine house. Soon after his leaving, people started noticing his absences at town functions. Speculation began flying around that the man that they still thought was very wealthy was thinking of deserting them for greener pastures west, probably scouting out new land in Utah or California where three of his boys had already moved.<br />
<br />
The resentful mayor loudly opened the next town counsel meeting by remarking that if those were his plans, then del Mar was about as useful to them as a dead horse. Several people gasped at the Mayor's language when he repeated himself later by closing the meeting, "Good ladies and gentlemen, he left us when we needed him the most... That ungrateful rich bastard walked out on our town without as much as a goodbye, and I personally will miss him less than a God-DAMNED dead horse."<br />
<br />
Tragically, Ennis was accidentally killed during training when a defective rifle barrel exploded on a boot camp firing range two months later.<br />
<br />
Sadly his kin couldn't even afford to have the body shipped home. Ennis Abraham del Mar was buried in an unmarked and eventually forgotten grave at a pauper's military cemetery back east.<br />
<br />
Unlike today, women in those days were unwise in the ways of business and commerce, and his wife became convinced their land was worthless with everyone around her too broke to buy it. Besides that, Mama del Mar was too devastated by the death of her beloved husband to think clearly and took to her bed sobbing and wailing for nearly a week.<br />
<br />
Knowing the bank would eventually take the ranch if it found out about her husband's death, she began writing to her three eldest boys for what little financial help she could get. Mama only had one direction she could flee and that was west.<br />
<br />
Without a word to anyone, she made her final decision to quietly abandon the then-famous del Mar ranch. She still had four months paid up on the spread, so if she couldn't find a new home, she could always quietly return and have the place to fall back on until they were evicted for nonpayment on the note.<br />
<br />
Her eldest boy Jake finally arrived from California.<br />
<br />
Telling no one, not even the Bowers across the road, and with only one truck that barely held all of her kids, they started out late one night in January with only the clothes on their backs.<br />
<br />
Livestock were let loose inside the barns with all of the hay that was left and a hope they'd survive the cold until spring. Equipment became covered with snow in the fields. She and her remaining ten children only made it as far as a crossroads in Lakton Utah before Jake's old truck broke down. From there they took a bus to northern Utah to live with her married brother.<br />
<br />
Not knowing the tragic details of what really happened, more gossip flew and rumors spread that Papa del Mar really had abandoned Sage along with his money to start up a new town of his own in Utah. Sour townsfolk conveniently forgot all that the man had done for them and in sheer stupidity and spite wiped his name off of everything. Street signs were replaced and the town council even considered changing the name of the now lush wooded Ledger Park, but it was spared because they didn't know it was named after his father-in-law.<br />
<br />
It was only after the long cold bus journey west that Mama del Mar realized that one of her children was missing.<br />
<br />
Following days of frantic searching, finally her eldest daughter broke down and confessed that one of her sons said that he was going to do his patriotic chore by running away to take his father’s place in the army.<br />
<br />
She never saw Kyle again.<br />
<br />
He lied about joining the army.</span><br />
<br />
<b></b><br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Kyle & Frannie Bravely Take The Reins</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">ovesick Kyle couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his home and his girlfriend Francine behind. He crept away from his uncle Jake's truck when it broke down in Lakton, hitchhiked and walked the 25 miles back to Sage, and hid out in Francine's parent’s freezing cold barn across the road for two weeks while she snuck food to him.<br />
<br />
Eventually he moved back to his folk’s abandoned ranch, afraid of the responsibility, trying desperately to remember everything his father taught him about running a spread of that size... all by himself.<br />
<br />
For the first few weeks the teenager went wild with no parents to say “no” to him, but eventually he settled down with the weight of responsibility on his back for the next mortgage payment that was due two months away in May. Everything had been snowbound for weeks and nothing moved, so no one even noticed the del Mars had vanished. Smoke came out of the house's chimney, so everyone just assumed that someone was still there, even though Ennis continued to miss town meetings, church and social events.<br />
<br />
Kyle's father taught him well that he'd need an education and the boy was allowed to continue going to school every day, signing his mama’s name to report cards and working part time here and there. In those days it wasn't unusual for teenaged kids to quit school to work on their parent's farms in bad weather. When teachers noticed that all of the del Mar kids had stopped coming and questioned him, Kyle explained it away by saying that his father went east on business and had sent his family to live with relatives in Utah.<br />
<br />
A “chip off the ol’ block” and without knowing he was sort of following in his daddy’s footsteps, Kyle Del Mar developed into a careful and smart kid for his age and convinced the neighbors that he was left behind to try to run the ranch on his own.<br />
<br />
Blissfully in a world of his own, he drove back and forth to school every weekday in the only vehicle left, an old Model T farm truck, and never noticed the street sign he didn't need to read to find his way around. It was only after going to the post office to mail a mortgage payment that he discovered the addresses on the envelopes had changed...<br />
<br />
...He now lived on Dead Horse Road.<br />
<br />
It didn't take him long to find out why the name had changed, or to feel the resentment the town held towards his father that he was blissfully unaware of for so many weeks.<br />
<br />
He got a job as a journeyman carpenter that spring when Sage built a rodeo arena to attract tourists in the shadow of the dam. When he had to, Kyle also did odd jobs on the neighboring ranches for only food and supplies he needed.<br />
<br />
Slowly but surely through planting season he learned to work the crops on his own and sold off a few heads of cattle and some horses a few at a time for money to buy back farm equipment, to pay the electric, and make home repairs.<br />
<br />
If it weren't for the continued drawn-out Depression and plummeting farm commodity prices, the del Mar Ranch would be worth a fortune to someone investing for when the economy got better… if it got better.<br />
<br />
Long ago his daddy discovered that their fat peninsula bordered on three sides by the lake seemed to be a secret gathering spot for cutthroat trout, mackinaw, cisco, and whitefish, and with no limits like on Bear Lake, Ennis had built several floating piers and let out-of-towners fish off his land for a minimal - yet profitable price.<br />
<br />
Kyle continued that tradition and planned to add ice fishing that coming winter. Long ago, his father was permitted to post floating signs forbidding angling boaters off his shore in return for allowing an annual fishing contest that drew crowds from miles around.<br />
<br />
By using his wits Kyle continued to make every mortgage payment on time. Had the bank known who truly held title to that land, they would've snapped it up quickly and had no regrets about evicting the young man who now resided there all alone and scared of being found out.<br />
<br />
Kyle would have been alright and gone unnoticed too if it hadn’t been for the present he and Francine gave to each other on their mutual 16th birthday in 1938.<br />
<br />
On the last day of school an angry father named Marcus Bowers showed up in class with a loaded shotgun hunting for the boy that got his little Francine pregnant. A week later they were married shotgun style by a justice of the peace.<br />
<br />
Gambling that the elder del Mar would return eventually, and knowing Kyle had only one payment left on the books for their ranch loan, they let the wealthy owners have it as a wedding present and good will gesture. The bank was gambling towards better times that might bring business and deposits to come from them; not knowing that the current holders of the deed were a sixteen-year-old couple.<br />
<br />
Rumors about a dictator named Hitler and of America becoming deeply involved in a war in Europe spread like tumbleweeds even though the president made isolationist speeches to the contrary. Except to learn where it was in Asia in geography classes, most kids ignored Japan. ...their parents did too. <br />
<br />
Everyone was still out of work. In the months to come, the mayor began using anger over Ennis' absence as an election year issue and his campaign photo even showed him conveniently smiling next to a new DEAD HORSE RD. sign. Months later when everyone eventually discovered what had really become of one of the town's benefactors, he lost the election... but the street signs never came down.<br />
<br />
After a difficult pregnancy Kyle and Frannie's first child Cornelia was born March 26, 1939 and Kyle was furious because it not only wasn’t a boy, but the baby was a brunette and they were both blonds. In ignorance he believed he'd been tricked into marrying her with some other guy’s child. In revenge he savagely sexually attacked and beat his young bride over the next week.<br />
<br />
Nine months later the day after Christmas his namesake Kyle Ennis del Mar Jr. was born, also dark haired. Kyle and Francine went through a rocky time in their marriage and separated for nearly two years because the new baby reminded her of that marital rape.<br />
<br />
During that period, she took the toddlers to live across the road with her <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z-geDJPTAlc/Ub-IopznamI/AAAAAAAAFSk/c9ppTSA2nK0/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+Kyle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z-geDJPTAlc/Ub-IopznamI/AAAAAAAAFSk/c9ppTSA2nK0/s200/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+Kyle.JPG" width="181" /></a>parents never letting on to them what had happened to her, or why Kyle left town.<br />
<br />
<br />
Rather than fight with Francine all the time, Kyle gave use of his land and livestock to his father-in-law, leaving his failing ranch to join the Gyllenhaal Traveling Rodeo circuit as a chute dogger and roper, doing well enough to send money back to Francine to support his two children, but not enough to make much of a living at it.<br />
<br />
Men were begging and pleading for jobs, so it wasn’t uncommon for a father to leave his family behind out of desperation and work for pennies to support them in another town miles away.<br />
<br />
Though he was 18 and drove his father’s truck, he never got a driver’s license, nor voted, so he was on no one’s books but the bank’s.</span><br />
<br />
<b></b><br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Destiny’s Fathers - Part One</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n the long stretch that followed, Kyle faithfully kept sending nearly all the money he made to Fran and the kids. He also did a bit of growing up and a lot of learning… and had a lot of sense beaten into him too by cowboys he’d told his story to. <br />
<br />
A little after a year into his attempt at becoming a rodeo star, he made a rare visit back to his hometown late one night. He was on his way to seeing his wife and kids living across the road at his in-laws. Driving deep in thought in an old pickup he’d recently bought third hand after his daddy's had died, he nearly ran over a big man in the dark just after turning left onto Dead Horse Rd from the main drag through town (Sage St.)<br />
<br />
The cowboy was walking aimlessly down the middle of the road.<br />
<br />
Thinking he was a drunken neighbor, del Mar stopped and found a dazed, confused and lost stranger a little older than he was, in silent anguish over something horrible. He wasn’t drunk; just crazed with grief, and didn’t know where he was.<br />
<br />
The man managed to choke out that he’d hitchhiked as far as the railroad tracks on Lincoln County Road to get to Sage’s Rodeo stadium but couldn’t find it in the dark.<br />
<br />
Kyle explained the rodeo was wedged between the shops and the earthen dam holding back Lake Sage Reservoir. Seeing that this guy was in no shape to be by himself tonight and knowing his farmhouse was empty because Frannie and the kids were living with her parents, Kyle drove the stricken stranger home with him.<br />
<br />
With the electricity off, del Mar guided him into the dark kitchen, lit a kerosene lamp, and they sat at the dust-covered dinner table.<br />
<br />
The handsome man had immense bulging arm and torso muscles that were bigger than any he’d ever seen in his life and he looked awful familiar but he couldn’t place the face.<br />
<br />
The brown-haired cowboy was beside himself with something all pent up inside, so Kyle found a bottle of whiskey and fed it to him until the big man calmed down enough to tell of his sorrow.<br />
<br />
His childless wife up in Lightning Flat had just a few days ago miscarried for the second time. The people he worked for and loved like family had been gunned down in town the night before. The stranger’s best friend in the world died only an hour ago at a local hospital across the Utah line in Lakton, and it’d become just too much for him to handle. He was trying to walk back to the arena in town and in his overwhelming sorrow got lost.<br />
<br />
The man wouldn't let it out and Kyle could see it was eating him up inside.<br />
<br />
Wait... those posters plastered up all over town! Del Mar imagined a big beaming smile on his face; a white cowboy hat and suddenly it dawned on him. He jumped up knocking his chair backwards and shrieked like a schoolgirl who’d just spotted Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra on the street, “Jack… no-uh um… JUM… uh… JUMPIN’ JOHNNY TWIST!!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, standing there pointing at him in astonished disbelief.<br />
<br />
The man sitting right here at his very own table was a famous rodeo star! In fact he was his hero and the man Kyle hoped to be some day!<br />
<br />
Twist just sat there with his head down on his forearms in quiet bitter exhaustion.<br />
<br />
In his amazed state of mind, Kyle wasn’t really paying attention to his guest and gushed grinning from ear to ear, “Sakes alive, ya got big! You know I tell all my rodeo friends how I met ya ‘bout a year ago up yonder in Lightnin’ Flat! I pert near broke my arm tryin’ out fer Bossman ‘n was introduced to ya in the locker room there. I declare it’s such a mighty honor ta…”<br />
<br />
The local newspaper flashed before his eyes. It said the owners of the Boss Man’s Traveling Rodeo Show and several other people were shot dead right here in town during a robbery at the stadium two nights ago.<br />
<br />
The champion looked up at him, and the man's chin and forehead seemed to be trying to crush his face between them. This time he couldn’t hold back and the cries burst out of him in huge gasps so loud that Frannie could probably hear them across the road.<br />
<br />
Kyle quickly circled the table, held him in his arms, and comforted him until he cried it all out. The man was so exhausted that he was ready to pass out, so Kyle led him into the back bedroom, slipped off his boots and stayed with him in bed through the night occasionally holding him or softly talking him back to sleep.<br />
<br />
The next morning he drove John to the stadium and discovered that some kind of makeshift memorial meeting was taking place for Twist's slain coworkers.<br />
<br />
Kyle wanted to go in with him to make sure he was all right, but he now had lost nearly a day of only two he had left to spend with his family. They thanked each other and parted ways not possibly knowing what destiny held for both of their yet to be born sons…</span><br />
<br />
<b></b><br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Frannie Goes It Alone… Again</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked and then World War II broke out. Del Mar was never registered with the draft after his mother assumed he was either dead or already in the army, so he avoided being called up by laying low and not drawing attention to himself.<br />
<br />
June of 1942 saw Kyle turn twenty. The Gyllenhaal Traveling Rodeo he'd finally found a home in was suspended as Uncle Sam called more and more young men into the war effort. With nowhere else to go, he returned home to try his hand at breeding and selling roping horses, while raising livestock on the ranch... and trying to make up with Francine.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwbCV89hgNU/UmRrl3I9DVI/AAAAAAAAI8k/YYpyG2VYpB4/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+little+Ennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwbCV89hgNU/UmRrl3I9DVI/AAAAAAAAI8k/YYpyG2VYpB4/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+little+Ennis.jpg" width="160" /></a><br />
He was surprised at how much his two kids had grown and it didn't help the situation that while he was gone, Kyle Jr.'s hair had gradually lightened to almost the same shade as his father's.<br />
<br />
With men dying in wars across both oceans by then, Francine realized that she was lucky to have a man at all and after a few months of sweet-talkin' from Kyle, moved back across the road with her volatile husband. The new reconciliation stuck and in late spring of 1943 she presented Kyle with a second son that was fair-haired this time. They named him Ennis Jordan del Mar.<br />
<br />
To her relief he was the proverbial "spittin’ image" of his Daddy.<br />
<br />
As the baby grew and became a toddler rather than crying, he developed an infectious giggle that his parents adored. That contagious laugh could earn Ennis anything he wanted and his doting parents spoiled him rotten his first five years.<br />
<br />
Resentful little Kyle Junior began to feel like a “factory reject” instead of the first-born son, and so began a habit of endlessly picking on his little brother out of spite and to “keep him in his place.”<br />
<br />
Through war and then victory in Europe and Japan, Kyle got the hang of ranching, depending on raising livestock more than farming, though he eventually did both well. Gradually a well-built, well-liked man replaced the teenager who took over the del Mar Ranch and soon the animosity that the locals felt towards his late father was put aside as more found out the elder del Mar was killed serving his country instead of skipping town like everyone thought.<br />
<br />
Kyle tore out the insides and then remodeled both floors of the ranch house with help from his neighbors and in-laws. What once was a big five-room house, barely holding fourteen kids and two adults after the fire, was gutted to the outer walls and then converted to a two-story three-bedroom home. He expanded the back of the ground floor and added two additional bedrooms above that.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eSwm5JyJt58/UmRrlSXtpRI/AAAAAAAAI8g/8XzuIcdmjMo/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Kyle+Ennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eSwm5JyJt58/UmRrlSXtpRI/AAAAAAAAI8g/8XzuIcdmjMo/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Kyle+Ennis.jpg" width="400" /></a>He also tore down and then put up several outbuildings after taking out his first mortgage on the spread and used the foundation of what once was the mansion to erect a sprawling horse barn. With all of the improvements, the bank thought it was a safe bet.<br />
<br />
As far out as they were from town, the outlying ranches didn’t have phone service yet, so Kyle and Frannie began writing letters to his brothers and sisters inviting them to come see the improvements, but got no responses.<br />
<br />
With Russia and the U.S. entering the Cold War, President Truman felt the need to have a good standing army just in case and instituted a peace time draft. All hell broke loose when that same month he signed an order desegregating the armed forces.<br />
<br />
In 1948 on Kyle’s 26th birthday, the government finally caught up with him and he was inducted into the military for a four-year hitch, serving with a bunch of now outraged and bigoted racists. Unfortunately their attitudes infected him too out of peer pressure.<br />
<br />
Francine was left to raise two grade school children and a toddler on her own... again.<br />
<br />
After Kyle left for San Diego, Francine took a job as a clerk at the library full time and barely made the mortgage payments. Meanwhile her parents took over running both the Bowers and the del Mar spreads, hiring on extra help to farm a combined 2000 acres.<br />
<br />
To save money on expenses Frannie moved her family to her parent’s house between Thanksgiving and Christmas.<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vMx1eNmKEJs/UcJ6s1DXcdI/AAAAAAAAFaE/I2C5No3dNbo/s1600/~+Brokeback+Mountain+ranch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vMx1eNmKEJs/UcJ6s1DXcdI/AAAAAAAAFaE/I2C5No3dNbo/s400/~+Brokeback+Mountain+ranch.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Francine was put to the test in January and February of 1949 after having just moved her family back home across the road. "The great 30-day blizzard" brought record low temperatures and winds sometimes over 70 miles per hour.<br />
<br />
Snow drifted so high that long stretches of Dead Horse Road were impossible to find, meaning she couldn’t get to work, so she lost her job.<br />
<br />
Then Kyle's third-hand pickup truck finally died.<br />
<br />
She resorted to heating the house with a wood-burning stove and all of them lived in the living room downstairs to conserve warmth.<br />
<br />
At one point it snowed for a week and a half straight, downing power lines and severing mail service. She and her parents lost nearly three quarters of their livestock to subzero conditions. The family was snowbound, loan payments weren’t made and Frannie had to home <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cb_m8W2hWk/Uc37PJvmfWI/AAAAAAAAF5I/qg7Y0ze8mlc/s959/~+Brokeback+Mountain+bowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cb_m8W2hWk/Uc37PJvmfWI/AAAAAAAAF5I/qg7Y0ze8mlc/s400/~+Brokeback+Mountain+bowers.jpg" width="340" /></a>school her children until the roads were cleared finally in early March.<br />
<br />
Unable to get word from them, Kyle was frantic trying to get home to see his family and assure their safety, but there was no way to travel there because of the storms.<br />
<br />
One night Francine and the kids were roused by pounding on the door. One of her father’s ranch hands nearly froze after being sent to check on her mother "Grandma Francine," who hadn’t arrived after announcing the previous afternoon that she was going over to check on her daughter and the kids.<br />
<br />
They found Mrs. Bowers after a frantic search partway down their driveway two days later frozen to death.<br />
<br />
Kyle never made it to the funeral to comfort his grieving wife and family. He tried for a hardship release from the military, but was denied.<br />
<br />
Frannie was also heartbroken for a while because she and Kyle would have to spend their tenth wedding anniversary apart… that was until Kyle surprised her at their doorstep on a 4-day pass. Unfortunately because of travel time back then, he could spend only one day at home; but it was enough.<br />
<br />
Circumstances toughened Fran up and soon she was riding the tractor, planting and harvesting fields, getting a decent price for livestock she raised, budgeting income and expenses and raising her kids. With her father’s advice and experience, she handled herself with pride and confidence. If it hadn’t been for the hard economy she might’ve succeeded too, but slowly both ranches fell behind on their mortgages again.<br />
<br />
In September at the age of six, Ennis entered first grade. Kyle Junior by then considered himself the “man of the house,” and a few days after entering the fourth grade he tired of being called “little” Kyle and/or “Junior” and stomped up defiantly to the breakfast table one morning and demanded that Francine give him a more “growed up” nickname.<br />
<br />
His mother instantly got revenge for his brash attitude and turned to her youngest to decide on a suitable substitute. Out of the blue, the first grader dubbed him “K.E.” and laughed every time he said it. Mom loved it and from then on that was his name - like it or not… which didn’t set too well with Kyle Junior.<br />
<br />
A week letter Kyle Senior sent his oldest a letter from California addressed to Mr. “K.E.” del Mar, which made it official. In pure resentment K.E. began slapping his little brother across the face hard every time he’d laugh or giggle out loud. Ennis would go crying to Francine and she’d reprimand his big brother with a good spanking.<br />
<br />
Within a few more months her youngest was cured of his famous smiles and laughter from constant beatings and bullying at the hands of his stronger elder brother, along with threats of more if he tattled to their overworked mom.<br />
<br />
In May of 1950 Kyle came home on leave to tell his wife that it was very likely he would soon be sent to Korea where the war was heating up. Almost immediately after his boots hit the ground there, he was seriously wounded in the Battle of Inchon and a buddy carried him half a mile to a medical unit where he almost died from loss of blood. His injuries were serious enough for him to be released home soon.<br />
<br />
While he was convalescing overseas, Francine’s father Marc died at 62 of a sudden heart attack in his wheat field just across the road from their driveway. She was the one who found him while checking their rural mailbox and was so inconsolable that Kyle was shipped to a stateside V. A. hospital in Casper early under medical care.<br />
<br />
It was only after she talked to the doctors long-distance on her parent’s new phone that she was told that her husband had been shot in the abdomen and had lost a kidney. He’d be alright as long as he was careful with his diet, but he’d be sore walking around, in the saddle and farming for quite some time.<br />
<br />
Francine inherited her parent’s spread and the huge mortgage that went with it. If she didn’t do something fast the bank was prepared to foreclose on both ranches. Before Kyle could get released from the sickbay, a savvy assistant loan manager fast-talked Fran into signing ownership of her parents’ ranch over to their bank for the total remaining payments owed on her father’s debt and the del Mar mortgage.<br />
<br />
When Kyle arrived home a week later, he was furious at what she’d done because he thought they should’ve gotten much more, despite the fact that her actions meant that the del Mar ranch’s deed was now free and clear.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943_74.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you are enjoying this chapter, please use <br />
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and tell your friends. <br />
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<br />
<br />
This adaptation of the original short story contains reworked deleted movie scenes, and additional content written by <span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>Vernon "Jet" Gardner ©2005-2014.(blue text)</b></span><br />
It also contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original short story/screenplay's events</u> with great respect and care given to the parts written by <br />
<span style="font-size: 150%;"><b><u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Proulx">Annie Proulx (red text)</a></u>,<br />
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.</b></span></center><center><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-80227404023084189212014-02-24T12:41:00.000-05:002019-07-28T12:15:40.479-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 II<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 2 ~ Earl & Rich</span></b><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-1-3-complete-novel.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" /></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Kyle Gambles His Ranch In The Name of Stupidity</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>W</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">hile at the bank trying to get satisfaction, to his ignorant shock he became infuriated when he found out that a wealthy Negro farmer from New York had put a generous bid in for the Bowers Farm.<br />
<br />
A recently divorced local gas station owner from Lakton Utah named Earl Lamb had also expressed interest in buying the property, so in desperation Kyle talked him into making a sizeable down payment.<br />
<br />
The problem was Earl, who was in his fifties, didn’t have family to fall back on anymore to help run it and didn’t have enough cash for the offer Kyle had promised, so del Mar talked his ranch neighbors into selling tractors, plows and other equipment to loan Earl enough of a down payment on it and Kyle even put his own ranch up as collateral rather than have some damned Yankee nigger for a neighbor, especially one living in the very house his wife grew up in.<br />
<br />
Francine was beside herself at his stupidity and backward thinking but could do nothing to stop him.<br />
<br />
Within a week the deal was done, the papers were signed and Earl sold his gas station, using the proceeds to start an auto parts and repair shop across the road in what used to be Francine’s parents' barn and out buildings. In gratitude he leased 750 acres to Kyle for a dollar a year to cultivate, and allowed him to harvest her father’s existing crops for half the proceeds.<br />
<br />
Since Earl no longer had a wife and kids to help farm or ranch it, within months the remaining land collected hundreds of wrecked automobiles and trucks bought for parts, scattered over the western half of the spread on what used to be productive wheat and cornfields. Along with the sounds of air wrenches and hammers came the strong smell of discarded oil, radiator dumpings and transmission fluid on the wind.<br />
<br />
Earl still kept her parents' many horses there and allowed Frannie’s family to ride them whenever they wanted to in return for caring for them. He announced that he planned to do a little farming of his own the next year, and sent out word for help from the local kids looking to earn extra money in the spring.<br />
<br />
Despite his many kindnesses, it still saddened Francine to see her former home turned into a junkyard, but racist Kyle and his ignorant neighbors didn’t care, considering the alternative.<br />
<br />
With harvest season still going, Dead Horse Road started getting a steady stream of traffic in and out, and all the local ranchers promised to take their tractors, combines and other equipment in need of repair to Earl so he could pay them back faster and the bank wouldn’t foreclose on del Mar for putting his spread up as security on the risky note.<br />
<br />
Sometimes Earl would work on people’s farm equipment for free as a goodwill gesture to the community.<br />
<br />
The town of Sage showed its appreciation by awarding him a contract to work on its utility vehicles and police cars.<br />
<br />
As a hot August turned into an unusually hot September Earl found his hands full with more cars than he’d ever expected in his first months of business, and while that was a blessing, he found himself short-handed.<br />
<br />
He had a few high school teenagers who’d come and work on weekends, and one of his most promising trainee mechanics was a tall average-looking brunette sophomore with a lot of enthusiasm named Arthur Trent. Earl would only allow the young man to work after school if the boy could prove he’d done his homework first and was warned if he fell below a C average, he could only work weekends and if he fell below a D he was fired.<br />
<br />
The regular crew had left for the evening and at the moment Art was alone in the middle bay of the shop and had an enormous ’48 Ford farm cargo truck up about halfway on the hydraulic lift with its nose pointing away from the wall of the sweltering converted barn. He’d watched his father change the brake shoes only once on their own Chevy pickup before, but was lost on this one.<br />
<br />
Earl had been helping between doing a tune-up across the floor, but had to keep catching the phone in the office.<br />
<br />
As you looked down between the two vehicles, Art was seated on a wooden stool wedged between the truck’s backend on the left and a ’51 Pontiac coupe behind him on the right. He'd removed the brake drum and was staring at the mechanized puzzle at eyelevel in wonder while referring to the printed instructions for the rear brake assembly trying to make heads or tails out of it.<br />
<br />
He'd just pulled his T-shirt off in the heat, and wiped the sweat off of his face with it, put the diagram sheet down and began to undo an odd-shaped screw when suddenly the spring-loaded contraption surrounding the wheel hub sort of exploded little parts all over the place.<br />
<br />
He needed to figure it out before his boss returned, because he didn’t want the kindly owner to be disappointed in him.<br />
<br />
Down on his knees on the grimy floor trying to remember where each part came from, he didn’t notice he <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfm4MJA66qU/UmHhGC9OGkI/AAAAAAAAI28/J4e52A16rYE/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain-+Rusty+Joiner+as+Kyle+del+Mar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfm4MJA66qU/UmHhGC9OGkI/AAAAAAAAI28/J4e52A16rYE/s320/Brokeback+Mountain-+Rusty+Joiner+as+Kyle+del+Mar.JPG" height="320" width="156" /></a>had company until an unexpected box fan pointed at him on a long extension cord suddenly hummed to life.<br />
<br />
He stood up too fast and bumped his head on the underside of the truck. When he turned to apologize to Earl and thank him for the fan, he was confronted with the most handsome blond guy he’d ever seen in his life. The young muscular and grinning rancher who looked to be in his mid-twenties was naked in the heat from the waist up, his jeans loosely hanging at his hips. He was covered with sweat from toiling in his fields all day.<br />
<br />
The stranger’s smile turned to a look of concern as Art froze holding the top of his head, with his eyes and jaw still gaping open at the sight of the shirtless newcomer.<br />
<br />
Trent’s look of fascinated wonder turned to one of pain and he looked kind of dizzy.<br />
<br />
The straw-haired man rushed over, grabbed him mightily under the armpits from behind and guided him to the shop stool.<br />
<br />
Arthur winced as he rubbed the top of his head, “I think I stood up too fast, sir.”<br />
<br />
The handsome guy laughed, “Ya reckon?” while using his fingers to comb through Art’s hair looking for cuts on the top of his scalp.<br />
<br />
The teenager’s eyes couldn’t stop studying the friendly man’s well defined abdomen after he walked around to face him, and with a stammer Trent asked, “Is… uh is th-this yer truck?”<br />
<br />
The guy frowned and gazed up at the big dusty Ford with puzzlement and chuckled, “Naw, I come over to see if Earl needed help and he asked me to check on ya. You sure yer okay?”<br />
<br />
Art's heart was pounding and he was beginning to breath heavily and couldn’t understand why he wanted so badly to explore this incredibly good-looking man’s chest with his eyes, so he distracted himself by offering his right hand, “Arthur Trent, sir; I… I work here.”<br />
<br />
The Adonis was completely oblivious to the effect he was having on the younger man's hormones. He reached out his fist, took young Trent’s hand and shook it, replying, “Ain’t no need fer the ‘sir’ kid, everyone who knows me around these parts calls me Kyle… Kyle del Mar. I own the ranch acrost the road there,” he said pointing vaguely off to the left.<br />
<br />
Trent stammered out, “P-pleased to meet ya, Mr. uh Karl, uh Kyle.”<br />
<br />
Unaware that the teen unwittingly had just fastened his first adolescent crush on him, Kyle laughed at the scattered components on the floor and within the next half hour or so, together they installed the new parts.<br />
<br />
Kyle only instructed, making Arthur assemble it himself, so he’d remember how to do it next time, and stood in close with an occasional friendly affectionate arm around the boy’s shoulders like he always did with his sons, pointing here and there, giving help only when it was needed.<br />
<br />
When they finished, the rancher gave the teen a loud slap on his bare back, grabbed him by the neck sideways, pulled his forehead to his chest, roughly rubbed the top of his head and tussled his hair, congratulating him on a job well done.<br />
<br />
In no time at all, as with all young teen boys, Arthur wanted to be just like this older and incredibly attractive man who was nothing like his own father, and was falling hopelessly in love.<br />
<br />
When Earl came over finally, Kyle gave Art all the credit for the work and they shook hands with invitations to the teenager to visit his ranch to go fishing some time, maybe to go with him to pick out some horses at an auction, or just to swim at his shoreline with his wife and three kids.<br />
<br />
Earl noticed the teen’s inability to take his eyes off his handsome fair-haired neighbor and how Arthur studied Kyle’s strong back and hips longingly as Kyle walked home… and Earl remembered when he was that young.<br />
<br />
He was sure Arthur would eventually grow out of the crush, as most young guys do…<br />
<br />
<br />
…Despite their father’s being home from Korea now, K.E. continued to physically pick on his little brother. The youngster would bawl to his daddy's knee for help, and would be sternly told instead that real cowboys don’t cry. After a while Kyle finally gave up in frustration and taught Ennis how to fight off K.E. with his fists and some "gorilla warfare" tactics that'd even out the boy's size difference.<br />
<br />
The net effect was that Ennis became reluctant to laugh or cry for fear of retribution and began to turn inward on himself emotionally.<br />
<br />
Sometimes when he’d pout quietly to himself at night, Francine would come to his bed and sing him cowboy songs. Eventually Kyle put a stop to that; not wanting his son to become a “mama’s boy.”<br />
<br />
Feeling like he was in a no-win situation, he’d ask his mama what she thought he should do about his big brother. Her only advice was the same as how she dealt with Kyle, “If ya can’t fix it Ennis, ya gotta stand it.”<br />
<br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Ennis’ New Bestest Friend</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span>ate November brought heavy snow, so Earl bought an old snowplow for his tow truck and kept a long stretch of Dead Horse Road clear from their ranches west to Sage Street so that customers could get to his shop.<br />
<br />
While he was at it, he kept Kyle’s long driveway clean too.<br />
<br />
In December a twice-wounded Korean War buddy that Kyle owed his life to, wrote of his trouble finding a job in Utah because of his disability. Francine thought it’d be a wonderful idea for him to move across the road with Earl. He’d gain a business partner and besides, she was concerned about her neighbor being all-alone over there by himself.<br />
<br />
Just before Christmas, Lieutenant Richard Sapro bought up half of the repair shop with his accumulated war pay and moved into Earl’s spare room to help run the business end of things and to revive part of the ranching operation managing raising cattle, breeding horses and doing light farming. He was welcomed with open arms by the community as a respected and twice-decorated war hero.<br />
<br />
With the fresh influx of cash, Lamb hired Ennis' older sister Cornelia to do light household chores and occasional cooking for them.<br />
<br />
He also hired additional local older teenaged boys as journeyman mechanics and the business grew to be well known across Wyoming, Idaho and Utah. They were taught a trade for free and he had a near endless and cheap labor source. To everyone’s relief, the loan was well on its way to being paid back too with Rich’s investment.<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cpJXLB48eu0/Vw7bO1DxaVI/AAAAAAAAL84/-3y3VKmE3SsPLlIJEhrcjC75qsLs8AfDACKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bearl%2Brich.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cpJXLB48eu0/Vw7bO1DxaVI/AAAAAAAAL84/-3y3VKmE3SsPLlIJEhrcjC75qsLs8AfDACKgB/s200/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bearl%2Brich.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
Earl was 52 and Rich was 29 and they resembled father and son more than business partners.<br />
<br />
That Christmas marked the first visit of Rich’s married sister Amy Salisbury's family from Lakton Utah; a relatively close 25 miles due west of Sage. Her husband Sam was a schoolteacher there, just south of Bear Lake and they had a 7-year-old son Michael.<br />
<br />
Ennis was the same age and he and Mike became instant buddies.<br />
<br />
Amy announced that they’d be spending the coming summer there so that Sam could earn money working for Earl over the school's mid-year break helping with the ranch operation.<br />
<br />
Through 1951 the del Mars became even better friends with the two pleasant bachelors after they kindly offered to let Kyle and his wife use their telephone when they found out that the couple didn’t have one of their own.<br />
<br />
Eventually a utility cable was strung across the road giving the del Mars party-line service piggybacked off of Earl's business phone. It was done in return for Frannie taking daytime business calls to the shop when the mechanics were too busy to answer after five rings or were away from the office working on a car.<br />
<br />
All Kyle had to do now was keep his wife from tying up the line gabbing with her friends. It was eventually agreed to that the del Mars would have full use of the line after the repair garage closed in the evening, since Earl already had a separate private phone number into his house for the two men's own use.<br />
<br />
In gratitude, Rich and Earl were often invited over to the house together for dinner to share stories of the war and to play cards, or to fish out on the lake.<br />
<br />
Amy and her family visited again during school’s spring break and Kyle, Rich, Sam, K.E., Ennis and Mike went hunting.<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4Eiazuv8Hw/UeIpMRAd9TI/AAAAAAAAGZ0/Natxijl7vNg/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+the+boys.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4Eiazuv8Hw/UeIpMRAd9TI/AAAAAAAAGZ0/Natxijl7vNg/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+the+boys.bmp" height="296" width="320" /></a> <br />
<br />
That was the boys’ first experience firing a rifle. Ennis loved it, but poor Michael got knocked on his ass from the kick of his daddy’s gun when it fired and was reluctant from then on.<br />
<br />
Earl announced that with all the junked cars they were getting in daily, they’d probably need some help over the summer inventorying them by make, model and year, and then disassembling their smaller components for screws, brackets, bolts and part numbers.<br />
<br />
The two boys jumped up and down begging for a chance to earn extra money. Kyle was skeptical as to whether his youngest was old enough for the responsibility of the job, and concerned that the boy might get hurt crawling into wrecked automobiles, but promised he’d think about the offer.<br />
<br />
Ennis was briefly hesitant when he found out he’d have to get a tetanus shot… but only briefly.<br />
<br />
K.E. proved to be a “chip off the ‘ol block” and was more interested in learning the ranching business from his father.<br />
<br />
Until the end of the spring break when the Salisburys had to go home, Michael and Ennis were inseparable, either sleeping over at his grandparents’ former house or at the del Mars. Mike wasn’t like the kids at school and Ennis instantly considered him a second brother.<br />
<br />
For the rest of April and May Ennis enthusiastically did extra chores, helped with spring-planting, and constantly waited on his injured father hand and foot to the point where an exasperated Kyle surrendered to all of the pleading, and promised him he could work over at Earl’s with Michael that summer; but only if he got good grades.<br />
<br />
When June finally arrived, young Michael came east with his mother from Lakton and again often enjoyed sleepovers and fishing/camping outings with the del Mar boys. On one such trip, Arthur Trent came along. Kyle had befriended him during his frequent trips across the road.<br />
<br />
Ennis got to fire his daddy’s Winchester again and discovered a real talent for shooting a rifle. Former expert Army sharpshooter Rich gave him lessons to improve his budding skills while Arthur bravely set up smaller, more distant, and more difficult targets to aim at.<br />
<br />
As the del Mars got to know him, Arthur Trent turned out to be a typical friendly, popular and athletic high school teenager. He seemed to have trouble at home getting along with his family (as most teens did) and used any excuse to hang around Kyle when he wasn’t working on cars at Earl’s, dating his clinging girlfriend Peggy Sue, or coaching/captaining Sage High’s summer swim team tryouts for the next school year.<br />
<br />
If Earl hadn’t hired him, he’d probably be working for Kyle tending the ranch.<br />
<br />
One night around the campfire after listening to Arthur’s ghost stories and Kyle telling about his rodeo days, Ennis declared he wanted to be a broncobuster like his daddy. Kyle would hear none of it and told his boy, "I’m a stickin’ to raisin’ ropin’ horses, ‘stead of ridin’ ‘em. I know of only one rodeo hero in my time that wasn't a fuck-up, boy. Rodeoin's fer men who got nothin' to fall back on 'n believe you me, I'm glad I got out when I did."<br />
<br />
Kyle’s slip of the tongue meant that for a week afterward, young Ennis insisted on calling everyone a “fuck up” until a few swats upside the head from Frannie put a stop to it.<br />
<br />
After the constant grief he took from his brother, Ennis was happy that Mike was back, because K.E. was better behaved when the kid was around. The two boys usually both worked side-by-side at the repair garage disassembling and labeling parts, or harvesting small items for whatever was needed off of junked cars, as the older mechanics required them.<br />
<br />
In an effort to toughen him up a bit, Kyle would drop over after a long day at his ranch, and set up arm wrestling contests between his youngest and Mike to see who was the strongest. Earl would drill a few cracked bolts from wrecked cars into one of his old wooden workbenches and the boys would race with wrenches to tighten them enough to snap the heads off.<br />
<br />
On Ennis’ 8th birthday, Rich surprised both boys with identical brand-new bicycles parked out in the del Mar's front yard. <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ai3ow0jJck/UmNQYgRTN1I/AAAAAAAAI4o/umczr5SxTT4/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+bicycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ai3ow0jJck/UmNQYgRTN1I/AAAAAAAAI4o/umczr5SxTT4/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+bicycle.jpg" height="172" width="320" /></a>They were a bonus for doing good jobs, and were both custom deluxe models, painted metal-flake blue by Earl, and they sparkled in the sunlight.<br />
<br />
A day after the boys got them, Rich took them over to the garage and they added horns, head and taillights, and sturdy baskets on either side of the rear tire and in front of the handlebars for toting parts.<br />
<br />
Michael came up with the idea of attaching cardboard strips to the frame that’d make them sound like motorbikes as they fluttered against the wheel spokes. For the rest of the summer they'd have races up and down Dead Horse Road when they weren’t riding into town to pick up small parts at the auto supply store.<br />
<br />
Other times they’d ride their bikes together to Twin Creek Cove and fish for hours, or hike up this or that hill; just to see what was on the other side.<br />
<br />
As a joke, the teenaged mechanics got Rich to have boy-sized dark blue mechanic’s work shirts made up for them with the kids’ names embroidered on the chests on little white ovals just like they had. They also featured Earl's business name and phone number in big letters emblazoned across the back so they could advertise his company when they went out running errands for him.<br />
<br />
After closing up his classroom for the summer, Sam Salisbury arrived a week later.<br />
<br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The First Signs Of Success</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>R</b></span>ich ran a newspaper ad announcing that he’d set aside three acres of unused farmland bordering the road so that the folks in town could come up and use little sectioned off portions of it to grow small private vegetable gardens for free. He even partially tore the fence down and marked it off with little signs attached to posts with twine, giving them easy access. In gratitude most gave him assorted tomatoes, potatoes, corn and beans as they ripened, and incidentally their car repair business.<br />
<br />
The boys made even more money after being hired to haul water out to the little individual crop squares every day.<br />
<br />
As a result the tool bays became as much a place for the local men to gather to play cards, drink cold pop and bullshit, as it was to fix automobiles.<br />
<br />
K.E. had decided to stay on the ranch to work with his father and was beside himself with jealousy of how much fun his little brother was having.<br />
<br />
One weekend Ennis and Mike had to be rescued... at Mike's house in Utah!<br />
<br />
As with most people, Michael didn’t realize the vast difference in perceived distance between riding in a car at highway speeds and riding a bike or walking to the same place.<br />
<br />
Just for fun, Michael had decided to show his new friend where they lived, so they packed a lunch and some water and attempted the 25-mile trip west to Lakton on their bikes and were too exhausted to return. Their fathers made sure that neither could walk right for a few days afterward.<br />
<br />
The journey turned out to be a real eye-opener for Ennis, who’d never left Sage before. He witnessed the barren dry hills of that part of Utah/Wyoming for the first time, after youthfully thinking that everywhere was as lush and green as his home.<br />
<br />
When summer started drawing to a close, Sam had to leave to prepare lesson plans for the coming semester; which meant Michael and his mother would be gone too. They had a big barbeque that last night, and the next day young Ennis went off by himself out of sight of his strict father, heartbroken and bitter because Mike was the first kid in a long time he’d actually allowed himself to openly laugh and be friends with.<br />
<br />
That fall with the extra land Earl and Rich allowed him to use, Kyle took out a 2nd mortgage to buy a new tractor, some cattle and extra seed for next season.<br />
<br />
After school started Ennis was allowed to work over at Earl’s only on the weekends and only if he’d done his homework. Since they didn't live all that far away, the Salisburys often made impromptu day trips on Saturdays to visit Earl and Rich, which meant Michael got to earn extra money too.<br />
<br />
K.E. unexplainably took up where he left off again bullying his little brother souring Ennis' recent joyful disposition. Most took the change as typical boyhood jealousy that Ennis had such a good friend and his elder brother didn't.<br />
<br />
Cornelia started eighth grade that year, with K.E. a year behind her and Ennis entered 3rd grade.<br />
<br />
After a great harvest, and with winter closing in soon, Kyle signed on part-time over at Earl’s changing tires and doing odd jobs.<br />
<br />
After snow set in, he’d help out plowing driveways and supply-store rear parking lots downtown with Rich’s crew. K.E. and Ennis made extra money shoveling sidewalks when their dad was assigned to clear someone’s driveway out. Wyoming was in for another bad winter that’d eventually last all through the following March.<br />
<br />
Sam, Amy and Michael invited Ennis to spend Christmas at their house that year and he came home with the greatest gift of all... his smile was back. Earl and Rich had Christmas dinner with the del Mars.<br />
<br />
The two men bought the family a second-hand but like-new Capehart-Farnsworth cabinet style radio with a built in record player. From then on there was happy music in the house interspersed with soap operas, The Lone Ranger, Jack Benny, and The Shadow.<br />
<br />
A week later Rich talked an old Army buddy into selling Kyle his ’48 GMC pickup for almost nothing and he spent most of January fixing it up and painting it blue over at Earl’s.<br />
<br />
With the early 1950’s economy beginning to boom, a city contract and good word spreading like wildfire, Earl and Rich’s business became even more well known in Utah, Idaho and Colorado, as well as across Wyoming. <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VmBNLAz-qBw/T8jGd_xxUZI/AAAAAAAAEbY/rv2vSI5tCc0/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Earl+Rich+1953+Pontiac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VmBNLAz-qBw/T8jGd_xxUZI/AAAAAAAAEbY/rv2vSI5tCc0/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+Earl+Rich+1953+Pontiac.jpg" /></a>Rich estimated that their debts would be paid off five years early, which would free Kyle from his co-signature on their loan.<br />
<br />
To celebrate, Earl bought a brand-new bright red 1952 Pontiac Chieftain convertible and he’d sometimes haul the del Mars to the local Methodist Church in it, or take local girls he and Rich had picked up on picnics at a park in town. The two men were soon known as the most eligible and sought-after bachelors in Sage.<br />
<br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The First Signs Of Trouble</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>W</b></span>ith the cold war continuing to heat up, all the newspapers were filled with word of a paranoid Senator Joe McCarthy who began his communist and homosexual witch-hunts in Washington D.C. in the spring of ‘52. As a result, that Easter was spent without Kyle.<br />
<br />
He’d gotten into a bar fight with a man in town who’d gone too far making fun of his lisp and called him a commie queer. The assault brought a six-month prison sentence but Earl used his business connection with the mayor to get it reduced to two.<br />
<br />
Francine and young Cornelia made and served a holiday Easter ham in her old kitchen at Earl and Rich’s house. When Kyle came home in late May he had to make up for lost time and Ennis had to stay home and help on the ranch during planting season.<br />
<br />
Alvin Corbett moved into town that spring, bought up, tore down 8 buildings in downtown Sage, and put up a GM/Chevy dealership. He offered fantastic deals on police cars if the city gave him their repair business, but the mayor was a man of his word and stuck with Earl… after all, the little town only needed two patrol cars anyway.<br />
<br />
Alvy wasn’t too happy about that and got some cronies to spread lies around about shoddy work that his competitor was doing on cars. He also charged Earl near retail on parts that were needed on repairs, so Lamb just drove east into Diamondville for the more expensive ones, or relied on good used ones harvested from the wrecks he’d bought.<br />
<br />
As June approached and Ennis turned nine, he couldn't wait for school to let out because he knew Mike would be coming to stay at Rich and Earl's for the summer with his family. He’d made another deal with his dad that if he got good grades he could work at the garage instead of in the fields and though it was a struggle, he succeeded in keeping a B average all through the rest of third grade.<br />
<br />
K.E., who was twelve then, felt more like a grownup because he worked closely with his father while Kyle was in jail planning this season’s crops, and as a reward Earl was recruited to teach him how to drive the tractor.<br />
<br />
With the expected extra income from the 750 acres Rich let Kyle use for a dollar a year, extra intenerate ranch hands were hired onto the del Mar spread.<br />
<br />
Farm equipment from all over the area was hauled into the repair shop as the weather got warmer and Rich was strapped to hire new men to fill the overflow of business since he had his hands full steadily making their ranch/cattle/horse operation a success too.<br />
<br />
Earl and Rich were swiftly becoming a major employer in Sage. Between constant livestock trucks and auto repair business, there was even talk in city hall of paving and widening Dead Horse Road... not exactly a good street address for a growing quarter horse breeder.<br />
<br />
Rich began negotiations with Kyle to run a pipeline through his property to pump water from the lake to a tank that would feed a proposed fish hatchery the army vet had dreamed up. If the plans came to fruition, the city pledged to cover half of his costs to stock Lake Sage.<br />
<br />
Amy, Sam and Mike arrived just in time to lend a hand, and Amy was even drafted to drive a supply truck into town on a regular basis for parts too big or heavy for the boys to handle on their bikes.<br />
<br />
Ennis got a big kick out of telling everyone that he was the parts department manager when he answered their business phone and though he was only nine, he had an inventory of available parts kept in his head that even Earl would consult occasionally. As good as he became taking calls, he started getting frustrated because his voice hadn’t changed yet and people who called in kept addressing him as “Ma’am.”<br />
<br />
1952 was a tough year for poor Kyle; the pathetic old soul turned 30. Frannie didn’t feel sorry for him at all since she was born on the same day he was and couldn’t figure what all the fuss was about. Tough work, day and night kept him firm and muscular and Rich insisted at his birthday party that he didn’t look a day over 25.<br />
<br />
Cornelia insisted that her girlfriends in school would see him with his shirt off in town and envied her for having such a sexy blond hunk for a dad; which made him blush red.<br />
<br />
In July when things started quieting down, the boys began taking off time to go on camping trips with Kyle and Rich.<br />
<br />
Kyle’s young mechanic friend Arthur occasionally came along too. He’d begun <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uD3ovwoQFJk/UmNT0hswNhI/AAAAAAAAI5s/61V4W4YrwXM/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+mechanics.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uD3ovwoQFJk/UmNT0hswNhI/AAAAAAAAI5s/61V4W4YrwXM/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+mechanics.bmp" height="310" width="400" /></a>teaching the boys basic car repairs under Earl’s watchful eye, and regularly joined Kyle fishing at his shoreline on the ranch. Kyle seemed to be a leveling influence, but the teenager seemed troubled about something that he couldn’t talk about.<br />
<br />
Often K.E. acted jealous of the time the two spent together, and Frannie had to set him down and explain that Art was closer to Kyle’s age, so they were friends, where as Kyle was his daddy.<br />
<br />
Ennis always came home with those hunting trips with a sore shoulder from the recoil his father’s rifle gave when he fired it.<br />
<br />
His daddy was really proud that his young son actually managed to hit everything he aimed at, and at Arthur’s prompting Kyle promised that in a few years if he kept his grades up he’d get a proper hunting rifle of his very own for his birthday, and Trent cheerfully pledged to chip in for it too.<br />
<br />
<center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>No Skinny-dipping Before 6PM!</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n the hot summer months Rich bought some big fans that were placed on either side of the barn/garage for cross-flow ventilation, but they only helped a little.<br />
<br />
Sweat-covered young muscular grease monkeys and mechanics often wandered around in the heat without shirts in just jeans, and eventually only cut-off denim shorts and work shoes despite the presence of female customers, and no one gave it a second thought.<br />
<br />
In fact some young women seemed to bring their cars more often than necessary just to see the brawny show or an unusual number of damsels in distress would crop up with flat tires that only seemed to need reinflating instead of patched.<br />
<br />
Rich noticed Arthur’s open fascination with Kyle and was going to say something to the teen about being careful, but Earl talked him out of it, saying it was just a phase and would probably pass. Rich disagreed; mentioning Trent’s “doe eyes” every time the handsome rancher came around, but Earl shrugged it off.<br />
<br />
A big blue wooden farmer's water tank and pump were set up next to the garage to accommodate the extra water needed for the ranch's feed and vegetable crops. With the extra capacity he now had, Earl set up a big communal shower room with 5 spigots in the back of the barn just so his men could wash the oil, sweat and dirt off before they went home, or merely to cool off during a lunch or cigarette break.<br />
<br />
Never one to go into anything by halves, over the summer Earl bought a huge aboveground pool that they could cool off in that was 30 feet in diameter and five feet deep.<br />
<br />
Earl and Rich got into several arguments over that purchase, considering there was a big lake just across the road. Usually they’d end with Rich threatening to store his trout in it until they could get the permits to build his fish hatchery.<br />
<br />
Sam quickly insisted on a no skinny-dipping rule during business hours in case of female customers… after the work finished around 6PM - an hour after closing time however, the pool was fair game for horseplay and “letting it all hang out” unless Amy objected, which she rarely did unless the teenaged mechanics were using it while she was inside the house.<br />
<br />
Without Kyle knowing it, Arthur did some hyperventilating one very hot day when the handsome rancher of his adolescent fantasies decided to join in, and Trent excused himself from the pool early hiding his obvious reaction to the rancher's toned body… and as it turned out Kyle being hung like the proverbial horse.<br />
<br />
It started becoming routine during the hot summer months to enjoy the freedom of private after-work skinny-dipping in the cool clean filtered pool; something they obviously couldn’t do in the lake.<br />
<br />
Kyle let Ennis and K.E. join in once in a while, horsing around bare-assed with the young mechanics in water that didn’t smell like algae for a change, but just like Sam with Mike, del Mar forbade his sons to go in without an adult present.<br />
<br />
Though the guys never mentioned it to their parents and friends, they never considered it anything more than good clean innocent fun… because that’s all it was.<br />
<br />
After hearing of all this “freedom,” Frannie, Amy, and Cornelia did it too, whenever the men were safely out fishing or hunting somewhere. Amy began loving her “all over” tan that would eventually allow her to wear strapless gowns to school functions in the early fall with her husband, much to the envy of the other women in the PTA and teachers associations.<br />
<br />
To the guys that worked there it wasn’t unusual to see Earl with his arm over Rich’s shoulders or vice versa. There were rare days when twice-wounded war hero Rich had a hard time walking on his shot up right leg; especially when rain was coming. Every guy there was more than happy to help him get around without a second thought. Some of the high school athletes even started hefting him like a barbell to show off to each other.<br />
<br />
The old bullshitting pop-drinking card players who hung around would good-naturedly tease him to no end for sometimes walking like an old man.<br />
<br />
In the midst of all that joy and fun, 1952 was also the year that rumors started flying around town. A local woman and her daughter had walked into the garage’s business office around 4:30 to ask about an estimate for a wheel alignment for her husband, and found a shirtless Earl in Rich’s arms in an intimate embrace, possibly after just kissing each other.<br />
<br />
She gasped, rushed away, and thanked her lucky stars that her daughter had wandered off somewhere and hadn’t seen this immoral scene between two heathens...</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-9-16-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-58350593593986913372014-02-24T12:40:00.000-05:002019-07-28T15:58:27.546-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 III<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 3 ~ Heroes, Villains & Victims<br />
The novel continues below...</b></span><br />
<center><center><b>[<em>Author's note for those who are image<br />
searching instead of reading... Here's what you're missing...</em>]</b> <br />
<b><span style="font-size: 120%;">Part One ~ Chapters 1-6</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: Ennis' family history, his childhood and teen years.<br />
An evangelical con man blames a gay teenager's suicide on a rancher and a mechanic.<br />
The murders of Earl & Rich. The deaths of Kyle & Frannie del Mar in a car crash.<br />
Orphaned - K.E. & Ennis wander hundreds of miles in search of a new home.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Two ~ Chapters 7-11<br />
<i>The Legend of Jumpin’ Johnny Twist</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: Jack's famous rodeo father's secret past and<br />
how it contributed to Jack's death over 40 years later.<br />
L.D. Newsome's father robs and then murders the owners of a rodeo.<br />
Uncle Harold gets swindled. Jack's childhood and teen years.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Three ~ Chapters 12-34<br />
<i>Brokeback Mountain</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: Jack's first summer on the mountain in 1962.<br />
Ennis & Jack's 1963 adventures on the mountain. The short story has been<br />
expanded with additional material incorporating deleted scenes from the movie -<br />
Jack's gruesome death. A stranger falsely accuses Ennis of murdering Jack.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 120%;">Part Four ~ Chapters 35-41<br />
<i>If You Can’t Stand it - Ya Gotta Fix it</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Features: What really happened to Jack's ashes and why he was cremated.<br />
A suicide becomes an arson at a Pentecostal Church in Lightning Flat<br />
Ennis struggles on after losing Jack. Who poisoned Jack's father and shot his mother?<br />
Jack's innocent son Bobby gets caught with planted evidence of Jack's murder and jailed.<br />
Who set the fire that destroyed the Twist ranch? Ennis' death in 2006 and his legacy.</span></b></center><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-4-8-complete-novel.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Witch Hunt</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;;">acey Ann Trent - age 13 - had been saving up her Bazooka bubble gum wrappers to get a miniature palm-sized "spy" camera.<br />
<br />
She'd been picked on by her older brother Arthur all of her life and had hatched a plan to get him off of her back for good...<br />
<br />
...Blackmail<br />
<br />
She carried that tiny camera everywhere she went hoping to catch him while premaritally necking with Becky Sue.<br />
<br />
She’d ridden with her mother to Earl's to pick up her brother at Earl's Auto Service, <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MH_JMW_Oq6Y/UkS6kjdbYyI/AAAAAAAAIlI/ZNKcCaXKUHg/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+earls+shower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MH_JMW_Oq6Y/UkS6kjdbYyI/AAAAAAAAIlI/ZNKcCaXKUHg/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+earls+shower.JPG" width="338" /></a> and had gone exploring the repair bays looking for him, and accidentally came across the shower room in use. While Arthur and the boys' eyes were shut against the soap and unaware of her, that little girl snapped a picture of her naked brother cleaning up after work.<br />
<br />
No one heard it. No one even noticed it when the schoolgirl pushed the camera button down. In a fraction of a second that click would seal the doom of two men... and the image would eventually condemn a whole town to death.<br />
<br />
The next day, Lacey took the camera to a woman who had a private darkroom and that evening the brat confronted Arthur with the embarrassing photo of his bare ass and her threat to show it to every girl in school unless he gave her all of his weekly allowance for the rest of the year.<br />
<br />
He tore the photo from her hands and shredded it.<br />
<br />
She laughed and said she had another copy.<br />
<br />
That night while she was at a slumber party at a friend's, Arthur tore her room apart and found it and the tiny negative.<br />
<br />
As he rushed from her room, heading for his own to burn the incriminating evidence, he ran smack into his father...<br />
<br />
...who demanded to know what he was hiding behind his back.<br />
<br />
Print and negative were burned by a disgusted self-righteous father. Of course his big-mouthed wife blamed the two queers she’d seen kissing, but Mrs. Trent was sworn to reluctant secrecy to keep her from embarrassing their overly Christian family.<br />
<br />
That night attention-addicted Mrs. Trent was overheard blubbering to her mother for sympathy by the town switchboard operator and instantly rumors flew like wildfire, getting more intense and exaggerated with each telling.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately for all concerned, more than two copies of that negative had been printed, and as the spiteful pigtailed little brat carried out her promise to show them to all of her school friends, word spread quickly that either Earl or Rich, or both were now taking perverted naked sex photos of the town’s cherished sons.<br />
<br />
Despite repeated warnings from her husband, Arthur's mother would swoon in front of assorted friends several times a day to make sure all her sympathetic acquaintances at the beauty parlor, the church, and supply store where she worked knew how much she was suffering. Her poor baby Arthur; "Oh," she'd gasp dramatically, "it... it's just so awful girls! My poor baby!"<br />
<br />
Soon after, young Ennis came home from work and his father confronted him with pointed questions about what usually went on over there. Even after talking to Amy and Sam the pressure from ignorant men in town eventually forced del Mar to angrily tell Ennis without further explanation that he, Cornelia and K.E. were to never go over there again... not even to see Michael.<br />
<br />
The local men from town that used to gather regularly at Earl's, bragging that they were the only ones who could fix a car the right way abruptly vanished into the woodwork as if they never existed. They could've cleared the two men’s names of the lies easily by denying they'd ever seen the things the woman described, but suddenly no one remembered ever hanging out there, fearing "guilt through association."<br />
<br />
Seeing an opportunity to wreck the reputation of a competitor, Alvin at the Chevy dealership made sure the gossip spread even more.<br />
<br />
Within days, several farmers and businessmen started coming around to the del Mar ranch. While gesturing across the road they began asking Kyle pointed questions about Earl and Rich and why he’d put up his ranch to allow them perverts to move into their community, especially after it was learned that the men had shared many suppers, holidays and camping trips with his family.<br />
<br />
Community peer pressure began to sway Kyle, even though he knew in his heart that Rich couldn’t possibly be involved in the insane stories being passed around town… and Sam and Amy couldn’t possibly condone it right under their noses with their son present over there.<br />
<br />
Kyle, K.E. and Ennis never so much as sensed anything untoward when they were over there and Francine insisted on daily talks with Amy, despite her husband’s worries. She never mentioned the rumors, and was puzzled that Amy or Sam hadn't heard them.<br />
<br />
As for the skinny-dipping, even Kyle saw no harm in it, since there were only men and boys there. It wasn't like they were parading around in front of little girls or something. It was the homosexual rumors that bothered him and the reason why he suddenly kept Ennis away... reluctantly.<br />
<br />
Del Mar considered himself a good church-going father protecting his children… still he knew Earl and Rich well and refused to believe the increasingly outrageous rumors.<br />
<br />
Several subsequent visits were heated after it was discovered that Kyle was farming half of Earl’s land for a profit, and none of the kids understood why they’d be sent out of earshot to their rooms or out to work in the fields during those confrontations.<br />
<br />
About the only people blissfully unaware of the furor were Earl, Rich and the Salisburys, since folks in town suddenly avoided talking to them.<br />
<br />
Kyle did his best to convince the unruly fools that everything was perfectly innocent and that the ignorant woman probably was exaggerating and saw something completely above suspicion like Earl helping the crippled Rich up after falling. Besides, if they did anything stupid or drastic before Earl and Rich's loan was paid off, Kyle would lose his ranch to the bank as collateral for what was still owed on Earl's Repair Service, so for the time being things stayed quiet... he hoped.<br />
<br />
Despite her husband's objections, Frannie still cheerfully answered the telephone during the day, "Earl's Auto Repair Service!" She was determined to honor their obligation to the men for the free evening phone service they were still getting from their friends across the road. Suddenly the kids were banned from answering it, because of the occasional menacing and sometimes obscene calls threatening the two men if they didn’t leave town.<br />
<br />
Sam and Amy became reluctant to visit Kyle and Fran because of the often-unfriendly or standoffish reception they’d get and poor Michael was miserable.<br />
<br />
Francine put her foot down and allowed Ennis’ best friend to come over and visit. Youthfully oblivious to the seriousness of the situation the boys still rode bikes together and went on occasional camping trips, but Ennis wasn’t allowed to earn summer money at Earl’s any more on the excuse that he was needed to work in the fields or tend the cattle and horses.<br />
<br />
Ennis was hit especially hard because at the time Earl had begun secretly teaching him how to drive in his brand-new Pontiac convertible on the back roads of his ranch behind the repair shop. The nine-year-old kid was too small to reach the pedals yet, but never once was Ennis uncomfortable sitting on the man's lap while he steered or was taught how to work a manual column shift while Earl did the clutch. Both of them spent the whole time laughing their heads off.<br />
<br />
Arthur showed up at the del Mar’s door one day unexpected and scared looking for Kyle. Out on the edge of the lake, all that Kyle could get out of the mysteriously frightened teen was that he was afraid that if his dad found out, he’d kill him. Kyle would scoff, but the boy seemed genuinely worried and said it wasn’t a joke.<br />
<br />
Kyle asked, “Find out what?” but the teen up and ran off without answering…<br />
<br />
…and he never returned.<br />
<br />
Within a month, every male teenager who worked for Earl was questioned repeatedly as to what went on there and every single one of them said they worked on cars, were taught how to maintain them like and by an expert, they were paid daily and then they went home. The young men were loyal because instead of pocketing the extra when the bill was paid, Rich would call them into his office and let his mechanics keep the tips customers gave for good work.<br />
<br />
Arthur tried hard to convince his parents that Lacey had taken the photo, but they couldn’t believe their precious sweet little angel would do such an evil thing. In addition they were convinced now that those two heathens had turned their beloved son into a queer devil too; one that even walked around with naked photos of the boys who worked with him.<br />
<br />
Lacey wore a continuous smirk on her victorious face, having gotten her hated brother into more trouble than he could possibly get out of and she of course denied everything with appropriate astonished gasps, imitating her mother.<br />
<br />
Despite the unanimous denials from virtually everyone involved, the rumors and wild speculation around town persisted. Within two weeks the shop lost every local young man that worked there on the word of some loud-mouthed dim-witted woman who may or may not have seen what she said she saw.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Friendship At The End Of A Shotgun</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>P</b></span>erplexed, Rich began hiring more expensive mechanics from outlying towns. Business didn’t really suffer too much, but still an underlying feeling of uneasiness grew around the repair shop. Being that they were always short-handed anyway, it was a relief for Rich, who could concentrate on the ranch end of their joint venture. Earl actually began getting caught up on repairs that customers had complained were taking too long because of the constant backlog.<br />
<br />
Cornelia had figured it out months ago when while cleaning around the men's house she noticed that Rich's room never seemed to have been slept in. She'd compliment Rich on making up his own bed for her and he'd laugh and claim that most of the time he slept downstairs on the couch because it was tough climbing the stairs.<br />
<br />
Because she liked them so much, she kept her suspicions to herself.<br />
<br />
Soon after, the lisping Kyle del Mar lost all of his ranch hands when they just stopped reporting for work. Anger and frustrations set in, now that he had to single-handedly try to tend and harvest 1,500 acres by himself in the coming weeks with only the help of his two young boys.<br />
<br />
Initially Rich's ranching operation suffered the same loss, but after the word got out, closeted homosexual men began flocking to them from all over the area to fill the abandoned <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nlYSfiFBWdo/UjydzVqxmtI/AAAAAAAAHu8/PvsrD0Cho_E/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+ranch+hands.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nlYSfiFBWdo/UjydzVqxmtI/AAAAAAAAHu8/PvsrD0Cho_E/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+ranch+hands.JPG" width="296" /></a>farming and herding positions.<br />
<br />
They were paid top dollar and a bonus toward staying to tend horses, cattle and Rich's modest crop fields.<br />
<br />
Earl spent more money having an outbuilding on the far side of the ranch converted to a makeshift dormitory for them with a private driveway off Camel's Back Road.<br />
<br />
With the extra expenses, they had to give up Rich's dream of a trout hatchery.<br />
<br />
A barbed wire fence had gone up last year to keep Earl's livestock from wandering into Kyle's crops planted and tended over there; it now became a sort of border that neither of them crossed. Despite Earl owning it, the eastern half of his ranch that Kyle farmed was still known as the Bowers Farm.<br />
<br />
Sam wanted badly to stay, sensing something wrong with the local attitude, but he couldn’t put his thumb on it, and like it or not he had to head west to prepare for the next school year taking his family with him.<br />
<br />
Before he left, he came across the road to try to get an explanation from Kyle but left empty handed and worried from hearing Ennis softly crying behind the closed door of his bedroom upstairs.<br />
<br />
Within days of leaving, Ennis' friend Mike began writing from Utah every so often to ask what the local trouble about his uncles was about; for which he got no answer.<br />
<br />
Young Michael knew his uncle Rich's secret relationship with Earl, and loved them both anyway, as did his unconcerned and progressive parents. Not once did either man lay an improper hand on the child, and Mike loved to ride on them piggyback, rough house, toss baseballs, dive off of their shoulders into the pool, ride horses and laugh with them like all uncles and nephews do.<br />
<br />
Back before the trouble started, Ennis and K.E. would be invited to join in and they never had such a good time as when they were over there… until now.<br />
<br />
Over the previous two years not a single payment had been missed and in August Kyle del Mar got his collateral back from the bank now that it was no longer needed by Earl.<br />
<br />
To celebrate, he bought a four-year-old Ford station wagon on credit to go to town and church socials in, instead of hauling the kids around in the back of the pickup truck, now that rides from Earl and/or Rich were out of the question. Kyle began taking the car to a garage in downtown Sage for servicing despite it being more expensive there, instead of just going across the road.<br />
<br />
Many of the townsfolk did the same.<br />
<br />
Fortunately Earl had a statewide reputation by then of doing good work at a fair price, so his business stayed afloat, despite local customers suddenly abandoning him.<br />
<br />
With Ennis unable to tend them single-handedly, the little garden patches at the road withered from neglect, not that it mattered since the people that used them stopped coming around too.<br />
<br />
When the del Mar’s rode into town in the station wagon, the kids would often stick their hands out the windows to wave or shout at Earl or Rich on the sidewalk or coming out of a store, and Francine reluctantly would make them quiet down.<br />
<br />
After a few months, it was just assumed that the youngsters weren’t allowed to say “hi” to them in public. The resentment grew to the point where even Kyle would occasionally mumble something rude under his breath if he saw them when the kids were with him, and always if one of the local troublemakers were within earshot.<br />
<br />
None of the kids understood why the men they’d once considered favorite uncles weren’t to be spoken to any more and they were very sad about it, pestering their parents for an explanation to the point where Kyle would lose his temper and sternly tell them to just shut up.<br />
<br />
The summer turned into an unusually warm fall and Cornelia started high school, K.E. entered 7th grade and Ennis started 4th. After hearing of Kyle’s labor troubles through Ennis, Sam contracted twenty teenagers from the Lakton Utah area 4H Club for him, and sent them out to help with his harvest. Kyle fought long and hard with his pride, but with Frannie’s help, accepted the assistance with grace and made a tidy profit after paying them off.<br />
<br />
A few days after a Thanksgiving spent without the two friendly neighbors across the road, Kyle under more and more pressure from the local rednecks, posted NO TRESPASSING signs at his driveway. A few days later a frustrated Earl came across the road on foot to invite the family over for Christmas far in advance, and to ask why his best friends had all turned on him.<br />
<br />
Bad timing.<br />
<br />
Men from town were once again uninvited guests in his kitchen, and Kyle chased the mechanic off the property with a couple of shotgun blasts, terrifying his kids in the process. In the kitchen Arthur's father toasted del Mar with a beer and resumed making fag jokes.<br />
<br />
In retaliation, a few days later an angered Rich sent Kyle a registered letter. As of January 1, 1953 he was canceling the dollar-a-year lease on Earl's farmland that del Mar was using to financially get ahead, along with a "no trespassing" notice of his own. Soon afterward, some of Earl's hired hands came out and the split-rail fence was put back up along the roadside too, shutting off the free garden parcels for the townsfolk.<br />
<br />
The del Mars would have to make due with about half of their planned income for next year, leaving Kyle holding the bag for the brand-new farm equipment he'd just bought on time payments. Earl sadly made another futile attempt to reconcile with his friends by phone, but gave up quickly when Kyle hung up on him, worried that the switchboard operator might be listening in.<br />
<br />
The next afternoon a gentle call was made from Rich’s private phone to his garage number when they knew Kyle would be out in the fields. Despite everything, Frannie dutifully still answered it, and Rich pledged in a voice that sounded near tears that no matter what; the horses she loved as a child would be well looked after. He also said he was so sorry… and hung up.<br />
<br />
Soon afterward, the mystified del Mar kids found their mother crying on the porch after noticing out the front window that their friend Earl was climbing a ladder steadied by Rich to the top of the telephone pole at the end of his driveway.<br />
<br />
A big set of sharp long-handled tree limb pruning shears was attached to his belt.<br />
<br />
After pausing to wipe his eyes of tears, he severed the cable to the del Mar ranch between the pole and his repair barn. As the line fell onto the wheat field on the shop's side of the road, the warm relationship the del Mars had with the two likable men died with the family's free phone service.<br />
<br />
Kyle wasn't angry when he found out; he just went off by himself into town.<br />
<br />
They were his friends and he'd turned his back on their caring generosity instead of standing by them. He owed Rich his life, and Earl his young family's current financial stability, but when he weighed that against the townsfolk thinking he was queer too, he was lost as to what to do about the situation.<br />
<br />
All of Sage had the Bible and God on their side… or so they said.<br />
<br />
Doing something, as opposed to doing nothing to stand up for his friends had netted the same result.<br />
<br />
Young and insistent Ennis became more and more of a nuisance, demanding to know why his father suddenly wouldn't let him go over to Earl's to earn extra money and be with his friends. In retaliation, Kyle became very strict with his sons; giving them both military buzz cuts and making them call him "sir" instead of "Dad."<br />
<br />
Gradually young Ennis' happy grin vanished.<br />
<br />
He just couldn't understand, and wouldn't for a long, long time.<br />
<br />
Kyle and Fran had started having kids at the young age of sixteen when Cornelia was born. In those days of large families necessary to run a ranch, an age difference of eighteen years wasn’t unusual between the oldest and youngest child.<br />
<br />
By the time Kyle had turned 30 with his youthful good looks, he’d years ago become used to being mistaken for being his kid’s older brother instead of their father.<br />
<br />
A few days later, it occurred to Kyle that Arthur had stopped coming around to talk and fish, and he realized he missed the young man. Out of force of habit, he picked up the phone to ask if the teen wanted to come work for him… and realized the line was dead.<br />
<br />
Tearing the useless phone off the wall, del Mar wondered if Mr. Trent causing trouble for the guys across the street had something to do with the popular teenager’s absence.<br />
<br />
He became genuinely concerned when he remembered Arthur’s fear of his father, but with no way to contact him was lost as to what to do…<br />
<br />
<br />
K.E. extended his father's invitation the next day at school, and reported back that Arthur acted afraid to talk to the boy, turned his back, and then walked away quickly without answering...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Onward Christian Soldiers</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n the week that followed, gunshots began ringing out at all hours of the day and night near the bunkhouse on Camel's Back Road. Someone had begun taking potshots at Earl's ranch hands both in the fields and at the dormitory in an effort to scare the workers away.<br />
<br />
Half of Kyle’s yet to be harvested late corn crop over there was doused with kerosene ruining it. Three head of cattle and one of Fran's favorite horses became casualties too. Livestock fences were torn down in the night scattering frightened herds everywhere. Someone's truck ran through Rich’s personal cornfield mowing most of it under its tires.<br />
<br />
In the days that followed, more bullets and buckshot flew, and two ranch hands wound up in the hospital with serious wounds. Despite their bonuses, loyalty, and gratitude for their jobs, workers began packing up and leaving in droves for fear of their lives.<br />
<br />
The gay ones held out the longest when everyone else bailed, sleeping in tents and taking turns on armed day and night guard duty after the bunkhouse was burned to the ground. Eventually even they had no choice but to flee for their lives too.<br />
<br />
The local Sage police seemed unconcerned, so Rich called in the Lincoln County Sheriff and the Wyoming State Police. Deputies canvassed every known darkroom in the area, but no one admitted printing the photos. Sage's police chief dismissed the fire as a smoking accident, and the gunshots were most likely just hunters misaiming at something in the woods near Earl's.<br />
<br />
After it swiftly became known to the deputies that the two men that reported the trouble were just two flighty "Nancy-boys," the Sheriff left with no further investigation into a couple of stupid queer's complaints.<br />
<br />
<br />
...There was a good reason that Lacey Trent never caught her brother with Peggy Sue, though he talked about her often… she didn’t exist.<br />
<br />
17-year-old Arthur had known he was "different" since he was a small boy. He was overjoyed to be hired as a journeyman mechanic, and had come to idolize happy Earl and Rich, using them as role models for the fantasy life he'd hoped to have one day when he found the right boyfriend of his own.<br />
<br />
The kid was miserable because of the shine he’d taken to Kyle. When Earl or Rich couldn’t find him where he was supposed to be at the garage, they knew he was across the road during cigarette breaks fishing or just talking to the handsome rancher out in the fields.<br />
<br />
Without realizing the young man’s feelings towards him, Kyle would innocently hug him or sling his arm around the teenager when he caught a big fish or announced an “A” on his report card.<br />
<br />
Ironically, while all this was going on, Trent's History homework assignment was on the murderous European Crusades. With that in mind, and the Inquisition, it seemed like half the town was now out to harm his two heroes.<br />
<br />
An opportunistic con man named Rev. L.D. Newsome Sr. arrived that week with his young son and wife, and after hearing the rumors, opened his bible to Leviticus with a greedy smile.<br />
<br />
He'd been here once before during the rodeo murders that took the lives of seven men, and was now back for a second helping.<br />
<br />
He held his well-timed revival meeting at the arena to a nearly standing-room-only crowd. The townspeople left his tent with a revitalized religious vigor in the knowledge that the Bible taught death to homosexuals... The reverend Newsome soon went back to Childress Texas with a lot of their spare cash stuffed in his pockets.<br />
<br />
To Arthur's astonishment, his dad came home after work the following Monday and righteously yelled, "Kill a queer for Christ!" and the young man watched helplessly as his everyday average town quickly transformed itself into a hateful and potentially murderous mob.<br />
<br />
Grace was now said at every meal, boys and young men stopped going shirtless in the warm weather, women wore more modest clothing; especially at the lake, area churches were packed on Sunday as if attendance had suddenly become mandatory, sermons became fierier and parents watched over their kids as if a wild animal might get them.<br />
<br />
People began closing phone calls with “God be with you,” or “Have a blessed day.”<br />
<br />
Arthur repeatedly heard his father on the line with different men, planning to run the once very popular garage owners out of Sage; most saying that the two subjects of their hatred deserved more. His father often quoted Leviticus over the phone.<br />
<br />
Originally the plan was to seize their property, beat them up and run them out of town on a rail. As each day passed, the ideas became more violent and suddenly the element of surprise became important and all were urged to be at least friendly to Earl and Rich until they could spring their vicious trap. Arthur desperately wanted to warn his friends, but was driven to school every day and picked up afterward and his father watched him like a hawk.<br />
<br />
The teenager's attention-starved mother told everyone that it was time to teach those two heathens - and the town - a good Christian lesson in morality and reminded everyone what the Bible said God taught to do about homosexuals when and wherever they were found. Someone painted "KILL A QUEER FOR CHRIST!" in giant white letters on the redbrick wall of the high school facing town... No one bothered to paint over it worrying that the punishment for taking it down was worse than for whoever put it up.<br />
<br />
The next day the slogan appeared on a big decorative address boulder at the end of Earl and Rich's driveway. The two men began arming themselves and put up bars over the ground floor windows of their home. The Bowers farm had become a defensive fortress after the gunshots started.<br />
<br />
As the situation escalated, Arthur angrily cornered his sister in her room one afternoon after school and threatened to beat the hell out of her if she didn't own up to taking the picture. The child simply laughed in his face, too young to ponder the consequences of her actions, to frightened of her parents to admit she'd lied, preferring that those two perverts take the blame for her actions.<br />
<br />
In Arthur’s confused and tortured teenaged mind he feared "guilt through association," which was something teens always had - and always would - take seriously. At his age everyone feels things intensely; love, sadness, hate, fear, depression, isolation and loneliness; and Art hadn’t gained the years yet that it took to moderate them.<br />
<br />
He'd heard what they'd already done, shooting to kill the queer farmhands, and knew the terror in his mind that his father and friends would come for him next if he let his secret slip.<br />
<br />
The “fear of God” took on a new, different and terrifying meaning to the teenaged boy.<br />
<br />
Surrendering to what he thought was the inevitable, he <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jZPA1MW9wzs/U1w2mS-M2wI/AAAAAAAAKgc/ikWhMAI7tcg/w471-h640-no/Brokeback+Mountain+arthur+trent.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jZPA1MW9wzs/U1w2mS-M2wI/AAAAAAAAKgc/ikWhMAI7tcg/w471-h640-no/Brokeback+Mountain+arthur+trent.JPG" width="235" /></a>left a long sad note one last time trying to convince his parents he was telling the truth. In it he again begged Lacey to admit she took the picture and not Earl and Rich.<br />
<br />
Knowing his parents would never tell anyone the truth; he paced down to their mailbox and mailed his story to the local paper too.<br />
<br />
Later that night, not being able to bear being their next potentially violent target of hate - not love, young Arthur who'd had so much hope and potential took his daddy's pistol, put it in his mouth, and blew the back of his head off.<br />
<br />
His useless suicide made the front page of the Sage Sentinel the next day... but not his letter.<br />
<br />
Many people at the paper knew the truth after reading that note but elected to keep it quiet "for Christian decency's sake" or chose not to believe it, convinced the two perverts had bent the young man's mind.<br />
<br />
With only wild rumor to go on, the town's increasingly impatient vigilantes thought for sure they knew who to blame for the teen's death and prepared to take action...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Murders, The Hero & The Helpless</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n the middle of the following night, men from town came over to the del Mar ranch. There was no way to approach the fortified house of their intended victims. Talk of armed men guarding every exit while they set the house ablaze was quickly dismissed...<br />
<br />
...they needed someone that Earl and Rich trusted to trick them into opening their door and letting their guard down.<br />
<br />
While the kids at the top of the stairs listened in fear of the angry voices below, the words “queers,” "filthy faggots," and “pervert” were used loudly, and more scenarios were thought up and dismissed until using Kyle was brought up.<br />
<br />
"I'll have no part of bein' yer goddamned Judas!" protested Kyle.<br />
<br />
One of the men sinisterly studied around the kitchen and then sneered, "Maybe we'll have to burn this house out too." Watching the other men in the room he added, "When yer burnin' out a hornet's nest, ya gotta make sure you git it all, 'n who knows what them perverts mighta done to influence yer two boys that might spread to our younguns." <br />
<br />
Just then, Frannie came in the kitchen door from outside while her husband seemed to be loudly defending himself against them, and the kids cowered in fright when their mother suddenly said their names in defense of Kyle, asserting that just because he wanted nothing to do with their scheme, didn't mean he was “one of them kind.”<br />
<br />
She bravely stood her ground like a bear defending her cubs, and became even angrier that all the trouble was because of one gossiping woman who by now was claiming that she saw Earl and Rich necking half-naked, and that they were probably forcing teenaged schoolboys to have homosexual orgies in the shower after work or they wouldn’t get paid.<br />
<br />
Fran pointed out that not one of the angry men present had seen it with their own eyes and that she'd heard that Arthur had said that his sister took that picture.<br />
<br />
"MY - BOY - IS - DEAD!" roared Mr. Trent.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The angry mob left the house and from the sound of it Kyle went unwillingly.<br />
<br />
Francine was left behind and seemed to be quietly sobbing in the kitchen after pleading with Kyle not to go with them.<br />
<br />
Ten minutes later a justifiably paranoid and frightened Rich greeted Kyle at the two men's front door of the "Bowers Ranch" with a double-barreled Winchester leveled at del Mar’s chest.<br />
<br />
Relieved at finding a friend instead of a foe on their threshold, Rich relaxed and invited his neighbor in.<br />
<br />
A tear dropped from del Mar's eye as he pleaded in true sorrow, "I'm so sorry - so sorry; I… they gave me no choice... They threatened Frannie 'n the kids."<br />
<br />
Just inside the door Earl relaxed the tense grip he had on his own weapon and with a troubled sigh, took his lover's rifle and securely locked both of them back in the living room gun cabinet. Now maybe the two men would get a plausible explanation as to what had turned the whole town to violence against them.<br />
<br />
With a frown of concern and worried words for del Mar's family, Rich asked, "Who? Who threatened ‘em?"<br />
<br />
The couple thought their friend was apologizing for his past behavior, not for tricking them into opening the door and putting their weapons away.<br />
<br />
As loud footsteps pounded across the porch, Kyle dropped to his knees in terrified tears and desperately begged his God for forgiveness at the top of his lungs.<br />
<br />
His two friends realized too late that it was the last mistake that Earl and Rich would ever make as a pack of men just outside rushed the living room...<br />
<br />
...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.<br />
<br />
The Trent's pickup appeared again from the right, just up from the sharp curve coming from town. From the dust trail she thought something was being dragged behind it...<br />
...and prayed it wasn't Kyle.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Kyle finally came home before dawn the next morning part drunk and part hungover and emotionally wrung out.<br />
<br />
Moments later, the kids woke up to loud voices carrying across the second floor hall. A heated argument had broken out and he began yelling loudly in anger, "I had no choice Frannie; they come here fer me too. Fer ME! If'n I didn't go, I woulda been next. DAMN IT ALL TA HELL I didn't have no fuckin' choice."<br />
<br />
Cornelia rushed in and was immediately ushered back to her room by her mother.<br />
<br />
Francine almost made it back to their bedroom door when she shrieked and ducked back into the hall.<br />
<br />
Their sons were startled in terror when without warning an almost empty lighter fluid can went flying violently across their parent's room, through their open door barely missing Fran, across the hall, and loudly hit the boy's closed bedroom door as they listened at it from the other side.<br />
<br />
She cautiously entered her bedroom to find a devastated husband in motion.<br />
<br />
He stopped at her appearing in front him and turned away to hide his angry gaze from her.<br />
<br />
After a tense moment of silence, K.E. and Ennis were shocked to hear their father pacing around the <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDjhFWiVtM4/UkDPy9JofPI/AAAAAAAAHz0/CQ6Rpk8dpjA/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain+Kyle+del+Mar+crying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDjhFWiVtM4/UkDPy9JofPI/AAAAAAAAHz0/CQ6Rpk8dpjA/s640/Brokeback-Mountain+Kyle+del+Mar+crying.jpg" width="433" /></a>bedroom sobbing into the hand covering his tortured expression, occasionally sniffing to clear his nose.<br />
<br />
He choked out in a helpless voice, "I - they used me - I couldn't stop 'em, honey. He was my friend 'n he - he saved my GODDAMN WORTHLESS life in Korea 'n he carried me... on his back ...fer half a mile th-through heavy sniper fire to a M*A*S*H unit. Baby, they used me. u-USED me. I had no-ho-ho chu-hoice… I didn’t want to die too. I was so goddamned scared I was gonna die too last night."<br />
<br />
The boys could hear their father wail, "Oh Baby, they said they'd beat you 'n the kids to death if'n I didn't d-do what they said," while stomping around the room, still hiding his red face with his dripping wet palm.<br />
<br />
His wife closed in on him to hug her hurt husband, but he thoughtlessly shoved her away, unable to bear being touched. Like a woman who had just been raped, his ego was in intense emotional agony.<br />
<br />
He felt less of a man when he realized that he couldn't handle some-thing by the use of his brawn, his toughness or his fists. In that sense his manhood really had been raped and torn from him and he felt truly helpless, maybe for the first time in his life.<br />
<br />
No one had ever seen Kyle del Mar cry before; it was something men just didn't do.<br />
<br />
The kids were shocked beyond belief as their ever-strong father's voice came out in either choking gasps of anguished, guilt-filled, grief-stricken sobs, or in loud frustrated high-pitched screams.<br />
<br />
"He was my friend, Frannie… the U.S. damned Army pinned him a hero fer riskin' his own life to save mine… ME! He weren't some damned queer, he was muh freh-heh-hend... he was muh fuckin' hero!"<br />
<br />
"<b>DAMMIT I SHOULDA STUCK BY HIM BABY!</b>"<br />
<br />
Something fragile angrily sailed across the master bedroom in frustration and shattered loudly against the wall.<br />
<br />
Frannie replied softly, "'n then you'd be dead too... jest like them 'n then where'd we be without ya?"<br />
<br />
Ennis gasped, "Dead?" searched into K.E.'s eyes and began quietly weeping for Uncles Earl and Rich... and for once his elder did something decent and held his little brother in his arms and comforted him...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Fathers & Sons</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span>ater that afternoon after searching all over for him, young Ennis stood ten yards behind his young father sitting with his knees up alone at the quiet northern shoreline of their property sadly chucking stones and pebbles into the water. Earl, Rich and especially poor Arthur killing himself weighed heavily on his mind.<br />
<br />
The teenager he'd called his friend had to be terrified of his own damned father killing him. Kyle began begging god that none of his kids would ever come to that.<br />
<br />
The little boy watched his grown daddy for a few minutes until the man dropped his forehead to his knees and began quietly crying again, balling his fists wrapped tightly around his shins, crunching his seated body into a tight ball of sadness.<br />
<br />
Ennis rushed through the tall grass and threw his arms around his emotionally broken father's neck from behind, silently trying to comfort him the only way he knew how.<br />
<br />
They stayed like that for a long minute or so, then Kyle stared out at the lake and whispered, "Son; don't you never do nothin' ta hurt yerself 'cause ya think I wouldn't love you no matter what... P-promise me boy? Promise me."<br />
<br />
Ennis shook his head against his daddy's shoulder and said, "I love you too, Daddy."<br />
<br />
Kyle stood up, turned around, pulled his boy up off his feet so that Ennis' legs wrapped snuggly around his waist facing each other and they rested the sides of their heads together as his daddy swiveled his hips rocking his son back and forth in a silent tight hug.<br />
<br />
"Don't be sad Daddy."<br />
<br />
Del Mar choked out another sob and squeezed his boy harder, snorting to clear his sinuses...<br />
<br />
The next day the city tarred the dirt length of Dead Horse Road from half a mile east of the del Mar Ranch to half a mile west beyond Sage Street. They said it was to keep the dust down… or was it to hide a long streak of smeared blood down the middle of it?<br />
<br />
After a week Ennis noticed that no one seemed to stop at Earl’s garage anymore and it appeared deserted with a heavy chain sagging across the entrance. Soon after that, groups of men began coming around the del Mar ranch again and after lots of beer, they’d laugh vaguely with Kyle about dragging something down the road and listening to something cry.<br />
<br />
In the middle of the night, Kyle took some whitewash out with him and painted over the “kill a queer for Christ” off of his two dead friends’ driveway rock.<br />
<br />
The next day some scary men in a big pickup with angry faces came by the house.<br />
<br />
K.E. and Ennis were called outside in their coats and then taken with their daddy along with some other schoolboys gathered in the bed of the truck.<br />
<br />
Frannie sat on their porch with Cornelia and watched them leave. She eventually gazed across the way at the house full of love that she grew up in that had now turned into sorrow. Try as she might she couldn’t find the words to explain the situation to her daughter.<br />
<br />
After what Kyle had told her of their threats, she worried about her husband and sons, closed her eyes, and said a silent prayer for their safety.<br />
<br />
The men folk drove downward on a long gully trail near the end of Camel’s Back Road after crossing over Sutter’s hill. On the way there other trucks joined them as if in a convoy.<br />
<br />
Up until now the weather had stayed unusually warm for late November, but as they turned down an access road lined with an irrigation pipeline on stilts on the left, a chill breeze began to blow.<br />
<br />
When the lead pickup came to a dusty stop, the gruff leader narrowed his eyes at Kyle and muttered, “Yer first,” his gaze including young K. E. and Ennis, gesturing down the road with his head.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ father silently gathered his two boys and reluctantly led them downhill on foot along the dirt lane alone, guiding them forward with his <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7E4Qy6SJiU/Tw3mAPKt2II/AAAAAAAAESE/JjRzl-uTAcE/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+55.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7E4Qy6SJiU/Tw3mAPKt2II/AAAAAAAAESE/JjRzl-uTAcE/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+55.JPG" width="400" /></a>comforting arms around their shoulders while the others watched. K.E. noticed his daddy’s breath catch and looked up to see a tear welling in his once-fearless father’s eye.<br />
<br />
After about 100 paces they came up on a man hung by his neck with a thin cord on a tall deer fence to their right, his hair tightly kinked as if burnt, his skin scorched in places nearly black and his clouded open eyes staring in agony at the ground. His seared face was bloated beyond recognition.<br />
<br />
Across the road and down twenty paces, lay old Earl Lamb naked with shreds of bloody clothing on the ground beside him. He lay there face up in an irrigation ditch, his crotch all bloody and vacant. There were small round dark red marks all over his body from where they’d beaten him senseless with the ends of tire irons before they dragged him unconscious up and down the road.<br />
<br />
Both men had flies all over them and they smelled so bad that Ennis puked when he finally realized who they were and both sons began bawling in grief for their friends while their father comforted them closely to his waist, his eyes tightly closed, his head shaking back and forth in agony and tilted upward as if questioning God for an answer to his grief.<br />
<br />
Kyle kept his eyes focused on the ground in anguish as he led them back up the hill to the truck. When they got there another group of teenaged former employees in turn were sent down there with their fathers.<br />
<br />
One of the threatening men sternly warned the del Mar boys, "That’s what happens to queers when they come around Sage; that goes fer people that talk out of turn too."<br />
<br />
For some reason the man was pointedly looking at Kyle when he said it.<br />
<br />
Ennis looked up at his daddy in time to see him nod once and bow his head in surrender.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>NO TRESPASSING</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>W</b></span>hen the del Mars needed to, they now had to place calls from the phone booths inside the library at the corner of Sage and Camel's Back Rd across from the post office. Kyle and Frannie never realized how much they'd come to depend on Earl's generous offer of phone service until they lost it... and thought of him when they did.<br />
<br />
For a long time Kyle wouldn't let anyone touch, much less turn on, the old cabinet radio/record player Rich had bought for them.<br />
<br />
Ennis wrote to his friend Michael in detail about what he'd seen and heard.<br />
<br />
Within days activity was noticed across the street as unrepaired police and utility cars were towed away.<br />
<br />
Sam and Amy’s station wagon was seen entering the garage’s driveway after pausing to cut the chain, but Ennis was forbidden to rush over to see if Michael had come too.<br />
<br />
Kyle watched them from the front porch swing and was glad he painted over the big rock.<br />
<br />
In the coming days, the Salisburys sold off the livestock at rock-bottom prices in order to get up the money for Earl and Rich's final arrangements. Townsfolk came reluctantly at first, but soon flocked there as word got out at the bargains to be had. Frannie's treasured ponies were seen being led eastward down Dead Horse Rd. by a neighbor and she broke down and wept for an hour... the del Mars had never even been offered first option to buy them.<br />
<br />
The entire time they were there, the Salisburys defiantly wore only their Earl’s Auto Repair uniforms no matter who came to call, which troubled Fran. She kept a weary eye on them from across the road. Without a phone, she’d be unable to call for help if it was needed, and she truly worried it might come to that.<br />
<br />
While Mike's folks spent the better part of a week closing up the shop and had it put it up for sale, the boy could be seen standing for long minutes at a time staring at the NO TRESPASSING signs with a sad look on his face. Unable to stand it, Francine walked down, took his hand and led him to the house.<br />
<br />
He stayed only long enough to say hello to everyone because Kyle’s frowns at his shirt made him feel unwelcome, but he was determined to see his buddy Ennis once more, and Mike started carrying spare auto parts on his bike across the road with him in the days that followed and tuned up their Ford wagon with new points and plugs, and then put new rear brake shoes on it for free from stuff that’d just have gone to an auction anyways.<br />
<br />
A few nights later Frannie’s fears came true. Sam and his frightened family cowered in their pajamas on the del Mar’s front porch after something across the road exploded. The volunteer fire department was called out to the repair shop to put out a dangerous grass fire that fortunately didn’t spread to the house.<br />
<br />
Someone had snuck onto the property and set Earl's prized Pontiac convertible on fire while they slept.<br />
<br />
The next morning Francine went across the road to offer her condolences again and her help to Amy, but couldn’t get Kyle to go with her. After sketchy details of what happened to her brother and Earl from folks in town finally reached their ears, they decided against a memorial service and had a Lakton funeral home pick them up for burial.<br />
<br />
After finding out that Kyle and family wouldn’t be attending the burial service in Lakton, Amy told Frannie that Sam swore they'd never return to Sage. Fran explained that Kyle was worried that something might happen if they left the del Mar ranch unattended, which seemed to smooth things over between them.<br />
<br />
The del Mars stopped attending church for the same reason, which got tongues wagging in town.<br />
<br />
In case someone saw them, Kyle forbade the kids from going across the road to say one last goodbye to Mike, and brutally punished Ennis when he began an angry protest. Expressing himself, even in front of his family seemed to now be forbidden. Later in life this learned bottling up of emotion would lead to a quick and dangerous temper that'd get Ennis in trouble over and over again.<br />
<br />
When Michael’s family left for probably the last time that early December of 1952, Ennis spied his daddy at a distance standing coatless in the cold by their mailbox at the end of the driveway.<br />
<br />
As the Salisbury’s station wagon turned onto the road and slowed to a stop beside him, Kyle leaned in and seemed to shake Sam’s hand, probably to offer his delayed condolences.<br />
<br />
After the car disappeared down the road, del Mar angrily yanked the paper NO TRESPASSING signs down, violently shredded them with his fists, and then collapsed to a sitting position alone at the end of his driveway with his head bowed for a long time.<br />
<br />
Even at that distance, his family watching from the porch could see his shoulders heaving as he sobbed out his sorrow at watching two close friends violently tortured and murdered before his very eyes. Frannie kept the kids from going down there to see what was wrong and ushered them back into the house.<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDjhFWiVtM4/UkDPy9JofPI/AAAAAAAAHz0/CQ6Rpk8dpjA/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain+Kyle+del+Mar+crying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDjhFWiVtM4/UkDPy9JofPI/AAAAAAAAHz0/CQ6Rpk8dpjA/s200/Brokeback-Mountain+Kyle+del+Mar+crying.jpg" width="135" /></a><br />
<br />
Kyle would never fully recover. He feared for his family every day that some son-of-a-bitch would try to silence him after what he saw. Not even the Korean War prepared him for this, and his emotions and feelings burrowed deep down inside him, leaving a sometimes unintentionally thoughtless and cruel man who couldn't heal his emotional wounds.<br />
<br />
He’d have to harden and toughen up his sons so that they could take care of Frannie and the ranch in case something happened to him.<br />
<br />
Often he'd scream out in terror in the middle of the night from flashbacks or a bad dream. Mama would tell the kids it was from the war.<br />
<br />
Just like his father, Ennis would one day follow in his idolized daddy's emotional footsteps...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Broken Heart & Two Fires</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>C</b></span>onvinced he’d never see Michael again, young Ennis ran out the back door and into the woods along their eastern shoreline. Sitting there all alone he fell into a deep depression without completely understanding why he was so sad, but telling himself it was because he missed Earl and Rich. He couldn’t get the sight of their corpses out of his mind. In his innermost thoughts he knew it was because he'd never see his buddy Mike again and he swore he’d on no account ever make friends with anyone again if this was what happened as a result.<br />
<br />
After all, his father was friends with the great old guys and look how that turned out. In his bewildered mind a friend might kill you without warning, even though you trusted and laughed with them before.<br />
<br />
As confusion clouded his thinking he began punching a tree, hoping the pain would take the longing he had for Michael’s friendship away. After a minute or so, he realized it wasn’t working and came away afterward with only a bloody top of his hand and sore swollen knuckles with bits of bark in them that later became infected.<br />
<br />
For years afterward, Ennis couldn't see a Pontiac on the street without laughing to himself about how much fun he had learning how to drive, and then deep hurt and sorrow would set in at the loss of old Earl’s friendship. He was a good man and a treasured friend who treated Ennis like an equal instead of a little kid.<br />
<br />
The next day Ennis' cherished fancy auto parts bike disappeared from school without explanation.<br />
<br />
A few weeks later Francine presented him with a bigger new green bike on Christmas morning that she’d bought using her “mad” money, but Ennis just looked at it parked in front of the tree emotionlessly. After making a point of thanking her twice, he ignored it the rest of the day.<br />
<br />
That night as if to kill any joy that was left in the holiday, Kyle led Ennis out back and made him squirt his custom uniform shirt from the repair garage with lighter fluid and then ordered him to strike the match that set it ablaze.<br />
<br />
All the while Kyle watched and then threatened his son to be sure the boy never shed a tear. It was one more brick laid in an emotional wall that Ennis wouldn't be able to crawl over for nearly the rest of his life.<br />
<br />
The next day was K.E.’s eleventh birthday and his father presented him with a used red bike that smelled freshly painted. It had new tires, handlebar tassels, handgrips and pedals, and the new leather seat was rebolted unusually high for such a small frame…<br />
<br />
Except for the color, it was identical to the one Ennis had just lost minus the lights, horn and parts baskets.<br />
<br />
In March of 1953 old Alvin Corbett, the man who owned the Chevrolet dealership in town, bought Earl’s Auto Repair and Parts business, and moved his entire service department there in order to expand his showroom downtown.<br />
<br />
Old Alvy finally got his revenge.<br />
<br />
Francine cried bitterly as she watched from the porch as her childhood home and all of the out buildings were bulldozed down. Except for the water tower, everything was replaced with ugly gray corrugated steel structures. Then the fields were paved over to be replaced with parking for his new car inventory.<br />
<br />
Dead Horse Road was paved too and widened to two lanes as the kids watched in wonder at the multi-car tractor-trailers that began arriving on a regular schedule day and night with new Chevys, Pontiacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles on their backs.<br />
<br />
Ennis had kept up his writing to Michael once or twice a month through the winter and spring. Mike was especially sad at the demise of Earl’s Auto Repair. He was even more upset when he’d learned of Ennis’ missing bike and how his father had forced him to burn his uniform shirt.<br />
<br />
Life went on - planting crops and a summer without the Salisburys... especially Michael. That fall Cornelia started high school and Ennis entered middle school in the fifth grade.<br />
<br />
Coming home from classes on their bikes that first day, they topped the hill looking out and down at their farm and the sharp turn in Dead Horse Road.<br />
<br />
Ennis' jaw dropped when he noticed that Earl's blue water tower on the eastern horizon had been repainted bright red.<br />
<br />
While his brother and sister peddled on toward home without him, he stood there straddling his bicycle in shock fighting anger. The tower was a landmark that could be seen from all over town, so it made sense that Earl's name would be covered up so as to not remind a guilty little community of its self-righteous sins.<br />
<br />
Ennis was only eleven, but was already becoming practiced in holding in hurt, holding in anger, holding in loneliness and suppressing any joy that was left in his own life.<br />
<br />
The next afternoon a white Chevrolet bowtie logo was added to the tower beneath a giant GM...<br />
<br />
...In early October K.E. toppled over the handlebars of his too-little bike.<br />
<br />
Ennis noticed that a scratch on the frame revealed sparkled blue paint. The next day Kyle Junior’s bicycle was stolen from the rack at school and he had to ride on the back of his little brother’s to get home.<br />
<br />
That weekend Ennis rode out to a secluded part of Twin Creek Cove with some turpentine and old rags and wiped off all of the cheap red spray paint to reveal the metallic blue of his treasured first two-wheeler. After staring sadly at it for half an hour, he doused it with the rest of the paint thinner and watched bitterly after he set it on fire, running away to a safe distance as the burning inner tubes exploded.<br />
<br />
After it cooled, he fought off his boyhood tears turning them to anger, and hurled the charred hulk of it as hard as he could into the dark green water.<br />
<br />
After about ten minutes of staring at where it’d sank, he rode home. The rest of the day he remained silent; everyone noticed but no one asked why.<br />
<br />
The next day he made an unexpected gift of his own unwanted bike to K.E. The bigger bicycle fit his older brother’s longer legs better anyway. Their father had also noticed the old paint beneath the scratch and wisely decided not to question his youngest about the gift.<br />
<br />
Instead of being grateful, K.E. somehow must’ve figured out what had happened to his own bike and began verbally picking on Ennis. Their youngest startled everyone by simply turning away and silently going up to their shared bedroom alone.<br />
<br />
That was the first time Frannie had ever cussed at any of her children after calling Kyle Junior a heartless little bastard and said she was ashamed of him.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Damned</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hat year’s smaller harvest brought harder financial times to the del Mars after he had to hire extra men from out of town to help out with it. With only one kidney, Kyle was now 31, and had begun having a harder time with the physical stress involved with ranching and raising roping horses, and seemed to be getting noticeably weaker as time went on.<br />
<br />
He tried getting a part-time job over the winter across the road, but because of talk in town, the service manager refused to hire him.<br />
<br />
Kyle seriously thought of joining the rodeo again as maybe an announcer or an animal handler, but knew that in his condition it’d kill him. Besides there was no way he could stay away at long stretches without worrying that something might happen to Fran and the kids...<br />
<br />
<br />
...For months, Mr. Trent couldn’t stop reading his son’s final note over and over, and one rainy night he shot his self-centered self-righteous wife and heartless daughter in a fit of rage and guilt for costing him his Arthur, and then turned the gun on himself.<br />
<br />
The guilty in Sage thought it would’ve been simpler to lay the whole Lamb/Sapro murders off on a dead man that had started the ruckus in the first place, but many others knew that Kyle still brooded over the truth and how he was forced to participate.<br />
<br />
The town needed a scapegoat to move on from the news of Trent’s actions and the del Mars had unknowingly been elected.<br />
<br />
Out of financial necessity, some of Kyle's best horses and cattle were sold at auction at unfair rock-bottom prices to neighboring ranchers.<br />
<br />
Everyone in the family suffered in their own way every time they walked out their front door and spied that freshly painted water tower.<br />
<br />
Fearing for the kids' safety, Frannie began driving them to and from school in the old station wagon.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-17-19-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><br />
<blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2011 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-11824164589111061042014-02-24T12:39:00.000-05:002019-07-28T15:59:38.084-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 IV<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 4 ~ The Waste of a Perfectly Good 1955 Chevy</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-9-16-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Zero - One - Two - Three Kiss Me Woman!</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he next four years flew by and were mostly uneventful. K.E. started high school and became captain of the baseball team. Cornelia began dating older boys much to Kyle’s chagrin. Both K.E. and Cornelia got their driver's licenses and took over driving back and forth to school.<br />
<br />
Kyle got a letter from the Department of Defense in Washington D.C. that said he was to report to the Mayor's office in Sage on June 16th, 1954. All kinds of things raced through his head about what he might've done to get into trouble somehow. Frannie and the kids insisted on going with him and it turned out that an Army Colonel had flown out to right a wrong that was exactly four years old.<br />
<br />
It came to light that in the confusion of getting Kyle home quickly after he was wounded because Frannie's father died, his Purple Heart citation got lost in the bureaucratic shuffle.<br />
<br />
The new mayor pinned it on the dazed corporal himself and later that year the family rode in the mayor's convertible in the Veteran's Day parade.<br />
<br />
Gradually everyone seemed to accept the status quo and on the surface at least, people smiled a lot and things went back to normal in Sage, Wyoming…<br />
<br />
In the back of his mind, restless Kyle worried... There were still guilty men aware that del Mar knew too much.<br />
<br />
The family finally got a phone of their own put in... and between Frannie and Cornelia it was nearly impossible to get through to them.<br />
<br />
After mastering the farm tractor chores, Ennis was like a boy who'd proudly learned how to use a lawn mower for the first time... then realized how much of a drudge it was.<br />
<br />
Sage St. was widened, a new movie theater opened, and the town put up a bond vote to fund reinforcing the earthen dam holding back Lake Sage, but it was voted down as unnecessary after a few amateur studies were done that said it wasn’t needed, mostly because it’d require tearing down the successful rodeo stadium.<br />
<br />
Vice President Nixon made an impromptu whistle stop visit campaigning for Eisenhower’s reelection in June of 1956. Sage spent two weeks cleaning, primping and painting for him and the man never got off the caboose… he spent five minutes waving before the train headed further east, leaving only a dented cardboard box of “I Like Ike” lapel pins by the railroad tracks.<br />
<br />
After being told that Kyle’s earnings on last year’s crop would be delayed, he discovered he didn’t have enough saved up to put in winter wheat for next year. All he could do was hope that when the check finally came, it would tide them through to better times.<br />
<br />
Unable to find work locally during the unproductive months on the ranch began putting a strain on the family’s finances and mortgage payments began being missed. The strain was also affecting Kyle and Frannie’s marriage.<br />
<br />
A Sheriff’s department detective would stop by from time to time still investigating Earl and Rich’s murder, but the case seemed to be at a stand still and eventually was forgotten. The 17-year-old pickup truck started breaking down all of the time and more often than not Kyle began hauling things around in the back of the battered ‘48 Ford station wagon instead.<br />
<br />
Mike made two failed attempts to ride his bike from Lakton to Sage to see Ennis, and finally in late spring of 1957 Sam Salisbury wrote to Kyle offering to come for the summer and help out with the ranch.<br />
<br />
Michael and Ennis had grown into young manhood and had kept up their letters back and forth. Mike had just turned 14 and Ennis would too in June.<br />
<br />
After some reluctance, Frannie finally talked Kyle into accepting Sam’s offer and on Ennis’ birthday they arrived. Of course the first thing they noticed was the repainted water tower across the road, and how ugly the asphalt covered fields looked, now packed with new cars.<br />
<br />
Strapped upside down to the top of their station wagon was Mike’s repair shop bike. After a couple of years of not seeing his own, Ennis couldn't believe how small it looked. Though Michael offered, Ennis couldn’t bring himself to ride it, and it remained up there throughout the whole visit.<br />
<br />
Every time Kyle saw it, he seemed to grow a sad expression, much like Amy did every time she saw Earl’s old water tower.<br />
<br />
The house had only three bedrooms. Cornelia had graduated high school that spring and had moved out to take a job as a live-in housekeeper/babysitter in town. That freed up her bedroom for Sam and Amy just as Ennis had high hopes of having his own room away from K.E.<br />
<br />
K.E. was looking forward to becoming a senior in high school that fall and had gone away to summer baseball camp with the rest of his buddies and would return in a couple of weeks to help run the ranch. Until he did, Mike slept in his bed.<br />
<br />
The next days were spent planning out a schedule for taking care of the livestock and tending the fields. Francine and Amy rekindled their friendship.<br />
<br />
Kyle, Sam, Ennis and Mike went on a camping trip up in the mountains for a week, fishing and hunting. Arthur’s absence was a ghost that haunted them all and in the backs of their minds was the young mechanic's comically terrified act as he pleaded with the boys not to shoot him while he was downrange setting up targets.<br />
<br />
By then, Mike had lost his shyness around guns and often the boys would have shooting contests of which Ennis usually won. Kyle’s youngest showed an unexpected talent for wilderness cooking from helping his mother in the kitchen, and would clean and roast the game they shot on a spit over their campfires, usually with baked potatoes in foil or stew from a can.<br />
<br />
When they came back K.E. had returned, so Mike shared Ennis’ bed.<br />
<br />
K.E. announced he'd somehow gotten a temporary job with his friends helping to reconstruct a railroad siding that led into a sharp curve that skirted behind the western side of Sage Street’s businesses and dead-ended where Corbett’s Chevy dealership could unload new cars. Everyone was really excited because the project included a railroad station promising to bring new jobs to Sage, and now they would have once-a-week passenger service.<br />
<br />
Early one morning, Kyle went out the back door to begin milking cows only to discover Mike and Ennis tinkering under the hood of the old Dodge pickup. He dashed up to them in concern yelling, "Hey! Hey! What'ya guys doin'? Git yer asses away from there!"<br />
<br />
Michael seemed to have not heard him and proud-as-you-please, detoured around him, got in the cab and a moment later the old thing roared to smoky life.<br />
<br />
Their reward was Ennis' father's jaw gaping open in wonder, and Sam's proud grin behind him.<br />
<br />
In mid-July Sam and Michael returned from gassing up their car and buying supplies, and they seemed visibly shaken. Sam spent some time on the porch speaking to his wife in low voices, but afterward nothing was said.<br />
<br />
The delayed payment finally arrived from the sale of Kyle’s winter wheat crop, and he and Sam went across the road and made a deal on a shiny blue and white two-year-old 1955 Chevy Bel Air 4-door coupe on time payments. The dealership took the old Ford wagon in trade for next to nothing, saying it was only good for parts.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TaeQmTSZ4xw/UgSAhmUZmxI/AAAAAAAAG9U/aiL9NrlkhgA/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain++new+57+plate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="102" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TaeQmTSZ4xw/UgSAhmUZmxI/AAAAAAAAG9U/aiL9NrlkhgA/s200/Brokeback+Mountain++new+57+plate.jpg" width="200" /></a>Kyle brought it home all proud and explained the brand-new black and yellow license plate to Ennis. It had the number twelve stacked vertically for Lincoln County, then the bucking bronco, then 0123. Frannie laughed and playfully said, "That'll be easy ta remember; even fer someone as dumb as you Kyle!"<br />
<br />
Their father laughed and began chasing his giggling wife around the front yard yelling, "0-1-2-3-KISS ME WOMAN! 0-1-2-3-KISS ME WOMAN! 0-1-2-3-KISS ME WOMAN!"<br />
<br />
From then on Ennis would remember his parents fondly that way... and it wouldn't be the last time he saw that license plate.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Nuts & Bolts Of Revenge</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>B</b></span>uilding on what Arthur had taught him; over the previous couple of years young Michael had landed a part-time job in Lakton gassing up cars and eventually had graduated to lube jobs and tune-ups.<br />
<br />
Enthusiastic to learn, Ennis was often found with him either under the car or beneath the hood tinkering with this or that. At first Kyle and Sam would be out there with them, while Mike proudly gave his maintenance lectures but after a while they were satisfied that the teenager actually knew what he was doing.<br />
<br />
Michael made a point of reminding Ennis to check regularly that some suspension bolts weren’t too tight, because a jolt could snap them off, reminding him of the strength contests they used to have as little kids on Earl’s workbench.<br />
<br />
Within a couple of days the two boys had the car purring like the proverbial kitten and the ride was noticeably smoother.<br />
<br />
One night as July turned into August, K.E. went to spend the night at a friend’s.<br />
<br />
The boys decided to bed down together anyway and in the wee hours of the morning, unable to sleep, Ennis admitted what really happened to his cherished bike. Michael rolled over and faced him, and in the silent darkness slowly got the details out of his friend about seeing his Uncle Rich dead on that fence and Uncle Earl in the irrigation ditch. They fell asleep sobbing bitterly in each other’s arms, Ennis grateful that his best buddy finally gave him the freedom to cry it out.<br />
<br />
All through the first days of August, everyone noticed that Amy seemed to be growing more and more distant and upset about something. Most of her time was spent on the porch staring at the water tower. By the end of the week she and Sam went into town alone and soon returned, after calling her mother long distance from a payphone instead of using the del Mar’s.<br />
<br />
She’d found out that her sister had fallen very ill and might die. It would be too much for her to lose a brother and a sister, and the Salisburys apologized but announced that they’d have to leave for home early.<br />
<br />
Ennis seemed to take the news of his friend’s leaving in stride, which puzzled his parents. On his last night there Michael kept waking Ennis to try to tell him something important, but then couldn’t find the words.<br />
<br />
The next morning found Mike out front alone untying the bike from the top of their station wagon. Kyle asked him what he was doing, and Michael explained that he was giving it to Ennis as a gift to remember the good old days when they were kids.<br />
<br />
Kyle firmly said no to him using the excuse that it was way too small for Ennis to ride now, and retied the ropes that had been undone as the family began exiting the house behind them.<br />
<br />
Sam apparently knew of his son’s planned gift and with a puzzled frown moved to undo the ropes, but Mike stopped him with a whisper; after which an impatient look was shot from one disappointed father towards the other.<br />
<br />
Michael seemed to want to tell Ennis something important again, but lost his nerve. Instead he gathered his friend up in his arms, kissed his neck just below the right ear, and whispered how much he was going to miss him.<br />
<br />
As they separated, Kyle seemed to watch his son with a mixture of worry and suspicion.<br />
<br />
K.E. muttered, “Queers,” under his breath with disgust, and his mother rewarded him with a hard slap to the back of the head to quiet him.<br />
<br />
After they’d packed up the car, everyone gave each other a big hug and just like that they were gone.<br />
<br />
For a long time afterward Ennis stood on the porch watching the distant curve that their car disappeared around until his mother eventually called him in to lunch… Again he vowed never to befriend anyone again because of the pain he felt inside but didn’t understand.<br />
<br />
That afternoon he went off by himself to do some fishing for supper down by the secluded cove where he’d burned his own bike.<br />
<br />
Ennis may have grown reluctant to befriend anyone after that, but he did fall in love… with a beautiful horse. He spotted the easily startled striking blond palomino by chance, nearly invisible in a field near the water at the edge of the trees. For the longest time the young man suspected the apparent thoroughbred was one of Rich's that had been set loose during "the trouble."<br />
<br />
He’d occasionally seen it over the last couple of months and tried coaxing it to him but never got near enough to pat its neck or feed it an apple. Gradually after about a week or so, del Mar somehow gained its trust enough to lead it home, probably because no one was caring for him.<br />
<br />
He named the horse Saint Michael and rode him all the time, using his allowance and all the money he’d secretly stashed away working for Earl to buy a fully-rigged all leather proper saddle.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Targets On Their Backs</span></b></center></I><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hree months later in November of 1957, Kyle and Francine del Mar were discovered dead after their car ran off the road in the middle of the night. It had careened out of control down a steep hill on the Maxwell Ranch and slammed into a tree at the lone sharp curve on Dead Horse Road.<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzYV_JVnHD8/UmNVVCqSzdI/AAAAAAAAI54/c8_fXI1J_EM/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+55+Chevy+parents+death.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-: 0px;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzYV_JVnHD8/UmNVVCqSzdI/AAAAAAAAI54/c8_fXI1J_EM/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+55+Chevy+parents+death.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
Unbeknownst to them Alvin Corbett had coveted the del Mar spread for some time too, wanting it to expand his parking and repair facility so he could supply cars to all the surrounding states, buying them in bulk cheaper so his competition would be forced to buy from him wholesale instead of from Detroit. Whether that had anything to do with the crash or not was being investigated, but doubtful.<br />
<br />
The Sage police also considered that since Dead Horse Road had been paved and widened with its dirt-road bumps and potholes smoothed out, people began driving significantly faster on it and many were unprepared for the near-elbow curve west of the del Mar ranch.<br />
<br />
It was ultimately ruled by the sheriff as just another drunken accident after a dozen or so open Black Label beer bottles were found scattered in the demolished wreck. The Sage cops still had their doubts though and left it open for the time being, especially since all of the rumors about Kyle being involved in the Lamb/Sapro murders had begun to resurface.<br />
<br />
Devastated, K.E. and Ennis tore the house apart but only found four five-dollar bills and four singles to survive on in an old coffee tin that Francine had hoarded away for “mad” money.<br />
<br />
The local funeral parlor settled for a three-year-old combine and the tractor in trade for their services. Sage buried Mr. and Mrs. Kyle del Mar in an unmarked pauper's grave on Sutter's Hill just outside of town.<br />
<br />
No one seemed to be able to get a hold of the Salisburys to attend the memorial service, and no one else came... the kids were well and truly on their own.<br />
<br />
After the service, Ennis rode St. Michael to the police impound lot to get his school book bag out of the car, only to discover the mangled interior soaked in blood. The steering wheel was collapsed forward and the hub had dried blood on it where it’d pierced Kyle’s chest on impact. The windshield was shattered but intact, though bowed outward where Francine slammed into it.<br />
<br />
Ennis ran two blocks in panicked anguish before realizing he’d left his horse behind.<br />
<br />
In the coming weeks, Cornelia quit her job to move back to the ranch to raise her brothers, taking a job at Moe's Diner in town as a waitress in order to make ends meet.<br />
<br />
She moved into her parent's bedroom before either grieving brother thought to claim it.<br />
<br />
Every cent that K.E. made working for the railroad, the proceeds from that year’s harvest, and the sale of most of their livestock probably would only take them through February or March of the next year.<br />
<br />
The Chevy was uninsured so the del Mar children were saddled with two mortgage payments and a car loan as well. The bank put the wreck up for sale for parts and planned to pocket the money instead of putting any towards the money the young del Mars owed. No one seemed interested and a few called it a "ghost car."<br />
<br />
A month later their phone was shut off for nonpayment too.<br />
<br />
Michael had schooled his best buddy carefully and Ennis was proud of how well he’d learned to maintain that car, earning extra allowance from Kyle for changing the oil, patching a cheap tire’s inner tube, or fiddling with something in the engine compartment. Without knowing any better, some of the bolts that the fourteen-year-old was taught to carefully check regularly in case they tightened up too much involved the steering linkage.<br />
<br />
It was only after he'd returned home, that young Michael realized in a panic that his too-quickly thought up revenge plot might've killed Ennis too, but could do nothing since the del Mars were now unreachable.<br />
<br />
Over the next several months, none of his urgent letters were answered… not even after he’d admitted in one of them that on that last horrible day when he tried to give the bike to his friend, he was also trying to find the courage to tell Ennis that he’d fallen in love with him just like Earl had done with Rich.<br />
<br />
The spiteful mailman was one of the vigilantes and had decided to stop delivering mail to the ranch, in hopes of isolating the remaining del Mar's lives from the rest of the world...</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-20-22-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-82590688725812890092014-02-24T12:38:00.001-05:002019-07-28T12:25:33.499-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 V<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 5 ~ The del Mar Orphans</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-17-19-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Three Kids Fending For Themselves</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>F</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">or almost six months after their parents died, Kyle Jr. and Ennis faithfully continued going to and from school in the only vehicle left to them; the old pickup truck, which was a struggle to keep in running order.<br />
<br />
Without realizing the effect it'd have on the guilty in town after his father’s death, K.E. began insisting on being called "Kyle" or “Mr. del Mar” around Sage and at school, and the young man unfortunately became fixated on his parent’s wreck. He was so obsessed with it that the police impound yard finally sold the battered Chevy to a local farmer for parts just to stop the teen from repeatedly coming around to look at it.<br />
<br />
One morning Kyle Jr. took a sip of coffee at the diner, it tasted funny, so he spat it out. He was sick and throwing up for a week. There were the trucks that just barely missed him while riding his horse Missy, and the day he thought a bullet screeched past his ear one evening. Several times he was tripped on the sidewalks in the business district.<br />
<br />
His dad telling his mother that Earl and Rich’s killers had threatened to beat the del Mar family to death or burn them alive in their house stuck in K.E.’s craw and he was convinced his father’s death was no accident, and wasn’t shy about telling anyone who would listen.<br />
<br />
As for Ennis, he'd been to the wreck only once and never went back. Most of his freshman schoolmates considered him standoffish because he avoided friendly conversation or invitations to go out with this or that group, but those who knew him said he was just plain shy. He sported his father's sandy blond self-trimmed hair and without knowing it was developing an eye-catching and rugged horseman’s build as he got deeper into his teens.<br />
<br />
Ennis had always liked the sound of becoming a sophomore in the coming year, but became skeptical of ever getting the chance.<br />
<br />
A drama class teacher once spotted him in a hallway and told him that he thought that with a lot of cleaning up and some training the handsome young man could’ve been a Hollywood movie star like James Dean.<br />
<br />
It never came about though because no one could coax him out onto a stage.<br />
<br />
Many a girl was turned on by his silent brooding, then after a while they were turned off by it too. Not many knew what color his blue eyes were, because when they weren’t focused on the floor, they were always hidden beneath the brim of his ever-present cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
Since Cornelia was nineteen, she was made their legal guardian and owner of the del Mar Ranch. They all worked together to try to keep the spread going with little success.<br />
<br />
Up until the late 60’s you weren’t technically considered an adult until you were twenty-one. Many in Sage, especially the bank, ignored that hoping the inexperienced del Mar kids would run the spread into the ground and someone would pick the property up legally for little more than a song… and they were right.<br />
<br />
Eventually every horse was sold except Ennis' palomino and K.E.'s bay mare Missy. The next month, the livestock went on the auction block too.<br />
<br />
The men in town began making Kyle del Mar a folk hero for killing them two queers back in 1952. With their father dead and unable to defend himself, it just gradually became an assumed fact around Sage Wyoming.<br />
<br />
Ennis knew his dad didn't do it, but still in the back of his mind there was a nagging doubt as the memory of what he'd heard through his bedroom door as a young boy that night and the next morning blurred with time.<br />
<br />
The details of how the two homosexuals were murdered became embellished and exaggerated and Ennis did his best to ignore them. What he remembered fondly of Earl and Rich didn’t match the perverted picture that the locals had painted of them. As all children do, even a 12th grader was someone old in their eyes, so a 29-year-old like Rich was positively ancient.<br />
<br />
Every so often K.E. picked up general-delivery letters at the post office addressed to his brother from Michael that he burned immediately unopened before Ennis read them. Rumors had begun to spread about Mike that reached all the way to Sage High School and K.E. wanted neither he nor his brother to be connected to them for as long as he could.<br />
<br />
His uncle was queer, so Michael must be queer too, and K.E. was fighting being linked through friendship to the young man, and warned Ennis repeatedly not to mention Salisbury’s name.<br />
<br />
Just as well, because it was a painful and confusing period in Ennis’ life that he was struggling to forget.<br />
<br />
After a year or so Ennis thought his friend Michael apparently gave up trying to reach him, not knowing what K.E. was doing behind his back...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Face Down In Lake Sage</span></b></I></center><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6KZM-8U1Q38/Vw7bL9LsrUI/AAAAAAAAL8k/bH8BnwDgPcYGiJg7bheBLqsOCEkL00PkACKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BKE%2Bat%2B19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6KZM-8U1Q38/Vw7bL9LsrUI/AAAAAAAAL8k/bH8BnwDgPcYGiJg7bheBLqsOCEkL00PkACKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BKE%2Bat%2B19.JPG" /></a><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>C</b></span>ornelia’s 1958 income from two jobs barely paid the utilities and by March K.E. was forced to quit halfway through his senior year to run the ranch full time.<br />
<br />
Shortly after, Ennis did too because there was no money left to fix the transmission on the ancient pickup truck that he used to get back and forth in.<br />
<br />
From then on he mostly did house chores and cooking when he wasn’t working in the fields.<br />
<br />
Years later he lamented not getting to graduate with the class of ‘61. The tragedy finally brought the two brothers together as friends.<br />
<br />
With them so far behind on the mortgage, Corbett’s GM/ Chevy dealership finally talked the bank into taking the del Mar spread and the young men were heartlessly kicked out on the street. Without a vehicle they would have to leave town with only the belongings they could carry or pack on Saint Michael and Missy’s backs.<br />
<br />
Cornelia got a better job in town working for a lawyer as a receptionist, and wound up fighting the heartless bank to keep it from seizing her paychecks for the remainder of the del Mar debt.<br />
<br />
For a while Ennis camped out in Ledger Park at Lake Sage reservoir with their horses, while K.E. stayed with some old high school buddies. Eventually it being so close to the residential section of town, Ennis moved camp to the southern shore of Twin Creek Cove just east of his former homestead.<br />
<br />
In the end his older brother joined him in camp after not being able to find a job, and no one in town was willing to feed and house two unshaven boys who stepped around town with uncut hair and dirty clothes.<br />
<br />
In the coming months, they'd have to move on before cold weather set in if they couldn't find shelter soon.<br />
<br />
By then K.E. was 19 and Ennis 15. They sadly watched their house and farm buildings bulldozed to the ground and his private grove of climbing trees were cut down too, leaving only the ones lining the shoreline of the wide peninsula they once called home.<br />
<br />
The man who demolished their house discovered $915 in coffee cans in the crawl space beneath the front porch... He bought a new car the next day.<br />
<br />
Cornelia met and fell in lust with a young roughneck who was barely making ends meet in the oil fields of Casper. She got engaged for all the wrong reasons the next month, finally freeing herself of her troublesome brothers and the bank. She'd barely scraped up enough for the train ride east and north to get married and the day she left only K.E. went to see her off, leaving his defeated younger brother alone.<br />
<br />
This was the turning point - the last day Ennis Jordan del Mar allowed himself to feel deep caring emotion about anything... and it nearly took his life.<br />
<br />
Ennis had been arrested five days earlier after someone reported him skinny-dipping in the cold lake to wash his accumulated stench of sweat off.<br />
<br />
The three-day jail time was a blessing as much as a curse. At least he had hot meals, steamy showers, and a warm bed for a couple of nights.<br />
<br />
After he returned to camp, he defiantly thought of diving in the cove to try to salvage his bicycle, and had even stripped off all of his clothes to try, but after a while of sitting on the bank naked not caring who saw, he knew it was useless and that the bike was beyond repair... just like his young life.<br />
<br />
The damned thing was too small for him now anyway.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slcTx2CULXs/UfVmNEe1f7I/AAAAAAAAGsU/EAVpXd-_aL4/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+Sad+Ennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slcTx2CULXs/UfVmNEe1f7I/AAAAAAAAGsU/EAVpXd-_aL4/s400/Brokeback+mountain+Sad+Ennis.jpg"width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
He broke down and hung his head low, suffering over losing his ma and pa, his bestest of best friends Michael, then his home and now his sister. No one seemed to give a goddamn about him and he was so lonely it ached. Hopelessness was building up inside of him not knowing what the future brought or if he even had or wanted one.<br />
<br />
Though he badly needed the emotional release from his frustrations; he willed that not a single tear would fall.<br />
<br />
His feelings toward Mike went much deeper than friendship, but he couldn't name or understand them and felt lost every time he tried. It had bothered him ever since puberty and hormones set in, because pretty young naked girls willing to do anything for him within his jack-off fantasies began turning into Michael just before he came.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately a lot of his unnecessary pain might have been lifted from his young shoulders if he’d had an understanding father figure to tell him that it was absolutely normal for all male teenagers his age to have crushes on other boys and that the feelings would soon pass with no ill effects.<br />
<br />
Instead, like Arthur he was convinced he was damned to fear God’s judgment and Satan’s wrath for feelings he couldn’t possibly comprehend and resented his father for leaving him before he could explain the ways of life.<br />
<br />
His brother Kyle was unwilling to help him understand when asked about it. Like all fifteen-year-olds, the torture of adolescence intensified every emotion he had from love, desire, fear and depression tearing him apart inside.<br />
<br />
As he became more intensely convinced that no one cared, he considered suicide by drowning to end the pain but didn't have the courage; making him even more depressed.<br />
<br />
A loving voice in his mind's eye whispered, "Son; don't you never do nothin' ta hurt yerself 'cause ya think I wouldn't love you no matter what... P-promise me boy? Promise me."<br />
<br />
He didn't know how right he was for being paranoid about the folks in Sage that he'd known all of his life. If he had he'd be floating face down in the water by now because the del Mar brothers had been chosen to be driven out of town as replacement scapegoats by the real killers of Earl and Rich...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Wandering Outcasts</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>f Sage could be rid of his sons, the murders could be pinned on Kyle's shoulders alone, leaving the true guilty to watch the investigation gradually drop and be forgotten. That wouldn't happen as long as K.E. and Ennis remained behind to defend him.<br />
<br />
The local cops were willing to let the matter die down, but obsessed K.E. kept using people's phones to call the sheriff's department for updates and to keep the investigation alive.<br />
<br />
It was unfair and unjust, but it was what it was for the unrepentant lynch mob and their many worried kin who constantly made it clear that the del Mars were no longer welcome there.<br />
<br />
The day the boys set off out of town on horseback, eyes watched them from behind upper curtained windows on Sage Street.<br />
<br />
Ennis wanted to try to telephone the Salisburys, but Kyle vetoed it causing a bitter rift between them for weeks afterward. After all, Lakton wasn't that far away.<br />
<br />
Just after crossing the spur and main rail lines, his brother stopped them at the county road where Sage St. met it. Left headed west, right headed east.<br />
<br />
(Tragically if the Salisburys had known, they'd have adopted Ennis and raised him as their own, leaving grown Cornelia and K.E. to fend for themselves.)<br />
<br />
Ennis made a last-ditch try at heading for Lakton and heard an unfamiliar word come out of his brother's mouth for the first time.<br />
<br />
"I don't want nothin' ta do with that faggot," he spat out, "and you shouldn't neither lessin’ yer goin' queer on me; in which case we'll just part company right here, brother," which closed the argument... for now.<br />
<br />
If Ennis were a typical young teenager who didn't even know yet what he didn't know about life, he'd arrogantly figure he could make it on his own alone. However the younger of the del Mar brothers was wise beyond his years and held his tongue. He grudgingly loved his elder brother, but also needed his extra few years of experience if they ever hoped to survive their coming ordeals.<br />
<br />
Ennis wasn't aware that rumors had spread about Mike through the high school pipeline, even as far east as Sage. Kyle had been taking grief from former classmates for even knowing him.<br />
<br />
Ennis just assumed that somehow word had been garbled and exaggerated in combination with the gossip about Earl and Rich.<br />
<br />
The unfair concept of guilt through association was especially true for teens.<br />
<br />
K.E. would never admit it, but he secretly needed his little brother too, as much for companionship as for his advanced wilderness survival skills, mostly learned from a patient Rich during all those really fun camping trips.<br />
<br />
Soon after they set out westward, midway through the miles-long right curve they came up on the left turn that led to Utah. Ennis looked longingly at it as they passed on horseback, but remained stoically silent.<br />
<br />
For a month they rode northward as much as 25 miles a day or more through rain, wind, and then snow, living off Ennis's hunting and fishing talents, stealing over-ripened vegetables from rare and sparse farm fields.<br />
<br />
Ennis was now being forced to live in a different Wyoming than he was used to, and once in a while would comment that settlers must've cut down all the trees to build houses. Either that or they outlawed them in favor of dry reddish-brown hills and rugged mountains instead.<br />
<br />
No matter how far they traveled, the scenery never changed, making it impossible to gauge their progress. Distant mountains on the horizon never seemed to move; only the same hills on either side of the straight-as-an-arrow road. Ennis insisted on riding parallel to highways to keep them from traveling in circles.<br />
<br />
Riding at night was dangerous and nerve wracking because semis didn't see the horses until they were practically on top of them.<br />
<br />
Early on, Kyle shoplifted a compass and some map books to keep them on course. Old letters pointed them to possible Bowers relatives only to find long abandoned houses or strangers that didn't know where a step-cousin had moved to years ago.<br />
<br />
Every so often, Ennis would pull out a scrap of paper from his pocket and try to memorize the del Mar family tree that he'd scrawled down before they left. Eventually he stashed it in the Good Book they carried in their cherished possessions for safekeeping.<br />
<br />
As weeks dragged into months and the weather finally stayed cold all of the time now, it wore on both of them, especially Kyle's temper. Many's a time Ennis threatened to set off on his own rather than remain his brother's physical and emotional punching bag... but somehow they stuck together and moved on.<br />
<br />
K.E. secretly admired his younger brother for being able to take the enormous pressure they were under just to survive, not knowing that Ennis was self-destructively burying it deep inside himself to the point of regularly thinking about sticking the end of his daddy's Winchester in his mouth and pulling the trigger.<br />
<br />
He also still resented his brother for not trying for the Salisburys in Lakton.<br />
<br />
The boys used abandoned barns or outbuildings for shelter from the weather when they could and an old leaky tent when they couldn't. With no money they grew beards and their hair grew even longer, making it harder and harder to find odd jobs.<br />
<br />
What little money they scrounged went for ammo for their daddy's cherished hunting rifle.<br />
<br />
The only reason either had for going into a bar or diner was to swipe books of matches out of ashtrays for starting campfires to keep warm at night. They also smuggled out rolls of toilet paper, salt, pepper and condiments under their coats.<br />
<br />
Extra blankets and warmer clothes disappeared from unguarded clotheslines. Both young men drew the line at breaking into houses for money. Their daddy taught them well and often that God meant cash to be earned not stolen.<br />
<br />
Ennis' conscience often bothered him after such thefts, but what else could they do?<br />
<br />
K.E. fell deathly sick from exposure in the frigid temperatures and for several days he turned as gray as ash. Finally Ennis climbed into his brother’s bedroll with him to keep him warm, fearing that if he left him to try to find a doctor Kyle Junior would die in the cold. At one point brave Ennis couldn’t stand it any more and broke down in tears, pleading with God not to take his brother from him, kissing his cold forehead, holding him close and begging him not to die.<br />
<br />
After a couple more days surrounded by big rocks heated in the campfire and then placed in the tent, K.E. recovered and they moved on.<br />
<br />
The two young men eventually roamed west across the state line and had better luck in northern Utah and southern Idaho at finding long-lost del Mar aunts and uncles whose names had been culled by Ennis from an old diary left behind when their grandmother fled Sage. None were willing to take in two teenaged nephews on top of the family they already had.<br />
<br />
Some were surprised and/or skeptical that K.E. and Ennis were even kin of theirs, believing that their father Kyle had died in the war twenty years ago. Kyle Jr. was now grateful that he’d lost the argument with Ennis about bringing old family photos and mementos along. They came in handy as proof… and bribes in exchange for staying a day or two here and there.<br />
<br />
Some were even put off that their childhood ranch had stayed in del Mar family hands for so long after their brother disappeared. They all now assumed that he'd selfishly kept it rather than share the income it brought.<br />
<br />
The stops along the way at least afforded them an occasional and much-needed shave, haircut, hot meal and a hot bath.<br />
<br />
Missy went lame and was left at an uncle's ranch in southern Idaho.<br />
<br />
There were bad fights over leaving St. Michael behind too in order to make it possible to hitchhike, but Ennis would hear nothing of it. For one thing they'd have to dump most of the possessions that their remaining steed carried on his back for them. They almost parted company over it a couple of times, but in the end they stuck together because that was all they had... each other.<br />
<br />
They took turns riding a mile while the other walked, sometimes riding together until the ornery horse would protest. More than once K.E. threatened to shoot and butcher St. Michael for the meat when they got really hungry.<br />
<br />
Unable to find a home, they began the life of a couple of hobos over the next couple of years, roaming from ranch job to ranch job living by luck and the skin of their teeth. K.E. stole a horse from a barn and rode it bareback, leaving him sore and tired a lot. They were forced to stay away from the roads as much as possible for fear of a cop spotting them with it.<br />
<br />
In an act of brotherly love, Ennis traded his magnificent and expensive saddle to a farmer for two cheap and worn ones... His brother never said a word in gratitude.<br />
<br />
By 1959 they'd wandered eastward to Worland Wyoming where reckless K.E. got a pretty rodeo cowgirl pregnant and after they married, Ennis was left to fend for himself at 17 and stayed on in town doing odd jobs until he was 18.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-23-26-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-62096730589920529702014-02-24T12:38:00.000-05:002019-07-28T21:27:14.625-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 VI<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Part 6 ~ The Homeless Hometown Boy</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-20-22-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a></center><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">New Year’s Eve On Sage Street</center></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>E</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">very so often, Ennis tried to make ends meet by entering a summer rodeo. He was seriously hurt after getting stomped on by a bull he tried to ride, so he switched to roping on St. Michael his Palomino, but his beloved horse was getting old and wasn’t trained for it, so he soon gave up trying.<br />
<br />
He had trouble dealing with the cocky attitudes of the typical rodeo cowboy anyways and decided that the circuit just wasn’t the life for him.<br />
<br />
Years ago his daddy used to tell his sons stories of his time as a calf roper and said that you had to have really fucked up if you needed to resort to the rodeo for a living.<br />
<br />
In 1961 with little local prospects for a future, he wandered south again and settled on a ranch between Kemmering and Diamondville 45 miles east of his hometown of Sage.<br />
<br />
The first thing he did was to try to reach Mike Salisbury or his parents in Lakton, but apparently they'd moved away a while back and no forwarding address or phone number was listed.<br />
<br />
He resigned himself to start his life over yet again and the friendly foreman took him under his wing teaching him everything he knew about the horse and livestock business. The ranch hands taught him the right way to win card games and just as important, how to drink whisky but still keep your wits about you.<br />
<br />
He cut his hair, learned to groom himself well and bought new clothes to step around town in. His new look earned him compliments and confidence in himself.<br />
<br />
<br />
A couple of times he rode along in the supply van with his boss into Sage. Except for some fresh paint here and there on the single main drag, and the addition of a third set of railroad tracks right beside the first, it all looked the same.<br />
<br />
Ennis never let on to his new friends that he was from there and always stayed in the truck while his foreman shopped for supplies. As people ignored him in the cab of the big truck, he watched and didn't recognize a single face that passed on the sidewalks.<br />
<br />
Within a few months, he was actually making enough in wages to begin saving a little at a time for a pickup to drive around in instead of riding St. Michael everywhere or hitching rides. To that end he learned enough to pass a driving test and earned his Wyoming driver's license.<br />
<br />
...he should've known it wouldn't last; nothing good in his life ever did.<br />
<br />
The job lasted for almost a year and a half until the owner went belly up financially in June of 1962.<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O5FwW9wRSRs/Uc90nTobnDI/AAAAAAAAF54/zi1WjOqNr60/s401/~+Brokeback+Mountain+young+ennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O5FwW9wRSRs/Uc90nTobnDI/AAAAAAAAF54/zi1WjOqNr60/s320/~+Brokeback+Mountain+young+ennis.jpg" width="201" /></a><br />
Six months without work eventually led to a very cold Christmas Eve when Ennis snuck quietly back into his hometown gambling that he wouldn't be recognized as the young boy who was driven along with his brother out of Sage with his tail between his legs a little over five years ago.<br />
<br />
He moved into a cheap "flea bag" room over Moe's diner part way up the hill on the west side of Sage St. next to the Chevy dealership and tried to stay unnoticed, even though he was carefully putting in employment applications everywhere he could think of.<br />
<br />
At first it worked, but he started getting careless, hanging out in taverns in town, playing cards and drinking which drew attention to himself... and his name. It never occurred to him to lie about that.<br />
<br />
What pay he'd saved up for a truck was now dwindling fast and he soon realized that attitudes hadn't changed despite the years, because no one would hire him despite growing into a handsome clean-cut, clean shaven, young, and very attractive man.<br />
<br />
Girls began taking notice of him and he became less careful and shy, developing a talent for bar brawling and winning at poker to pay the rent.<br />
<br />
One young woman asked him if he could remember the last time he smiled and he couldn't.<br />
<br />
On New Year’s Eve he met an old man who'd actually participated in the mob lynching of Earl and Rich ten years ago.<br />
<br />
He'd driven the truck back in 1952 that dragged Earl, and then later hauled the two lovers and their captors to their deaths in that irrigation gully outside of town.<br />
<br />
As the night wore on the true, unembellished and ugly details of what really happened to them came out with the help of a bottle of cheap whiskey. Del Mar tried through the night to dredge up outrage, anger, an urge to kill this man or at least beat him up, but he could feel nothing but the final knowledge of what really happened.<br />
<br />
They'd forced his father to go with them and used him as a decoy, but for some reason he didn't escape them when he had the chance.<br />
<br />
Ennis was left in turmoil not knowing whether his father was as innocent as he'd believed; especially when a detail about one of the men repeatedly dowsing Rich with lighter fluid came out. That can hitting his and K.E.'s bedroom door would stick in his mind for years to come.<br />
<br />
Apparently as 1962 became 1963 that night, the old man never mentioned the threat against the del Mar family that kept his father controlled and then silent. At the time young Ennis was so scared and crying in fear at that door, that he didn't remember hearing his father speak of it either.<br />
<br />
The next night Moe's wife gently knocked on his door to tell him that Saint Michael had died from the cold and old age.<br />
<br />
Ennis felt nothing, and felt nothing about feeling nothing when he should've... even when he went down the next morning to say goodbye only to find his faithful steed's body gone.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">A Good Samaritan’s Motive</span></b></center><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span>he locals had really begun noticing a del Mar was back in town and whispered plans swiftly started floating around as to what to do about him.<br />
<br />
Sage’s kindly new doctor headed them off, saying he’d ease the young man, who was guilty of no crime, out of town honest and fair.<br />
<br />
Through a local patient Dr. Heath Skully'd learned the truth about what had happened to Earl and Rich, and how the town unfairly blamed Ennis' late father. He felt sorry for the former hometown boy because he had two sons about del Mar's age in college back east and another at home in high school, and wouldn’t want his own to suffer what the locals had planned for the itinerant ranch hand.<br />
<br />
He talked them into leaving it up to him in his own time.<br />
<br />
Behind the scenes, the doctor was the one who'd anonymously paid to have Ennis' horse taken away to be stored until he could be buried on his farm in the spring.<br />
<br />
A week later on the morning of January 8th 1963, Ennis bundled himself up in a couple of sweatshirts under his blue plaid jacket and finally took a short trip on foot across town and down Dead Horse Road to see the old place where he'd grown up.<br />
<br />
After half an hour of trudging through snow, his heart sank as he topped Sutter's hill and found a vast snow-covered car-clogged parking lot in the distance where their ranch once was. A big billboard took advantage of the lake view from the other side and it replaced the trees that'd remained along the outer edge of their land at the water. One of the absent ones was remembered fondly as the tree he'd climbed in his boyhood in an attempt see past the horizon and then was afraid to climb back down from for an hour.<br />
<br />
The only thing recognizable was Earl’s old water tower on the opposite side of the road surrounded by metal buildings where his barely remembered grandpa Bower's homestead once stood. For a moment his heart ached for Earl and Rich ...and Michael.<br />
<br />
Beyond his absent boyhood home and off to the northeast was shallow Twin Creek Cove, now frozen over, its trees barren of leaves. He'd haphazardly learned to ice-skate there in his youth.<br />
<br />
He'd journeyed here hoping to feel something in his heart or his soul, but even this disappointing vista failed to garner much of a reaction. He closed his eyes instead and remembered the warm love from his father and mother.<br />
<br />
With no reason to go any further, he reversed direction now facing the bitter wind.<br />
<br />
On his way back, a big '55 white and bronze deluxe <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jiL3LTVs9Ww/UhJ6lrpG5WI/AAAAAAAAHQk/SrXg1kgfMH8/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain+1955+Pontiac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jiL3LTVs9Ww/UhJ6lrpG5WI/AAAAAAAAHQk/SrXg1kgfMH8/s400/Brokeback-Mountain+1955+Pontiac.jpg" width="400" /></a>Pontiac convertible approached from behind and stopped beside him causing a sweet memory of driving Earl's '53 convertible to wash over him.<br />
<br />
The passenger front window hummed down and a male educated Midwest accent asked, "You're Ennis; aren't you?" The old and unfamiliar driver had a pleasant smile as del Mar climbed in and thanked him for stopping while the window hummed back up before he realized there was no window handle to crank.<br />
<br />
The gray-haired stranger offered him a warm ride to his place over Moe’s Diner where his sister used to work.<br />
<br />
A conversation started up about how Ennis was disappointed that he couldn't even pay for a job in his beloved hometown and how he'd reluctantly have to leave soon because of it.<br />
<br />
The friendly old practitioner mentioned that he’d seen some notices up on the wall at the post office about good paying jobs opening up herding sheep in central Wyoming, but he didn't know of anything locally.<br />
<br />
Ennis asked the kind gentleman to drop him off there instead.<br />
<br />
After turning left where Dead Horse Rd. ended in town, they headed south uphill and he pulled to a snow-packed curb on the right where Sage St. dead ended into Camel's Back Rd. and put the car in Park, leaving it idling.<br />
<br />
Just as Ennis reached for the door handle, the man asked, "Aren't you cold in that light jacket?"<br />
<br />
Del Mar shrugged and replied, "I'm wearin' three shirts under it. I'm okay."<br />
<br />
He moved to exit the car again and the man grabbed his elbow to stop him and then reached for a supply store box about three feet by two feet and six inches deep in the foot well behind his seat.<br />
<br />
"I was on my way to return this today," he said matter-of-factly pushing the box onto Ennis's lap. "I got it as a present for my son, but I guessed two sizes too big."<br />
<br />
To Ennis' reluctant expression, the man looked pointedly at a small silver and turquoise crucifix on a chain hanging from the rear-view mirror. "It would surely do my old Christian heart good if you'd accept this from me; call it a late Christmas present from Jesus; who cares for all men great and small."<br />
<br />
"I... it's mighty kind but... I don't rightly..."<br />
<br />
"Maybe God's mighty hand guided me to you today to help one of his flock in need Ennis... Please?"<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded in surrender to a man he now suspected was a new preacher in town, and moved to open the box. An old hand came down on top of it and requested, "Wait 'til you get it home; okay?"<br />
<br />
Ennis thanked him for the gift, the warm ride and the tip on possible employment, shook the stranger's hand and got out of the big Pontiac admiring the huge rear bumper with a chromed spare tire tilted forward against the middle of the trunk lid.<br />
<br />
It was only after Dr. Heath L. Skully drove away that Ennis realized he'd never thought to ask the man his name. Then he wondered how the stranger knew not only his name but also knew where he lived too... and that his sister worked there so many years ago!<br />
<br />
Once inside the Post Office's warm lobby, his worry over the mysterious stranger eased while reading the reprinted and enlarged newspaper ad posted on the wall from a company called Farm and Ranch Employment Services. On a shelf beneath it were little printed postcards pre-addressed to Signal, Wyoming.<br />
<br />
After filling out the brief application, he went over to the clerk’s cage, bought a stamp and mailed it.<br />
<br />
The cheerful lady attendant recognized his name and told him to step over to the vacant window to his right. She disappeared in back and returned with a stack of envelopes to hand to him.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The Desperate Letter</span></center></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A</b></span>fter thanking her politely, Ennis walked down the snow-covered windblown sidewalks of Sage and made his way up the stairs to his place over Moe’s Diner.<br />
<br />
After warming a cup of coffee he settled down in a worn and lumpy chair to try to relax.<br />
<br />
Amongst the collected old bills, advertisements, and undelivered mail that had collected in the dead-letter office was a two-year-old correspondence from Mike's mother Amy marked URGENT.<br />
<br />
Amy told of discovering a note and a diary from her only child who apparently no longer lived with them.<br />
<br />
When they’d come in 1957 to help his father harvest his crops, Sam and Michael went over to downtown Sage for supplies and while there were told at the gas station and then later at the grocery store that Kyle del Mar was the one that led the gang that’d tortured and then murdered Earl and her brother Richard.<br />
<br />
When they came back from the supply run, Sam told Amy and he was so angry, and she so sad, that they together made up the story about her sister being ill in order to get out of there before Sam lost his temper or Michael said something to Ennis.<br />
<br />
After the Salisburys returned home, they talked it out and decided there was no way Kyle could've done it and that they'd overreacted. Which is why they came back to help with the harvest in the first place.<br />
<br />
The Salisburys didn’t find out until too late that Mike became so fixated on revenge that he developed an idea to sabotage Kyle’s car so he’d be hurt or killed in his cherished blue Chevrolet to pay for his deeds since the locals didn’t seem interested in justice.<br />
<br />
He’d removed the lock washers from the steering column and tie rod of the ’55 Chevy, but Ennis almost caught him in the act while supposedly lubing the front chassis so he had to turn it into a series of teaching lessons about cars so no one would suspect.<br />
<br />
With Ennis regularly loosening the bolts and with the lock washers gone, a crash was inevitable.<br />
<br />
Mike had discovered a vague local newspaper article about the fatal del Mar wreck, but no mention was made of who specifically was in the car and so he began urgently writing several letters to Ennis but got no replies. She went on to <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j27enXdz8_o/UetuSuZVAzI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/tANaZpdU8G4/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain-Kyle+Johnson+as+Mike+Salisbury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j27enXdz8_o/UetuSuZVAzI/AAAAAAAAGlQ/tANaZpdU8G4/s320/Brokeback+Mountain-Kyle+Johnson+as+Mike+Salisbury.jpg" width="170" /></a>write that in his diary, young Michael told of how he’d suffered terribly after admitting to himself that he was a god forsaken queer like his uncles and feared for his life from the same fate Earl and Rich suffered… or of being struck down by Jesus in heaven.<br />
<br />
Michael confessed in his journal that he had fallen deeply in love with Ennis back when they were fourteen but couldn't find the courage to tell him so.<br />
<br />
For the next four years he worked out with weights and stayed slim as a rail. He also began hanging out at a corner in town in front of a Bear Lake tourist bar that was said to be frequented by homosexuals. Michael was hoping to meet a special someone that would make him feel the way he felt when he was around Ennis but everyone paled in comparison.<br />
<br />
Someone must've spotted him there because word spread all over high school his senior year.<br />
<br />
Despite his being a tough athlete on the swim team and varsity wrestling, classmates must’ve picked up on his being “different.” Some of the jocks ganged up to made his life a living hell, driving him into a deep dark brooding depression.<br />
<br />
Her son became convinced he’d not only killed Kyle, but also the whole family. He spoke often of wanting to go to Sage just to look for his boyhood crush, but couldn't bear to think Ennis might be dead at his hand.<br />
<br />
After pleading for someone-anyone to answer her letter so she’d know if they were alright, she relayed the sad news that Mike had just committed suicide at the age of 18.<br />
<br />
Ennis frowned and looked at the envelope again; the letter had been postmarked from Lakton Utah a couple of years ago in 1961.<br />
<br />
Tragically, Ennis had gradually grown cold and emotionless over those previous few years from too much pain, heartbreak and hardship.<br />
<br />
With the realization that he might’ve played a part in his parent’s deaths, he buried his feelings deep inside of himself and burned the letter that implicated him in an ashtray without answering it, closing forever that chapter of his life.<br />
<br />
He’d also had a boyhood crush on Michael though he never admitted it to himself or even realized it until just recently. In the awful blink of an eye he hid the memory of those forbidden feelings where hopefully he’d never find them again.<br />
<br />
It was the stoic way of all men of the West and the way he was brought up.<br />
<br />
Remembering the mysterious box, he reached over and pulled the lid off and his mouth gaped open in wonder at what he found. Beneath large sheets of tissue paper was a very nice, warm and probably expensive brown winter coat with a darker brown sheep's wool collar. Balled up in one pocket was a dark brown scarf and the other contained a brand new pair of insulated gentlemen's leather gloves.<br />
<br />
The bottom of the box held two pairs of heavy wool socks. Ennis nodded to himself that this gift was no accident and wondered if he'd ever find the man again to thank him for it.<br />
<br />
His car again reminded Ennis of Earl's red Pontiac and for a moment he fantasized his murdered friend's ghost doing him a kindness.<br />
<br />
After eating a cheap dinner downstairs wearing his new coat, he returned up to his room to sift through the remaining old <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_mXJ_zoL2Y/UhE19NDORTI/AAAAAAAAHOY/3p8al8r_SaA/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+money+for+Ennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v_mXJ_zoL2Y/UhE19NDORTI/AAAAAAAAHOY/3p8al8r_SaA/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+money+for+Ennis.jpg" width="400" /></a>mail and discovered a bill from a mail order catalog addressed to K.E. and realized it’d been over three years since he’d heard anything from his own brother… not that either of them were that easy to find under the circumstances.<br />
<br />
He moved to toss it in the wastebasket and encountered a brand new blank envelope next in the pile. It contained a crisp twenty-dollar bill and a hand scrawled note in neutral handwriting that said, "Tell no one where you got this traveling money."<br />
<br />
Obviously the stranger had intentionally steered him to the post office using the excuse of the job opportunity to get him there, and it was probably he that arranged for the clerk to "by chance" recognize his name and slip him the money.<br />
<br />
...Nah, he'd have put it in one of the coat pockets, rather than risk it possibly being kept by the woman behind the mail cage.<br />
<br />
Then again, maybe she on her own had heard around town of his problems, felt sorry for him, and wanted to help on a whim by slipping him some spare cash if she ever met him on the street, acting now, only when he just happened in to check his mail?<br />
<br />
...$20 was a lot of money in those tough days to just pass off to a complete stranger.<br />
<br />
He spent the rest of the night worrying whether it was worded as a kindness... or a veiled threat to leave town.<br />
<br />
He'd never given anyone the impression that he was going to quit Sage; in fact just the opposite. Either way someone or more than just one, however gently or subtly, was now trying to push del Mar in that direction...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">What All Good Men Are Expected To Do</span></center></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span>hree days later he met a new waitress named Alma Beers from Riverton. She had a controlling way about her, was very plain looking with mousy brown hair and had just started working downstairs at Moe’s.<br />
<br />
Soon after, he began dating her casually and two weeks later he finally lost his virginity with her.<br />
<br />
As with anyone’s first fuck, he was convinced he was in love.<br />
<br />
He soon moved her in with him, and after an awkward courtship and a drunken party to celebrate their one-month anniversary, he proposed to her the day he got a successful reply from his application to herd sheep for three months somewhere up north.<br />
<br />
She refused until he could come up with enough money to marry her properly in a church wedding that her mother would approve of, which meant putting it off until he came back from wherever he would be sent to work.<br />
<br />
People became increasingly unfriendly towards them, apparently because Ennis hadn’t moved out of town yet.<br />
<br />
Complaints constantly came in to his landlord about them living in sin, nonexistent noises, bad smells, and loud music coming from Ennis’ apartment. Diner customers stopped tipping Alma altogether and complained about her slow service, wrong orders, and “attitude.”<br />
<br />
Moe soon tired of it coming from all directions and evicted him... and fired her.<br />
<br />
Two days later the couple took the train north to Riverton where he moved into a cheap apartment alone over Betsy’s Tavern on East Monroe Ave.<br />
<br />
Alma started becoming controlling and thought it only proper for her to live with her mother until they were married. She knew she had her hooks into him good by refusing sex until he got a job that'd support her properly in case the shepherd thing fell through.<br />
<br />
Hungry for a job - any job, Ennis began checking newspaper want ads looking for something temporary until June, but found nothing.<br />
<br />
When the weather warmed, to impress her he tried his hand again in the local rodeo as a bronco rider this time, but couldn’t stay astride one for more than three seconds and gave up soon afterward. To add to his income he started playing poker downstairs and befriended an American Indian named Gene, who was also in the rodeo with him, and they became drinking buddies.<br />
<br />
He had better luck at target and skeet shooting contests but couldn’t afford a proper rifle for it, having sold his father’s years ago for food. Except what he could scrounge downstairs, he had no spare cash for entrance fees and gave up rifle trick shots for a living.<br />
<br />
He had barely enough to pay the rent until October when he expected to <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ja5oVTyxa9w/TpJ93KUA6yI/AAAAAAAADt0/KoQlQ6T2hwI/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 3px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ja5oVTyxa9w/TpJ93KUA6yI/AAAAAAAADt0/KoQlQ6T2hwI/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+03.JPG" width="225" /></a>come back from the herder’s job in Signal.<br />
<br />
Another postcard was forwarded to him through Sage with the time, date, instructions to bring warm clothing for the mountains, and the location he was expected at. He sent a final acceptance notice to Mr. Joe Aguirre at Farm and Ranch Employment Services.<br />
<br />
<br />
His plan was that he most likely would get hitched to Alma in November or December and he’d need money to start a family… like normal people do.<br />
<br />
Alma was his first woman both sexually and emotionally. He struggled with himself when trying to call it love for want of a better word.<br />
<br />
Getting married like K.E. had done wasn’t something he was especially enthusiastic about but he’d been taught all his life that that’s what all good men were expected to do.<br />
<br />
You married, you raised a brood of kids, you retired and you moved on to the next life in heaven...</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></center></a><blockquote><b><i>Dear Friend, If you are enjoying this group of chapters, please use the buttons below to tell your friends, leave me a comment below...spread the word... Thanks.</b></I></blockquote><span style="color: #cc0000;"><center>Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was<br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner (blue text) © 2005-2014 and contains enhanced versions of all of the original <br />
events written by Annie Proulx (red text), Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.</span></center>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-37352901898323681792014-02-24T12:36:00.001-05:002019-07-28T16:07:35.796-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 VII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 7 ~ Fate Finds Johnny Twist</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-23-26-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Lust & The Pentecostal In-Laws</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>M</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">artha Caine's parents were poor Montana business owners. In the midst of the Great Depression they knew they couldn’t hold onto their failing little restaurant just north of the Wyoming border, so in 1935 they sold it for what they could get and moved a few miles south. Her father had purchased a house at a foreclosure sale that had been taken by the town of Lightning Flat for back taxes and got a job there as a supervisor at the federal northwestern postal service hub.<br />
<br />
It had taken ten years for the town to struggle back from droughts and numerous locust outbreaks. The locals resorted to "dry farming" to make ends meet, and a sort of real estate boom was occurring when investors were swarming in to buy property up for a song.<br />
<br />
Martha was fourteen and her younger brother Harold was thirteen then. She was very pretty with dark brown curly hair and was well liked in school. Her friends dubbed her "The Cherry Blossom Queen" because she’d draw cherry flowers on anything she could get her hands on from school notebooks to her parent’s mailbox. All of her blouses and skirts were embroidered with them, and her favorite color was cherry red.<br />
<br />
When her clothes started getting too small as her teenaged bust began developing, she’d wear them anyway, which earned her a lot of popularity with the boys...<br />
<br />
<br />
...Edward Twist was lucky enough to have found barely sufficient ground water for irrigation, though he wound up mortgaging his farm to buy and maintain the equipment for it. Though he had more than most, his tiny family was barely making it financially themselves. That didn't stop less fortunate neighbors from regularly showing up at his doorstep seeking help, or especially their church with their hand out.<br />
<br />
His conceited wife insisted on having only the finest fabrics to make her clothes with. As long as she was envied at Sunday worship services, that's all she seemed to care about... which didn't help convince anyone just how much they were struggling.<br />
<br />
His teenaged son Johnny had the same problem Martha had affording new clothes and would wander around town shamelessly without a shirt in old worn tight jeans that were getting too small, showing off his muscled brawn and weather-beaten good looks. <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cht-IJ0-lCM/Uari_BqjlAI/AAAAAAAAEsw/C49K2bEE02E/s1600/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+John+Twist+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cht-IJ0-lCM/Uari_BqjlAI/AAAAAAAAEsw/C49K2bEE02E/s400/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+John+Twist+2.JPG" width="305"></a>Martha had a schoolgirl crush on him but it never seemed to go anywhere.<br />
<br />
Though they were barely more than just acquaintances, three years later at the age of seventeen, Martha agreed to marry Johnny right after his high school graduation without realizing what she was getting herself into. It was a nearly loveless marriage of convenience arranged between her parents and his; who were ranchers less interested in romance for their son and more concerned with him producing grandchildren to help run their vast spread.<br />
<br />
To all outward appearances they seemed like a good match.<br />
<br />
For Martha, it was considered love because her world was ruled by the heart - For Johnny it was lust at first sight. Like his uncaring and heartless father before him, he believed that women were for obediently cookin’, fuckin’, and raisin’ offspring; no more - no less.<br />
<br />
The first stretch of their young marriage was spent living with his overbearing and increasingly puritanical parents on their D/Rocky Point Road ranch on the outskirts of town.<br />
<br />
John Twist was an only child and also spent most of his time like his father Edward before him, working like a slave for his pa and fantasizing an escape route to his own place. <br />
<br />
"Ma" Twist used to go around "putting on airs" claiming that she was related to Grace Scott, the founder of Lightning Flat... until the Scott family quietly posted a letter to her warning her to stop or they'd expose her for the liar that she was.<br />
<br />
The Stott house was one of the grandest in all of in that part of Wyoming. At the time no one could've foreseen that fifty years later it and the church would be one of the very few structures in town left standing intact... just barely on both counts.<br />
<br />
Martha spent her time working next to him in the fields, more often than not being fucked almost continuously anywhere that was out of sight of his constantly moralizing mother.<br />
<br />
Ma detested having to listen to the newlyweds at night trying unsuccessfully to make the grandkids they demanded.<br />
<br />
With the farming economy regularly going sour and the Twist ranch on the verge of failing, Johnny’s parents pressured him into trying to find outside work to bring in money for seeds and supplies.<br />
<br />
Martha found a part-time job almost immediately working for her father sorting mail at the postal hub in town. Johnny applied too, but was turned away. Papa Caine sensed how Martha was being treated by her ever-horny husband and his holier-than-thou parents and wanted nothing to do with any of them… besides maybe it’d take his cocky son-in-law down a peg or two if it got around town that he was being supported by his wife.<br />
<br />
With that kind of pressure on him, John doubled his efforts to find a better job than she had, which hopefully would make her quit hers.<br />
<br />
[<em>At about this point in time Kyle del Mar, separated from his wife, abandoned his ranch, and had just left Sage on his own to find work. His wife Frannie moved her two infants Kyle Junior and Cornelia across the road to live with her parents.</em>]<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Mr. Bossman's Compliments</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span> few days’ frustration later Twist had just come out of the general store from applying for a job as a stock handler. He’d made it part way down the street when people mysteriously started coming out of shops to stare in his direction. He began checking himself to see if he’d split his old jeans or forgot his fly buttons or something.<br />
<br />
They weren’t looking at him; they were looking behind him!<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sIL5EeZXi-s/Uari-57TyoI/AAAAAAAAEsc/xrVzzeXqApc/s1600/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+1938+Packard_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sIL5EeZXi-s/Uari-57TyoI/AAAAAAAAEsc/xrVzzeXqApc/s320/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+1938+Packard_6.jpg" width="320"></a><br />
<br />
Someone had pulled up to the curb in front of the market he’d just exited minutes earlier and his eyes widened at the sight of a 1938 Packard coupe. As the astonished murmuring crowd gathered around it, some looked in the shop’s windows to see whom it was that could afford such a automobile.<br />
<br />
Fat old Mrs. Morrison came out of her dress store to stand beside him, gestured at the gathering throng and chuckled to herself.<br />
<br />
In poor rural areas the streets were still an equal mixture of horses and old farm pickups, so when a magnificent machine like this appeared it was an event. That’s why Johnny was puzzled that the men were staring at the general store’s door instead of the car… in fact so were the ladies.<br />
<br />
A brunette woman with long straight hair to her waist emerged a few minutes later, solving the mystery of why so many slack-jawed men were waiting. She wore fancy white boots and a matching cowboy hat, little tight shorts, and a stretched blue plaid men’s shirt that accented a very large gravity-defying bosom hanging over a trim waist. Immediately behind her was one of the tallest and most muscular men Twist had ever seen, wearing blue jeans, a tan cowboy hat and a black work shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal impossibly huge biceps.<br />
<br />
A clerk behind the couple struggled out parcels stacked to his chin as the large man opened the sexy woman’s door for her.<br />
<br />
He motioned for the young man laden with packages to follow him and strolled around the rear of the impossibly shiny automobile to the driver's side, removed his hat and then placed it atop the Packard. Opening the rear door he took the boxes and put them on the back seat.<br />
<br />
The clerk tipped his hat in thanks for his business and turned to leave but the handsome man stopped him by catching his forearm.<br />
<br />
They stood there a moment as the big gentleman closed the door and then dug money and little slips of paper out of his pocket. He scanned the crowd as if looking for someone, tipped the clerk and then pointed toward three or four women at random before his eyes landed on Johnny. He seemed to study the young rancher for a moment and then suddenly moved his massive arms.<br />
<br />
The crowd gasped as he pulled the tight shirt up over his head to reveal an incredibly <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G6H4H0G6PEY/Uari_t7TxwI/AAAAAAAAEs8/_Y7LelCP0lA/s1600/%257EBrokeback+Mountain+3+jim+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G6H4H0G6PEY/Uari_t7TxwI/AAAAAAAAEs8/_Y7LelCP0lA/s320/%257EBrokeback+Mountain+3+jim+4.jpg" width="180"></a>developed torso. Tossing the jersey in ahead of himself, he grabbed and replaced his hat and said something to the man beside him nodding toward Twist, then he climbed aboard, roared the engine to life, and drove away.<br />
<br />
As all eyes followed the magnificent machine down the street, Mrs. Morrison remarked, "Too bad they’re probably skedadlin’ tomorrow. Trade gets so good when they hit town."<br />
<br />
Johnny gave her a quizzical look and asked, "Who?"<br />
<br />
She cackled out a laugh and replied, "Ya been livin’ in a cave loco boy? That’s Big Jim Bossman ‘n his wife; they own the rodeo show that’s been at the arena all week."<br />
<br />
Just then the store clerk appeared beside him and handed him a yellow ticket to the rodeo show. Smiling he said with envy, "Mr. Bossman's compliments, sir," and sprinted after a woman and her children that'd also been pointed out.<br />
<br />
Wondering if they were hiring, he figured, "What the hell" and decided to spend the afternoon at the stadium. Once there, he worked his way through the crowded arena’s aisles over to the gates to watch the brawny cowboys as one by one they carefully mounted their bulls in turn and then nervously waited in the tight confines of their chutes.<br />
<br />
The next one up was a plaid-shirted youngster with bright sun-bleached blond hair that looked so feather-light that Twist doubted the snorting behemoth under him even knew that there was a rider on his back.<br />
<br />
After about half an hour of baking in the midday heat Twist unbuttoned his shirt and wiped sweat from his forehead. The sweltering temperature was distracting his studying of the athletic show, their techniques, and the deadly horns and hoofs on the huge beasts, Twist began considering bull riding or bronco busting as an escape route from his parents. He could probably get a job tending animals or taking tickets, but those weren’t high paying jobs.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>C’mon; I Wanna Show Ya Somethin’</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span> man came over and sat down close beside him to his right on the crowded bleachers. John barely took notice of him as he concentrated on a rider that’d just been bucked off.<br />
<br />
His new companion pointed a leather-clad glove down at the action and the young man’s voice challenged, "Reckon ya could do that?" as below them a panicked cowboy dove into a dented wooden barrel to escape his huge bovine attacker.<br />
<br />
Twist turned his head to discover the lean young rider that he’d watched earlier and was taken aback that the kid couldn’t be more than seventeen… if that!<br />
<br />
Below them came the sound of another rider leaving the gate and they turned to watch while the announcer barked out his usual encouragement over the loudspeakers and the cheering crowd applauded around them. John gradually came to notice that people closest to them seemed to have stopped watching the action and were peering at him… no not him… the kid!<br />
<br />
The young athlete, who was John’s height, stood up and began stripping, first his worn gloves, <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b_cHVBTWmb0/UcJxvAKUbKI/AAAAAAAAFZ0/U0vtQg1NusY/s1600/~+Brokeback+Mountain+peter+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b_cHVBTWmb0/UcJxvAKUbKI/AAAAAAAAFZ0/U0vtQg1NusY/s320/~+Brokeback+Mountain+peter+2.jpg" width="208"></a>then the new "Good-guy’s" white Stetson revealing the tousled head of sun-blond hair he’d seen earlier, then the neckerchief, thick cowhide vest, shirt and two woolen undershirts.<br />
<br />
Aghast, Twist asked, "How the blazes can ya stand this infernal heat in all that?"<br />
<br />
The boy was the proud owner of two mesmerizing brilliant blue eyes and a smile that could bend, capture and melt anybody's will. Through a lot of practice for his young age, he knew how to use them too. Laughing, he replied, "It’s called padding – gits a might rough down there!"<br />
<br />
Now dressed in only boots, chaps and jeans, he reseated himself, clapping and whistling with the rest of the crowd. Only then did John notice the elastic support bandages at his left elbow.<br />
<br />
When he first sat down, his boyish build didn't betray the body of a bullrider, but a second glance revealed thin skin that seemed vacuum-sealed to his lithe but strong frame featuring a little larger than normal abs, pecs and biceps. A bruise here and there with callused hands said he’d been at this for a while, despite his apparent age.<br />
<br />
Every young girl’s jaw in the immediate crowd dropped and some began raising their hands frantically in the cowboy’s direction. That appealing grin lit up his handsome face as he wiped his sweaty brow with the undershirt, balled it up tightly, and tossed it slightly forward way up in the air. Enthusiastic young girls scrambled from all directions and a short fight broke out over it in the stands.<br />
<br />
The other undershirt went flying off to the right and suffered the same fate.<br />
<br />
Next came his discarded red plaid shirt and after rubbing it all over his strapping chest, he flung it backward as more shrieking girls jumped for it.<br />
<br />
As he settled his hat back on his head, schoolgirls beset them from everywhere asking the cheerful grinning teenager for autographs and with nervous giggles began kissing his cheeks. Several asked John if he was a bullrider too. He shook his head no and was instantly ignored.<br />
<br />
Parents impatiently called their daughters back to their seats and the young man was left with a handful of scrawled phone numbers and several shades of lipstick on his bright grinning face and neck.<br />
<br />
Johnny’s new friend started babbling in some strange language and Twist had to grab him by his left bicep to ask what the hell he was talking about.<br />
<br />
The kid cracked up laughing, and asked, "What part?"<br />
<br />
John just gave him an impatient look.<br />
<br />
The kid’s grin got wider and he pointed again at the action, "What’s differnt ‘bout the bull he just rode?"<br />
<br />
"No horns?"<br />
<br />
He nodded, "We call that ‘muley’." To Twist’s nod, he continued, "That there’s ole stinky, he’s hard ta ride; so he’s ‘rank.’ Now Billy, he got himself put on Stinky there, so he got what we call a ‘bad draw’… like in poker; he drew the hardest bull to ride. I’ve gotten ol’ Stinky myself a time or two… Damned animal has a lotta ‘try’ in ‘im."<br />
<br />
Johnny shook his smiling head in understanding and asked, "How long a stretch did it take ya to learn all that?"<br />
<br />
"It comes to ya pretty quick."<br />
<br />
Twist scanned the crowd and gradually noticed it was mostly teenaged kids and their parents. The boys (and their fathers) studied the riders’ techniques and admired their athletic trials until they noticed the buxom young girls in fancy white cowgirl shirts and obscenely tight white satin shorts weaving through the crowd yelling, "POPCORN!… HOTDOGS!… PEANUTS!"<br />
<br />
John would soon learn that in these extremely tough financial times a show had to have a gimmick to draw crowds. Just for decoration, the owner and his pretty wife picked only the most attractive girls and handsome men and the resulting crowds may not have realized it, but that's why they flocked to Bossman's Rodeo Show more than any other.<br />
<br />
The young farm girls in the audience seemed to be ignoring the action in the arena altogether and were instead frantically waving at muscular riders in the stands apparently on a break from the action like apparently this kid beside him was. The virile young male riders, all of whom seemed to be shirtless, were interspersed within the crowd. Those who weren’t bare-chested appeared to be dangerously surrounded and close to having their clothes torn off.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the local ranch hands seemed to be buying snacks from the sexy barkers faster than the concession stand's kitchen could produce them. Eventually the guys seemed to sense a loss of attention from their girlfriends and before long there wasn’t a male (except Johnny) under 30 with a shirt on in the whole crowded stadium!<br />
<br />
...which is what brought the ticket buying teenaged girls to the show.<br />
<br />
A nice-looking woman of twenty with one too many buttons undone on her blouse settled down close on John’s right and brushed an ample barely covered breast against his arm. With an encouraging smile she asked him through pouting lips, "Y’all mind if'n I set here a spell?" A gust of wind caught her collar revealing she wasn't wearing a bra.<br />
<br />
Before he could reply, she noticed his wedding ring and wordlessly got up and walked off.<br />
<br />
As he followed her swaying hips, the kid offered his palm, "How-do? I’m Pete Hutchison by the way - I ride bulls fer a livin’. Muh friends call me ‘Hutch’."<br />
<br />
Twist reluctantly pulled his eyes away from her and shook the affable young man’s hand. "Johnny Twist," he replied while stealing one last glance at her.<br />
<br />
Pete continued his schooling, "Take a gander down there," he said, pointing towards the gates. "Now ya spot Roy down yonder all in black duds?" he asked.<br />
<br />
Twist's eyes sought a beefy man with his hand on the back of a bull about to climb on and nodded.<br />
<br />
"Each of them men got a chore to perform. Al is the flank man; he adjusts the flank strap when the gate opens; he’s our stock man ‘n knows them bulls better’n anyone - he’s the big toad in the puddle. We call Hoyt in the dark blue shirt the latch man; when we signal ‘im we’re a'ready, he yanks on that rope to open the gate. That commences the ride timin’."<br />
<br />
John smiled and realized how easy it was to catch on.<br />
<br />
While Twist laughed at a clowning bullfighter diving in and out of a big wooden barrel while distracting that last bull, a little boy with an adoring expression and a too-big black cowboy hat, came up carrying a scrap of paper and a stubby pencil, meekly asking for the young athlete’s autograph.<br />
<br />
As the previous rider finally made it to the fence, Hutch said, "Them bells ya hear ain’t fer show. They’s made out of heavy metal to weigh down the bull rope so’s it comes off easier after the ride, and so’s the rider ken hear where the dagged thing is without lookin’ after he gets bucked.<br />
<br />
A hot wind picked up across the stands bringing dust and nearly taking John’s tan cowboy hat.<br />
<br />
The crowd jumped to its feet cheering a local young man’s ride until it was cut short at 7 ½ seconds because his free hand made contact with the bull’s back.<br />
<br />
As the announcer encouraged the native son’s consolation applause, across the way a blue shirt flew upward into the breeze like a kite as eager females pushed and shoved chasing after it. Forty or fifty yards to the left near the front admission gates another ascended, then fell with the same result.<br />
<br />
John glanced at his new companion and observed, "Y’all must go broke buyin’ duds fer yerselves!"<br />
<br />
Pete moved intimately close until their shoulders and hips touched. Leaning in, he said in a low voice, "We get ‘em free from the boss. Each one has a tag sewed in ‘em sayin’ what store or mail order catalogue provided ‘em at no charge in exchange for free advertisin’!" Gesturing to a shapely girl in her early twenties seated in front of them, he added with a hungry leer, "We get them free too," as he flinched an eyebrow.<br />
<br />
Suddenly everyone stood up and gasped. The two young men came to their feet and saw that they’d switched to bronco busting and a local man had just been thrown and appeared hurt. A moment later he got up under his own power and limped away to the applause and cheers of his friends.<br />
<br />
As they reseated themselves, Pete shrugged back into his vest and asked, "I reckon ya don’t come to these very often. Wha-duh-ya do?"<br />
<br />
Another bronco bucked off a contestant as Twist replied without much enthusiasm, "Raisin' stock 'n farmin’ my pa's ranch mostly."<br />
<br />
The young man met and stared into his eyes. After a moment, he gave John a knowing nod, "Bad times."<br />
<br />
A tough, yellow-haired sturdy looking man in his mid-30s sat down on the other side of Pete.<br />
<br />
John did a double take; except for the fifteen year or so age difference, he could’ve been the boy’s identical twin or most likely an older brother. He was dressed all in denim with a worn sweat-stained white cowboy hat that hid his eyes. After a suspicious glance toward Twist he leaned into Pete and asked in a low voice, "Ya still sellin’ yer uh… yer horse."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes sir," the young cowboy replied instantly, also trying to keep his voice low.<br />
<br />
"Fifty like last time?"<br />
<br />
Pete’s distracted eyes followed an attractive young girl barrel riding in the middle of the showground intermission tournament. He frowned and answered with a shake of his head, "Sixty; I got other bidders."<br />
<br />
John caught a look of anger crossing the older man’s face that vanished instantly when he noticed Twist watching him. "Satisfaction guaranteed?"<br />
<br />
"Yep, ‘bout seven tonight?"<br />
<br />
From somewhere below and to the far right near the rear of the distant stock pens, a man let out with a shrill whistle and bellowed out, "Hutch; git yer scrawny ass down here directly!"<br />
<br />
Pete’s mysterious friend nearly fell backwards out off his bleacher, swiftly putting distance between them and disappeared into the people watching the next rider get ready.<br />
<br />
Hutch stood and pulled Johnny up with him by his shirtsleeve. "C’mon; I wanna show ya somethin’," and they shuffled sideways through the bleachers off to their right, then forward and down to the chutes, turned right and spent the next five minutes weaving through narrow gates and pathways.<br />
<br />
The distant crowd roared for someone as the two young men followed a narrow passage between stands. They turned left and continued on a path that hugged the rear wall of the arena to their left.<br />
<br />
The hot breeze from the open space to their right blew against them carrying the scent of hay, popcorn, and animal shit.<br />
<br />
The people above suddenly erupted into an anguished and loud "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The thunderous announcer joined in with them over the P.A., then added, "He come all the way up here just fer the day to try his luck folks... Give him some encouragement 'n a warm hand fer his very first ride. That was Kyle del Mar from down south in Sage Wyoming. He'll be back folks... he'll be back."<br />
<br />
As the fans broke into polite applause, he added. "Yer always welcome to come back up here 'n try again in friendly Lightnin’ Flat son..."<br />
<br />
They passed a set of truck trailers to their right, one of which had a steady stream of slightly soapy water running out of it that instantly was absorbed by the parched soil beneath it. A thick rubber hose ran from the stadium’s nearby private water tower to it. Beyond it in the corral, three or four docile looking bulls were being hosed down while another was loaded into a cattle truck.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Friend Of Yours?</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>ust ahead, a small weathered overhead sign protruded outward over a door on which the nearly worn off lettering barely read OFFICE. As Pete reached for the knob, someone inside sharply yelled out in pain as if they’d just been struck.<br />
<br />
Seemingly unconcerned, Hutchison pulled it open and ushered Twist in ahead of himself. The difference of bright daylight to the dark room was startling as Pete closed the door behind them and their eyes adjusted barely in time to avoid plowing into the backs of two burly overweight men standing shoulder to shoulder just inside.<br />
<br />
The door was in the middle of the front wall of a stuffy windowless 15' x 15' office that smelled of sweat and cigars, and was lit by a single dim lamp on the desk situated in the middle of the far wall facing the guarded passage they'd just entered. Walls, floor and low ceiling were covered in old cheap dark wooden utility planking.<br />
<br />
Above their heads came the shuffling of feet and a muffled cheer from the capacity crowd.<br />
<br />
The men at the door parted and turned to give them unwelcome scowls.<br />
<br />
Someone was sprawled on the floor at their feet and looked like he’d been mauled by a bull. He was about Peter’s age or younger with short dark hair. He had an athletic build and wore a grimace of pain. His nose and lip were bleeding, his left eye was swollen and the skin was torn over his knuckles.<br />
<br />
The burly doorman on the right reached down, grabbed him by his torn shirt and lifted him to his feet as if he were as light as a rag doll.<br />
<br />
The imposing man in charge behind the desk remained seated, head down, studying something on its surface while their eyes still adjusted.<br />
<br />
After a moment, Twist realized this was the man with the fancy car and the pretty wife. He looked up, giving a threatening glare to greet the uninvited stranger who’d just interrupted his meeting, until he noticed who was behind him.<br />
<br />
"Pete!" he exclaimed with a smile.<br />
<br />
The young blond cowboy burst through everyone from behind and instantly stood nervously in front of the desk. Jim "Boss-man" Bossman had wide-shoulders covered by a new open-collared dark blue dress shirt beneath a tan suede vest that looked expensive. He had blondish hair that was turning prematurely white, startling light-gray wolf’s eyes and gave off an air of confidence and authority.<br />
<br />
He had money, power and women, and this was a man you didn’t cross or defy easily without dire consequences.<br />
<br />
In the center of the wall to the left of the boss' desk was a plain wooden door. Johnny Twist moved carefully in a sort of hesitant sidestep shuffle towards it as if he were a mouse hoping to go unnoticed by a dangerous cat in the room.<br />
<br />
The heavyweight doorman holding up the injured guy let go and his victim slumped with a moan weakly into a leather chair against the wall opposite John. The injured teenager painfully held his reddish puffy right wrist while staring at the floor as if terrified to look up.<br />
<br />
Twist scanned the room wondering if the door now at his back was just a closet or maybe a possible escape route. Beyond the desk in a dark rear corner to its right was a high stack of big unmarked cardboard boxes.<br />
<br />
That’s when his distracted gaze noticed something and gave out with a loud intake of breath before he could stop.<br />
<br />
With the sound of his gasp, all eyes suddenly fixed on him. His were transfixed on more money than he’d ever seen or hoped to see in his whole life.<br />
<br />
Covering the right side of the desk, were measured stacks of quarters, fifty-cent pieces, silver dollars, and rubber-banded bundles of ones, fives and tens, forming a mound that was piled so high that the whole thing looked like it would fall over if another thing were added to it.<br />
<br />
It had to be the day’s gate receipts, which explained the toughs at the door. The two hired muscles looked like they were sizing Johnny up for a fight that he’d definitely lose.<br />
<br />
The injured guy’s eyes met Twist’s and urgently and unmistakably said, "RUN!"<br />
<br />
In the smothering silence, the desk chair squeaked and everyone flinched. The boss leaned forward and looked at Pete, "Friend of yours?"<br />
<br />
"Oh uh yes sir…" lied Hutch, "Johnny Twist; he’s a’thinkin’ uh joinin’ up."<br />
<br />
Still seated, Boss-man’s expression changed as if he’d just noticed something. He stood slowly to his enormous six foot-eight height, staring down angrily at Pete’s face as if the boy had just uttered an insult. As he rounded the desk towards them, both young men were near panic, convinced they’d been caught in a lie.<br />
<br />
Hutchison was roughly grabbed by his vest and flung across the room, sailing directly at young Twist, who caught him in a crashing hug before the cowboy could slam into the hard door at the farmhand’s back.<br />
<br />
The finger that pointed at them looked more deadly than a loaded double-barrel shotgun. "Don’t never come up to me a’lookin’ like that again boy!!!"<br />
<br />
The athlete that Twist intimately held in his arms trembled with fright, his head shaking "no," lost to understand what his sin was.<br />
<br />
John whispered in his ear, "Ya got lip rouge all over yer face from them girls."<br />
<br />
The booming voice of God ordered, "Git your ass under a shower ‘n warsh that shit off. We got customers due directly; you know that."<br />
<br />
What happened next seemed to occur in the blink of an eye in one seamless motion. Pete was an experienced bullrider despite his age and slender frame, and had the unexpected musculature to prove it. He panicked, grabbed at the doorknob behind them, shoved it open, seized Johnny, frantically stuffed him through the opening ahead of himself and pushed the door swiftly shut behind them.<br />
<br />
Twist lost his balance as he was tackled at his stomach and flung backwards, crashing against something as he seemed to lose his sight...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>More Money Than You Ever Dreamed Of!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>ohn instantly found himself heaving deep breaths, disoriented in total darkness with his back pinned against the other side of the door. The scared young cowboy intimately bear-hugged him with his head resting on Johnny’s muscled and pounding chest. The kid’s still-trembling breath came in huge gasps and after a long minute it slowed.<br />
<br />
Lost as to what to do, the ranch hand held him calmly in his arms until he felt uncomfortable and whispered, "Where’s the dang light switch?"<br />
<br />
The teenager left him and a dim caged overhead bulb sprang to life <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_NHUVYEgYE/UoBRUkQLI3I/AAAAAAAAJFQ/JUNWDKNmToM/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Stadium+office.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F_NHUVYEgYE/UoBRUkQLI3I/AAAAAAAAJFQ/JUNWDKNmToM/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+Stadium+office.JPG" width="320"></a>revealing that they were at the left end of a tiny humid locker room, very wide, but only about ten feet deep front to back.<br />
<br />
An old worn out wooden bench was directly in front of the two young men and close beyond it was a row of old pine lockers fixed to an unpainted cinderblock wall facing them. To his immediate left shoulder was a wall barely wide enough for a big open bull barrel, space to get around the bench, and two wooden stools before its corner met the lockers.<br />
<br />
To his far right, a wide opening revealed a slender room with four showerheads set in the wall that the lockers the boys faced were attached to.<br />
<br />
Against the distant narrow wall were two simple toilets at opposite corners without privacy enclosures. Wedged between them were two adjacent sinks with narrow mirrors above them. The only sound was a big caged exhaust fan rattling in the ceiling over the spray heads.<br />
<br />
Facing the showers was a row of wooden towel hooks with a bench beneath them.<br />
<br />
The place hadn't been cleaned in a while and smelled it.<br />
<br />
No windows, no other doors, no exits... no escape.<br />
<br />
Peter high-stepped over the bench in front of them, shrugged out of his vest, and sat down facing away, at a cubbyhole he’d just pulled open to begin pulling off his scuffed boots. The boy had so little body fat that his back revealed an anatomy lesson in muscles as they writhed and worked. He wasn't skinny, just thin-skinned.<br />
<br />
Hutch twisted his head to look back at the farmer after Twist asked, "How in tarnation do I git outta here?"<br />
<br />
Pete gestured his chin at the entrance they’d just come through and returned his gaze to pulling his socks off.<br />
<br />
Both jumped in fright as something heavy hit the office side of the wall and a muffled cry was heard. Twist suddenly felt the need to plan a fighting defense and thought of his trusty pocketknife but knew he’d better not try. The injured man in the office hadn’t been hurt riding a bull; he’d been, and apparently still was, being beaten up.<br />
<br />
Oblivious, Hutch stood and removed his jeans and was naked with his back to Johnny. The sight of this young man's developed and bruised calves and thighs left no further doubt that he was a competitor out there in the arena. Wordlessly Pete tossed all of his clothes except his boots into the big wooden barrel by the door and then moved off to the right. After fiddling with the old squeaking knobs a moment to get the temperature right, he stepped under the nearest showerhead.<br />
<br />
Johnny sat down on the bench where Hutch had been sitting and stared at the door out to the office with scared eyes. His imagination began running wild as the sound of terrified male begging and pleading could be heard beyond it. In macho Wyoming, very few things will bring any man to tears.<br />
<br />
Finally he hesitantly stood up and moved closer, cautiously listening at the doorframe.<br />
<br />
The boss slapped his victim and warned, "If'n I ever see ya again it’ll be so slow… real slow… you’ll be beggin’ me to kill ya afore I’m done."<br />
<br />
From outside and above wafted long final applause and whistles. Over the hiss of the showerhead, a drum and fiddle started up, followed by a steel guitar and bass playing some country-western ditty over the loudspeaker as footsteps overhead moved towards the exits.<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wwW20HWWiBg/Uari-sGfDpI/AAAAAAAAEsY/aE-GzdCXvOY/s1600/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wwW20HWWiBg/Uari-sGfDpI/AAAAAAAAEsY/aE-GzdCXvOY/s400/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+56.jpg" width="165"></a> In the silence that followed, John was startled by a harsh warning whisper from the shower, "Ya best get away from there Bud, er you'll git yerself runned over!"<br />
<br />
John went over to sit on the bench in the shower room, leaning his back against the wall, absently watching Pete rub a soapy washcloth all over his nearly hairless body. Trying to take stock of the situation, Twist was deep in thought when he realized that his distracted eyes were following Hutch's hands erotically rubbing suds into his crotch and the young man's cock was growing.<br />
<br />
He shuddered and averted his eyes towards the office door off to his left. In an attempt to distract himself, he asked, “How old ‘r you anyways?”<br />
<br />
Pete grinned, “Seventeen goin’ on twenty… why?”<br />
<br />
Johnny’s eyebrows jumped skeptically and he returned his gaze to the young man, studying his physique again, “Ya don’t look more’n fifteen! Yer daddy run ya off er somethin’?”<br />
<br />
Hutch seemed to stop a moment and said sadly, “It’s a long story… I’ll tell ya sometime.”<br />
<br />
Johnny asked with a puzzled frown, "How come ya stay with the show?" referring to the sounds he'd heard just moments ago.<br />
<br />
Pete stopped soaping himself and the young bullrider replied without hesitation, "More fuckin’ money than I ever dreamed of!"<br />
<br />
That got Johnny’s attention as Hutch began moving the washcloth again and Twist’s eyes followed it without realizing. Steam was rising up all around him giving the sight of the attractive naked teenager a dream-like haze.<br />
<br />
Peter added, "I help pay the monthly note in my pa’s farm, 'n feed 'n clothe my brothers ‘n sisters too."<br />
<br />
Mystery solved. "Oh that’s right; ya buy ‘n sell horses."<br />
<br />
Hutch stopped soaping himself a second time to frown, "Huh?"<br />
<br />
"The guy in the stands," he explained. "I ain’t ever seen a horse worth no $60. Shit, I ain't never saw one worth half that. Yer folks own champion thoroughbreds er somethin’?"<br />
<br />
Twist jumped slightly from nerves as two male strangers abruptly pushed the door open off to his left.<br />
<br />
They looked like they were in their early thirties, both medium height and build. Both sported cowboy hats. They resembled business owners. Local independent rodeo scouts maybe?<br />
<br />
One of them split a stack of fluffy white bath towels with his companion, and then they seated themselves on the stools against the wall wedged between the barrel and the lockers. They glanced at John, probably wondering what a fully clothed man was doing in the shower area, then studied Hutch under the hissing water, apparently sizing him up.<br />
<br />
Pete noticed their entrance and only smiled to himself.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>You Can Turn Me Loose Now</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>S</b></span>uddenly the door burst open again and someone applied a doorstop to keep it that way. A bunch of dusty bare-chested cowboys came in, chattering and laughing with each other. A moment later fully dressed local men in cowboy hats followed them in until they seemed to outnumber the show guys two-to-one. A handsome blondish haired young man had his right arm in a makeshift sling and seemed to be having trouble talking regular.<br />
<br />
The sound of the shower stopped and Pete walked up dripping wet to Johnny at the bench, grabbed his own pale blue towel and after rubbing himself all over with it, wrapped it around his waist and sat down to Twist’s right with an amused look on his face. He seemed to be watching the two rodeo scouts, if that’s what they were. The two men watched the competitors who were pulling loose money and their wallets from their jeans and stuffing them in their boots.<br />
<br />
As their denims came off Twist noticed that none of them wore underwear.<br />
<br />
John recognized several of the locals, as they stood around bullshitting with the experienced men from the traveling show.<br />
<br />
A blizzard of sweat-drenched jeans, dusty chaps and socks began flying at the barrel while the group continued to either trade stories or brag about their women and/or kids. As more riders entered, others collected their belongings and left. John began to realize that only the seven brawny young regular show members remained where they were, and had stripped naked. After lingering briefly with the towel men, they made their way one by one to the showerheads as if the locals were instructed to change and shower at home.<br />
<br />
Twist thought about it and it made sense considering the limited supply from the smallish water tank out back.<br />
<br />
"Johnny!!!" exclaimed a high school friend from a couple of years ago. Twist responded toward the voice near the lockers with a friendly wave as Ben Carter escorted the guy with the arm sling over to them.<br />
<br />
Ben wore his dark hair very short nowadays and on arrival grabbed Twist’s hand showing off with an exaggerated grip. He introduced the blond stranger as Kyle del Mar from somewhere downstate. Johnny responded by politely introducing Peter.<br />
<br />
Half-sarcastically Ben warned Pete and Kyle, "Remember the name Johnny Twist, boys. One of these days he's a'gonna be real famous... er at least that's what he told me all through school!"<br />
<br />
The ranch hand half-heartedly told his friend to shut up and looked embarrassed.<br />
<br />
After a couple minutes of gabbing, the two newcomers promised to keep in touch and left.<br />
<br />
The shower area was now crowded with seven men for only four spigots. The two scouts had left the towels behind to move closer and seemed to be studying the bruised and battered rodeo contestants. After hanging up their towels, the show riders milled around naked and quickly decided not to wait, pairing up two-each to a showerhead.<br />
<br />
As the scouts’ faces turned serious, Twist realized that the muscular pro bullriders and broncobusters had started soaping each other in the confined space they stood. Foaming hands and washcloths seemed to linger longer than normal on chests and asses as soapsuds flowed slowly down, clinging to their fit bodies.<br />
<br />
The young rancher had the sudden urge to get out of there but seemed rooted to his bench in fascination having never before seen something like that. Fighting confusion; it was as if he were witnessing a scene out of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Bible.<br />
<br />
Hutch beside him actually grinned as a handsome cowboy reached down without hesitation and soaped his partner’s partially swollen cock and balls.<br />
<br />
Peter explained, "They gotta be quick ‘for the hot water runs out-that’s why I got here early!"<br />
<br />
The man with the showerhead to himself on the far left called out, "Petey, help me with my back, friend?"<br />
<br />
Seeing John’s growing discomfort, Hutch leaned into him and whispered, "Don’t hightail it outta here without me - not if'n Bossman’s out there lookin’ fer ya." He stood up, dropped his towel on the bench and added, "Wait outta sight over by the lockers."<br />
<br />
Distracted and confused by the scene, Twist stood and moved to his left over to the connecting locker room and sat down in a mental fog facing the open office door.<br />
<br />
Through the opening, boss man’s voice said something softly to one of the hefty guards. A moment later came the sound of the outer door closing as sunlight from outside was cut off leaving the room in near dark again.<br />
<br />
To John’s left, the two rodeo scouts leaned shoulder-to-shoulder against the left doorframe closest to the showerheads, quietly whispering back and forth to each other. The man on the right must’ve had crabs or something the way he kept scratching or rubbing his crotch through his jeans.<br />
<br />
A long moan of pain came out of the showers from Hutch, causing Twist to jump up and look between and over their shoulders in concern.<br />
<br />
Hutchison was being tightly hugged from behind by a big muscular man whose naked chest and slowly gyrating hips seemed glued to the boy’s back.<br />
<br />
He… he… was he… is he raping Hutch while all around did nothing?<br />
<br />
The brave outraged cowhand moved to rescue his new friend, but froze dead in his tracks when it abruptly became obvious that the anguished grimace that Pete wore was in extreme pleasure - not pain. In fact, he seemed to be anxiously pushing his ass back against the man’s groin!<br />
<br />
As steamy water ran down both men’s’ bodies, mighty, hairy and soap-slippery forearms moved tightly up and down the young blond bullrider’s tightly defined chest and belly from behind like rolling pins. The adolescent man’s untouched swollen horse-sized cock pointed straight at the ceiling and looked about to explode.<br />
<br />
Just beyond them, a burly team member stood with his broad back to them as another was down on his knees facing him, the big man’s hips hiding what the other was doing.<br />
<br />
Twist had seen enough and turned around to swiftly get the hell out of there only to find his face buried in the shirt of someone big’s powerfully-built chest. He instinctively grabbed around the man’s firm waist to keep from falling and found himself peering up in transfixed panic, trapped in Big Boss-man’s piercing gray wolf-eyes that were looking down into his fear-filled soul.<br />
<br />
Glancing up over everyone’s heads, the show owner’s booming voice ordered, "You boys finish up in there."<br />
<br />
Instantly multiple "Yes, sirs" were mixed with the sound of men rinsing off, talking and even laughing in low voices.<br />
<br />
Bossman’s eyes dropped back down to Twist. In an even mixture of annoyance and amusement he patiently commented with a chuckle, "Uh, you can turn me loose now, son."<br />
<br />
Johnny was so aghast at the last thirty seconds; he almost fell in a faint when he finally talked his arms into releasing his mighty captor. Silently, a huge steadying hand swiftly gripped and supported his left bicep as the farmhand was walked/guided out into the office and forcefully planted in the worn leather chair that the now-absent injured man had earlier occupied.<br />
<br />
Twist sat facing the locker room door across the room and wondered what would happen next… and how to get out of there.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-33-35-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you are enjoying this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-46456309016477364402014-02-24T12:36:00.000-05:002019-07-28T16:09:13.145-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 VIII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 8 ~ Fight Or Flight</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>He Don’t Say Much Does He?</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>N</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">aked men began milling around in the locker room; its door still standing open. The boss turned to go back to his cash-cluttered desk, but suddenly turned back to face young Twist.<br />
<br />
That deadly finger was closer now and aimed at his forehead, "Don’t ya move from there." As an afterthought he added, "Keep yer fool yap shut ‘til I’m done transactin’ business too."<br />
<br />
He rounded his desk and remained standing while surveying his mound of cash, then with a grin sat down.<br />
<br />
The two strangers from the locker room entered and with smiling satisfied handshakes began unloading their jeans pockets of what looked like a week’s worth of pay in cash each. One asked a muttered question and with a nod, Bossman wrote something down on his desk calendar. Afterward he stood, shook their hands again and escorted them out.<br />
<br />
At the door he yelled out a name Twist didn’t catch, closed the door and after pausing at the showers to say something to the men within, returned to the office, ignoring Johnny.<br />
<br />
As he sat back down in the creaking chair behind his desk, the room was suddenly flooded with bright light as his two henchmen came in, shutting it behind them instantly bringing darkness back. The taller of the two dropped more bundled cash and loose change on the desk, and the boss started sorting it. The other man put his back against the exit and folded his arms in a defiant stance.<br />
<br />
Johnny considered his knife again.<br />
<br />
Something bulky crashed against the outer door and a sturdy annoyed female voice yelled, "Get yer ass away from the fuckin’ door; ya moron!"<br />
<br />
Big Jim laughed out loud as a short, shapely and only slightly overweight woman with long brunette hair entered, shooting the doorman a contemptuous look on her way to the desk. Holding the two bottom corners of a bulging red apron to form a pouch, she haphazardly unloaded bundles of cash from it on top of what the guard had just brought in.<br />
<br />
The two toughs resumed their posts at the entrance, their eyes following her swaying hips and enormous and unbound tits.<br />
<br />
She said in a smiling voice, "Lots of hotdogs ‘n popcorn today Baby! Always happens on the last day anywheres. Wound up turning ‘em away when my girls all had appointments fer tonight ‘fore the show was half over. Hell, even that new barrel rider Jessica got herself a three-way with Mrs. Cleaver ‘n her husband. Damned dingaling woman offered double too when I lied ‘n said she was already booked."<br />
<br />
She leaned in, kissed the boss, and slyly swiped the pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket before he could catch her hand. As she lit a match up triumphantly, he muttered something under his breath about kissing a goddamned ashtray.<br />
<br />
Her eyes landed on Johnny, noticing his unguarded staring at her ample breasts. "He okay?"<br />
<br />
Jim off handedly commented, "Johnny uh… Twist, meet my wife Mary."<br />
<br />
Remembering the stern warning, the farmhand just nodded politely and flashed a nervous grin as she sized him from head to toe like a pony for sale at an auction.<br />
<br />
Nodding her approval, the cheerful woman huffed an amused chuckle, "He don’t say much; does he?"<br />
<br />
The big man glanced over and replied dryly, "Shy," as if to close the discussion.<br />
<br />
She cackled, "We’ll fix that right quick!" and with a flourish of her cigarette called out, "Back in 15, Jimbo, gotta finish with my girls," and left while blowing a kiss backward at her husband.<br />
<br />
The door almost closed behind her, but was immediately pushed open again by a stocky middle-aged man in a black sheriff’s uniform.<br />
<br />
With an over-confident stride, he entered and moved toward the middle of the room. Boss-man stood up respectfully behind his desk and shook the officer’s fist while the lawman surveyed the expensive clutter.<br />
<br />
Silently two bundles of fives were handed over and without another word Big Jim Bossman escorted his guest to the door slapping the cop’s back as he passed through and outside $200 richer.<br />
<br />
Gloom returned to the office… but not for long. The arena owner was paid for the venue and told that the most financially successful traveling rodeo show was packing it up and moving on to Cheyenne.<br />
<br />
For the next hour a seemingly endless line of people paraded in and out of the office. Local competitors collected their prize winnings. Animal wranglers, center-ring clowns still in makeup, truck drivers, stagehands, ticket barkers and electricians to name only a few were paid. When the heat built up, a fan was brought in at the door.<br />
<br />
Through it all, Twist quietly sat and watched. As the money dwindled on the desk, more came in to replace it. The eight men in the locker room remained where they were, the door propped open so that the shower exhaust fan drew fresh air from the office’s open outer door. They sat there shamelessly either naked, with a towel around their waists or over their shoulders.<br />
<br />
Halfway through the procession Mary came back in and with the respectful notice from everyone else who entered; it soon became apparent that she was as in charge as her husband.<br />
<br />
In the heat, Bossman stood up and pulled off his vest and shirt revealing a massive bodybuilder’s chest that was usually only seen in circus strongman sideshows. Even Twist couldn’t take his envious eyes off of it. There was an inch-deep crease between his shaved pecs. His biceps looked the size of regulation softballs.<br />
<br />
Pete’s group was called in next and despite Mary and the open outer door, all appeared unashamed and naked but for their cowboy hats on their heads and the boots they carried with them.<br />
<br />
One by one in turn she examined every inch of each man like a doctor, commenting, complimenting and caressing, while offering liniment for pulled muscles, a playful slap on the ass, or a shot and an Ace bandage for a sprain. Each in turn then went to Jim’s desk and was assigned equally to either local women or men’s addresses. Instructions for what to and not to do were given and two separate dollar amounts - what to collect and what to keep plus tips.<br />
<br />
Though he was younger than any of them, Pete seemed to have moved out of line to stand by the desk and mysteriously appeared to be nodding approval while the boss read off their marching orders.<br />
<br />
From the big cardboard boxes in the corner came a new plaid shirt each, a pair of heavy cotton socks, an undershirt and clean well-worn jeans that were formfitting enough to not need a belt or suspenders.<br />
<br />
A happy cheer emitted from one who got to service two women at once tonight, and another who got a rich male business owner who paid well and always tipped generously. Two men were inspected, instructed, dressed and left before Johnny realized that none were being paid any prize money!<br />
<br />
Slowly the naïve married farmhand figured out what was going on here. It was more than likely that Mary had already just done the same thing with her pretty popcorn venders. The large amounts of money being quoted made it obvious how Pete could support his family so well with everyone else in the country going broke.<br />
<br />
Finally Hutch was the only one left to be tended to and assigned. Instead of waiting, he returned to the locker bench and sat down.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Take It Off Or I’ll Rip It Off... Your Choice</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>B</b></span>ossman looked pointedly at one of his doormen and gestured his head at Johnny Twist. The big doorman approached the farmhand while a short whispered conference went on between the husband and wife.<br />
<br />
Mary turned to Twist and said, "On yer feet, farmboy."<br />
<br />
Twist obediently got up and with a nod from her, the henchman patted down every part of the ranch hand, removing his wallet and comb. He then snickered at a discovered pocketknife that looked tiny in his hand as he moved to the desk to deposit the items next to a still-substantial pile of cash.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Bossman asked, "How much does he know about us?" to no one in particular.<br />
<br />
"Enough," replied Jim. Turning his attention to their unwilling guest, he asked, "Yer folks got a telephone?"<br />
<br />
John replied with only a nod of his head.<br />
<br />
The boss man grinned out a gasped chuckle, "You can talk now, boy," and then smiled over at his pretty wife and added with a nod of approval, "He takes instructions well, too."<br />
<br />
Big Jim reached to the floor behind the desk and came up with a black dialess "candlestick" phone.<br />
<br />
"Call yer folks up; tell ‘em the travelin’ rodeo’s hirin’ at real good pay, but they’re skedadlin’ tomorrow ‘n yer spendin’ the night tryin’ out fer a good job ‘n will be home in the mornin’."<br />
<br />
Standing at the chair, Twist showed reluctance to comply and the other tough still at the door moved swiftly up from behind and shoved him roughly at the desk.<br />
<br />
After getting the local switchboard operator on the line, he told his mama as instructed and hung up. He even managed to sound enthusiastic about it.<br />
<br />
Mary nodded to herself as the phone disappeared to the floor again; she paced to the open door and pulled the big tall pedestal fan inside, carefully aiming it so the cash on the desk wasn’t affected, then walked into the locker room.<br />
<br />
After a nod from the boss aimed at the guards, the exit door closed behind them and it creaked as they leaned their backs to it from the other side.<br />
<br />
Mary whispered something low to Pete and all color drained from his face. The young naked athlete stood up and followed her back into the office. He put his towel down on it, and then sat silently on a hard wooden chair to the left of the shower room door, giving Twist a very worried look in the process.<br />
<br />
While the ranch hand's attention was distracted, the boss man had removed the rest of his clothes in the stifling heat and was now lounging back in his swivel chair with his bare feet up on the desk. His muscle-bound physique glistening with sweat and his soft uncut cock sat nestled in his blond furry lap like a bird on a nest.<br />
<br />
As Mary stepped back over to stand beside him, he raised both arms up and laced his fingers together behind his head. "Ya recollect the kid ya saw when ya first come in?" he asked.<br />
<br />
Johnny, standing at the desk before them more or less defiantly averted his eyes down and nodded a nervous, "Yes, sir."<br />
<br />
Mary’s eyebrows raised and with an approving smile remarked, "He got him some manners too!" As she reached for him, her expression changed to a seductive wanting. "Take off yer shirt."<br />
<br />
He hesitated reluctantly.<br />
<br />
Jim pulled his feet off the desk and sat up. Raising his eyebrows he scooted his chair forward and threatened, "Take it off er I’ll rip it off... yer choice."<br />
<br />
Twist complied, revealing a torso built from hard work and hard times.<br />
<br />
Bossman observed, "It’ll always surprise ya what god-fearin’ men‘ll do fer money," and made a show of moving four banded bundles of one-dollar-bills to the left corner of his desk. In the lean times of the Great Depression, $200 was twice the money Twist would ever hope to see in a whole hard season of planting, toiling, and harvesting, and his daddy would keep most of that! "That’s yer pay fer today…"<br />
<br />
John straightened a bit, swallowed hard, and said, "I ain’t said I wanted to work here yet."<br />
<br />
The boss man stood up to his full imposing height, his head threatening to touch the low ceiling, and pumped his huge biceps. This was a man not used to being sassed. He flexed the fingers of his colossal right hand into a fist and then relaxed them leaving no doubt of the threat. "I ain’t said you’d been hired on neither; now have I?"<br />
<br />
"A hunderd-fifty," he said, pointedly reaching forward and tossing one of the bundles back on the other pile, sitting back down again. "That's fer mouthin' off."<br />
<br />
A nod of his head dismissed Mary.<br />
<br />
She leaned over, gave him an affectionate peck on the cheek and then left without looking back. <br />
<br />
Twist was now alone with two naked men... Up until now that never bothered him before. He couldn't figure if he was more disgusted than afraid.<br />
<br />
The brief time the door was open revealed that the two guards were still posted on the other side before it closed again.<br />
<br />
No escape.<br />
<br />
The boss turned his attention to Pete and asked cheerfully; "Mary says you got yerself a 7 o’clock with Mr. Friedl agin?"<br />
<br />
The cowboy nodded, "$60."<br />
<br />
Jim nodded and scribbled something down on the calendar. "As I recollect it, last time he gave ya a $100 ‘satisfaction guarantee’ bonus on top of the $50 fee I quoted, ‘n you were not only honest enough to tell me about it, but ya split it with me without my even askin’. I a'reckon you been doin’ mighty good fer us lately stud, so ya can keep everything he gives ya tonight."<br />
<br />
Hutchison’s face burst out in a big smile, "I’m obliged; that’ll nearly pay fer Pa’s new plow!"<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>I Ain’t Queer</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he boss man glanced at the desk clock; "We got some time then ‘n it’s a might hot in here… Why don’t ya help Mr. Twist here off with the rest of his duds?"<br />
<br />
Johnny backed up a step as much out of fear as in defiance. "I ain’t queer,"<br />
<br />
Another $50 stack moved out of his pay. "Only a hunderd left son; yer gonna walk outta here with a mighty sore 'n bruised body, 'n empty-handed to boot if ya don’t learn to watch yer yap, boy." He gave Twist another bone chilling look and added, "That’s if'n ya walk out under yer own power at all."<br />
<br />
Young Hutchison approached and tilted his head in towards Johnny’s like he was going to kiss him on the cheek.<br />
<br />
Twist instinctively ducked his head away, so Pete grabbed his neck and pulled him back. As his lips brushed the rancher’s cheek, Pete whispered low, "Mary told me boss-man just put Joey-Paul in the hospital. He was beat so bad the docs don’t know if'n he’s gonna make it… fucking play along damn it or they’ll be a pickin’ ya up off the floor too! Don’t... call... him... queer!"<br />
<br />
Surrendering, Twist stood on one foot in turn and eased his boots and socks off. He closed his eyes, imagined it was his wife as he reached his arms around the sinewy young bullrider’s waist, and tentatively hugged the handsome naked body close against his. Hutch reached down between them and undid Johnny’s belt and his jeans fell to around his ankles and were obediently stepped out of.<br />
<br />
Petey pulled him even closer and their arms encircled each other. This time their lips met as the farmhand began feeling an unfamiliar passion he’d never experienced before. In panic, he pulled away and turned to face Big Jim’s punishment for defying him.<br />
<br />
<br />
Instead the big naked man moved a bundle back across the desk into his pay pile, "Now did that hurt?"<br />
<br />
Twist raised his chin up as proudly as he dared and restated, "Y’all might be, but I ain’t no queer."<br />
<br />
An exasperated sigh came from Hutch behind him.<br />
<br />
Jim stood up and crossed the floor to stand before him intimately close, his shoulders at Twist’s eye level. The naked massive tower of muscle looked down upon John like a big dangerous hunting dog about to devour a rabbit.<br />
<br />
"When the blazes did I call ya a queer?" Gesturing his chin at Pete he continued, raising his eyebrows, "Is he a queer, am I a queer, huh, how 'bout it boy?"<br />
<br />
Johnny felt trapped in the man’s spooky light gray eyes, and his terrified chin moved up and down but nothing dared leave his mouth. In his mind, this didn’t make sense. Real pansies were supposed to shrink away like wimps when called queer or a pervert, not stand up to their accuser!<br />
<br />
The huge man now looked everywhere but down and finally in frustration growled, "Too god-damned hot in here. I’m takin’ a long cool shower." He moved to affectionately hug Pete and said, "School him."<br />
<br />
After Bossman disappeared and a shower started hissing water, Twist grabbed for his clothes and moved towards the chair to tug them on.<br />
<br />
Peter maneuvered to block his exit, shook his head no, and warned, "You’ll never get past them," and nodded at the outer door where two tough men under Jim’s command stood just beyond.<br />
<br />
John Twist’s shoulders suddenly slumped and it looked like all hope had left him. His rumpled jeans and shirt dropped from his hand into a pile on the floor and he stood there blank eyed, frightened, defenseless and naked, staring at the door still plotting a hopeless escape.<br />
<br />
He came to a decision; if he was going out, he’d go out swinging before these two queers had their way with him.<br />
<br />
While he was deep in thought, Hutch went over intending to lay a comforting palm on the young rancher’s shoulder and tried to explain, "He was a testin’ to see if’n ya could act the part well enough to convince certain customers. Even though yer straight, ya can make one hell of a lot of money if'n…"<br />
<br />
As Peter’s hand made contact, Twist spun away quickly to stand facing him in a fighting stance. With frustrated macho contempt Johnny blurted it out without thinking, "Don’t touch me; ya god-damned quee…"<br />
<br />
Before he could finish the word, from nowhere unexpected knuckles slammed into his face just beneath his left eye. In a flash his head snapped violently back while his feet flew out forward, then his bare ass, shoulders and skull hit the worn wooden floor simultaneously, knocking the breath out of him.<br />
<br />
In a cloud of intense pain, everything went black…</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-36-39-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-35661131751106414392014-02-24T12:35:00.000-05:002019-07-28T16:10:24.982-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 IX<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 9 ~ Ain’t No Way To Run A Rodeo</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-33-35-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>First Aid</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">wist found himself lying naked in the middle of the floor face up atop a big white bath towel; another was bundled up like a pillow under the back of his aching head. Just above his brow looming straight up was the front of boss-man’s desk like looking up a canyon wall. His feet pointed towards the outer exit. In agony, he couldn’t see out of his swollen left eye and his chin hurt like hell.<br />
<br />
He seemed to be alone in the room as he ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, taking inventory of <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqNLQcjWAAg/UdHyA43sTGI/AAAAAAAAGB4/GmtKq641u4M/s698/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+3+jim2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqNLQcjWAAg/UdHyA43sTGI/AAAAAAAAGB4/GmtKq641u4M/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+3+jim2.jpg" width="233" /></a>his teeth. They felt like they didn't fit together right in his jaw.<br />
<br />
When he turned his sore neck to the right, his good eye revealed Big Jim over in the locker room still naked with dripping hair plastered to his head drying his magnificent body.<br />
<br />
After Bossman finished, he put the towel down on the bench and just sat there bent forward forearms on thighs, staring at him with concern through the connecting office door. He seemed so deep in thought that he didn’t appear aware that Twist had come to.<br />
<br />
<br />
Johnny’s face felt like a railroad spike had been driven into his left cheek with a sledgehammer and his back felt broken, though it’d only been bruised.<br />
<br />
The room suddenly brightened and then dimmed as Mary entered and moved quickly over to her husband and handed him something. A moment later her face appeared directly over Twist’s. Her expression held anger verging on violence.<br />
<br />
In a harsh low whisper, she spat out through a clenched jaw, "If'n it was up ta me, you’d be stretched half-dead in a hospital like Joey. If Jim hadn’t dragged Pete offa ya when he done; ya WOULD be."<br />
<br />
She went on to describe how her "big dangerous husband" sent Hutchison on his way to his 7PM appointment, arranged a couple of soft layers of towels on the floor, and then picked Johnny up deadweight and unconscious to gently lay him down on the improvised bed. He tended his bleeding nose and then sent for Mary for first aid.<br />
<br />
Without another word, she got up and stormed out, slamming the door behind herself.<br />
<br />
Gentle little Peter did this?<br />
<br />
Twist started coughing blood that was running down his sinuses. His nose hurt like hell but didn’t appear to be broken.<br />
<br />
Old wood creaked in protest as Bossman crossed the floor with another armload of towels. The only other sound was the big fan moving air around the stifling hot room. Layering another soft makeshift terry cloth mattress to the right of the stricken ranch hand, Jim gently rolled him onto his stomach atop the fresh linen. Gingerly lifting Johnny’s head, he placed crushed ice from the snow cone machine wrapped in a wet dishtowel under his swollen face. That must’ve been what Mary had brought with her,<br />
<br />
The big man smelled pleasantly of Ivory soap.<br />
<br />
The cold rag soothed the pain and he sighed in a relief that didn’t last long.<br />
<br />
Muscled hands lifted and separated his ankles by about two feet, and then knees came down from behind on the floor between his.<br />
<br />
The strong smell of ointment or lubricant filled the air. He’d heard in church of evil men like this one and what they did to helpless victims; which is what he was now.<br />
<br />
Twist fought off panic, knowing that he was about to be punished for his disrespectful words.<br />
<br />
Too sore to move and his jaw swollen nearly shut against screaming for help, he was about to be raped with no way to ward off this giant pervert who had the power to do what he wanted with him. As he braced himself to be penetrated from behind, he began fighting back frustrated tears at being so vulnerable for the first time in his young life.<br />
<br />
The outer skin of Bossman’s knees made warm contact with the surface of Twist’s inner thighs as if to keep his legs spread and his ass open.<br />
<br />
He’d heard somewhere that southern boys called it "corn holing," because they’d use shucked corncobs to wipe their asses with after taking a shit in the fields. The cob would slip in a ways and it was said that it felt so good when the thing touched their prostates from within that them boys actually liked getting fucked by other boys… or with dildos by their girlfriends as foreplay.<br />
<br />
His overriding thought was that his most precious possession - his manhood - was about to be torn from him.<br />
<br />
The big naked show owner behind him rubbed his hands together and leaned forward to gently began kneading the young man’s shoulders with both hands, carefully using his thumbs at the same time to relax the injured and hurting spine beneath his experienced fingertips. After a minute or so, Jim’s expert palms gradually slid lower down his spinal column and sides, soothingly easing tightness and pain, concentrating on the small of his back between his hips.<br />
<br />
If John wasn't convinced that he was about to be fucked, he'd be groaning in pleasure, but wanted to do nothing to encourage the man atop him. A hand caressed his left ass cheek and lingered there in surprise as the ranch hand began choking out heaving gasps of fear like a girl about to have her virginity unwillingly taken from her.<br />
<br />
Bossman’s oddly concerned voice asked, "What’s ailin’ ya Johnny… that hurts?"<br />
<br />
Twist started weakly struggling and in a high voice full of panic coughed out, "Just do it… do it quick ‘n let me be."<br />
<br />
The hand slowly extended a slippery finger downward between firm work-hardened butt cheeks to tease Johnny’s sensitive opening and then followed the ridge down leading to his ball sack. Sliding his slick digit back up, he pressed it against the young rancher’s pucker enough to make his point, but not penetrate. "This?" he asked.<br />
<br />
Shivers of irresistible unstoppable pleasure painfully ran chills up his injured spine. He silently gave three sharp nods, "I cain’t stop ya, jest kill me after so’s I don’t have to live with it."<br />
<br />
With a grunt of frustration, the glorious blond muscleman on hands and knees rolled out from his position over the young rancher and onto his back atop the other pile of towels beside him where Twist once laid.<br />
<br />
"Ah Christ!" Jim huffed out in a irritated sigh and muttered to the ceiling, "I don’t fuck men less'n I know they’re gonna enjoy ‘n want it. I gotta good ‘n understandin’ wife that never denies me her pussy fer that; so why ya reckon I’d wanna fuck you, ya damned fool idiot?"<br />
<br />
Just then the door opened and a much calmer Mary walked in. Bossman abruptly sat up and reached forward for the bandages and supplies she carried. If she were the least bit surprised, annoyed or jealous at seeing her naked husband on the floor with another nude and attractive young man, she didn’t show it. Her man’s cock wasn’t hard in excitement, and even if it were she wouldn’t have objected.<br />
<br />
John noticed there was no flash of light; it must be dark outside now and wondered how long he’d been unconscious.<br />
<br />
He cried out in agony as they struggled to roll Twist over and then up to a painful seated position with his back against the front of the old desk and his legs out straight.<br />
<br />
Johnny modestly hid his crotch from her with cupped hands.<br />
<br />
Mary gleefully raised her head up and loudly laughed out, "A mite late for that; ain’t it?"<br />
<br />
Her giggling was infectious and instantly all three were chuckling to themselves.<br />
<br />
Boss man planted his feet on either side of Johnny’s hips and leaned forward across the desk to retrieve a pair of scissors from a drawer. In the process the big man’s massive, even while soft, cock brushed Twist’s nose causing him to flinch, but he bravely made no move or objection to avoid it.<br />
<br />
Without backing away, Jim twisted his torso towards his wife behind him and remarked, "He was pert near in tears, Mary; he thought I was gonna force-fuck him layin’ down there," then he turned back to cut a long length of fabric on the desk.<br />
<br />
When he finished, he picked up the cloth gauze, still intimately close to the young man’s face, then wrapped it around and around the young farmhand’s head to hold the dripping iced dishcloth to his swollen eye.<br />
<br />
Only then did he back off to study his work while Mary secured the desk cash to keep it from blowing away after she’d carefully pointed the fan down at the naked men on the floor.<br />
<br />
She huffed, "If’n ya had a'fucked him; he’d a damn well deserved it,"<br />
<br />
She finally decided to relieve herself from the heat too and pulled off her cowgirl shirt, revealing the biggest and most appealing pair of perfect bare breasts that the young farmhand had ever seen.<br />
<br />
His hands redoubled his efforts to hide a growing hard-on, as much from the sight or her tits, as he tried to deny to himself that it was from the cock that had been in his face.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Pieces Of A Strange Puzzle</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hey both settled down in front of him with crossed legs and patiently answered all questions good-naturedly and honestly. Jim eventually resettled himself to intimately shoulder-to-shoulder with Johnny in front of the desk.<br />
<br />
Though he fought it, he couldn’t stop his eyes from studying her chest, nor from admiring the man’s magnificent body beside him as they sat there skin-to-skin pressed against Twist's left arm, hip and thigh.<br />
<br />
Twist discovered to his own humiliation that he’d been dead wrong about nearly everything he thought he knew about them.<br />
<br />
They put him on the floor earlier, not to be raped, but because it was cooler down there than up on a chair and easier to tend to his injuries laying flat.<br />
<br />
~ How did Bossman get involved in all of this?<br />
Jim started out as a carnival sideshow strong man in his late teens because of his unusual light gray eyes and his hereditary disposition to immense muscles. That’s where he met and fell in love with Mary. In every town, people began almost immediately approaching him to give naked private shows. Mostly he stood unclothed in a stranger’s bedroom or parlor for a sexless hour while urgent hands and lips intimately worshiped every part of him while they masturbated.<br />
<br />
Sometimes artists did sketches or paintings of him.<br />
<br />
A photographer once paid $400 to take pictures of Jim in different poses having simulated sex with the man’s own teenaged son, which ended with the boy going down orally on Bossman and being fucked for real. The hundreds of prints of those unique one-of-a-kind negatives (for the time,) sold in out-of-the-way big city shops and back rooms for a small fortune.<br />
<br />
During the Great Depression, when a cup of coffee and a bowl of soup could be bought for one thin dime, he was accepting between 5 and $10 for an hour of simply standing there naked like a living statue. At a young age Jim learned that like whiskey during The Prohibition, people were always willing to pay a high price for what was hard or embarrassing to ask for openly. After he told Mary, she not only approved of his way of surviving tough financial times, but also accepted his marriage proposal.<br />
<br />
She even taught him how to give his first blowjob properly.<br />
<br />
They stayed with the traveling carnival because it brought sexual customers to him without having to seek them out, and eventually she began taking them on too. That was before the fair began seriously losing money. All around them banks started failing, people went broke, families stood on bread lines, and businesses went belly up because of the stock market crash, but Jimbo put food on the table and supported his pretty new wife, even managing to hide away a lot of money in the process.<br />
<br />
After the traveling cavalcade closed, they drifted around until one day they visited a rodeo in Utah. Lightning ideas struck that day on how to make it a success if they bought it. Give customers what other greedy and prude owners hadn’t even thought to provide poor farmers and their families with… value.<br />
<br />
These struggling people who had barely a dollar to call their own could spend it at the admission gate and concession stands for a badly needed day of fun for two adults and up to five kids. Other shows cost nearly twice as much and gave their patrons half of what they got from Big Jim.<br />
<br />
Bossman’s rodeo became known far and wide for giving the best shows, the prettiest concession girls and the biggest rodeo prizes.<br />
<br />
The local folk without knowing why seemed to flock to the shows for the human scenery in the stands too, not knowing that the pleasing eye-candy actually were young athletic cowboys and sexy women who had been employed specifically to sit strategically just about everywhere they looked.<br />
<br />
As word got around that fantastic looking people seemed to flock to this particular rodeo, horny teenaged kids, anxious to see big titted women or masculine bare-chested men that no other show had, dragged their parents along when the Bossman’s came to town, virtually guaranteeing attendance-record-setting crowds daily and huge earnings from every booking.<br />
<br />
Then there was the rigged set of rodeo competitions that encouraged local boys and men to enter and win bronco busting and bullriding events. Unbeknownst to them, native sons always went first so the "pros" knew what times not to beat, guaranteeing that the townsfolk won three out every five cash prizes that were bigger and more generous than any other traveling show.<br />
<br />
Concession stand prices for food and drink were about half what other shows charged. Bossman made deals with local grocers. For big discounts on groceries, they got free advertisements at the concession stands. It was a win-win situation for everyone. Where other rodeos were spurned for tiny prizes, nearly every state in the northwest pleaded with the Big Bossman’s Show to visit their towns to distract its citizens from the tough times everyone faced.<br />
<br />
To accomplish this, virtually all of the gate and concession money went to payroll, prizes, traveling and equipment; so how did this rodeo thrive? The massive profits came from behind the scenes with clandestine paid-for sexual services of nearly every description while they were in town. The more unusual the sex act, the bigger the earnings.<br />
<br />
At first John was morally appalled at what they were telling him. Eventually though, he had to admit that in these times it was the only sure way to make money.<br />
<br />
~ So Jim was queer?<br />
No he’d out of necessity with his wife’s help and loving approval, learned how to pleasure men and women equally in order to make a living in rough circumstances. He was more or less forced to concentrate on sex with guys because in those times women couldn’t - or weren’t allowed to earn a decent wage, but men could… and did. Once it was whispered about in secret corners, certain gentlemen without families to support came in droves for something they dared not seek anywhere else without being jailed, lynched or beaten to death.<br />
<br />
Homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, orgies, 3-ways and more; they only drew the line at animals, all else was fair game. The more versatile an employee was willing to be the higher they were paid. Because of his looks, Jim nearly made enough single-handedly to support the show in every town they went to. If the customer wanted both Jim and Mary at the same time, it was triple, and that request came often.<br />
<br />
~ What about that queer man in the stands who offered Peter $60 for a "horse"?<br />
Mr. Friedl, a local farmer, was too ashamed to admit that he’d lost his testicles in WWI after the soldier patrolling next to him stepped on a landmine. He hired Pete to get his wife pregnant - not fuck him, only because of the young bullrider’s incredible physical resemblance to him.<br />
<br />
Nine months later they were presented with a fine healthy boy that looked so much like Mr. Friedl, no one could possibly doubt it wasn’t his own. They instantly fell in love with Pete. Last month they’d pleaded with Hutchison for a 2nd child that would be a full-blooded brother or sister and that was the appointment the handsome blond youth was keeping tonight.<br />
<br />
~ Pete was trying to turn Johnny queer?<br />
Hutch had traveled with the show since he’d run away at fourteen after realizing that he was a true bisexual. Last year he finally made up with his folks, who it turns out knew about him all along and accepted him, and he’s been sending money home to them ever since. As he grew to know every aspect of the business, he was given more responsibility and eventually more authority too. Though he expected to settle down with a girl some day, without a home, he was lonely for a non-carnival friend and immediately shined to Twist as a potential confidant and companion.<br />
<br />
Pete was being groomed to take over the whole rodeo in five or ten years when Jim and Mary retired or decided to sell when the economy picked up.<br />
<br />
Shame smothered Twist for what he’d judgmentally said to his new friend and he looked crestfallen. How could he face Pete tomorrow?<br />
<br />
Jim intimately threw an arm over the young man’s shoulders to comfort him. The fact that they were two naked men didn’t seem to matter anymore.<br />
<br />
~ There has to be more than eight rider/athletes that work for you?<br />
The numerous men who aren’t part of the "private" shower/arena stands show change and wash off in a converted semi-trailer out back; That must be the one he’d seen earlier that had water running out of it.<br />
<br />
~ Where does everyone sleep while on the road?<br />
Because of how good the show is and the reputation they’ve built up, most of the time folks volunteer their homes free before even being asked just for local bragging rights to "this star athlete slept here!" Despite that, Jim generously gives out complimentary show passes good for entire families with concession stand food included in exchange for farmers housing his folks when they’re in town. By giving more to the local economy than what’s taken, he improves his reputation even more - it’s just good business.<br />
<br />
~ Who were the two men in the locker room?<br />
Local queers that got their kicks looking at naked athletes and were willing to pay Bossman big money for the privilege. At the end of every competition two or three at a time paid to watch the men they’d just seen compete shower with each other; usually they’d later book an appointment with one that caught their eye, earning the Bossmans double from one customer.<br />
<br />
Mary sternly added that that was all it was… a show. Hutch wasn’t really being fucked nor were the other men having oral sex - it was just a damned convincing act that made the rodeo a lot of side-money wherever it went. They liked John Twist’s sexy corn-fed farmboy body, and figured he’d attract a new type clientele. Pete loved his looks and thought he might be a money-earning success on the shower show team if he knew he actually only had to act like he was joining in, but not really doing anything.<br />
<br />
This news only added more shame for what Twist had said to Hutchison.<br />
<br />
~ Did they really have to pay off the local sheriff wherever they went?<br />
Jim burst out laughing. The money was for off-duty deputies to watch the cash registers for thieves, robbers, and pickpockets in the crowds during the show.<br />
<br />
~ What happened to Joey-Paul?<br />
Big Jim’s enormous shoulder broke contact with Twist’s as he leaned forward and wiped his face with his palms and groaned. The boy had only been hired last week and Mary’d caught Joey stealing money from the cash register at one of the main gates. The teenager was hauled back to the office by the two security men to face the owner.<br />
<br />
Joey brazenly called Mary a whore, a bitch and a liar to Jim’s face and it took five minutes for both door guards to drag their boss off him… that’s when Pete and Hutch walked in, which explained Bossman’s gruff attitude at the time. After they retreated to the locker room, Joey refused to admit his guilt or apologize for what he said about Mary.<br />
<br />
The boy begged for his life while Bossman angrily grabbed him by the neck, dug the missing money out of his jeans, bounced him off a wall and then slapped him so hard that he knocked the guy unconscious.<br />
<br />
Jim wasn’t proud of what he did and showed it in his pained and worried face.<br />
<br />
Mary got up, grabbed her shirt, and left the office. For the moment that the door was briefly open, the sound of crickets chirping was drowned out by diesel engines revving up and trucks pulling away. The smell of exhaust smoke invaded the room.<br />
<br />
The show had packed up and was leaving town, and suddenly Twist was very sad he'd blown his chance to go with them… <br />
<br />
Jim urged him down and back onto his stomach and resumed the soothing massage that he’d started, causing his now-calm patient to repeatedly groan in unguarded pleasure.<br />
<br />
Mary reentered carrying more towels, a couple of cold bottles of beer and two blankets, kissed the boss goodnight and left. She knew her husband would spend the night here with Johnny instead of with her in their portable house trailer, and was unconcerned with whether Jim might eventually have sex with him in order to calm the young man down.<br />
<br />
She was secure in her man’s love… and he in hers.<br />
<br />
After about half an hour of deep-tissue massage, Jim rolled John over on his back to reveal a raging hard-on. The boss smiled at it; the usual reaction to that type of rubdown… it meant that Johnny was feeling better.<br />
<br />
He got up, strolled into the locker room and shut off the lights. Returning, he tipped the lampshade on the desk so that the bulb shown down on Twist, then carefully removed the wrapping and melted ice pack from his head. Both he and Mary had a lot of previous experience treating bull and horse induced injuries.<br />
<br />
Nodding satisfaction that the eye would heal normally, he moved behind his desk and got the bottle opener. Snapping off the top of a still-cold beer, he handed it to Twist. "Hold that up to yer eye, or drink it; yer choice."<br />
<br />
Johnny moved to the leather chair and did both.<br />
<br />
The boss man tilted the shade back and began rolling coins and bundling bills, occasionally glancing at the calendar or jotting something in his ledger between sips of his own beer.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Lost & Found In the Dark</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n due course the desk clock read 9 PM; they’d have to get an early start for Cheyenne at first light.<br />
<br />
Jim put down the pencil and reached for something in the pile Mary’d brought in. From a tiny bottle in the medical supplies, he poured a clear green gel-like fluid out onto his index fingertip. He walked over with the container to stand in front of Twist and carefully applied generous amounts of aloe to his patient’s skin around his eye, causing him to flinch.<br />
<br />
It was still very tender but the swelling was going down, a good sign.<br />
<br />
He layered the two thick blankets down on top of the towels and they jointly decided that in the heat, they’d sleep on top of them.<br />
<br />
The big man flexed his muscles while walking over to the door, turned the fan switch from medium to high and helped the young rancher to lay down on the floor and get comfortable on his right side facing the locker room. Jim switched off the desk lamp, laid down face up to the right of him with his palms tucked under his head, and pondered the logistics of tomorrow’s travel plans.<br />
<br />
Cheyenne was one hell of a drive south and it'd probably take three days to get there. He'd considered shipping the whole show by rail, but decided against it. As a child he’d witnessed a horrendous train wreck and from that day on he never trusted them. Besides, on a road trip of that length and duration it'd be a good way to get to know Johnny Twist's character and whether he was right about the trustworthiness of the young man dozing off beside him.<br />
<br />
Since Hutch would be with them, he could observe how they interacted too and intentionally planned to have the two young men bed together in hotels along the way.<br />
<br />
Laying there in the dark, he remembered spotting Twist on the street, considering whether Pete would take to him... and fall in love. Johnny had the physical build and hair that always seemed to catch the kid's eye, that's why Bossman picked him out of the crowd in the first place. That's also why Big Jim pointed Hutch towards the exact section of the stands where he'd spotted Twist sitting earlier. He chuckled at that; usually Mary was the matchmaker who believed in fate and luck.<br />
<br />
Though they all would deny it, any heterosexual man can be turned to have sex with another man given the right motivation, he knew that first hand and was now an expert at the process, but loving was another matter and Petey had been so deeply lonely for a close companion for so long. If the young newlywed rancher was that eager to leave his wife and was that so obviously miserable at home, he and Peter could... well enough of that.<br />
<br />
He also thought of Mary sleeping by herself in the trailer and considered leaving John alone here after he fell asleep to go to her loving arms…<br />
<br />
In Twist’s sleep, Martha’s firm full breasts came to him, wanting, enticing. He’d rolled over on his left side and his arm brushed across her waist as he fondled those fantasy tits so warm and firm. He maneuvered his right leg forward on top of her left and nuzzled his steel hard cock along her ass crack aiming for her cunt. His hand reluctantly left those little nipples to wander sensuously down her belly and encountered her huge cock drooling with precum.<br />
<br />
The young man jumped away in panic, landing on his ass, dizzy and lost. In the dark of an unfamiliar windowless room, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. The office held only the sound of the humming fan moving air towards where he once laid sleeping alongside…<br />
<br />
…Oh God!<br />
<br />
He’d never find his clothes in the dark before the muscled behemoth angrily tore him limb from limb! What direction was the door?<br />
<br />
A sleepy male voice asked in concern, "John; you alright?"<br />
<br />
The upper left side of his face was a solid ball of agony. Trying to think through his fear, he replied despite his aching jaw, "I uh, I gotta take a piss."<br />
<br />
"Here, I’ll turn on the light fer you."<br />
<br />
"NO! …no. I’ll find it… uh much obliged." The last thing Twist needed was for Jim to see the raging erection he sported that stubbornly wouldn’t go down.<br />
<br />
Managing somehow not to smack into the wall before finding the open locker room door with blind fingertips, John felt for and found the wall switch and stood pissing, trying to slow the pounding in his chest.<br />
<br />
Bossman got up, circled the desk, switched on the light, and pulled a bottle of aspirin out of Mary’s supplies. The sound of a toilet flushing and sink water running came through the open door. Jim liked the Lightning Flat stadium. A lot of venues still had outhouses and many didn’t even have running water.<br />
<br />
The locker room lights snapped off and Twist appeared at the door. Both of his hands were meekly cupped over his crotch to hide the fact he’d only softened about halfway.<br />
<br />
Seeing the young man’s hilariously silly misplaced shame, the muscled hunk at the desk planted his right elbow on its surface, rested his forehead on his palm, and then used the rest of his huge right hand to hide his eyes. As Twist’s face turned beet red, he watched Bossman’s shoulders began shaking as the man fought to keep from laughing out loud and embarrassing his poor guest.<br />
<br />
It was infectious and for a moment Johnny wore a huge grin, but clamped his lips together trying to relax his face, then gritted his teeth desperately trying to fight it and barely asked defiantly, "Wah… what’s su-ho d'hamned fu-hunny?" and then snorted out a giggle through his nose.<br />
<br />
Jim tilted backwards away from his desk, threw his head back, and bellowed out a near-deafening cackle and then, "Ah HA HA HA… HA HA HA!" with tears streaming down his face.<br />
<br />
He looked over at Johnny and instantly bolted uptight out of his seat.<br />
<br />
Twist must’ve ruptured a barely healed blood vessel in his nose when he began laughing and was now tightly bent over on his knees clutching his head in agony and moaning. Blood dripped from his left nostril. The strongman lifted him up off the floor effortlessly and placed him back on their blankets. He reached under them to yank out a fluffy towel and told John to keep hard pressure on his nose to stem the flow.<br />
<br />
After a minute or so Jim reached up to retrieve the two aspirins, handed them to the young man, and offered what was left of his warm beer. There was just enough left to wash them down with one swallow, but they stayed down. With an intense worried expression, the big man studied John’s face and was relieved to see that the swelling hadn’t come back, in fact his eye was partially open - bloodshot, but open. He got the little bottle again and with gentle fingertips daubed more aloe on the surrounding skin.<br />
<br />
The desk clock read 1:25 AM. Tomorrow would be hell without sleep.<br />
<br />
He eased Twist back down onto his back atop the blankets, shut off the desk lamp and resumed his place to Johnny’s left.<br />
<br />
After a few minutes a timid young farmer’s voice said softly, "I’m… uh, …I’m sorry sir."<br />
<br />
Big Jim Bossman stopped staring at the invisible ceiling, rolled onto his side to face his guest, propped his head on his right elbow and palm, and replied in an insulted voice. "Sir? …SIR? Ya felt my chest up 'n played with my nipples like ya was molesting a easy schoolgirl after the prom. Ya grabbed my dick 'n played with it, 'n whilst doin' that started dry-humping my ass; all the while callin' me ‘Martha’ at the same time ya was passionately kissing my back, 'n now all I am to you is 'Sir’?"<br />
<br />
Despite the pain it caused, Twist couldn’t help but sprout a huge grin in the dark and urgently pleaded, "Oh please don’t make me laugh again…" and was cut off as lips from above clamped down on his in a full-blown, fireworks inducing kiss that instantly halted his mirth.<br />
<br />
Caught completely off guard, Twist couldn’t think and didn’t try. His head still ached and his back still hurt something awful, but going on instinct he clamped his hands around the man’s head, pulled down and then returned the kiss with more passion than he ever knew he had.<br />
<br />
Bossman lifted his mouth away in the dark. "Yer hired."<br />
<br />
Johnny reached up for and grasped the huge mounded shoulder of his new friend. His hands wanted and dared to explore like a buyer feeling the taut musculature of a stallion for sale. Unopposed his passion shaking palm and fingers caressed every enormous bulge of the hard corded chest, thrilling at the feel of it writhing beneath his touch.<br />
<br />
The young man's hand drifted south resting within the deeply creased abdomen as it rose and fell with each of the man’s breaths. It felt as if he had six overly-full leather wallets in two columns grouped three to a side resting just under the skin covering his stomach. Within the deep valley between them he encountered a sexy "outie" bellybutton.<br />
<br />
Through hard and endless farm work John sported damned good abs himself; but these under his quivering touch were what most men only dreamed of having.<br />
<br />
All guys looked at other men comparing them to themselves, but they would never dare to reach out and touch, to caress another male’s texture, to feel the masculine power of such a man as this one was. He relished the unheard of and forbidden privilege. This man was not a limp-wristed fairy "queer" in the sense that he’d been taught the word and he was dumfounded to think of one that fit. Fearing he’d never get the chance again, he leaned forward and kissed the huge left pectoral before him, feeling it harden as he swirled his tongue around its salty nipple.<br />
<br />
Twist removed his hand and mouth with a gasped shuddering sigh and murmured an awestruck, "Thanks." Lying back, his mind still was filled with confusion.<br />
<br />
Boss’ voice replied, "Many, many men… 'n women, have shelled out a lotta money to do what you just did boy… But yer the first time in a lonnnnng time that I surely enjoyed it."<br />
<br />
A lengthy silence followed.<br />
<br />
Jim finally asked, "Got any kids?"<br />
<br />
John sighed out equal parts sadness and frustration, "We been tryin’." Then he added thoughtfully with regret, "My folks ‘r puttin’ so much pressure on us to have ‘em that it kills the passion."<br />
<br />
Bossman nodded understanding in the dark, then asked, "I reckon yer gonna be gone long stretches at a time away from her… weeks; ya sure ya wanta join up with us?"<br />
<br />
Every corner of the room filled with the noxious resentment of the responsibility that he felt he didn’t deserve as he replied, "If I don’t find a good payin’ steady job, the fuckin’ bank will take my daddy’s spread away. It’s been well nigh seventy-five years in our family. If I gotta become some damned… fer want of a better word for it, "Nancy-boy whore" to do it, I reckon that’s the trace that God’s steerin’ my life on... whatever the reason."<br />
<br />
He instantly realized what he’d indirectly called Jim and apologized. The young rancher's ego was just beginning to panic at the thought of what he'd just done with another man without thinking first... almost as if it'd come naturally to him.<br />
<br />
No... NO!<br />
<br />
Calm down Johnny, calm down... what... what's he saying ...what did he just say?<br />
<br />
Bossman had nodded in the dark and replied, "Yer gonna be makin' a lot of money friend. You'll mostly be part of a stud service fer lonely women willin' to spend their last dime; some er most'll want ta git pregnant; sorta like what Pete's doin' right about now fer a couple that cain't have kids."<br />
<br />
The Boss drew a worried breath and continued, "Yeah, 'n there's a load of lonely queers who'd pay a year's salary ta git a young corn-fed stud like you into their bed too." Bossman shook his head in the gloomy room in astonishment. "God! Until this started they was invisible to me a'cause they act and look just like anybody else, but now it's like ya cain't swing a cat without hittin a homosexual. Like it er not friend, that's where the real money comes from a'cause women cain't earn it the way homo men do... these days a man with no family to support sports the most disposable cash... even in these times... that's just the way of the world, boy."<br />
<br />
Drawing in a considered breath he added, "This show cain't make it on just popcorn, peanuts, nor bull 'n bronco ridin'. We sell what people cain't get nowheres else - 'specially from yer competition 'n that's that. ...when this damned 'Depression' is done tearin' the country apart we can go back to bein' a honest ta God show, but that ain't likely anytime soon."<br />
<br />
The air became heavy with Twist's moral bewilderment. He decided not to confess that despite how so many many times he fucked her to shattering orgasms on both their parts... he'd failed at getting his wife pregnant.<br />
<br />
He'd already nearly blurted it out once.<br />
<br />
They both could feel his disappointment and growing confusion like an animal in the room.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Lock, Stock, & Barrel</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span>n uncomfortable silence followed for a while and then the boss’ gentle palm came to rest on the twenty-year-old rancher’s defined abs. "John, yer gonna have to do somethin’ important fer me directly."<br />
<br />
Twist remembered how much he wanted to touch this man only moments ago and how wrong the devil's temptation was. He told himself, "I cain't do this-I just cain't. I'll burn in hell for sure. I can't let a man touch me like this!" The young man fought down the sexual implications of what was just requested.<br />
<br />
In a worried tone Jim asked, "Johnny?"<br />
<br />
Realizing he had to say something for fear his huge host might suspect he was being ignored, "Yes sir? …uh Jim."<br />
<br />
The warm hand explored his decent pecs, broad shoulders and then drifted down to carefully cup Twist’s warm balls. "I got yer full attention now; do I?"<br />
<br />
Near terror set in at the painful damage that that strong fist could do.<br />
<br />
John quickly gasped out, "Ya do, oh yes sir… lock, stock and barrel."<br />
<br />
Jim said in a serious tone, "Afore I can hire you…" followed by a long pause for maximum effect. Gentle fingers began rolling the balls they grasped as he continued, "Yer gonna have to find a way to make up with Pete. Now he’s like my right hand and I cain’t stand fer no infightin’ in the ranks. He’s jest as much ta blame fer what he done to ya, but you did egg him on into losin’ his temper."<br />
<br />
Incredible relief filled him that this man wasn't asking him what he'd expected.<br />
<br />
He exhaled a grateful promise, "I’ll surely try, the best way I know how."<br />
<br />
The intimacy of another man massaging his testicles got his cock so hard, Twist feared that if it was pulled at the wrong way it’d snap clean off. In a worried tone he asked hesitantly, "Am… am I really gonna have to take another man’s dick in my mouth?"<br />
<br />
The caressing palm moved to slowly stroke Johnny’s drooling uncut shaft and it quivered under the sensation.<br />
<br />
"Pete handles that decision 'n schedules all the men’s appointments and what they do 'n get paid," Jim replied. "Mostly in the beginnin' customers like that, just wanna look at ya er worship yer body with the palms of their hands. That usually leads to suckin' on ya hopin' you'll cum in their mouths while they jack off. <br />
<br />
I hear tell five of his seven men return the favor for double cash ‘n two don’t. Don't be fooled son; them queers come in all shapes 'n sizes... Fer the most part, big strapping men built like farm tractors are more afraid of word gettin' out about 'em so they, to a man, behave themselves. That 'n they're warned if they don't follow the rules, they'll never get another... uh appointment next time we're in town. <br />
<br />
Pete's the most versatile 'n teaches our straight married guys like you. He stands in fer 'em if’n his boys cain’t manage something …unusual."<br />
<br />
Twist asked hesitantly, "Like takin’ it up ...up the uh?" and suffered a shudder that tortured his injured back at the very thought of it.<br />
<br />
With Jim's other hand, he wet his index finger in his mouth and played it against Johnny’s pucker. "Like takin’ it up the ass," then removed it.<br />
<br />
By this time Twist was shivering in passion, his foreskin had retracted all the way back and the sensitive head was drooling fluid onto his stomach.<br />
<br />
The boss dipped some of the slick ball juice from John’s belly and lubricated his finger with it, then inserted it up to the hilt in the young man’s virgin ass, wiggling it against the walnut shaped prostate.<br />
<br />
Johnny screamed in unexpected joy. The other masterful hand gripped slightly tighter and stroked up and down a fraction faster. Each time Twist felt on the verge of exploding Jim would expertly back off, leaving him desperately gasping for air.<br />
<br />
Once again every Christian God-fearing moral fiber in his body said he should pull away from this sinful forbidden pleasure at the perverted hands of another man, and again the building male testosterone-fed need to cum overrode rational thought.<br />
<br />
The big man said, "Like I told ya, you will have to let a man suck on ya though, even if ya don’t return the favor, 'n you’ll have to enjoy it. Tain’t like a girl who is good at fakin’ it. Yer customer can see if yer cock’s not hard, ‘n if’n it ain’t ya don’t get paid… Think ya can let another guy do that?"<br />
<br />
Waves of horny forbidden passion kept washing over him as he gasped out, "Yes… anything… anything."<br />
<br />
One massaging finger inside of him became two, then three, as the young farmer writhed in pleasure. At that moment Twist didn’t care if the whole fist went in as long as Boss didn’t stop what he was doing!<br />
<br />
Suddenly the gripping hand and fingers withdrew leaving him smothering from the intense need that had been building and building. His injured back and head seemed to explode in agony and was instantly replaced with a never experienced before need that came from nowhere.<br />
<br />
His testicles were a millisecond from releasing and opposing muscles spasmed against each other from conflicting signals. It was worse than being kicked in the balls and he screamed at the top of his lungs, his heaving chest gasping for air.<br />
<br />
In need of relief from the pain, he stretched his spine out flat molding his back to the floor.<br />
<br />
Before he realized it was happening, the handsome muscleman got up on his knees and straddled Twist's hips as if he were about to sit on the young man's chest. In the dark, Bossman towered threateningly over him and Johnny feared this conquering behemoth was about to force-feed his cock into Twist's mouth as a test. <br />
<br />
Then the unthinkable happened.<br />
<br />
Facing each other now, a strong determined hand reached beneath and guided the twenty-year-old’s dribbling slick cockhead to pierce a puckered opening.<br />
<br />
Jim sat down on the surprised young man’s shaft and they both groaned in pleasure as John’s quivering cock pushed all the way up inside of a muscled, warm and tight tunnel until it could go no further.<br />
<br />
Twist’s arms flailed over his head wildly against the floor and desk as he babbled nonsense.<br />
<br />
Bossman threw his head back and power growled like a wild animal.<br />
<br />
Johnny continued gurgling out random sounds as his brain tried and failed to understand how he could be the one being raped... by the man that he was fucking. His hands hungrily sought out and up towards deep creases between huge mounds of writhing muscle, pausing often at hard nipples that seemed to have grown three times their normal size.<br />
<br />
Jim rose up achingly… slowly, leaving the victim of his lust fighting for his breath as the intense ring of his sphincter climbed tightly toward the young man’s engorged mushroom dickhead. Beneath him Twist bawled like a kid that’d just been slapped by his mother for misbehaving.<br />
<br />
The brawny hunk reached beneath and planted his palms atop each hip to keep Johnny from bucking his steel shaft all the way back in as he ever-so-slowly lowered himself all the way down again… and again… and again.<br />
<br />
Desperate hands grabbed up behind Bossman’s neck and began pulling their faces together on instinct before he realized what he was doing. Big palms left Twist’s hips and encircled the rancher’s neck too, and their lips connected in a fiery rejoining,<br />
<br />
Johnny rapidly and repeatedly pumped unhindered in and out despite the pain in his spine, in and out, for all he was worth, barely able to breath through his clogged sinuses unable and unwilling to break that kiss. The incredible thrill of this forbidden act grew and grew as he fucked harder and harder, and faster and faster.<br />
<br />
He'd never once felt anywhere near this with Martha and it frightened and thrilled him at the same time. A craving began building for something sexual that was even more unthinkable only moments ago.<br />
<br />
Urgent arms began tugging Jim’s hips forward until John’s cock reluctantly escaped Bossman’s ass. A moment later the big man’s penis was eagerly swallowed and Twist began urgently sucking on it like a starving newborn baby on his mother’s tit! The long thick monster was only half in and already gagging him as it touched his tonsils.<br />
<br />
Big Jim didn’t believe this was happening and was so unprepared that he started shooting his mouth-filling load before he could even think of how to stop it in order to make it last!<br />
<br />
Unbelievably, Twist’s throat worked to swallow rather than spit it out.<br />
<br />
Gasping for air, Jim gathered his strength and endurance.<br />
<br />
It was Twist's turn to cum.<br />
<br />
Bossman pulled his cock out of that still sucking mouth and sat backwards down, impaling himself again on Johnny’s lap, rising, falling, and undulating his hips to jack off Twist with his tight wanting ass.<br />
<br />
John’s left hand reached for another urgent caress of those fantasy pecs while his right palm sought out and found the big man’s rehardening penis and began jacking it tightly. Fingers pinched nipples, hands became even more frenzied as the smell of testosterone and lust filled the room. Groans got louder and somehow each sensed the other’s closeness to orgasm and held off, determined to cum together.<br />
<br />
In the travel-trailer clear on the other side of the now-empty stock pens, Mary was awoken by the sound of two men howling together at the top of their lungs in unashamed primal screams… then things went silent.<br />
<br />
She smiled and went back to sleep.<br />
<br />
That guy Twist would be a top earner for sure…<br />
<br />
...She couldn't wait for her turn at him.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-40-43-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-30011493488870562612014-02-24T12:26:00.000-05:002019-07-28T16:12:09.310-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 X<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 10 ~ The Legend of “Jumpin’ Johnny Twist”</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-36-39-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The $200 Decision</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he next morning John woke to a cowboy boot nudging his arm and the sound of water running in the shower. One of the big doormen looked down <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MyS_WkXQBUw/Vw7bPaAv3HI/AAAAAAAAL84/eP4PQSFDZpwrXqM_4NS83WNino8fp7rDACKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bmuscle%2BJim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MyS_WkXQBUw/Vw7bPaAv3HI/AAAAAAAAL84/eP4PQSFDZpwrXqM_4NS83WNino8fp7rDACKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bmuscle%2BJim.jpg" /></a>at him on the floor and wished him a good morning in a heavy Mexican accent. He got up groggily in the humid morning air and looked around for his clothes but couldn’t find them.<br />
<br />
Clutching one of the bed covers from the floor to his shoulders, he went into the locker room and spotted Bossman under the shower. Dropping the blanket on the bench he went over and joined him at the next spray head.<br />
<br />
Yesterday he would have punched out anyone who even suggested it, but this morning he willingly, even enthusiastically soaped and washed another man's body while Jim returned the favor.<br />
<br />
Their conversation covered whether he’d be a show rider or a regular one and after comparing the pay and potential tips, decided to try being a part of the sex show component of the rodeo, though he wasn’t enthusiastic about it. It meant daily weight training to tone his body and lessons on types of sex he wasn’t familiar with like bondage and discipline, toys, and keeping multiple partners of both sexes satisfied simultaneously in the same bed.<br />
<br />
Jim promised that if he couldn’t cut it, he could go to chute dogging, rodeo clown, calf roping, handling a chuck wagon race or any of the other lower paying tenderfoot entertainment positions. After some training he could become a journeyman bullrider or broncobuster too.<br />
<br />
They both sensed last night was a difficult subject and rinsed off, crossing over to the sinks to shave. In the mirror his tender eye was less swollen and had touches of yellow and purple in the skin around it.<br />
<br />
Mary came in and Twist didn’t even flinch when she slapped his bare ass and then asked her husband how the sex between them was last night. She told them that Pete had been delayed and that Martha had called to say her father-in-law was on his way to pick John up.<br />
<br />
She checked over his eye and nodded that it’d take a while to heal but it looked okay.<br />
<br />
Twist was even embarrassed to stand naked in front of his wife, but with these people it was a non-issue and it made him feel comfortable and at home here. He wondered if he’d eventually bed Mary too.<br />
<br />
What about the truce with Pete?<br />
<br />
The entire show was already on the road except for the house trailer, their car and a bus for the rodeo employees that remained behind to pack up. The Bossmans had to hang back until everyone came in with their cuts from last night’s appointments, so it was decided that they would swing by the Twist ranch on their way out of town to pick Johnny up.<br />
<br />
Out in the office John couldn’t help but gape at what he saw.<br />
<br />
In those days, poor farmers were lucky to have a single set of clothing, and wore them until they literally fell apart. Mary presented him with three brand-new pairs of jeans, three pairs of good cotton socks, a brand-new pair of beautiful ox-blood colored cowboy boots smelling pleasantly of leather, a nice heavy-duty denim work shirt, three assorted plaid shirts and a fancy white cowboy shirt with fringed sleeves, waist, and gold trimmed seams. There was also a brand new and probably expensive tan Stetson for his head.<br />
<br />
He selected the denim shirt and jeans, put the new hat on and groaned at how good the new boots felt.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Bossman was proud of her keen eye and of course everything fit him like it was custom made. As he finished dressing, she kissed him affectionately and whispered, "Jim ‘n me see somethin’ special ‘n reliable in ya. Yer one of our family now boy; don’t let us down."<br />
<br />
He gathered up his new duds, wallet and pocketknife and she walked with him out front to wait for his father.<br />
<br />
Just outside the admission gates, he politely waited for her to seat herself and then he followed suit, feeling shooting pain in his back for the first time that morning.<br />
<br />
Colorful flags fluttered in the morning breeze and the sun rose higher, warming the humid air around them. Cars and pickups drove by and men tipped their hats to her as the sidewalks across the road began to crowd. Shopkeepers began putting display wares out next to their thresholds and occasionally waved at Twist's familiar face.<br />
<br />
Sitting on a bench next to the front gate, the subject turned to Hutch. She told him that after he’d lost his temper and cold-cocked John, they had a hell of a time settling him down because he was so devastatingly sorry for what he’d done. While Twist was unconscious, they all discussed it together and decided that Johnny would make a good match for young Peter to give him some maturity in his thinking.<br />
<br />
Twist admitted concern that Hutch might fall in love with him, and they both decided that they’d handle that bridge when they came to it. He told her of his nearly loveless arranged marriage too, and how much it hurt that he wanted to care for and love her more than he did.<br />
<br />
Just then an ancient, dusty and dented Ford farm truck pulled up and Martha jumped out of it before it came to a stop.<br />
<br />
She immediately began fussing over his eye.<br />
<br />
He told her he got it falling off a bull.<br />
<br />
After he introduced his father and wife to Mary, Martha gushed over his new clothes, boots and hat, while his father looked on disapprovingly at the folded fancy cowboy shirt he carried.<br />
<br />
They climbed into the truck with John now behind the wheel, and almost drove away when he brought it to a halt and jumped out to give Mary directions to their farm.<br />
<br />
She had him check his wallet and he discovered $200 in ten dollar bills… his “pay” from yesterday.<br />
<br />
<br />
…An hour later Johnny had walked aimlessly into the fields and found himself out at the horse barn deep in thought.<br />
<br />
He gave his parents $75 (a small fortune back then) to hire, house, feed and clothe Martha’s brother Harold to replace him in the fields while he was away. He gave his wife $25 to buy some nice clothes and for mad money, then he buried $100 that they didn’t know about in a coffee can at the northeast corner of the horse barn.<br />
<br />
In those days, no one trusted banks.<br />
<br />
He leaned back against a stock pen fence, his head bowed against the morning sun deep in thought. <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2XOP3FMiZN4/Uari_Ue0DbI/AAAAAAAAEtA/mLGtdLpva9g/s1600/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+John.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2XOP3FMiZN4/Uari_Ue0DbI/AAAAAAAAEtA/mLGtdLpva9g/s400/~Brokeback+Mountain+3+John.jpg" width="180" /></a>His mind was being torn in so many directions. It hurt bad that he wouldn’t miss anyone here, though he should. His wife was a stranger who was always off at the postal hub working instead of by his side. Except to fulfill his obligation to become a father, he had little to do with her.<br />
<br />
His parents were more his owners than a proper ma and pa and he resented them for it. Most times there wasn’t a single thing he did that wasn’t judged inadequate by them, and their over-obsession with the Bible was driving him away instead of keeping him there.<br />
<br />
The rodeo offered him a life free of all that and he joyously embraced his new identity. Mary told him that they’d decided to bill him as the famous "Jumpin' Johnny Twist" before he’d so much as tried to mount a bull!<br />
<br />
The events of the last 24 hours had him torn up inside. He’d been taught all his life of how sinful it was to commit adultery or have to sex with another man… and yet Jim was the most intense experience he’d ever had in his life and try as he may, he couldn’t deny that through the shame, he wanted it again. After they’d cum, he was so wracked with guilt; he rolled over silently and faked sleep, too ashamed to even talk to Bossman about it.<br />
<br />
The prospect of loveless sex with dozens of women and possibly fathering a child or two, like Pete did last night fascinated him. He’d felt like less of a man for not being able to sire a child by Martha, and now he had an excuse to find out if he could do it with another woman in order to soothe his masculine ego, determining if this failure was his or hers.<br />
<br />
As with any freshly-broken horse; the masculine ego has a low startle point.<br />
<br />
As Peter crossed his mind, he wondered about guiding a younger man who would also be his boss. The thought of sex with him and other men both repulsed and thrilled him at the same time. To touch, to experience the forbidden and get away with it, but risk God’s judgment.<br />
<br />
Grass rustled in front of him and he looked up from the ground to find Peter standing there before him.<br />
<br />
Hutch suddenly grew a crooked grin and shyly observed the damage he’d done to Johnny’s eye, "That’s a hell of a shiner ya got there." His face abruptly grimaced in emotional agony and he leapt at Twist and hugged him hard sobbing into his shoulder about how sorry he was.<br />
<br />
Twist returned the embrace and tenderly told him his pain at what he’d thoughtlessly said and how much he wished he could take it back…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Martha Twist & The Rodeo King</span></b></I></center>…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span>fter pointing the young blond stranger toward her husband out by the horse barn, it occurred to her that she might not have time for one more intimate moment with him to produce a child before he had to leave.<br />
<br />
The Bossmans were very nice people, though it was obvious that her in-laws neither approved of their way of life, nor their clothing. She even heard her mother-in-law judgmentally mutter that they should’ve tithed the money they’d spent on that fancy car of theirs to their church instead.<br />
<br />
More and more lately, Martha had become convinced that Johnny’s parents were determined to buy their way into heaven, and wondered what sins they’d committed in the past that would influence them into thinking that that was their only remaining option.<br />
<br />
Thinking maybe she could talk her husband into delaying joining up with Bossman’s rodeo by a month or so, she took off after Peter to discuss it with both of them.<br />
<br />
After trudging through the tall wheat, she rounded the side of the barn and stopped dead in her tracks. Forty feet away stood her husband by the horse fence in a passionate embrace with that boy Hutchison. She backed up in wide-eyed shock to hide behind the corner of the shed with her shoulders braced against it and gasped with her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound.<br />
<br />
Maybe she hadn’t seen what she’d seen. She snuck another peek around the corner just as John’s new hat fell to the ground. The two men’s lips were locked together now and their embrace was even tighter as Peter's hands smoothly explored inside of her husband's open shirt unopposed.<br />
<br />
From that distance she could hear Johnny softly groaning in pleasure as Hutch's palm strayed down to cover Twist's growing crotch bulge.<br />
<br />
Within minutes she covered the distance back to the house and locked herself in their tiny front bedroom upstairs. From the window, she stared down the lane that led to the road and thought of escape and of leaving her husband.<br />
<br />
She didn’t know what to think or do and it was a situation she could never have dreamed of and was completely unprepared for. In these times when a marriage failed, it was always blamed on the wife, which was surely what her in-laws would do.<br />
<br />
As she gathered her strength and wiped her eyes, movement below caught her attention. John and Pete were silently walking towards the farmhouse at an uncomfortable distance from each other. Her heart filled with hope that maybe he’d changed his mind and wasn’t going to leave after all!<br />
<br />
Outside, Jim was shaking hands with Edward after giving him $50 to hire some men to paint the house and spruce up the outbuildings. Mother Twist stood dutifully nearby with a tray of iced lemonade and handed them out as her son and the young stranger joined them.<br />
<br />
Martha appeared at the kitchen porch and John gave her a concerned look at her blank expression. Walking up to her, he planted a kiss on her cheek and said it was time to go. <br />
<br />
She just smiled politely and nodded.<br />
<br />
Moments later her eyes followed that beautiful car down their dusty driveway, past the elbow curve to the right then straight on to the road beyond.<br />
<br />
She hoped Harold would move in soon. The thought of months alone with her in-laws was more than she could bear without her brother as a buffer.<br />
<br />
Ma Twist gleefully fingered the five ten-dollar bills the heathen Bossmans had given them, and gushed at the reaction and respect they’d get from their church when they gave it to them. Martha objected that the money was for painting their home. The old couple just looked at her disapprovingly and silently walked into the house, closing the door behind them just before she reached it…<br />
<br />
In the weeks that followed, Mary Bossman’s prediction came true; Johnny Twist became one of their best earners. Not only that, he was a natural at both bullriding and bronco busting and after a month he became a well-know attraction with men coming from miles around to unsuccessfully try to beat him… He won every single competition fair and square, taking trophies left and right.<br />
<br />
Twist was even allowed to accept invitations to compete in other shows while they moved between cities and on his off days as long as it was announced that he was with Big Boss Man’s Rodeo Show, and the Bossmans delighted in the free publicity, making Johnny one of the hottest rodeo circuit attractions in the northwestern U.S.<br />
<br />
During shows they dressed him up all in white duds down to his gloves and boots, but in his off hours, just as his future son eventually would, he grew to prefer "bad guy" black hats and jeans, usually shirtless because of how proud he was of his new physique.<br />
<br />
It was as if he displayed a different personality with each Stetson so he could keep them separate. Mary began thinking that the switches were a way of putting that part of his sexual ego away so he wouldn't have to face it... and it worried Jim for a while when Johnny grew a mustache and then discarded it, but Twist swiftly showed signs of adjusting to his new life...<br />
<br />
...and with young Pete's help; he even openly began enjoying it.<br />
<br />
His athletic build and stance started gradually changing as his body required more protein to compensate. Hutch playfully began teasing him that someone behind the scenes must be inflating him with a bicycle pump.<br />
<br />
With his notoriety came backroom offers from horny women who couldn’t pay much but soothed his heterosexual ego. His participation in the shower room show faking sex with Hutch or one or more burly bullriders became so successful that sometimes Jim had to accommodate as many as five watchers at a time. Additional private locker room shows involving Jim, Pete and sometimes even Mary became popular and financially lucrative too.<br />
<br />
Many times during his first year with the show he’d return from the bullriding circuits of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado to find his once-shapely wife dressed down in modest clothes that his parents made her wear. He sadly discovered too, that the playful side of her that he’d tried so hard to fall in love with had been shamed out by his stern father and mother who openly considered her an unworthy and unacceptable daughter-in-law.<br />
<br />
She didn’t know until years later that in order to get along with his parents, her pretended newfound faith and unwanted wardrobe was what kept her husband out on the rodeo circuit as often as possible. He preferred to keep company with shapely, sexy and easy rodeo girls and buckle bunnies rather than to face his parents and his new wife’s apparent judgmental glares when he cussed or drank… or her disapproval when he was too tired, hungover or sore to go to church with them on the rare Sundays when he was home.<br />
<br />
Over the winter break the gap between husband and wife grew wider. Despite their frequent coupling they remained childless... his parents of course blamed her.<br />
<br />
The hard ranch work kept him in fine physical shape which pleased the Bossman's when he rejoined the show the following year. They immediately announced a raise in pay in order to retain their star attraction.<br />
<br />
John worried that Pete would resent him for his sudden success, but Hutch actually admired and encouraged him. They always roomed together on the road, had great sex on nights when they weren’t otherwise engaged and became quite an item of gossip at the rodeo.<br />
<br />
During a "fourgy" one night after some fine whiskey with the Bossman’s, Peter and then Jim fucked Johnny for the first time as Mary twice sucked him to frenzied orgasms while careful cocks took turns massaging his prostate from within.<br />
<br />
He was amazed at how little it hurt having a cock up there, and how surprisingly enjoyable it was... and he didn't feel like his masculinity had been taken away either.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NCLGLKoxADQ/Vw7bOWEsltI/AAAAAAAAL84/vJekMwQkJToITEVWFDLUWSGM0aCncwXyQCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2BJohn%2BTwist%2B12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NCLGLKoxADQ/Vw7bOWEsltI/AAAAAAAAL84/vJekMwQkJToITEVWFDLUWSGM0aCncwXyQCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2BJohn%2BTwist%2B12.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
With the constant exertion in the ensuing fourteen months of competitions; Johnny’s now twenty-two-year-old body grew more developed. Jim told him that the better in shape he was, the less likely he’d be sidelined by injuries, and joyfully challenged his top-billed attraction to grow a physique equal to his and gleefully coached him in the art of bodybuilding and what to eat to build muscle mass.<br />
<br />
As he lifted weights with Bossman to make himself even more eye-catching to the women… and men, he had to wrap his mind around a new problem. When this sexual adventure began, he felt guilty about cheating on Martha… Now he felt equally bad cheating on Hutch, though after long discussions, they knew that their pair bonding was strong enough to withstand it.<br />
<br />
He began growing faster than they could have custom costumes made! Not that anyone complained when his clothes got tight, though Mary was getting sore fingers double-stitching seams so they wouldn't pop.<br />
<br />
The "after-show" show began taking longer that the rodeo! New customers began paying premium prices to not just watch the locker-room show, but to shower <i>with</I> Twist, (no sex; just soaping up and worshiping that beautiful body.) Soon a competition began between John and Jim as to who could earn more in the shower and more often than not it was a tie!<br />
<br />
In July during a brief visit home, Martha’s jaw dropped when she saw her husband’s incredible physical improvement. After a couple of days wandering around the ranch without a shirt doing chores, then being gawked at with Harold while in town for supplies, Johnny became the talk of Lightning Flat.<br />
<br />
Twist’s puritanical mother of course indignantly remarked that he was beginning to look like his disgusting immoral circus-freak of a boss.<br />
<br />
For a month after he left, unannounced women and a few men made impromptu visits out to the ranch just to say "hello" only to be turned away disappointed that he wasn't there.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, three days after he returned to the show, Mary secretly followed him out to a stream where he was going to cool off, and she took a photograph of Johnny from behind, standing naked in a field near the water. That image was quietly distributed to potential clients and more money began rolling in to the point of the Bossmans actually considering making him a 1/5 partner in their venture.<br />
<br />
Soon thereafter, he was bottoming for men willing to pay triple or more for the privilege and there were many as his rodeo fame grew and grew.<br />
<br />
More often than not, Johnny found himself all alone at night on some farmer’s porch or sitting on the tailgate of a pickup in a motel parking lot suffering over admitting that he’d begun to more than just like young Pete. When they were together laughing or competing, they made each other so damned happy.<br />
<br />
When he went home to Lightning Flat it was like he was fulfilling an obligation, rather than rushing back to anyone he loved or missed, and he was increasingly troubled by it.<br />
<br />
Twist came to realize that like Jim, his big money was made from rich men who wanted his body after seeing him ride. He never cheated on the Bossmans once and insisted on all appointments going through them. As he loosened up sexually, there were more and more men at bigger and bigger fees.<br />
<br />
One night in 1940 a Los Angeles furniture tycoon took the train all the way up to Wyoming to have an all night 3-way with John and Jim.<br />
<br />
He earned enough from that one meeting to send Martha a new solid gold wedding band and a diamond engagement ring that he couldn’t afford when they first wed. He also sent along his own wedding band for safekeeping, worried that it’d get lost or damaged during a bull ride or during the hard labor he was required to do.<br />
<br />
Through it all Johnny was getting more and more disturbed that sex with men seemed to feel more natural than sex with women, though he pushed such feelings down deep and kept them to himself… and never said anything to Pete.<br />
<br />
Though he was sending more and more funds home, it never seemed to be enough and his parents always wrote for more. Money to hire temporary help, money for a new truck, money to repair a piece of farm equipment, food expenses, supplies, even livestock. Martha’s early shares of it went to buying a tiny little travel trailer for Harold because Mr. Twist made him sleep in the barn instead of the house even though there was plenty of room.<br />
<br />
Martha began to suspect that her own share of the money was disappearing from her dresser. Johnny began getting suspicious that his parents were splitting his regularly sent pay and prize money with their church instead of using it for what it was intended for.<br />
<br />
Martha wrote him that they planted only half the crops he provided money for and raised half the livestock he bought and shipped, and then sold the rest to tithe. He’d come home furious ripping the "GOD will provide" sign off the kitchen wall, do his husbandly duty by fucking his wife, used rough language with his holier-than-thou parents and then leave; threatening never to return if his instructions weren’t obeyed.<br />
<br />
The Twist spread was going broke because of his parent’s financial mismanagement. Suddenly he was the breadwinner of the ranch with none of the decision power that went with it.<br />
<br />
As the resentment built, he started considering the rodeo show more his home than his own homestead and the periods between his returns became longer and longer. As the emotional distance widened between those he left in Lightning Flat, his feelings grew more and more for Pete, causing him more and more mental conflict.<br />
<br />
As the economy struggled to recover from the Great Depression and rumblings of war in Europe caused everyone to hoard what little cash they could scrape together, less and less men could afford the luxury of clandestine man-to-man sex. A woman’s income barely supported her and her family, so eventually almost all of Twist’s customers were men.<br />
<br />
Horny homosexual ultra-rich businessmen began demanding their money’s worth and Johnny found himself being sexually dominated in ways he hadn’t counted on when all of this started. Even worse and more disturbing; he was beginning to enjoy it and by comparison it thrilled him more than his wife ever could.<br />
<br />
To satisfy his protesting Christian heterosexual male ego, Twist made more frequent trips home that second year, but all he found there was obligatory sex and conflict, instead of the love and fun he shared with Hutch, Jim and Mary.<br />
<br />
The word was sent that Martha was "with child."<br />
<br />
At the beginning of her ordeal, his parents convinced Martha that he expected her to act a certain way and have strict morals, so she played along in order to fit in… unfortunately. Eventually she was sure that her husband was staying away because of her “loose floozy” behavior.<br />
<br />
As surrounding spreads failed in the still-faltering economy, Edward Twist began using ever larger chunks of his son’s intercepted money to buy up surrounding ranches, sometimes donating parcels of real estate to his ever money-hungry church. That summer the Twist ranch nearly doubled in size but remained on the edge of bankruptcy while the church elders became well off and more financially powerful in the community.<br />
<br />
On the highest hill in town a new church began construction on Twist-donated land. The plans called for it to be tall enough to be seen for miles. The congregation contracted a manufacturer back east for the loudest bell ever made regardless of expense ...and the warning that it could crack windows 50 yards away when rung was ignored.<br />
<br />
Johnny expected to come home a rich man after a few more years, not knowing how much of his money was being squandered.<br />
<br />
With poor Harold Caine’s workload nearly tripled as the ranch expanded, he was being used like a slave and still being forced to live in that little cramped travel trailer. Recently pregnant Martha more often than not was out there in the fields right beside her beleaguered brother. To her dismay, she discovered that he was being paid far less than she thought because his pride wouldn’t allow him to say anything or complain.<br />
<br />
Johnny thought if he sent his money to her instead of them, maybe she’d get more respect, but his puritanical father wasn’t about to let any woman dictate his budget and intercepted the cash at the mailbox before she even saw it. She rarely got a letter from her husband that wasn’t already opened before she got to read it.<br />
<br />
Edward’s Bible said men, not women, managed the money.<br />
<br />
After about six months of her husband’s funds being filched by her in-laws before she could bury it out of their reach, she solved the problem by having her father intercept the letters addressed specifically to her at the postal hub where she used to work before they were delivered.<br />
<br />
Now that Johnny’s parents had to come to her with their hand out for income, they started resenting her even more and considered it sacrilege.<br />
<br />
John rushed home when she nearly died miscarrying their first child, and he wouldn’t leave her side as they cried together the whole night. When he paid the expensive doctor and hospital bills, he discovered how little money he had left because his stubborn father self-righteously believed that any income his son earned belonged to his parents for raising him… another thing it said in his Bible.<br />
<br />
After about the twentieth time his mother declared that the miscarriage was god’s will and punishment for her unknown sins, he decided to get his wife the hell out of there and approached Jim about taking her on as an employee. The Bossmans promised to consider it, but worried that she might cause more problems than solve if she found out about her husband earning a living by sleeping with wealthy men and being a stud service for barren couples trying to have a baby.<br />
<br />
Johnny decided to start over again and told Martha only to spend what was absolutely necessary because he was determined to buy his own spread and leave his parents to fend for themselves. The humiliation of how he’d lowered himself to whoring for them only to come up empty-handed made him short tempered and resentful when he was home, and unfortunately Martha undeservedly took the brunt of his abuse.<br />
<br />
She’d become more and more of a stranger and he was convinced she’d become one of “them," thanks to his parents. After assuring himself that Martha would be recovering okay, he left for Salt Lake City to rejoin the Bossmans. The show toured south during the winter months in warmer climate and Johnny came home only for the holidays, then left again the following spring.<br />
<br />
During the seasonal break, John came to grips with the fact that though Hutch still hadn’t used the word, Twist was unwillingly falling in love with Pete… He missed him so much when they were apart that it ached.<br />
<br />
Martha sensed it, and always the sight of her husband hugging that young man out by the barn haunted her. When the rodeo was in town for a short stay, she couldn’t help but notice the way the two looked at each other.<br />
<br />
Come August, Martha came in from the heat to the kitchen to fetch more lemonade.<br />
<br />
A huge congregational crowd had gathered outside for a barbeque hosted by the elder Twists. A bull had been butchered just for the occasion and Ma spent the afternoon ordering Martha around for hours serving the flock like she was a hired maid instead of her daughter-in-law.<br />
<br />
They were celebrating moving into the new church, which had been delayed because the elders insisted on making the bell tower even taller than planned.<br />
<br />
As she began squeezing squirting lemons, she reached over for an apron, and after putting it on, discovered an open envelope addressed to her in-laws in the pocket:<br />
<blockquote><i><b>Ma and Pa,<br />
I have shipped to you a valuable blue-ribbon prize stud bull as a sire that should produce some mighty good calves that'll fetch a pretty penny with the enclosed paperwork. Here is money for feed and care - please use it for that purpose, and that purpose only.<br />
<br />
He's a good one from good stock!<br />
Love<br />
John</b></I></blockquote>Folded inside was a prize certificate, bill of sale, duplicate blue ribbon, and a photo of the champion bull at the ribbon ceremony. Her eyes widened realizing that it was the very one the Twists had had butchered.<br />
<br />
No wonder everyone outside was falling all over themselves complimenting Ma on how great the steaks were and praising them on their generosity for throwing this picnic!<br />
<br />
Now she knew not only where they'd mysteriously gotten the new bull, but also where the money came from to have it custom butchered and fed to the born-agains outside.<br />
<br />
Her husband would be furious...<br />
<br />
...After Martha's miscarriage, Johnny started making more frequent visits home to be with her. While he tried to work out his feelings towards Hutch, his lovemaking with her become more urgent. Though she sensed that his heart wasn’t in it, she remained dutifully silent.<br />
<br />
She gained a little more hope for their marriage every time they made love, and then lost it again when he left.<br />
<br />
In September of 1941 during a long grueling season, he rushed home for a week when he found out that Martha was pregnant again. He told her of his plans to rescue her away from his parents and take her on the road with him and her face lit up with joy at the news.<br />
<br />
He journeyed back to the show just as Peter finally found his courage and confessed his feelings for Twist. Rather than reject them, John took comfort in it and they made unbridled passionate love all night resulting in Johnny confessing he felt the same way.<br />
<br />
The next morning Twist was troubled by his realization, and Pete suggested that maybe John and Martha could develop the kind of open relationship that Jim and Mary had if she actually did join their traveling show.<br />
<br />
Sex with women was Twist’s passion, sex with Martha was his duty, sex with men was his job; loving Pete was the exception he couldn’t understand like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that came in the box of his life but didn’t seem to belong there… until now.<br />
<br />
A few weeks passed and in late October word reached him that Martha had miscarried again and he was devastated. This time she’d been confined to the hospital for an extended stay and it took nearly the rest of the secret cash at the barn that he’d gradually stashed away to pay more doctor and hospital bills. Again, he never left her side.<br />
<br />
Harold showed up at the hospital and meekly asked him for a loan to buy a second-hand car. Mr. and Mrs. Twist were running him ragged and he was seriously thinking of quitting. The only thing that kept him there was Martha. He told him about the prize bull barbeque too.<br />
<br />
That’s when Twist had his suspicions confirmed that over the last two years his parents had only been paying his brother-in-law a third of what he’d sent them for his hard work! He could guess where the rest went.<br />
<br />
In a rage he rushed home from the maternity ward with his brother-in-law. Leaving him outside, Johnny crashed through the locked kitchen porch door splintering the wood and breaking the glass. He stood menacingly over his father and told him to his face what he thought of them both and their blood-sucking congregation. Then he looked his mother in the eye and said that he probably should rightfully own that god-damned church by now and if even one more dollar of his hard-earned money went to it, he’d go over there and burn it to the ground.<br />
<br />
Suddenly something came over him in the kitchen. It felt like a cold blow to his chest and he felt light-headed. Taking a deep breath he felt as if the spirit of death had just touched him and he momentarily froze in fear... Martha? Wordlessly he turned and stomped outside again, his fancy cowboy boots crunching broken glass on the kitchen floor as he kicked the shattered door out of his way.<br />
<br />
That night he took Martha’s brother with a flashlight and dug up his coffee cans. He gave Harold $300 dollars telling him how sorry he was for what his parents did, begged him to stay on at the ranch for his sister’s sake, then pocketed the rest and drove back into town.<br />
<br />
The strange feeling that something was desperately wrong gripped him again as he jumped back into the car that he'd borrowed from the owner of the Lightning Flat Rodeo Stadium.<br />
<br />
On the way back to the hospital, he decided to set Martha free to find a man who loved her and could give her the life she deserved. That would free him to spend his years in the warmth of Pete’s love and devotion, and maybe even eventually take over the Bossman show.<br />
<br />
More and more he came to realize that his life was so wrong without Hutch and that he never ached for his wife this much when he left home. He had a duty to her but was that now all that it was?<br />
<br />
Driving on through the night he experienced that chilling touch of death again. He nearly came to tears thinking God would take her before he could make things right.<br />
<br />
Johnny knew now that sooner or later he’d have to summon the courage to stop lying to himself...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Destiny’s Fathers - Part Two</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>H</b></span>e arrived finally late that night and was relieved to find she was recovering well and the prognosis was good. After an hour of holding her hand bedside, an orderly came in to tell him that he was urgently needed to return to the rodeo down south in Sage. The caller said it was an emergency but didn't know the details.<br />
<br />
Mr. Lasako, the man the car had been borrowed from, arrived around two in the morning and swiftly raced him to the train station barely in time for the long ride southwest. The stadium owner said a prayer for him as he silently got out of the old automobile.<br />
<br />
Alone in the train's darkened and rumbling club car, he was tearing himself apart inside that no matter what he did it would unfairly impact innocent Martha, and she didn’t deserve that. A white-jacketed negro porter told him they'd arrive in Sage about eight in the morning because they had to make several stops during their trek. One of the sleeper car's cubicles was empty and Twist was offered it for free.<br />
<br />
The same kind man would gently woke him when they arrived that morning. He was the only one who got off and the train loudly left him alone at the depot downtown.<br />
<br />
He finally found the local arena the Bossman's had rented surrounded by Sage City and Lincoln County police cars. Despite the early hour, reporters from every corner of the tri-state area badgered him for information he didn’t have. After fighting his way through to the office, a detective gave him the news.<br />
<br />
Jim, Mary, the two bodyguards that eventually had become his friends, and two bullriders were shot dead during a robbery after a show last night. A full-body shudder ran through him.<br />
<br />
PETE!?!<br />
<br />
The doctor in Sage couldn't handle the complicated wounds and Peter Hutchison was barely clinging to life in the hospital twenty-five miles west in Lakton Utah. He'd suffered two gunshots to his abdomen.<br />
<br />
The detectives heartlessly refused to let him go until they'd asked the same questions of him ten times, trying to trick him into changing his story.<br />
<br />
Later when they were finally satisfied, they rushed Johnny in their car over to the hospital, still grilling him with questions the whole way there. The hospice wouldn’t let him in to see Hutch until he thought to lie and claim to be his stepbrother to explain their different last names.<br />
<br />
Up in Pete’s room an intensive care nurse stood by his bed constantly taking his pulse and temperature. Hours passed and someone came in and put in a drain tube to catch the internal leaks that the bullets had caused and an irretrievable slug lodged in his spine not only had him paralyzed, but was causing a high grade fever from an infection.<br />
<br />
Twist refused offers of food, and only drank coffee that was brought in.<br />
<br />
As Pete lay there unconscious, Johnny explained to her that the youngster was his kid brother. It was only after he got up to stretch that she confided that there was just too much damage and he wasn’t expected to make it more than another day.<br />
<br />
Numb to the news, he sat back down at the bedside in tears, sniffed back a clogged nose and held his lover’s hand.<br />
<br />
As his brow and chin tried to crush his face between them, he squeaked out, "Pete?" every so often.<br />
<br />
No reaction.<br />
<br />
Time passed unnoticed but Hutch's hand never left Twist's. The staff lost count of how many times the famous cowboy offered to donate blood if it'd help.<br />
<br />
Reporters showed up and were ejected forcibly; some repeatedly. Nurses and orderlies occasionally asked for autographs after several were offered bribes to let news hounds in and it got out that "Jumpin' Johnny Twist" was somewhere in the building.<br />
<br />
All through the torturous evening anguished burning tears rolled down Twist’s cheeks from a seemingly inexhaustible source. He prayed to everything he’d ever held sacred his whole life for God in heaven to spare this life. He swore never to sin by touching another man again if only… he promised to renew his faith in the Lord and go to church regularly if only… he’d be a good husband to his wife if only God would let Pete live. He silently begged repeatedly and promised with every thing he found holy if only one miracle could be bestowed on him… spare this one life… Oh please merciful God, please!<br />
<br />
Around midnight they tried to get Johnny to leave, but he steadfastly refused to go. Around 1 AM the hand held in his moved ever so slightly. He looked up to find Pete’s eyes barely open and looking at him, his jaw trying to move. The nurse pushed Twist away and took his pulse calling out for a doctor. John rushed around the other side of the bed thanking his god for listening and put his ear to Pete’s mouth.<br />
<br />
A gurgled word took effort to escape his lips, "Luh-love."<br />
<br />
The nurse barked out her call for a doctor more urgently this time and that’s all Twist heard.<br />
<br />
Two orderlies were needed to drag him kicking and screaming from the room. “DON’T LEAVE ME PETE. FIGHT - DAMN IT FIGHT. GOD! OH GOD; PLEASE DON’T TAKE HIM - I’M BEGGIN’ YA! DON’T TAKE HIM, PLEEEEEEEASE DON’T TAKE HIM! I LOVE YOU TOO PETE - YA HEAR THAT? I LOVE YOU TOO!"<br />
<br />
The white-coated doctor rushed in with a stethoscope and yelled, "Bag him!"<br />
<br />
The nurse pressed a facemask against his mouth and rhythmically squeezed a big black rubber bag attached to it, trying to force air into his lungs. The doctor pressed one palm atop another over his chest counting and pushing, counting and pushing.<br />
<br />
One of the orderlies held the young man’s wrist, "No pulse!"<br />
<br />
The doctor pressed faster and harder, but the orderly shook his head no.<br />
<br />
The doctor sighed a deeply felt resignation and said, "I’m calling it," and looked up at the wall clock. "Time of death 1:26 AM."<br />
<br />
He shot a look of somber sorrow towards the door but no one was there.<br />
<br />
John never did remember much of what happened after that. The Lakton train to Lightning Flat wouldn’t be back until next week, but another one stopped in Sage tomorrow morning if he could get back over there.<br />
<br />
He hitched a ride on Rt. 30 in a daze to the railroad crossing at Sage Street with a kind rancher who was on his way to Diamondville. He wandered up the town’s business street in the dark on foot looking for a phone to call Martha at either the arena, or in a hotel for the night.<br />
<br />
Kyle del Mar, a local rancher turned minor rodeo rider, found John Twist aimlessly wandering the streets of Sage in the midnight hours, took him home, and tended to his anguished sorrow.<br />
<br />
The incredibly handsome rancher couldn’t stop grinning and spouting off about how he idolized Twist. Eventually del Mar got him partially drunk that night and then led him to bed. They seemed to have the house to themselves and the muscular straw-haired man slept intimately close all through the night, comforting him… calming him.<br />
<br />
Several times Johnny fought off the urge to make love to the man in gratitude, especially after they’d both gradually kicked off most of their clothes. The rodeo star settled for simply holding the father of two close and silently crying out his grief for Peter in Kyle’s arms.<br />
<br />
Just like Hutch and Twist did naked nightly, eventually the two strangers fell asleep spooned together in their long johns. Del Mar didn’t think anything of it.<br />
<br />
The next morning the blond rancher dropped him off at the arena still stunned, grief stricken, and barely functioning.<br />
<br />
Kyle accepted a grateful hug from his hero and watched him until he walked through the arena’s front gates… and then was gone.<br />
<br />
Neither would ever realize what fate held in store for both of their unborn sons…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>In The Name Of God</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he reverend Lucas D. Newsome Sr. from Childress Texas was a dark-haired portly man with a booming voice, welcoming smile and prematurely graying temples. He was also a professional con man that’d spent most of his early life in jail for one crime or another. By the age of thirty-five though, most of his family was proud of him for finally straightening out his life over the last five years; but they were wrong.<br />
<br />
Married now, with an eight-year old son, Lucas claimed to have "found" Jesus and started a itinerant salvation and faith-healing show that would use any means available to suck as much cash out of a community that it could and then move on to the next.<br />
<br />
He, his wife and young son "L.D." had worked their way north to cooler weather and to avoid the plains states’ dust storms. They briefly settled in Utah until he discovered that Mormon’s weren’t that easy to convince, so he moved east to Wyoming.<br />
<br />
The long-perfected traveling con was easy enough, he’d yell out a few prayers and then shame a bunch of ignorant hick Christians into emptying their pockets into his collection plate. He’d opportunistically pick towns with recent droughts, wide-spread sicknesses, or tornados to promise new prosperity in exchange for God’s forgiveness, and then have his wife (playing a randomly picked woman from the audience) present their son to him up on stage with leg braces and a cane, and he’d then proceed to miraculously heal him.<br />
<br />
His most recent move was towards Sage Wyoming, where he’d hoped to talk the local stadium owner there into letting him use his venue for free for a couple of nights.<br />
<br />
His timing was bad, because a big-time rodeo was using it pulling the money he’d hoped to get from this town. His luck changed though when the famous rodeo owners were gunned down one night in a robbery gone wrong. Sensing an opportunity, knowing that simple folks and fans would come from far and wide, he set up a memorial service in his used circus tent right in the middle of the arena’s sports ground, with him presiding over it.<br />
<br />
He couldn’t miss but to hit the jackpot!<br />
<br />
A faith healing wasn’t appropriate for a funeral, so Newsome hired an old drunken cowboy from the next town over to pose as a lost soul for him to save.<br />
<br />
Later that afternoon with pump organ music playing softly in the background, the service progressed in the gloomy tent. Lucas was in his usual bright spotlight reciting the customary prayers behind an unusually high-upraised pulpit, gazing down upon them as if he were God to the pitiful ignorant townsfolk below. He even invited a few of the well known community preachers to come up to his pulpit to speak, and all was going well until he called for the collection plate to be passed down the rows of seated mourners in order to fund his and Jesus’ continued good works.<br />
<br />
Several of the townspeople expressed outrage at someone wanting money at a funeral, and murmurs skipped through the assembled rodeo fans.<br />
<br />
The crowd was unexpectedly turning on him, and thinking fast, Lucas amended his announcement to say that it was mostly for the families of the fallen, and sighed relief when they quieted down. As well-dressed men systematically worked the aisles, Newsome sensed that he’d better<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LL7idmIpLHI/UcDLF4NKCiI/AAAAAAAAFXU/PB4G-7PwF0M/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LL7idmIpLHI/UcDLF4NKCiI/AAAAAAAAFXU/PB4G-7PwF0M/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+265.jpg" /></a> wrap things up quick and leave town. A flash of daylight caught his eye as someone at the back entered the darkened tent. His hired stooge had made his entrance too soon damn it, probably because he was too drunk to know better!<br />
<br />
Making the best of the situation, knowing the main event might further distract the objections of the crowd, he yelled, "YOU!" pointing toward the man with an accusing judgmental finger.<br />
<br />
"You have sinned in the face of almighty God; have you not?"<br />
<br />
A meek voice murmured, "Yes."<br />
<br />
"God has punished you by taking away what is most loved by you; has he not?"<br />
<br />
"Yes."<br />
<br />
Raising his mighty voice, he bellowed, "Your soul is wracked with guilt, you have experienced the death of loved ones and your very being is filled with sorrow because you have defied the scriptures’ written law; is that not so?"<br />
<br />
The tear filled and anguished voice wailed, "Yes reverend; it is."<br />
<br />
The reverend grinned as the tent became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. People stared at the stranger, trying to see who it was in the dark. Newsome felt a rush of relief; at least this drunken idiot had remembered his simple scripted lines that he'd been hastily taught... so far.<br />
<br />
"Your mind is clouded with the very hell that our almighty God has set upon you here on earth; is… it… NOT?"<br />
<br />
The silhouette of the man wearing a cowboy hat nodded against the tent flap at the top of the aisle.<br />
<br />
"YOUR ONLY WAY OUT IS TO ACCEPT JESUS INTO YOUR HEART! THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE TORTURE YOU ARE EXPERIENCING IS TO FALL DOWN TO YOUR VERY KNEES AND BEG GOD FOR FORGIVENESS!"<br />
<br />
At the head of the next aisle over, another flash of light revealed an old man unsteady on his feet, holding a bottle of cheap booze. With a laugh, he called out through the tense silence, "Uh… sorry I’m late there Rev!"<br />
<br />
Lucas frowned. Then who is…<br />
<br />
The spotlight swung around to reveal that the first man literally glowed and sparkled in its beam. Dramatically contrasting the darkness around him, he was dressed in a dazzling white Stetson hat, white glittering rhinestone studded cowboy shirt, white denim jeans and cowboy boots. He was weeping with his hands clutched together in prayer and had just fallen to his knees, his head bowed in submission. As he looked up to God for forgiveness the light revealed the tear-stained face of Jumpin’ Johnny Twist - the famous Boss-Man Rodeo bullrider…<br />
<br />
<br />
…An hour later, John returned to the office dazed and still hurting to find himself in charge of the show with no one else living to assume the duty. The next hour was spent behind that locked door in deep grief.<br />
<br />
Later that night and into the next day, John pulled himself together and took the money hidden in a safe in the Bossmans’ trailer and divided it up amongst the show’s now jobless employees. He also gifted the bulls, horses, trucks and remaining assets between the city of Sage and a funeral parlor to ship Jim and Mary to San Francisco for burial, and to bury Pete in his hometown about forty miles south of Signal Wyoming.<br />
<br />
Newsome had the nerve to show up at the arena office with his hand out and Twist, still bitter at God, gave him nothing.<br />
<br />
The rodeo star had planned to keep the fancy Packard for himself as a remembrance and to drive home to Lightning Flat in, but the car mysteriously vanished, and he was told later that the robbers might have taken it.<br />
<br />
He stripped the Bossman’s fancy house trailer of its personal contents and then had it shipped north by rail as a gift to Harold for standing by Martha the way he did. He sent word to his brother-in-law to sell off the tiny one that Martha bought him and pocket the money for the balance of wages he was owed.<br />
<br />
Twist could’ve kept all that money after selling everything off, but instead of pocketing it, he did the right thing and took care of the people that depended on Jim and Mary. He assumed that most of that money he’d sent his parents in the early days was in a bank somewher, and that all that he’d invested in prize livestock and improvements to his parents’ ranch would pay off financially…<br />
<br />
He was wrong.<br />
<br />
Jumpin’ Johnny Twist left Sage a week later, bitter at God for not saving Pete, not knowing if his sins were at fault or not but deeply conflicted over it. He returned home jobless, sexually confused, and desperate for love from heartless parents and what he mistakenly thought was an indifferent wife.<br />
<br />
Now it was all in sad ashes and he found himself lost. His first night back home his parents deflected his anger at finding he was penniless by acting outraged at giving Harold the trailer instead of their church.<br />
<br />
In the middle of the night with nothing left to live for, he went out to the horse barn, prayed for his soul and clumsily tried to hang himself…<br />
<br />
Fortunately Harold was nearby and had sought him out to thank him for the trailer. He found John barely in time and cut him down, then stayed with him that night and talked it out. He cried the rest of the night and confessed everything to his brother-in-law. Caine swore he’d never tell Martha the truth about Pete and the show.<br />
<br />
Martha finally returned from the hospital the next morning and Harold told her only what John said had happened in Sage. Both husband and wife needed support and they emotionally clung to each other and the marriage over the next few months strengthened to true love, though the truth about Pete would haunt both of them separately the rest of their lives…<br />
<br />
…Nine months after the robbery/murder, a new business opened up in Childress Texas. Lucas Newsome bought up defective factory-returned ranching equipment and farm machinery, then repainted and sold it as new.<br />
<br />
The preacher had confronted Big Jim that fateful night and demanded the rodeo leave early so the arena could be used for a revival meeting. When Bossman stood up from behind his desk to his full height, the arrogant Newsome shot him as much out of fear as out of punishment for having the nerve to defy the reverend the venue.<br />
<br />
In the aftermath, Newsome was never accused, nor brought to justice for his crime of pulling the trigger that killed Jim, Mary and Peter, while his associates murdered the others. They’d not only taken the money, but three months later his family started driving around in a fancy repainted 1938 Packard coupe.<br />
<br />
From 1941 through 1952 Rev. Newsome ceased to exist until a decade’s worth of mismanagement nearly drove Newsome Farm Equipment into bankruptcy. In need of more cash, he returned to his old ways when earnest prayer with his well-off Texas relatives didn’t net any investment capital.<br />
<br />
In cocky arrogance he went back to the scene of his cold-blooded but profitable crime in Sage Wyoming.<br />
<br />
He found a town seething in turmoil and scandal over the actions of two suspected homosexuals and immediately pulled out his trusty Good Book, opened it to Leviticus, called a prayer/revival meeting of the local parishioners and whipped them into a lynch mob full of righteous hatred and indignation…<br />
<br />
…Then laughed in the aftermath as he left with every dime he could greedily grab out of the combined collection plates of all four local church’s congregations. He never knew, nor did he care about the damage and death he left in his wake.<br />
<br />
Eventually his son took over the farm equipment business.<br />
<br />
L. D. Sr.’s family once again was grateful he'd gone straight and found the Lord and prosperity…</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-44-45-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-92053628810118351472014-02-24T12:24:00.000-05:002019-07-28T21:32:13.616-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XI<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 11 ~ The Father, Son & Unholy Ghosts</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-40-43-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Johnny Comes Marching Home</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>F</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">or the latter part of 1941, John tried so hard to find love for Martha and hated himself for failing over and over again… though he put on a good act for her sake and continued to try to have a child with her.<br />
<br />
As the Christmas season approached, their peace and normalcy were shattered when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, then World War II came and he was drafted into the army. As a regional celebrity, he was assigned to sell war bonds, but he insisted on going overseas instead to do his patriotic duty.<br />
<br />
John Twist served as a corporal in Europe and enthusiastically sought out every kind of dangerous suicide, reconnaissance and intelligence mission he could find. In only eight months he collected an incredible number of bravery metals, but was forced home when a serious back injury ended his service.<br />
<br />
He’d failed at forcing God to make him pay for the unforgivable sins that others convinced him that he would be punished for.<br />
<br />
Instead he reluctantly returned even more of a celebrated hero than he already was and forty pounds lighter, with spinal ailments that eventually took years to heal. He kept his shaved head from the military, forsaking the wavy brown hair that made him so attractive to his pretty wife.<br />
<br />
He lost his warm smile too.<br />
<br />
The Pentagon wanted him to return to their original plan of using his good name and fame to sell war bonds on tour but within a month of his return home his parents both died of complications from measles. They'd both refused treatment saying God would cure them. Martha found a draft of a new will that had been drawn up but not taken to a lawyer yet, leaving the ranch to their church...<br />
<br />
...she burned it.<br />
<br />
The spread was handed down to him but because of his ailments he could barely keep it running, even with Harold’s steadfast help. <br />
<br />
The Twists immediately offered Martha’s brother the ground floor rear bedroom, but he liked the privacy of his trailer down by the horse barn.<br />
<br />
Martha's parents sold their house in town and moved back to Montana with rumors that a government austerity plan might close the postal hub he worked at.<br />
<br />
Sadly Peter, Jim and Mary haunted his dreams and waking thoughts. He was tortured by the memory of that preacher blaming God's holy judgment for all of his current misfortune because of the man-on-man sex for money he’d had, and the adulterous nights he’d spent with other women as well.<br />
<br />
No one, not even long-time friends, ever called him "Johnny" again; including Martha. Through the coming years he’d sometimes go off by himself for a couple of days on a hunting or fishing trip, but he always came home empty handed. Actually he’d secretly travel south to put flowers on Pete Hutchison’s grave.<br />
<br />
As he became more cold and indifferent with his wife, she returned the attitude back, which is why he was surprised that months later with 1943 coming to a close, she was suddenly urgent about having sex with him every night.<br />
<br />
Their marriage finally produced a child in 1944. Though the baby was a little more than a month premature, he weighed in at almost 7 pounds and fully formed, which surprised the doctor.<br />
<br />
John suspected that Martha’d lied about the length of the pregnancy, but he never voiced his suspicions that his wife had had an affair a month before he resumed marital relations with her.<br />
<br />
His unvoiced doubt became so bitter that he refused to allow the baby to be named after him and they christened him Jack Edward Twist instead using a sometime nick-name for people named John and the middle name reluctantly came from John’s father.<br />
<br />
They could barely afford to support themselves and Harold, much less a baby.<br />
<br />
The loss of his fame, popularity and muscular good looks made Twist eventually lose interest in his wife and infant son, and he became more indifferent. He stayed with the family only because it was his Christian husbandly duty. Through the years that followed, Martha wanted more kids, but John was silently angry at the world and his unforgiving god, and eventually she gave up.<br />
<br />
Jack spent his boyhood being treated more like an unpaid and unloved ranch hand than a son. He was repeating his father’s childhood as if it were his locked-in destiny.<br />
<br />
As the boy grew, behind his back, John referred to him more and more to his mother as "the bastard" instead of his given name, widening the gap between mother, father and son.<br />
<br />
The house was large enough that Martha was seriously considering taking the separate bedroom downstairs that they’d offered Harold in the back on the ground floor, but each time she almost did, she changed her mind - for she really did love John.<br />
<br />
Through her latter twenties and early thirties she had several very careful affairs of a sexual nature, but never fell in love with anyone but John. If it weren't for the adoring love that Jack gave his mother, she might have left the ranch altogether.<br />
<br />
John was suffering… suffering bad. He’d suspected all through his childhood that he was “different” but dared never think it, much less tell anyone until his confession to Harold.<br />
<br />
He’d never felt as happy as he was with Pete, and to some extent Big Jim. Though they never came right out and said it, the Bossmans accepted him for who he was, even though he himself couldn’t put a finger on it.<br />
<br />
Now that they’d been ripped away from him, he was doomed to spend the rest of his life living a lie with a woman and now a son who deserved so much more love than he could ever give them…<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aq2bACc7pMc/UfHk8qtxuhI/AAAAAAAAGow/0fyCnnwFTcI/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+young+jack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aq2bACc7pMc/UfHk8qtxuhI/AAAAAAAAGow/0fyCnnwFTcI/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+young+jack.JPG" width="301"/></a><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Mother’s Day Gift</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n 1951 when Jack was seven, Harold left the ranch, moved south to Signal and got married, leaving Martha only with her son for love. Jack entered what should've been his most fun and carefree years, but instead had to replace his uncle in the fields tending cattle and a few sheep.<br />
<br />
At the age of ten he got into an old trunk in the attic and found some of his mother's clothes from when she was young. Inspiration hit him and he began saving up his Christmas money and allowance to buy her a Mother’s Day gift.<br />
<br />
The next spring he led her down their long narrow driveway to show her that he’d planted two tall cherry tree saplings on opposite sides of the lane midway between the elbow turn and the road.<br />
<br />
She burst into tears and showered him with love and gratitude from then on and she took great joy when a few years later they began flowering every spring.<br />
<br />
They gradually developed into large trees and began to branch out. By Jack's 16th birthday in 1960, it was clear that he'd planted them too close to the edge of the drive, which eventually forced his father to detour around them into the field if anything wider than a tractor tried to pass between.<br />
<br />
John threatened to chop them down, but Martha would hear nothing of it so eventually from the road the long straight lane curved to the left before and then back to the right after to rejoin the original driveway.<br />
<br />
Martha won a first prize at the county fair with a cherry pie she’d made from their fruit and gave the blue ribbon to Jack for his birthday.<br />
<br />
He proudly tacked it up on his bedroom wall.<br />
<br />
The years unfairly flashed by for Jack, the boy sailing headlong quickly towards manhood. He would remember his youth as the same dull thankless routine day in-and day out, year in-year out either going to school, or riding horses tending 40 head of cattle, dozens of chickens, planting and then harvesting crops, and doing endless chores with almost no help from his father. As long as he worked hard he got little criticism from his parents nor praise either.<br />
<br />
John had begun secretly traveling to towns where he wasn’t known, hoping some preacher or psychiatrist could “cure” him of his “affliction,” but always came home disappointed and usually with a lot less in his wallet. He’d explain away those solitary trips to his family as long-term treatment for his war wounds.<br />
<br />
Martha became locally famous for being able to bake amazing things with the cherries from her son's trees and for a time had a side business selling cakes and pies for the area markets under the brand name "Aunt Martha’s" until people started moving away from Lightning Flat due to the predicted postal hub closure and then her business failed.<br />
<br />
Having finally won his mom’s affection, Jack turned to his dad, remembering the rodeo trophies that he’d also discovered in that old trunk. He took up trying to learn bullriding, dreaming of becoming a big rodeo star like his father was, but John did nothing to encourage his enthusiastic son because with his boy out competing; no one was tending the animals and fields; or at least that’s what he told everyone.<br />
<br />
Jack was ignored every time he asked his father for advice, and whenever he managed to get entered in a local event somewhere his father refused to travel there to cheer him on… which made Jack only more determined to surpass his old man in the event. Without knowing the real reason why John avoided the rodeo, the distance between father and son grew even more.<br />
<br />
In 1961 when he was 17, some guys connected to the area rodeo show he hoped to get involved with gave him a ride down south to Texas and back with them. After his first taste of whiskey he got lucky with a young girl in the barrel-riding event on the last night they were there and actually got as far as "second base" with her. To impress her he went all out and won a silver buckle in the junior bullriding event he'd entered with her watching from the stands and cheering him on.<br />
<br />
Her name was Laura or Lana or something like that and she reminded him of his mother with her cherry red trimmed riding outfit, boots and hat.<br />
<br />
She starred in all of his jack-off fantasies after that for years to come.<br />
<br />
He started his senior year in high school in 1961, and the handsome athletic teenager kept his dark hair short and trimmed neat, always wore denim, and favored a "bad guy’s" black cowboy hat. He wore the silver rodeo belt buckle like a crown of glory that he’d barely managed to win.<br />
<br />
Like his father before him, he’d developed a lean muscular build and wore close-fitting clothes to show it off. He wasn’t exactly conceited, just careful to look his best, hoping that the right girl would come along and think him a good catch or the right guys would come along and accept him into their group and he’d acquire their popularity as his own.<br />
<br />
He spent many hours memorizing funny stories and one-line jokes and tried never to be without his smile.<br />
<br />
In the ensuing months after graduation in 1962, Jack started his real education and traveled with the rodeo circuit. He learned even better techniques of how to ride, and he improved the use his body to attract girls and took advantage of how many wanted just to run their hands over his muscled chest and firm ass.<br />
<br />
He quickly learned which way to comb his hair, how far <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EkSpZAsrHD0/TpKDGMKUzzI/AAAAAAAADuA/BUSnB20iN0M/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+06a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EkSpZAsrHD0/TpKDGMKUzzI/AAAAAAAADuA/BUSnB20iN0M/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+06a.JPG" width="249" /></a>to unbutton his shirt or whether to wear one at all, how far up to hitch his jeans to show off his butt or his crotch, how to pose while standing and what smile to use.<br />
<br />
It was as if he were an expert fisherman learning which bait was best and most effective. <br />
<br />
He studied men too. When he’d spot a pretty girl staring at a hunk, Jack would study him to figure out what about the stud caught her attention and try to develop that in himself.<br />
<br />
Sex came easy to the brawny young rodeo cowboy with pretty young "buckle bunnies" following him nearly everywhere he went, but love was completely absent, as it was in every aspect of his young life. Women were just a way to "get his rocks off" that left him emotionally lonely afterward. He had no doubts that one day he’d find the right girl when he could finally figure out what was missing from the ones he’d seen so far.<br />
<br />
The rodeo might have landed him a lot of sex, but it didn’t earn him much money.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2005/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><br />
<blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-25325416385886342052014-02-24T12:20:00.000-05:002019-07-28T21:36:03.823-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XIII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chalpter 13 ~ 1963 ~ A Pair of Deuces</span></b><br />
<center><b><i>Please note: If you've skipped directly here, Jack's 1962<br />
summer on Brokeback is covered in the previous Chapter #12<br />
A Pair Of Jacks.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
The enhanced and expanded Original Short Story/Movie begins<br />
at the section below entitled "Gettin' There"</b></I><br />
<br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2005/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" /></a><br />
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<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>TORO!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">bout 30 or so miles east of its destination at 4 AM Thursday morning, a westbound blue ’59 Chevy El Camino pickup left the ground for a second and swerved off course slightly as it flew over the bridge crossing Twin Creek on Rt. 30 just shy of Sage, Wyoming.<br />
<br />
The driver was trying to find his poor older brother’s grave in some hick town called Lakton Utah, but the closer he got to it, the more liquid courage he needed.<br />
<br />
He was a first time drinker tonight and thought he was handling it "verrrrrry wuh well." (Burp)<br />
<br />
The driver’s older brother Earl had been murdered hear tell, some... somewheres around here a long time ago; he knew that, but the horrific details had only reached his ears back in 1960…<br />
<br />
…or was it was it ’61?<br />
<br />
It had taken 49-year-old Otis Lamb two more years to figure out where the hell Sage Wyoming was and he was gunning for revenge on his elder brother’s murderer-er-ers as soon as he blessed his kin’s final resting place.<br />
<br />
Now his only problem was getting there without killing himself in the process.<br />
<br />
He’d already bashed into a big rock on the side of the road and knocked his passenger side front wheel out of aligna aline… outta whack, so steering was a bit tricky in his condition.<br />
<br />
"Ahhhhh hell Shirley, it's just a den... a dended fen-fender, nah better not tell'er that... a dimpled hubbycap. EASily fixed by gosh - by golly - by gum!"<br />
<br />
He got within fifty yards of the SAGE roadside arrow pointing left, when the damn-en-nam-en-ammed fool car ruh- ruh -runned out of gaso-gah; uh it runned out of fuel.<br />
<br />
On the seat beside him in his speeding pickup were three 6-packs of beer in rattling glass bottles.<br />
<br />
He’d drunk seven of the eighteen that he sort-of carried with him by the time he'd zigzagged the rest of the way up the constantly tilting and very rude road on foot, surprisingly without getting hit by someone (thanks to the hour) and he finally stood on the railroad tracks cussing loudly at the dark distant buildings on Sage Street.<br />
<br />
Very gently putting down his precious cargo and placing his index finger to his lips, "Shhhhhh" to keep them quiet because they were clinking together… and might wake up Shirley.<br />
<br />
He sadly started crying and spat out towards town, “Ya broke one of them there testaments…<br />
<br />
...naw that ain’t right.<br />
<br />
...Is it?<br />
<br />
No… uh one of them Good Book things, uh, Oh! Commander - uh - command-a-ments… yeah that’s it. No that’s a word for mustard, ketchup and such; ain’t it?”<br />
<br />
He hurled an empty bottle as hard as he could and yelled, “FUCK YOU; SAGE!!!”<br />
<br />
It fell harmlessly hundreds of yards short of its destination into some weeds.<br />
<br />
He jerked his head down behind himself and sternly warned his remaining beer bottles, "STOP interrupting!"<br />
<br />
Figuring he had the sleeping town's attention now, he demanded, “KYLE DEL MAR; YOU GIT YER ASS OUT HERE NNNNNOW, Kel Dire Marhrer! You goddamned son of a whore-shot bitch. No wait, no that’s two of them um - uh c-com-MANder-mints!<br />
<br />
I’ll have pickles, mustard and mayo on that please… an and don’t burn it.”<br />
<br />
Having trouble counting them off on his illusive fingers, he said, “ONE - Thou shalt not ki-kilmurder, 'n… ‘n uh THREE - thou shalt not take our lord and master’s name in veal… uh no... uh in weathervane… I ordered pick-pickles with that didn’t I?”<br />
<br />
(Giggle)<br />
<br />
Now he was pissed because he did - uh - didn’t get to hear his glass missile bray-brak… uh… didn’t get to hear it shatter, and considered stumbling over to where it landed to try throwing it again.<br />
<br />
He changed his mind and was about to throw another when he remember-erred what he wanted. “SAGE; ya used poor l'il baby Jesus’ name in vain as an excuse to kill my brother… (sniff) my BIG brother that I love very velarmy uh much. Ya shouldn’t use Jeh-hees-sus-sus-sus’ name like that, ‘cause… a'cause he’ll sic the whole thing… the whole holy ghost on ya!”<br />
<br />
"Now I feel sick."<br />
<br />
He started losing his balance while muttering, “Too... too much gravity around here. Gravity yer a bitch,” giggled, and then righted himself to bellow, “Kale delmer Uhmare; git yer ass out here; I say! God told meeeeeee yer supposed to use his word-words ta LOVE people - NOT hate ‘em. Kaley Dormer; I’M a'WARNIN’ YA, ya fatherfucker - get OUT here’ er I’m a fixin’ ta… fixin' ta oh PUKE all over yer town ‘n… 'n be-buh-believe you me, that ain’t somethin’ ya wanna to have to clean up!”<br />
<br />
He burped again and looked disgustedly down at his remaining bottles of beer. “My wife Shirley’s so hot she got my booze all warm!”<br />
<br />
His attention was pulled off to his right by a bright light approaching far off from the west. The 45-car train was hauling coal to Nebraska, along with refrigerated farm produce from California for the eastern coastal markets, 100 baby carriages, assorted auto parts, and tractor motors, tires and plows.<br />
<br />
He faced it in an unsteady fighting stance and muttered, “Cuh-come ‘n get me ya BASTard; I ain’t afeared a you-hoo!”<br />
<br />
As the intense headlight got ever closer, he began punching at the dark air in front of himself threatening and cussing his head off.<br />
<br />
The engineer didn’t see him until it was too late to apply his breaks, so he laid on his deafeningly loud horn instead, closed his eyes and then hoped for the best.<br />
<br />
Fortunately Otis didn’t realize he was standing on the wrong track until the train was nearly on top of him and it passed dangerously close on the adjacent track to his right in loud rushes of wind and the metal rhythmic clacking of wheels.<br />
<br />
It spun him around the other way and he grinned maniacally at its eventual retreat from him, triumphantly yelling, “TORO! TORO!" and sang like a little kid, "Missed me - missed me - now ya gotta kiss me... TORO!” at its eastbound caboose, motioning like a matador with his imaginary cape... is uh is that what that damned thing's called? “TORO! Ya rotten ssssssonovabitch; Ya better not come back er I-I’ll getcha next time, I will, you betcher ass I will.”<br />
<br />
Noticing the front right tire had gone flat on his stricken and wounded El Camino, <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oiS3eXyf7CA/UhWAjyl2SKI/AAAAAAAAHRI/Ah6O7Y-qc40/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+train.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oiS3eXyf7CA/UhWAjyl2SKI/AAAAAAAAHRI/Ah6O7Y-qc40/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+train.JPG" height="400" width="356" /></a>he muttered, “Fffffffffuck you,” to his distant car.<br />
<br />
In a stupor he staggered over the rails sideways to the right and collided with a tall wooden trackside box, grabbing onto a big lever attached to it to keep from falling.<br />
<br />
Otis really hadn’t thought this out all the way through. He was going to use the beer bottles to make Molotov cocktails and burn Sage down, but now he’d have to carry them alllllllllll the way back to the car and si-siphon the g-gas… and then walk alllllllllllllll the way back up here again to throw ‘em…<br />
<br />
Shit…<br />
<br />
Ah DAMNENAM it, the car’s outta um outta gaso… ga… fuel!<br />
<br />
“You muther ya mother, ya… youuuuu.”<br />
<br />
He leaned over the now-horizontal big lever and threw up while something metal seemed to clunk into wood behind him.<br />
<br />
He drank another bottle to rinse his mouth out and started cussing at an imaginary ghost, then hurled another empty towards Sage.<br />
<br />
Shaking his fist at the dark businesses on Sage St. he warned himself in an amused tone, “If’n I don’t stop doin’ that, I ain’t gonna have nothin’ ta blow that fuckin’ one-hor-hor-horsey town up w-with.”<br />
<br />
A long horn blaring off to his left signaled the approach of another freight train coming, this time from the east, bound for California.<br />
<br />
This one was on his track and carried assorted cargo and mail, 128 brand-new 1963 Impalas, 50 Bel Airs, 35 Corvairs, two Corvettes, and 70 Biscaynes from the Chevrolet plant in Detroit, along with 6 tankers of propane and 2 of heating oil from Pennsylvania, and 4000 Goodyear tires from Akron Ohio.<br />
<br />
"Ah-HA! Yer coming back for more are ya? Hahaha!"<br />
<br />
Spotting its swiftly approaching light, he took off his coat, held it in front of himself and shouted, “TORO!” defiantly refusing to move.<br />
<br />
Suddenly so mesmerized and scared that he was frozen in place, he began crying big tears as he sang, "Jeeeeeesus loves me, yuh-yes I know, 'cause the damn Bible tells me soooooo... How the hell does that song go anyways?"<br />
<br />
He fell backwards on his ass to the wooden ties between the rails, reached over for a bottle and generously handed it up towards the approaching locomotive, “Here hhhhhave a beer, ya ol’ ssssonovabitch.”<br />
<br />
That light was the last thing he’d ever see…<br />
<br />
The sharp-eyed engineer was so fixated in fascinated horror on the man in his path that he only just then noticed that the signal tower lights had changed. Terrified, he knew it was too late to warn the little hamlet to his left but he bravely tried anyway knowing he was about to die.<br />
<br />
For only seconds there came the desperately screeching metal-on-metal brakes and a desperate continuously blaring diesel horn that suddenly cut off. Then the horrific sound came of crashing tons-heavy railcars flipping and tumbling sideways like toys at Sage’s sharp elbow curve. It would be the last thing almost everyone in that innocent-but guilty town would ever hear.<br />
<br />
Moments later came six deafening explosions in quick secession. Those who hadn’t been instantly flattened by the blasts in their own homes or burned to death, heard a loud rumbling of earth as the dirt and rock holding back Lake Sage liquefied. Sage Wyoming felt the ground shaking beneath their beds, and they witnessed the rush of thousands of acre-feet of water at their doors…<br />
<br />
For Sage’s 2000+ residents the thunderously loud, continuous, roaring, earsplitting cacophony, <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cNfQEM3Yf6M/Vw7bNdVj0mI/AAAAAAAAL8k/PvXQ64aHQUgRu3Up9dE93KarrCV0PEPXwCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B%2Bsage%2Btrain.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cNfQEM3Yf6M/Vw7bNdVj0mI/AAAAAAAAL8k/PvXQ64aHQUgRu3Up9dE93KarrCV0PEPXwCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B%2Bsage%2Btrain.JPG" /></a>crashing, deafening, and exploding crescendo suddenly stopped…<br />
<br />
…and dead silence and eternal darkness replaced it.<br />
<br />
In the blink of an eye the flash-burning town no longer needed the already-dead volunteer fire department; they and everyone downstream of little Twin Creek needed the coast guard.<br />
<br />
Although it was a bit of overkill; good ol’ sweet-hearted and lovable Otis got his revenge alright after accidentally switching the freight train onto the siding from the much faster main line…<br />
<br />
Out of the thousands of residents, only two in town survived long enough to hear another train approaching from the west loaded with fuel oil and propane...<br />
<br />
...moments later Sage would be forever known as an empty ghost town, barely able to ever prove it had ever existed and nearly forgotten by history.</span><center><b>Please note</b>...<br />
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;"> ==================================================================<br />
[This is where Annie Proulx's short story and Focus Feature's Film begins]<br />
<b>REGULAR text</b> is based on the film and short story.<br />
<span style="color: #45818e;"><b>BLUE text</b></span> is written by me.<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>RED text</b></span> is dialogue or events from Annie's original that were <u>not included</u> in the movie.<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><b>GREEN text</b></span> is based on/or reworked from a filmed but <u>deleted scene</u>... enjoy. ...Jet<br />
==================================================================</span></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Gettin’ There</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>t was the middle of 1963 when both young men found true love for the first time. They thought they’d encountered it before and really didn’t know they hadn’t until they met each other.<br />
<br />
When he thought back on it, 19-year-old Jack Twist would describe it as being given his first taste of whiskey. It was something he never knew about as a boy, but something he would later as a man not be able to live without.<br />
<br />
Just days after turning 20, Ennis del Mar on the other hand would see it as walking out in front of a speeding pickup truck he hadn’t seen coming until it was too late to jump out of the way.<br />
<br />
Both, though neither of them could find Vietnam on a world globe if their lives depended on it, were more than a little worried about being drafted into the escalating war, and had heard vague rumors of atomic bombs and an averted confrontation over missiles in Cuba.<br />
<br />
Jack Twist was definitely not looking forward to working for foreman Joe Aguirre again. In fact, Twist was still dazed that he'd been invited to return considering the events of last summer and all.<br />
<br />
By sheer fate, Twist and del Mar had come together on paper long before actually meeting. Twist had a summer’s worth of experience on the mountain as a herder <span style="color: #006d9f;">and was relieved that Johnny-Jack Aguirre wasn’t returning this time.</span><br />
<br />
Del Mar was assigned at random as his new camp tender for this year’s sheep operation north of Signal.<br />
<br />
The summer grazing range lay above the tree line on campsite land in the National Forest encompassing Brokeback Mountain and its surrounding peaks and lakes.<br />
<br />
The chore before Ennis was getting there.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Alma's bitch of a mother wouldn't even give him a ride from Riverton to Signal in her shiny new Ford and there was no bus service, so he figured he better leave around eleven the night before he was due there.<br />
<br />
As a child Ennis had once ridden to Lakton Utah on his bicycle with his best friend Michael, and his legs ached for days afterward. After a couple of hours or so of walking along a two-lane highway in the dark with his thumb out hitchhiking, the memory of those sensations in his ankles and shins from that youthful trek came back to him.<br />
<br />
A little after four in the morning, a brand new tractor-trailer hauling cattle picked him up on Route 135 intending to connect with Route 287 heading south, 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.<br />
<br />
The driver considered the ride a fair price for company and conversation in an effort to stay awake on his lonely journey southwest from Idaho to Oklahoma.<br />
<br />
Not knowing this, Ennis shrugged out of his coat in the dark warm interior and settled down to doze, hoping for a little sleep.<br />
<br />
Except to tell the flap-jawed trucker where he was going, Ennis only answered the man’s friendly questions over loud country music in grunts and one-word answers while absently staring out the windshield after realizing that sleep was now out of the question.<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C1D74X2rKbk/TpJ92lDTWSI/AAAAAAAADts/38sASqDOD60/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C1D74X2rKbk/TpJ92lDTWSI/AAAAAAAADts/38sASqDOD60/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+01.JPG" height="255" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
He was left off soon after dawn at a dusty intersection just inside the city limits of Signal as the first pale blue light began to halo the distant mountaintops.<br />
<br />
As the young horseman climbed down from the cab, grabbing his coat and paper sack, the radio announcer broke into the music, “We have reports coming in about the rail disaster early this morning involving an eastbound freight train crashing into the wreckage of a westbound train just this side of the Utah border in a little town called…”<br />
<br />
As the door slammed closed, the rest was drowned out by the clattering diesel engine.</span><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e08c4P3bcds/UgKWHQyLIWI/AAAAAAAAG8o/i0fnsyL-XLc/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+Ennis+del+Mar+leaves+for+Signal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e08c4P3bcds/UgKWHQyLIWI/AAAAAAAAG8o/i0fnsyL-XLc/s400/Brokeback+mountain+Ennis+del+Mar+leaves+for+Signal.JPG" height="333" width="400" /></a> Ennis groggily looked around trying to get his bearings. <br />
<br />
The lonely gear-jammer probably would’ve taken him all the way into town but decided to dump the wayward ranch hand half a mile from his destination.<br />
<br />
The truck pulled away loudly in a cloud of black smoke as the chill morning air hit Ennis.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><b>[Filmed but deleted scene...]</b><br />
Still half asleep, del Mar shrugged back into his new coat and trudged onward with his thumb out on foot as the sun slowly rose higher.<br />
<br />
Up ahead on the right, he spotted a combination mom-and-pop Esso gas station/greasy spoon/convenience store just beyond a set of railroad tracks.<br />
<br />
He reached it just as the place was coming to life for the morning, <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6qKQathqTKs/UoZvzWkRm0I/AAAAAAAAJF0/jVIa_SoJkHY/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+tractor+man.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6qKQathqTKs/UoZvzWkRm0I/AAAAAAAAJF0/jVIa_SoJkHY/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+tractor+man.JPG" height="320" width="244" /></a>and noticed an old man with a cranky expression on his face, rolling an old tractor tire that was nearly as tall as he was out of the repair bay to lean it against another much smaller one.<br />
<br />
Ennis walked up to him in the driveway and asked, "Uh, ’scuse me, huh. Mightin’ ya tell me where the Farm ‘n Ranch Employment Office is at?"<br />
<br />
The old guy pointed a helpful finger in the direction Ennis was traveling and said with an unexpected smile, "At the stop sign on the other side of that field there, turn right. Then it's in that trailer house 'bout three blocks up north that ways. You’ll see it on the left tucked back of Ike Cullen's Hardware store."<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded politely and tipped his hat.<br />
<br />
He made it two steps away when the old mechanic warned him to take a good rifle and lots of ammo for coyotes if that bastard Aguirre sends him up on Brokeback, and Ennis answered him with a backward wave without turning around.</span><span style="color: #006d9f;"><br />
<br />
Del Mar set out for the street again when the smell of freshly brewed coffee reached him. After checking his watch and seeing that he still had time, he reversed course and walked over to the station's little diner, bought a cup of java and rested his legs.<br />
<br />
He passed on it when the pretty waitress offered him the morning newspaper. Except to scan an occasional Playboy, Hamley's saddle catalogue or check the funnies, reading up on current events wasn't really one of his strong suits.<br />
<br />
The pleasant and busy place kind of reminded him of Moe's Diner in Sage where he met Alma, and he reveled in good memories of home until the bad ones took their place.<br />
<br />
He took a minute to enjoy the caffeine rush, grabbed a couple more packs of smokes to compliment the carton he had in his paper bag, paid the cashier, </span>and then set off again on foot towards the address on his employment reply postcard...<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">…Meanwhile a few hours earlier and from another direction, Jack Twist had been pleading half the night with his old and battered GMC pickup to just give him one more half a mile and then another and another.<br />
<br />
He didn’t want to be late and have to suffer the wrath of the foreman he’d worked for last year and considered an ungrateful jerk for saying nothing after saving his son's life and then firing him.<br />
<br />
Maybe this year's surprising offer of a job through the mail was an apology for Aguirre’s being wrong on both counts.<br />
<br />
Thankfully he’d had the presence of mind to head south from home at midnight, thinking he’d most likely have to hitchhike the rest of the way into Signal after the damned pickup broke down.<br />
<br />
He was seething mad because his father in a last ditch effort to make him stay had threatened to take his wages to pay for a replacement farm hand if he left. Jack knew that was a lie because he’d called his uncle in Signal to ask if he would rescue him if he got stranded. Harold told him that he and his family wouldn't be home. They were on the way up north to Lightening Flat to help while Jack was away over the summer.<br />
<br />
With that in mind, the drive consisted of mostly begging and praising his dashboard, singing cowboy songs to his broken radio, and debating on whether to kiss or kick the damned pickup’s ass when or if he arrived on time.<br />
<br />
When he finally made it into Signal, the first light was coming up over the mountain.<br />
<br />
With a cough and a backfire his truck died.<br />
<br />
Shucking off his best clean shirt, he spent half an hour in the chilly morning air under it tightening old electrical tape around a leaky fuel line suspended from a bent clothes hanger.<br />
<br />
Afterwards he put his favorite heavy denim shirt back on, dusted off his ass with a couple of slaps, and remarked philosophically, "Well, I guess gittin' there's half the fun..."</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Pair Of Deuces Beats A King - Don't It?</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;">...<b>E</b></span>nnis arrived first and found the office trailer locked and unoccupied. The left front door had no steps up to it. <br />
<br />
The parking lot was empty except for a couple of ancient broken down pickup trucks and tumbleweeds scurrying around with the windblown dust.<br />
<br />
Just beneath its window, a wooden sign on the right front office trailer door held a friendly greeting:<br />
<br />
<center><b>T R E S P A S S E R S - WILL - BE - SHOT<br />
-SOLICITORS WILL BE SHOT - AGAIN!-</b></center><br />
Above the dirty glass pane, another sign read simply <b>J. AGUIRRE</b>.<br />
<br />
He leaned his back against the trailer wall to the left of the wooden stairs that led up to the door while lowering his hat’s brim against the bright morning sun as it cleared the crest of Brokeback Mountain.<br />
<br />
Ennis was tired and road-weary, and with a wide eye-watering yawn he tried hard not to dose off.<br />
<br />
After being forced into manhood so early he often found himself in a tug-of-war between being considered an adult or a teenager because each had its advantages. His job application said he was 19 though he'd just celebrated his 20th and he figured if anyone asked he'd just let them guess. Many a time he'd lie to ranch bosses that he was 23.<br />
<br />
He felt like he was still 17 until he got himself engaged.<br />
<br />
He'd decided to put off being a "man" until his thoughts inevitably and reluctantly strayed to his fiancée Alma and the family he hoped to raise up.<br />
<br />
"Time enough for that huh?" he muttered as he lit a cigarette and absently watched a train rumble by. Studying it while the long chain of cars loudly clattered south, he spared it a puzzled frown after the end went past an old broken down pickup truck in the field across the road.<br />
<br />
...For some reason it was missing its caboose.<br />
<br />
As he pondered how his life was a lot like that truck, rusting, useless and going nowhere, the sound of something backfiring in loud irregular bangs came from somewhere in the distance off to his right and seemed to be getting closer.<br />
<br />
A moment later an old dark colored 1950 GMC pickup appeared rumbling by the hardware store and then entered the parking lot in a cloud of dust and oil smoke. Gears gnashed and the clutch protested as it came to an abrupt halt after first spitting gravel forward as if the driver had resorted to throwing it into reverse to get it stopped.<br />
<br />
His new boss?<br />
<br />
A young brunette shorthaired cowboy decked out in careworn fancy denim scrambled angrily out of it and high kicked the back wheel skirt, rattling it while cussing under his breath.<br />
<center><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WJMFZzcft9M/TpJ922pUC0I/AAAAAAAADtw/qEUJlyKl2pE/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WJMFZzcft9M/TpJ922pUC0I/AAAAAAAADtw/qEUJlyKl2pE/s640/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+02.JPG" height="201" width="640" /></a></center>Twist glanced over at the door of the trailer; spotted Ennis watching him from beneath the brim of his tan cowboy hat, and was relieved that the foreman’s old Dodge station wagon wasn’t there yet. <br />
<br />
Jack was just pissed off enough to stomp right up to him and ask if he was another one of god-damned Aguirre's kin too, and almost did... but after five short measured steps forward, he thought better of it, then silently turned around and returned to his truck.<br />
<br />
Ennis' eyes stayed glued to the ground at his feet, looking up only to quickly check him out after the young stranger briefly turned his back, then quickly looked right back down again.<br />
<br />
After grinning recognition at the rusted multi-colored truck that was still there to the right of the trailer from last year, Jack settled his spine against his own pickup trying to size up the first to arrive. For a moment the stranger disappeared and Johnny-Jack's ghostly image appeared busily putting that stupid sign up on the door.<br />
<br />
Ennis moved to light a cigarette again, and Jack was brought back to the "here and now."<br />
<br />
They were like different sides of the same coin. Jack enjoyed the female attention he seemed to get from wearing his jeans and shirts tight to show off his athletic build. Ennis on the other hand wore his clothes loose because he was used to getting his older brother’s hand-me-downs.<br />
<br />
One hated his truck; the other would’ve given anything to have one to get around in no matter what its ailments.<br />
<br />
Ennis loved his daddy’s old truck as a young teenager and used to drive it back and forth to high school after his parents died. It had no heater, one windshield wiper and bad tires; when the transmission went there was no money to fix it, so he had to give up dreams of graduating… then he and his brother were driven out of Sage.<br />
<br />
The truck, like both of their lives up to that point, had paint that was dull and uncared for, everything was rusted and not a single corner of it wasn’t dented or scratched. They’d soon find out that in many ways and for a lot of other reasons, they had a lot in common though they themselves didn’t know it… yet.<br />
<br />
The rodeo cowboy realized that he was absent-mindedly staring.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Twist finally turned and got into his pickup to reach across to the glove compartment, then got back out holding a galvanized cup with water poured from his thermos, and a safety razor with an old blade in it. After closing the door, </span>he adjusted the side mirror with his back to the stranger.<br />
<br />
They were both brought up to avoid other men’s eyes so when their gazes met for brief seconds they’d quickly dart away. For the next five minutes they played an undeclared game of “eye tag.” Naturally they were curious about the stranger they were about to spend the whole summer alone with.<br />
<br />
Twist appeared to be a year or so younger than del Mar. Ennis sized him up as a “show” cowboy who’d never rode or done a day’s decent work in his life, with his matching jeans and shirt, plus a kerchief tied loosely around his neck. He changed his mind at the sight of well-worn cowboy boots, shined to hide their age.<br />
<br />
Averting his gaze as much as possible, Ennis became aware of the muscular thighs and hardened calves beneath the close-fitting Levis, and correctly guessed a rodeo cowboy after noticing the developed biceps too.<br />
<br />
His dark hair was closely trimmed beneath a fairly new looking black cowboy hat as if he’d left the barbershop only an hour ago. His broad shoulders formed a well cut “V” down to a trim waist. As he turned sideways, Ennis noticed a pair of worn black leather work gloves sticking out of his back pocket. This kid worked hard with ropes and horses, and del Mar was glad to see he was here to do his fair share of chores.<br />
<br />
At first the young ranch hand told himself that he was only sizing up a co-worker, but strangely Ennis was having a hard time keeping his gaze off the guy; the swaggering way his hips moved, the gleam in his eyes and his ready smile. To his dismay, <span style="color: #006d9f;">he found himself fantasizing about running his hand up this young man's inner thigh, as if sizing up a muscular new stallion he wanted to buy. He could almost feel beneath his palm the flexing sinew writhing under that taut blue fabric as his fingers explored higher to... Shocked that the thought would even occur to him, </span>he quickly distracted himself again by thinking of Alma, the girl he loved and planned to marry.<br />
<br />
Turning his back to him, Jack took a different tack and used the mirror to check the lanky ranch hand out while shaving the same spot on his cheek repeatedly. As Twist’s razor dipped back into the tin cup of cold water, the quiet stranger behind him had moved and was now sitting on the edge of the steps to the left of the office door. From what he could tell under the loose, worn jeans and new-looking brown coat, the young man looked to be about his age, strong and solid with the stance of someone raised on a horse.<br />
<br />
He nodded to himself because that was good. <span style="color: #006d9f;">Least ways compared to his partner from last summer, who was a queer lazy-assed young kid with company connections, who had gotten sweet on him and almost got them both killed.</span><br />
<br />
There was a look of shy confidence on Ennis’ face and now that Jack had his back to him, he noticed in the mirror that the cowpoke seemed to be openly staring at him too.<br />
<br />
Jack always watched good-looking guys to see what their secrets were to attracting women and it dawned on him that the straw-haired stranger seemed for no good reason, to be dressing almost to hide the fact that he was exceptionally handsome. Something else about Ennis kept drawing Jack’s eyes back to his mirror but he couldn’t name it and kept shaving to distract himself.<br />
<br />
Neither would really admit to themselves why they’d gone their whole young lives checking out other men. Both chocked it up to defensively sizing up a possible opponent in a rough fistfight and left it at that.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a2tvLjnDa6g/TpJ93SZ7G2I/AAAAAAAADt4/IHUGiks5P7k/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+04.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a2tvLjnDa6g/TpJ93SZ7G2I/AAAAAAAADt4/IHUGiks5P7k/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+04.JPG" height="195" width="400" /></a>A 1960 gold and white Rambler sedan roared smoothly into the parking lot, startling Ennis into scrambling in panic off the steps at the last moment as it sped straight at him.<br />
<br />
Dodging barely to the left of the steps at the last possible moment, the damned car looked like it was brand new; shined within an inch of its life to hide that it was really nearly four years old.<br />
<br />
Considering the thirty or so yards the driver had after turning into the lot, this near miss could only have been intentional. The young ranch hand had a quick temper but held it not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with his new boss. The car’s front passenger-side bumper was now where del Mar’s knee had been only seconds earlier.<br />
<br />
The look of smirky satisfaction and disdain on the foreman’s face didn’t help matters. Through the glare of the windshield, the man’s eyes held a sour expression. He grabbed his hat, a stainless-steel thermos, kicked the door to hold it open and then slammed it after putting on his hat. He’d pulled in too close to the trailer to walk around the front of his car so he detoured around the back ignoring both young men as he headed between them and up the stairs.<br />
<br />
In the brief moment he had to size them up the foreman declared them about as useless as a pair of deuces in a high-stakes poker game and probably just as dependable.<br />
<br />
Ennis carefully stubbed out his smoke and saved what was left in his pocket, then turned to follow directly behind his new boss up the steps.<br />
<br />
The foreman slipped his key in the lock and entered.<br />
<br />
Jack was prepared for the rude son-of-a-bitch to pull his shit on new hires but Ennis wasn’t so when the man abruptly pulled the door closed in del Mar’s face it startled the cowboy into abruptly retreating backwards down two steps. He then cautiously looked over at the other young man, lost as to what to do next.<br />
<br />
Twist only barely kept himself from laughing out loud and instead snickered in explanation, then posed against his truck trying to project exaggerated unconcerned confidence.<br />
<br />
Jack suddenly realized that since encountering the stranger, he'd somehow unconsciously begun using the tricks he employed to attract girls on this handsome guy and the man seemed to be responding!<br />
<br />
Ennis frowned at him and their eyes met and locked. An electrical magnetism struck them and the world suddenly disappeared but for the sight of each other’s gaze. Neither young man understood what they were feeling and neither were left time to name or ponder it.<br />
<br />
“If you pair of deuces are lookin’ fer work, I suggest ya get yer scrawny asses in here pronto!” the foreman’s brusque voice said from the suddenly opened door.<br />
<br />
Foreman Joe Aguirre was a man with little use for, nor any respect for ranch hands. They were just tools of the trade, a dime-a-dozen, deserving little or no notice and only slightly better than the bastard sheep wranglers from Chile or somewhere in South America that he’d just hired.<br />
<br />
He scooped off his hat and hung it on a nail on the front wall next to a pair of fancy-looking and expensive 10 x 42 binoculars as he moved around the left side of a big desk at the rear of the trailer. He looked bored as he landed in a squeaky swivel office chair.<br />
<br />
He would eventually have forty-eight herds of sheep assigned up on separate sections of Brokeback this year. He’d sent out sixteen yesterday. This would be the first of eighteen more he’d have to give this same damned speech to today so he just wanted to get through it and get on to the next pair due in half an hour.<br />
<br />
If he recognized Jack from last summer out of the hundred or so men he'd interviewed in the last couple weeks, he didn’t show it and probably didn’t care. The little wooden sign outside on the front door with his name on it was all the introducing he figured they deserved. ...that's when he realized he was alone?<br />
<br />
Barely acknowledging each other’s presence, del Mar and Twist scurried inside while quickly removing their hats.<br />
<br />
After pulling the door closed behind himself, Jack stood as he did last year, defiantly in the middle of the floor, feet confidently planted, thumbs in his front belt loops.<br />
<br />
Ennis settled to the left, leaning his shoulder nervously against the wall next to a grimy window.<br />
<br />
Jack wondered if he'd get the same smart ass routine from this man that he did last year.<br />
<br />
Ennis took it all in for the first time.<br />
<br />
Jack recognized the same old wooden desk still littered with scribbled-on scratch paper, full clipboards still hung on the back wall, a stained ashtray brimming with cigar stubs and a phone. Though a tiny bit grayer, Joe Aguirre still sported short receding hair and a mustache the color of cigarette ash.<br />
<br />
He began reciting unfamiliar<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl7YVyTCWLI/TpJ93heInVI/AAAAAAAADt8/zCe4Hb3-FEI/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+05.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fl7YVyTCWLI/TpJ93heInVI/AAAAAAAADt8/zCe4Hb3-FEI/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+05.JPG" height="232" width="400" /></a> instructions with no preliminaries.<br />
<br />
“Now up on Brokeback, the Forest Service’s got designated campsites on the allotments. Them camps can be three or four miles from where we pasture the woollies. Bad predator loss if there’s nobody looking after ‘em at night.”<br />
<br />
“Now what I want... is," he paused to point at Ennis, "...the camp tender stays in the main camp where the Forest Service says, but the herder,” pointing at Jack with a chop of his hand, “he’s gonna pitch a pup tent on the Q.T. with the sheep 'n he’s gonna sleep there. You eat yer supper’n breakfast in camp, but ya sleep with the sheep a hundred percent. No fire, don’t leave no sign. Ya roll up that tent ever’ morning in case the Forest Service snoops around."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack frowned when he noticed a difference. Last year both partners worked together instead of separately. He cautiously remained silent. There was still not a single sign that the foreman recognized Twist, who as good as saved this man's son's life last summer.</span><br />
<br />
Aguirre opened his mouth to continue when the phone rang interrupting his train of thought. Their pissed off boss answered, “Yeah?” cussed out whoever it was on the other end of the line and then slammed the phone down on its receiver. Frowning up at Jack again he continued, “You got yer dogs’n yer .30-.30s, ya sleep there. Last summer had goddamn near twenty-five-per-cent loss from a couple of tenderfoots. I don’t want that again.”<br />
<br />
“You,” Joe continued, turning his attention back to Ennis, smirking as the young man jumped upright nervously. Aguirre took in his blond ragged hair, the big nicked hands, the baggy jeans torn and button-gaping shirt, “Fridays at noon be down at the bridge with yer grocery list 'n mules. Somebody with supplies’ll…” his eyes scanned back to Twist’s face for the first time and he frowned in puzzlement.<br />
<br />
Turning his attention back to Ennis he continued, “…uh ...uh somebody'll be there at the pick-up.”<br />
<br />
He didn’t ask or care for that matter if Ennis had a watch hidden under his left coat sleeve. He reached up and took a cheap dime-store wrist watch from a box on a high shelf, wound and set it and then tossed it at him as if del Mar wasn’t worth the reach. <span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis confidently caught one-handed with a precision that surprised the foreman. The ranch hand checked his own watch and reset Aguirre’s to it in a youthful act of defiance dumping the foreman's in his pants pocket.</span><br />
<br />
The boss' eyes narrowed at him. “Tomorrow morning we’ll truck ya up to the jump-off.”<br />
<br />
Their eyes met his, his met theirs only briefly, then he picked up the phone in silent dismissal, pausing to look pissed that they weren't already gone.<br />
<br />
They shrugged, put their hats back on and swiftly walked out the door and down the steps. Lost as to what to do next, they paused in front of the Rambler. Ennis dug Aguirre’s watch back out of his jeans, turned away and started fiddling with it as if trying to avoid speaking.<br />
<br />
The more friendly of the two, the young rodeo cowboy carefully lit a smoke then suddenly extended his hand to the ranch hand’s back and declared, “Jack Twist.”<br />
<br />
“Ennis,” he mumbled in reply, turning to briefly shake the offered hand with a quick strong grip, then his eyes hid under the hat as he turned half away.<br />
<br />
Jack’s friendly smile turned to an expression of laughing question. After last summer, this better not be another of Aguirre’s kin so he asked, “Yer folks just stopped at Ennis?”<br />
<br />
Ennis met his gaze this time and replied flatly, “del Mar.”<br />
<br />
Jack raised his eyebrows with another friendly smile and responded, “Nice ta know ya Ennis del Mar,”<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Aguirre said they’d be trucked up to the jump-off in the morning, but had given them no idea of where they’d be staying over night. Lost for a plan until then, Twist decided to get a beer while he thought about it… </span><span style="color: #38761d;">then added, “Well, if we’re gonna be workin’ together, we might as well start drinkin’ together.”<br />
<br />
To Ennis’ lack of response, Jack headed off past him out of the parking lot on foot muttering, “Come on.”</span><br />
<br />
A pair of deuces usually beat a king, but in this case the duo were going nowhere fast...<br />
<br />
<br />
...Something about one of those two bothered Aguirre. They were probably just locals he'd seen around but he didn't care enough to waste time thinking about it... still... Just then the phone rang...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>43 Miles Of Dead Horse Road</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>W</b></span>alking with Ennis trailing two paces behind as if pretending not to be with him, Twist was satisfied this guy would work hard and do his share. Maybe a couple of brews would loosen him up a bit. Since they actually wouldn’t be working in close quarters it didn’t matter much but he was hoping they’d at least be on speaking terms.<br />
<br />
Ennis on the other hand was glad they’d be separated. This rodeo cowboy seemed to be way too talkative and conversation was never one of del Mar’s strong suits.<br />
<br />
The ranch hand trailed along behind him to a bar that Jack knew of and had stayed over night last year in after Johnny-Jack got hurt. It was just up the street and they drank beer through the afternoon. <br />
<br />
Making conversation, Jack told Ennis that it was his second year on the mountain…<br />
<br />
Silence… a nod and a grunt without eye contact. He played with the pretzel dish.<br />
<br />
Jack shrugged and talked about a lightning storm on the high pasture the year before that wiped out forty-two sheep, the peculiar stink of them after they died and the way they bloated, “Thought I’d asphyxiate from the smell. ‘Ageery’ got all over my ass like I was supposed to control the weather.”<br />
<br />
He told Ennis of the need for plenty of whiskey to alleviate the boredom, then told the overly quiet stranger that it wasn’t all bad up there though and that it sure’s hell was better than working for his old man. There was no pleasing his old man…<br />
<br />
No reaction.<br />
<br />
Twist said he’d taken up bullriding in order to avoid living at home with his loveless parents. He was proud to be connected with the rodeo circuit and fastened his belt with a minor bullriding buckle. Jack was crazy to be somewhere, anywhere else other than Lightning Flat up north.<br />
<br />
Nothing but a nod… still no eye contact or response.<br />
<br />
Twist was starting to get frustrated with what little he was getting and was beginning to conclude his new companion had taken an instant dislike to him. As Jack had already deduced on closer inspection, Ennis was scruffy but had a sturdy build that balanced a developed torso on long bowed legs and possessed a muscular and supple body made for the horse and for bar fighting.<br />
<br />
Feeling like he was getting nowhere with this guy, Jack tried to draw him out again as they sat alone at the bar. He decided to try asking him a direct question, "You ever rodeo?”<br />
<br />
Ennis shook his head silently, “You know uh, I mean once in a while… when I got the entry fee in my pocket.”<br />
<br />
Jack smiled knowingly and nodded. Determined to learn something, anything about the man he was about to spend the next few months alone with, Jack thought a moment and then asked, “Are ya from ranch people?”<br />
<br />
Ennis only shrugged without looking up. As he fondled the neck of his beer bottle he replied softly, “Yeah, I was.”<br />
<br />
Twist suddenly could feel del Mar’s loneliness as if it were a thing in the room with them. “Yer folks run you off?”<br />
<br />
Ennis shook his head, “They run themselves off. There was uh… one curve in forty-three miles of Dead Horse Road 'n they missed it one night,” gesturing his hand straight ahead and then down as if it were a car jumping a cliff. “Killed ‘em both.” He thoughtfully took another drink and then added, “So uh, the bank took the ranch 'n my brother ‘n sister - they raised me mostly.”<br />
<br />
Well no wonder! Jack blinked and replied softly, “Shit,” drinking the last of his beer. “That’s hard.”<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As they began warming to each other, the two young men seemed to be physically drawn as if by magnets and shifted ever closer until they were nearly shoulder-to-shoulder.<br />
<br />
Jack rattled on about the pretty girls on the Rodeo Circuit he’d seen after Ennis told him sparse details of his fiancée Alma Beers, making her sound like a pickup truck he was thinking of buying instead of someone he was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with.<br />
<br />
Jack leaned over him for a pretzel and their shoulders touched.<br />
<br />
A shudder ran through Ennis’ body like the first time he’d touched Alma’s breast and he quickly inched away.<br />
<br />
Jack began rocking forward and back to the music on the jukebox and without knowing why, Ennis ever-so-slightly moved his thigh a little sideways until the rodeo cowboy’s calf rubbed against his in passing to and fro.<br />
<br />
Without breaking the intimate contact, </span>Ennis pulled out the stub of his cigarette, nodded at Jack’s lighter in his hand and asked, “Can I?”<br />
<br />
Jack’s eyebrows went up and he handed it to him. Their hands touched and Ennis drew in a breath, quickly lit up and handed it back muttering “Thanks,” withdrawing his leg.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Both began considering where they were going to spend the night until someone came to truck them up to the drop off point tomorrow morning. A middle-aged man with a South American accent suddenly entered the bar and called out their names impatiently. He told them there was a change in plans and drove them out to where the sheep were being staged to leave in a few hours instead of tomorrow.<br />
<br />
A crew of men and earthmovers were building up the ground near the tracks that ran through the trailhead. Ennis recognized it as a railroad siding in progress.<br />
<br />
Neither of them had slept last night, and groaned that they probably wouldn't get any until late that evening.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-53-57-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-33971820292249416342014-02-24T12:19:00.000-05:002019-07-28T21:40:23.835-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XIV<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 14 ~ Muddy Water Running Uphill</span></b><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-49-52-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" /></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center>(Reminder) This novel is best viewed on a screen of at least 1024 x 768 to <br />
take advantage of the sidebar menu and l-a-r-g-e pictures <span style="color: red;">Text in red if from the short story not included in the movie.</span><br />
<br />
<b></b><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>I Doubt There’s A Filly That Can Throw Me!</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">t the main Proulx River trailhead at Brokeback National Forest, Ennis had just left the horses to familiarize himself with the surroundings. There were three Forest Service jump-offs here, A, B, and C. "A" was the busiest of the three and most of the workers referred to it as the "Annie."</span><br />
<br />
Del mar eyed a long narrow wooden bridge above them spanning the shallow stream. It was suspended by ropes and looked sturdy enough for horses. Most likely he had the wrong impression of what it was for because he figured it’d take forever to get a thousand sheep across it single file.<br />
<br />
Jack knew that sheep avoided drinking out of or crossing moving water and he had a hell of a time last summer getting them across, but this year he knew how and it’d go a lot faster.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Del Mar lovingly held a rifle in his hands that felt like it'd always been there. The old careworn Winchester model 1894 was nearly a twin of the one Rich had taught him how to shoot with as a boy with Michael. Later he reluctantly had to sell it for food and provisions for he and his brother to live on a few years back.<br />
<br />
Maybe he'd use some of his earnings and buy this one from Aguirre.</span><br />
<br />
He watched Twist carry the Winchester's brother towards the horse del Mar had just rejected. He nearly shouted out a warning when a sound distracted him and he turned around to see the Chilean herders babbling in Spanish or something at each other as they painted green "brands" on each animal’s chest counting them off of the trailer ramps.<br />
<br />
The sheep trucks continuously unloaded at the trailhead and a bandy-legged Basque called him over and showed Ennis how to pack the mules; two packs and a riding load on each animal, ring-lashed with double diamonds and secured with half hitches telling him, "...don’t let 'em stray. <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLe3RR_2kHs/Ude-SuE2IaI/AAAAAAAAIW8/uNlvi6FkgAs/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+soup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLe3RR_2kHs/Ude-SuE2IaI/AAAAAAAAIW8/uNlvi6FkgAs/s400/Brokeback+mountain+soup.JPG" width="400" /></a>Joe will have yer ass if j'you do. Only ting; don’t never order soup. Dem boxes of soup are hard to pack."<br />
<br />
Ennis muttered, "Well I don’t eat soup," and went back to tying knots.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Sitting in the dark cab of one of the sheep trucks, Johnny-Jack Aguirre had come down to the staging area to watch the proceedings. If he were eventually going to take over his father’s business, he’d have to know all aspects of it to show he was more qualified than his older less interested brothers.<br />
<br />
His eyes widened in astonishment as he spotted Twist milling around the horses. After his dad’s unfair actions last year, it was unbelievable that he’d been not only interviewed, but also rehired by his father!<br />
<br />
Scanning around he spotted a handsome blond stranger talking to one of the sheep wranglers. He must be Jack’s new partner. Half jealous and half sad, the teenager wished again he’d been able to talk the doctor into clearing him for shepherd duty this year not knowing it was his father's refusal because of last year's fiasco.<br />
<br />
He ducked down below the dashboard as the beloved object of last summer’s crush entered the horse corral only a couple of yards from where he sat.</span><br />
<br />
Twist eyed the horses and chose a bay mare that looked like the calmest of the bunch, leading it on foot behind himself<span style="color: #cc0000;"> to a pack of dogs.<br />
<br />
Three puppies went in a basket attached to Jack’s saddle. Twist was a sucker for puppies and the runt of the litter kept trying to get out to lick towards his face. Their mother was one of the herding dogs and she began persistently yapping at him as </span>he climbed up into his saddle and his horse reared up kicking at the air.<br />
<br />
He thought Ennis had just yelled something at him, but couldn’t hear over the bitch barking. Once he had the mare semi-settled, he reached behind into the basket to calm the crying little one and snuck it within his coat to keep it warm and quiet.<br />
<br />
Probably not a good idea since excited puppies pee all over the place, but the rodeo rider was in love and decided to chance it.<br />
<br />
Ennis had already picked out a big chestnut horse called Cigar Butt to ride. Being a better judge of stock, he’d passed up the mare and when he saw Jack try to mount it while a dog was barking at him he interrupted the Basque’s instructions to yell out, "Ya wanna watch it there; that horse has a low startle point!"<br />
<br />
The bitch started barking again up at Twist and his mare twirled around. After finally getting his steed under semi-control and riding up to a skittish stop barely astride the mildly bronking horse, Jack smirked down at him and bragged, "Doubt there’s a filly that can throw me!" anxious to leave he added, "Let’s git, less'n ya want to sit around tyin' knots all day?"<br />
<br />
Ennis shrugged, mounted his horse and followed.<br />
<br />
Half an hour later, Ennis and Jack, the dogs, the horses and mules, a thousand ewes and their lambs flowed up the trail like muddy water running uphill through the timber and out along the tree line into the flowered meadows and the coursing, endless wind.<br />
<br />
His puppy seemed calm now, so he put him back in the basket with his two brothers and secured it. Their mother was somewhere up ahead controlling the flock.<br />
<br />
Jack picked a trail he knew along a gurgling steam, eventually picking up a lamb that’d fallen and hurt its hoof, straddling it across his saddle.<br />
<br />
His bay mare became skittish at a stream half a mile later, so he dismounted, slung the injured lamb over his shoulders and led his ignorant horse on foot behind him through the water, muttering to himself while kicking a reluctant sheep’s ass in front of him as he went.<br />
<br />
He glanced back to find Ennis wearing an "I told you so" grin on his face.<br />
<br />
Jack then parked his horse on the other side to again cross back and <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XC7PPd5PBhE/TpkeKPDQlbI/AAAAAAAAIjs/0SZ_XRUQK1g/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+41.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XC7PPd5PBhE/TpkeKPDQlbI/AAAAAAAAIjs/0SZ_XRUQK1g/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+41.JPG" width="400" /></a>forth to forcefully coax or carry the cowardly ones through or over the water joyously kicking more sheep butt as he continued bitching about how stupid they were under his breath.<br />
<br />
Ennis stayed mounted, instructing the dogs with high pitched and ear-piercing whistles through his teeth.<br />
<br />
Jack surveyed their progress ahead and behind watching the dogs nip at the sheep to keep them moving uphill, while carrying yet another lamb across the water.<br />
<br />
Last year Jack discovered a strange talent he had for simply raising his arms straight out like a scarecrow and the sheep would automatically run the opposite direction. Trouble was, he had to keep re-crossing the damned stream repeatedly to get behind another group. He looked back to find that del Mar now had a little one hanging from a bag at his right thigh.<br />
<br />
Jack hated sheep because he was raised in the cowboy way and real cowboys hated sheep… everyone knows that.<br />
<br />
Ennis on the other hand considered any farm animal "stock" and was indifferent to labels or breeds. Any job was a good thing, be it herding cattle, horses or sheep; they were simply things you sold and made money on, nothing more.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">The trail narrowed and curved to the right around a dangerous ledge on their left near a point halfway to wherever it was that Jack was leading them. Twist paused as they skirted the brink of the steep cliff, seemed to be about to move forward again, but then stopped his confused and protesting horse.<br />
<br />
Ennis had noticed in passing that it plunged directly down to the valley far below and had grown worried for the sheep.<br />
<br />
Twist leaned dangerously forward on his untrustworthy mare as if trying to see something or dismount for a closer look. <br />
<br />
Del Mar kept moving, but checked back for his companion in concern and puzzlement because he should've been ahead not behind. "We lose a couple downnare?" he called out.<br />
<br />
The question jolted Twist and he seemed to blink as if coming out of a dream, then galloped silently ahead to take the lead without answering.<br />
<br />
Scanning the flock, Ennis glanced backward again and then shrugged, whistling at a dog to gather a straggler.<br />
<br />
The rodeo cowboy's mind wandered back to this thin crumbling ledge, dangling from an untested rope in the pitch dark and scared half out of his mind.<br />
<br />
This was the very cliff that Johnny-Jack had tried to commit suicide from last summer; the one Aguirre eventually had to rescue them from in the middle of the night. That tree that the mules had been tied to, had plunged over it last winter as the crumbling precipice continued to deteriorate. He was thinking about the dangerous rescue that earned Twist an unjustified beating at the hands of his boss.<br />
<br />
The full-body shudder that Jack experienced startled his horse and it took a minute to get her back under control. He should've listened to the handsome ranch hand and chose another steed when he could've this morning... a decision he was already regretting.</span><br />
<br />
An hour or so later, lack of sleep was catching up to both of them and they felt the need for a break, so after another hour’s travel the two settled the herd far up on a hillside allotment.<br />
<br />
Ennis scanned his surroundings in satisfaction, while Jack tended to a ewe's hoof.<br />
<br />
Though it was distant, they could see from the herd down to the campsite.<br />
<br />
When they were satisfied the flock would stay put, the dogs were left to baby-sit and the two young shepherds rode together back down about half a mile and got the big camp tent up on the Forest Service’s platform, and then secured the kitchen and the grub boxes.<br />
<br />
They worked together cutting down small trees for firewood and equipment tripods that they didn’t want to carry around from campsite to campsite, barely speaking a word between them, always glancing back up the mountain to make sure the flock was grazing and still where it was supposed to be.<br />
<br />
Jack got busy splitting logs with a mighty swing of a new axe while Ennis set up the iron fire grate for cooking. With the horseman’s experiences roaming the countryside with his brother, del Mar rarely had to ask how to set something up, only where, which pleased Twist knowing he had a reliable partner this year.<br />
<br />
Later as they finished up, Twist hoped del Mar was a better cook than he was a talker as he hauled two collapsible canvas camp buckets of water up from the stream.<br />
<br />
That evening Jack wanted to stay in camp, but reluctantly rode off up the mountain to join the flock for the night. Whenever he came to a clearing he looked down the dark valley to see Ennis’ cook fire and wondered why the young ranch hand’s rare smiles seemed to warm him.<br />
<br />
Alone now with the mountain for company, he fell deep in thought about the stirring in his loins when Ennis’ thigh touched his.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack wasn’t no queer; that he was sure of after what happened last year. He distracted himself by thinking about a female barrel rider he’d had his eye on in Texas last spring...<br />
<br />
<br />
...At daybreak Jack headed down for breakfast. Neither young man got much sleep, both wondering separately what had happened back in the bar yesterday, trying to figure out the compulsion to flirt with each other.<br />
<br />
Twist's grin at seeing the horseman faded when he noticed two open cans of beans bubbling over the campfire’s grate, but the smell of coffee brightened his mood.<br />
<br />
Whenever times were lean his mother always resorted to adding BetterMost beans to casseroles, soups, or just about anything she thought she could stretch meals with. Sometimes she'd send her son to school with a paper sack containing only a can of it, a spoon and an opener.<br />
<br />
It was understandable why he couldn't stand the sight of that blue label sometimes.<br />
<br />
Ennis lifted the lid of another pan by the fire that had been left there to keep warm and revealed eggs and fried potatoes.<br />
<br />
Looking directly at Ennis, it came out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. "I’m in love!" he gushed and</span> took a filled plate from the handsome young ranch hand.<br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
Ennis claimed to be saving money for a small spread of his own; which meant a 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.<br />
<br />
After only a couple of days they fell into a pattern, each feeling he could trust the other’s abilities.<br />
<br />
Ennis had never done this before but he was used to hunting, fishing, camping out and fending for himself. Cornelia and his mama had taught him basic cooking before he and K.E. were run out of Sage so he could fry up eggs and simple things out of cans, sticking mostly to what he knew.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
He eventually experimented with some redi-mix dough and fried some biscuits to go with eggs and some potatoes he’d peeled. They’d usually turn out as hard as rock or a cross between a pancake and a dinner roll, but he kept trying and eventually he got it right, warmed by the fact that Jack seemed to appreciate the effort.<br />
<br />
<b></b><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Burglar’s Wandering Newspaper</i></span></b></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n the dark the young man nervously tried to find the right key as he stood outside the office trailer. After two more tries he got it. Entering quickly he pulled the door closed behind himself and switched on the overhead fluorescent lights. The wall clock between the doors read 5:40 AM.<br />
<br />
Out of force of habit, on the way in he'd picked up the morning newspaper from the steps and brought it in with him. He shook his head to himself at his absentmindedness and made a mental note to put it back out front when he left, dropping it for now on the edge of a cluttered counter to his left in passing.<br />
<br />
At the desk he shuffled through the papers and found only inventory sheets, veterinary inoculation information and bills, weather reports, updates from the Forest Service and an empty pack of smokes. On the wall behind him, he scanned the clipboards and found what he’d come for.<br />
<br />
Pulling a notepad from his pocket, he switched on the desk lamp and leafed through applications paperclipped together in pairs with a couple of W2s attached to each. The next to the last pair revealed Jack’s name and he shook his head muttering, “Jackpot!” with a smile.<br />
<br />
From the center drawer of the desk, he got a pen and scribbled on a notepad as he recited out loud, “16905 D Road, Lightning Flat, Wyoming.” Double-checking the form he frowned and asked quizzically, “D Road?”<br />
<br />
Flipping the page, he found the partner’s information, took notes, "Ennis del Mar ...Riv-er-ton, Wyoming," and frowned.<br />
<br />
His mind wandered back about three years ago to being introduced to an Ennis who was the right age, while on a family visit to his cousin Roy in Riverton. Nah, Ennis was a pretty common name, besides; the paperwork said Del Mar had just moved there and he wondered where he lived originally.<br />
<br />
He also pondered if anything would happen between this Ennis and Jack as another twinge of youthful jealousy came over him.<br />
<br />
As he mumbled again, "Ennis del Mar?" he stood up, pushed the notepad back in his pocket, switched off the desk lamp, and then hit the overhead light switch next to the back door.<br />
<br />
As he crossed to the front end of the trailer in the dark, he bumped something and some papers fell on the floor. Not wanting to risk turning the lights back on, he just left them, closed the door and locked it, and then headed towards the Rambler.<br />
<br />
Deep in thought he climbed back into the car and drove off.<br />
<br />
The next morning Joe Aguirre would find the morning newspaper on the floor. Figuring it'd just blown off the counter by the wind from the door closing, he tossed it on the desk without a second thought as to how it'd gotten there.<br />
<br />
Joe wasn’t as heartless as he let on and would occasionally pack up a few newspapers he’d already read and ship them up the mountain with the supplies rather than just throw them away.<br />
<br />
The phone rang with more problems from the forest service. While he bitched them out... again, an employee came in and read the first couple of pages of today’s paper while he waited for his boss.<br />
<br />
Later on when the truck driver left he took the paper with him.<br />
<br />
On page 4 of the Signal Sentinel:<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><blockquote><strong></strong><center><strong>DETAILS EMERGE ON BLASTS & FLOOD THAT DESTROYED SAGE WYOMING</strong></center><strong>Sketchy details are still coming in, but here is what we know so far. Very likely corrections will need to be made in further editions.<br />
<br />
With the exception of those in outlying farms and ranches, the entire population of approximately 350 in Sage, Wyoming is feared dead. The town, situated near the border of Utah was destroyed 2 days ago after a 60 car freight train carrying 6 propane gas tanker cars derailed and exploded near where its main street meets Lincoln County Highway at approximately 5AM Thursday morning. Half an hour later a second freight train coming east on an adjacent set of tracks struck the wreckage of the first and derailed, killing all aboard, setting off secondary detonations of fuel oil cars.<br />
<br />
The multiple explosions were powerful enough to blow buildings off of their foundations as far as half a mile a way and everything in the downtown section was completely gone. The devastation was completed when the enormous blasts breached the earthen Twin Creek Dam holding back manmade Sage Lake, inundating everything in its westward flood path as it emptied, and then either swept away or buried debris and victims under tons of mud.<br />
<br />
Twenty-five miles west, rescue efforts were hampered when a mountain of wreckage closed part of Utah’s Rt. 89 where Twin Creek passes under it, obliterating the bridge as it went. Rescuers from Diamondville to the east reported that Sage proper was inaccessible due to the extremely hot and still burning wreckage of both trains lying between the roadway and the site of destruction.<br />
<br />
Access from Dead Horse Road was impossible after mud and trees closed it too.<br />
<br />
Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy Hank Cordella, who flew a helicopter over the area at first light stated… <br />
<br />
“It looked like a **** atomic bomb went off! You can’t believe the devastation. We began spotting parts of buildings, whole automobiles and pieces of the train a mile and a half out before we even got there; the surrounding hills are littered with ‘em! The heat was so intense even the railroad ties burned! The steel rails where the passenger station once stood were mangled and pointed straight up in the air!”<br />
<br />
A railroad spokesman reports that a preliminary investigation revealed that the switch on a line side-spur into town was somehow left open, redirecting the speeding westbound train onto a sharp left curve just past the station. The slow-speed turn south was used to push cargo rail cars a quarter mile down to supply Sage St. Stores and to deliver automobiles to a hub GM dealership and storage facility there.<br />
<br />
So far no evidence can be recovered as to whether the switch being thrown was deliberate or an accident. It is possible that the switch was moved during the wreck and was actually not the cause. Authorities refuse to speculate either way at this time.<br />
<br />
The spokesman further stated that normal speed on that section of track was 55 miles an hour, but even if the train was traveling half that, the engineer would’ve never made the curve without jumping the tracks. Considering the short distance between the open switch and the curve, it’s doubtful the engineer even knew what was happening to him until it was too late to even try to apply the brakes.<br />
<br />
The only reported survivors so far were a local retired doctor and his family, who were out of town at the time of the blasts. Despite it being 7 miles east of the carnage, their house was destroyed and their locally famous barn was severely damaged.<br />
<br />
Lincoln County Sheriff Deputy Cordella further reported the entire downtown area of Sage was completely gone and everything not taken by the flood was still burning. The force of the water was powerful enough to push heavy train cars outward across the road and into the field on the other side!<br />
<br />
Residents as distant as Salt Lake City, Utah heard and saw the blast and some reported what they thought was an earthquake. The rumbling mushroom fireball resembled an atomic bomb on their nighttime horizon creating a false dawn. It seemed to last well into the morning, causing the local civil defense to issue warnings, thinking that in view of recent events in Cuba, the Russians had mounted an attack. <br />
<br />
Fanning the outer limits of the town uncovered approximately 120 bodies so far, but that estimate is expected to climb, though many may be buried under yards of mud never to be recovered.<br />
<br />
…further details and corrections to follow.</strong><br />
</blockquote></div>The following day a correction had to be printed because the reporter misunderstood the sheriff's office representative... The estimated population was 3,500, not 350.<br />
<br />
In reality the death toll climbed to almost 2000 and so far only about 25 survivors had been accounted for; mostly folks that had been out of town at the time. By all accounts, downtown Sage was completely flat with not even remnants remaining to indicate it'd ever been there. Every structure that hadn't been blown apart and then blown away in a radius of a mile or so was buried under mud when Lake Sage emptied.<br />
<br />
Several brand new cars that were being shipped on the first train were actually found blown onto the hills across Rt. 30 north of town!</span><br />
<br />
<b></b><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Cowboy Ego Has A Low Startle Point</i></span></b></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>B</b></span>y the end of the week, Jack was already bitching about Joe Aguirre’s sleep-with-the-sheep-and-no-fire bullshit. He'd already shown how stubborn he could be by refusing to pick out one of the other horses before they started up the mountain, which would be admitting he made a mistake selecting the bay mare. "Ain’t no mare that can throw me!"<br />
<br />
In the morning he’d saddle her and she’d always buck, nearly throwing him as she wheeled around and around and it was the first time Jack saw Ennis laugh out loud, "I warned you!" he declared, as the <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EmWN8a2er8k/Udcw1UMTsxI/AAAAAAAAIWE/tPiKBdo2u6w/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+mare.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EmWN8a2er8k/Udcw1UMTsxI/AAAAAAAAIWE/tPiKBdo2u6w/s400/Brokeback+mountain+mare.JPG" width="400" /></a>rodeo cowboy just barely stayed in the saddle.<br />
<br />
It eventually became an amusing daily morning ritual to watch Jack's steed abruptly gallop off as if it were determined to leave him behind.<br />
<br />
Throughout the day Ennis kept feeling that odd yearning he couldn’t name. He was always alone with his thoughts because he’d always been taught not to share them. He’d roll up his jeans to his calves, wade into the stream, and while cleaning the breakfast pans would look up across a great plateau to the distant hillside and sometimes spot Jack, a small dot moving across the high meadow like an insect moving across a tablecloth.<br />
<br />
Later, Jack too would pause often in his dark solitude to see Ennis’ night fire, a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain and wonder why he yearned for his new friend’s company. He’d shrug if off as making sure he knew what direction camp was in.<br />
<br />
They settled deeper into the routine reluctantly but surely.<br />
<br />
Several times over the next few days, Jack would spot a coyote stalking the herd and shoot at it, missing every time, cussing under his breath and glad Ennis wasn’t there to witness it. <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Te2jDTEW6CE/Uf14vC9EO5I/AAAAAAAAIbw/HfueEAVsSms/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain+jack+Twist+and+puppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Te2jDTEW6CE/Uf14vC9EO5I/AAAAAAAAIbw/HfueEAVsSms/s660/Brokeback-Mountain+jack+Twist+and+puppy.jpg" width="660" /></a>More often than not he’d lay on his back using a log for a pillow and doze, guarded by one of his favorite almost grown puppies.<br />
<br />
The false alarms were becoming more frequent as the sheep seemed to bleat at anything and he began relying on the dogs to alert him when a wolf or coyote showed up, which had become increasingly more often as they learned where the herd was bedded down. About all he could do was shoot at the predators and hope the sound scared them off, which luckily it did. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately it also sometimes scared the skittish sheep into running too. Jack blamed the rifle’s bent sites for all his misses though he knew better.<br />
<br />
Down below it’d rain often and Ennis usually passed the time waiting out a storm in the camp tent whittling this or that and after a while settled on a little wooden horse for his future son <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lgNo-qVRaYU/TpKD61LR0cI/AAAAAAAAGSU/aUIBbrBmlMk/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+07.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lgNo-qVRaYU/TpKD61LR0cI/AAAAAAAAGSU/aUIBbrBmlMk/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+07.JPG" width="400" /></a>that’d be later joined by a toy cowboy astride it that looked a lot like Jack.<br />
<br />
Sometimes he’d hear Jack’s gun blasts and wonder what he’d bagged, but quickly deduced he’d mostly missed because the rodeo cowboy would’ve been braggin’ his head off when he came down for supper, but never did.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Early Thursday afternoon Ennis was sitting on a camp stool in front of the fire figuring out next week's grocery list and deciding what to make Jack for dinner.<br />
<br />
A sound downhill from camp caught his attention and his eyes caught sight of a young athletic-looking teenaged boy on horseback with short dark hair wearing a black cowboy hat with silver studs on the headband. As the spirited black gelding he rode came up beside him, del Mar stood to greet the newcomer.<br />
<br />
The young man gazed down at the ranch hand and seemed to study Ennis. He gave a friendly smile and explained that he was drawn in by the wonderful smell of coffee and wondered if he could have a cup.<br />
<br />
Del Mar obliged and noticed the young man was wearing some sort of back brace as he carefully dismounted. The stranger looked to be no older than a freshman or junior in high school.<br />
<br />
As Ennis poured him a cup, the boy introduced himself only as Johnny, adding that he was doing some camping over the summer before having to go back to school. He seemed curious as to whether the horseman-turned-shepherd was up here alone.<br />
<br />
After a few minutes of conversation, the youngster drained his cup, thanked his host, mounted his steed with a little trouble and then rode off downhill in the same direction he'd come.<br />
<br />
When Ennis thought back on it, because he noticed those things, the boy's saddle was identical to the company ones he and Jack had been issued.<br />
<br />
Later at supper, Jack's face blanched when Ennis mentioned the stranger, his first name and the back brace but didn't seem interested in the details... almost as if he knew them.<br />
<br />
Twist acted distracted until he rode back up to the sheep later that evening.</span><br />
<br />
Friday morning, Jack squatted at the fire to eat breakfast. Another can of beans; some eggs and more of Ennis’ strange campfire biscuits. His hungry eyes strayed to Ennis without knowing why, watching his muscular body prepare the pack mules to go down for supplies.<br />
<br />
He spotted Ennis scrawling on a piece of paper and said, "Don't forget whiskey 'n beer. We need more ammo for the rifles too; lots of coyotes up there."<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded and jotted down something, then ambled up to the campfire grate.<br />
<br />
Jack walked over, mounted his skittish horse, and farted loudly against the saddle, glancing back red-faced to see if Ennis had heard. The young ranch hand looked away just before their eyes met.<br />
<br />
As he spurred the mare on, Twist yelled out in frustration, "No more beans!"<br />
<br />
Del Mar nodded while collecting the breakfast pans to wash at the river, but Twist was gone in the time it took for him to look up…<br />
<br />
<b></b><center><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>I’ll Stick With Beans</i></span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he weekly trips down the mountain were something Ennis would come to enjoy and savor. He liked being alone on a good horse with the fresh pine air, birds singing and a tune to hum. His reverie was occasionally punctuated by the calls of an elk or a bear off in the distance or an eagle high above.<br />
<br />
As he neared the bottom of the trail and spotted the bridge, he checked the trusty inexpensive Timex he’d bought himself for his 20th birthday and smiled; he’d made good time.<br />
<br />
He considered buying the horse from Aguirre because he’d come to like Cigar Butt a lot. He didn’t have much cash to offer though. What little he had would have to go towards supporting Alma and probably a son soon but he figured that with the accumulated pay he’d earn up here, maybe he could manage it.<br />
<br />
Half an hour later he stood frowning while checking off his list with the Chilean herder after packing the mules.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6hZo8K3Rk8/Ude-TBKmDXI/AAAAAAAAIXI/NueUIAgwTdE/s1600/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Bsupplies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6hZo8K3Rk8/Ude-TBKmDXI/AAAAAAAAIXI/NueUIAgwTdE/s320/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Bsupplies.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
"Sumting wrong?" the man asked with a heavy South American accent.<br />
<br />
Ennis responded, "Yeah, uh, what, uh, why didn’t we get the powdered milk 'n the spuds?"<br />
<br />
"Dat’s all we got."<br />
<br />
Del Mar shrugged, grunted his disapproval and handed the man the list from his pocket muttering, "Well uh… well there’s next week’s."<br />
<br />
Looking it over the Chilean frowned, "I thought d'you didn’t eat soup?"<br />
<br />
"Well I’m sick of beans."<br />
<br />
He smiled back knowingly, "Too early in de summer to be seek of beans."<br />
<br />
Ignoring him, Ennis gathered the reins and began pulling the loaded down mules behind him over to his horse. After making sure everything was secured he headed back up the mountain.<br />
<br />
Jack’d be pissed.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis’ mind seemed to be filled lately with how much he’d taken to Jack. Remembering Michael, he reminded himself not to let his feelings go too far because they’d have to part company in only a couple of months and go their separate ways. They'd probably never to see each other again. That happened a lot in his young life so he’d guarded himself against letting anyone get too close to him.<br />
<br />
Del Mar had let his guard slip only once… with Alma and that’s what puzzled him because he seemed to be having the same feelings about Jack.<br />
<br />
He remembered waking up yesterday with a hard-on, as all young men his age did, and began pulling and rubbing thinking about her. He didn’t want to get her pregnant so had always fucked her from behind.<br />
<br />
Without realizing it, Jack had somehow entered his fantasy. In his mind, Ennis' hand once again caressed up the taunt racehorse inner thigh of Twist's leg feeling the muscles flex beneath the tight blue denim. His palm caressed the taut ass muscles of an athlete and… Just as he orgasmed in his fist in loud gasps, he realized he was thinking of Jack bucking wildly on his lap and sat bolt upright in a cold sweat.<br />
<br />
His past taught him well what happened to men who had "queer" thoughts.<br />
<br />
So far Ennis had bagged a couple of wild turkeys over the last several weeks to add a little variety to their meals and also some trout. Jack really seemed to appreciate the effort. Encouraged; Del Mar thought of doubling his efforts with maybe a few mountain cottontails, a grouse or a possum for some wilderness stew.<br />
<br />
From what he’d seen, the bullrider didn’t seem to be much of a hunter or at least he never seemed to come down from the herd with any game to cook up.</span><br />
<br />
Bringing himself back to reality on the upward trail through the forest, Ennis realized he’d been so deep in thought that he’d made it about halfway up the mountain.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Ahead of them a young bear that’d stopped to drink and look for grubs under a dead log roared a territorial warning and stood up on its hind legs.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
His shoulder hurt like hell and he worried maybe he’d broken it or dislocated something in the fall…<br />
<br />
<br />
...Near dusk, Jack had come down from the herd for supper only to find an empty camp and Ennis nowhere to be found. Then he remembered it was Friday so he must be late coming back up from getting supplies.<br />
<br />
He cussed under his breath.<br />
<br />
As hungry as he was, even if Ennis showed up at that moment it’d take half an hour or more just to make something to eat and he was in no mood to settle for cold beans straight out of the can.<br />
<br />
After an hour and almost half a bottle of whiskey, he didn’t know if he was more worried or pissed at his stomach growling. By the light of the campfire he’d just lit, he scavenged together a couple of potatoes to boil and one can of beans from what little they had left.<br />
<br />
He’d come to know Ennis well enough to figure he could take care of himself and knew better than to go looking for him. Best to stay put in case Ennis came back and not find him there, and then set off searching for Twist.<br />
<br />
Two people won’t find each other unless one waited where he could be found so he sat and waited… reluctantly.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack's mind wandered back to last summer when Johnny-Jack went missing during a supply run... "No... no comparison; but still if I hadn't gone off looking for him, the kid might've eventually fallen off that ledge... no nothing happened to Ennis, he's just been delayed... damn I'm hungry..."</span><br />
<br />
A little after darkness settled he finished the can of damned beans. At least his stomach had stopped growling.<br />
<br />
Now more worried about Ennis than pissed, he decided not to go back up to the herd and after making a third circuit of the immediate area and checking the tent for a note, he settled back in front of the fire.<br />
<br />
A twig cracked somewhere behind him and he reached for his rifle and peered into the darkness.<br />
<br />
Just barely in the moonlight, he spotted Ennis’ silhouette on horseback leading the mules. Letting the whiskey speak for him, he got up angrily as del Mar slowly got painfully down from his steed.<br />
<br />
"Where the hell you been?" he spat out impatiently like a husband bitching at his wife. As Ennis approached he continued, "I been up with the sheep all day, I get down here hungry as hell 'n all I find is beans…"<br />
<br />
As Jack threw the empty beans can at a rock, his friend came into the glow of the fire and that’s when Twist saw that the left side of his buddy’s face was scabbed over with dried blood.<br />
<br />
Jack's anger swiftly changed to concern, "What in the hell happened Ennis?"<br />
<br />
Del Mar angrily kicked the can into the woods and groaned to a seated position on a log while Jack pulled his neckerchief off, dipped it in a kettle of warming coffee water and approached his friend.<br />
<br />
"I come up on a bear is what happened. God damned horse spooked 'n the mules took off, scattered food everywheres…" As Twist offered him the canteen Ennis added, "Dented cans of beans is about all we got left."<br />
<br />
Jack moved intimately close, "Let me see," and began dabbing gently at Ennis’ head with the rag.<br />
<br />
Del Mar took it from him and rubbed away most of the dirt, wincing from the pain. He waved away the canteen still being offered and asked, "You got whiskey 'r somethin’?"<br />
<br />
Jack quickly reached over for it and Ennis took a swig from the bottle and muttered, "Dumb ass mule." wrung out the rag and then poured whiskey on it dabbing at his sideburn some more, using it as an antiseptic, wincing as the alcohol stung.<br />
<br />
Jack looked pissed. "Well we gotta do somethin' 'bout this food situation," he said and then after a moment of thought added, "Maybe I’ll shoot one of the sheep."<br />
<br />
Ennis stopped dabbing at his cuts long enough to huff, "Yeah, what if Aguirre finds out, huh? We’re supposed to guard the sheep, not eat ‘em."<br />
<br />
Jack shook his head beside him. "What’s the matter with you?" he asked with a smirk, "There’s a thousand of ‘em up there, Aguirre would never know."<br />
<br />
Ennis looked away, "I’ll stick with beans."<br />
<br />
As if to close the argument before it damaged their friendship, Jack declared, "Well I won’t."<br />
<br />
That night Jack rode out of camp without a word.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As Ennis watched him go, he frowned when he finally noticed something irritating his upper right thigh. Digging into his right jeans pocket he brought out Aguirre’s cheap dime-store watch; its crystal broken and it’d stopped at noon probably days ago from lack of winding.<br />
<br />
He chuckled and threw it on the fire, turned the pocket inside out and picked at the tiny shards of glass...<br />
<br />
</span><center><span style="color: #006d9f;"><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Elk Steaks & Drunken Fish</i></span></b></span></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he next morning, Ennis stripped down and checked himself for cuts that might’ve gotten infected and tenderly prodded at his bruises; wincing when he moved the stiff shoulder he’d landed on.<br />
<br />
He had nothing to offer for breakfast but beans, so he dressed and then cleaned his rifle while waiting for Jack to come down from the sheep. When he did, they set off together.<br />
<br />
After about a half an hour’s ride into the woods, del Mar was so deep in thought that when he finally spotted a deer he reached quickly for the Winchester only to discover an empty saddle scabbard. He’d forgotten to put it back where it belonged after oiling and reassembling it in camp.<br />
<br />
They were too far away to backtrack for it now which meant they’d have to depend on Jack using his.<br />
<br />
…oh lord.<br />
<br />
Within an hour they’d spotted a wild turkey and a couple of deer, but Jack kept missing and scaring them off and everything else within earshot with his gun blasts. Then they’d have to move somewhere else and wait again …and again …and again through the early morning into the afternoon.<br />
<br />
Twist was getting more and more pissed off and embarrassed in front of del Mar and turned to get some hooks and line from his saddlebag to improvise a couple of fishing rods.<br />
<br />
In frustration, Ennis grabbed the rifle away from him and within another hour had spotted himself a praiseworthy elk. Beside him, Jack hadn’t seen it yet through the thick undergrowth of the forest and was still bitching about the sites on the rifle.<br />
<br />
"Shhhhhhhut up!" warned Ennis in a harsh whisper.<br />
<br />
Closing one eye del Mar took careful aim as Jack’s eyes widened at the intended prize. Choosing his moment carefully, Ennis waited. The elk moved into his sites and the young accomplished hunter gently squeezed the trigger with a deafening blast followed by a high-pitched squeak from the woods.<br />
<br />
…Aside from some panicked birds flying off nothing else happened.<br />
<br />
The great beast seemed to just stand there unphased by the loud sound and just as Jack was about to say "See, I told…" the elk seemed to suddenly go drunk, stumbled and then fell straight down.<br />
<br />
Jack’s jaw dropped as Ennis sprouted a rare proud smile.<br />
<br />
"Whooooooweeeeeee!" exclaimed Jack in glee, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah!"<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Si58EpwVa2w/Ueh0E6R4c9I/AAAAAAAAGbk/pY1vNZp4GW4/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+hunters.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 2px;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Si58EpwVa2w/Ueh0E6R4c9I/AAAAAAAAGbk/pY1vNZp4GW4/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+hunters.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Ennis good-naturedly shoved Jack sideways and declared impatiently, "I was gettin’ tired of yer dumbass missin’!"<br />
<br />
Jack leapt on Ennis with a congratulatory hug, cheering, "We're gonna have steak tonight!"<br />
<br />
The intimate contact sent chills through both of them. Ennis experienced an uncontrolled shudder through his whole body as Twist’s fingers ran up the valley of his spine. Jack pulled del Mar closer as they both whooped and grinned like kids.<br />
<br />
Neither wanted to let go but separated quickly with embarrassed glances away.<br />
<br />
Jack turned red and grinned, "Let’s get a move on, we don’t want the Game 'n Fish catching us with no elk out of season!"<br />
<br />
They spent the rest of the afternoon separately.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis backtracked his path down the mountain and spotted a case of fresh eggs that miraculously hadn’t broken and eventually found enough undamaged canned food to last them a while. He shook his head at a cardboard box of shattered glass whiskey bottles by the stream.<br />
<br />
Alone, he allowed himself to smile thinking if anyone downstream had caught some mountain browns it’d probably be because they were too drunk to know better than to avoid his hook.<br />
<br />
When he got back to camp he found a note saying Twist had gone off to finish butchering the elk.<br />
<br />
He rode out and joined him in the bloody chore. Fortunately the carcass was far enough away from camp to insure against unwanted visitors.<br />
<br />
After a late good meal of fresh steaks at the campfire, Jack rode back up to bed the sheep down leaving Ennis to dry out the meat in strips, curing it with some salt.<br />
<br />
That night Ennis’ thoughts were filled with Alma and their future together. If he was careful the money he’d make over the next few months would just barely cover a wedding and the start of a new life for them, but cash would be very tight.<br />
<br />
He fell asleep thinking of her.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-58-60-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</b></span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</span></center></blockquote>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-24030039946303193712014-02-24T12:15:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:20:07.825-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XVI<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 16 ~ The Tent That Didn’t Look Right</b></span><br />
<center><b><i>Please note: If you've landed here directly, I recommend you read from the beginning of the novel, as many many events in the story have been set up in earlier chapters... Thanks</I></b></center><center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-58-60-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Give ‘em Hell!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he next week grew warmer and they moved the herd farther up the mountain to new pasture. Their camp was now closer to the sheep.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">While getting settled in, Jack argued that they were far enough up that if Aguirre wanted to check on them the distance would discourage him and that they could safely stay in camp together instead of one here and one there.</span><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_zpXNjhit30/TpKD7AMyhAI/AAAAAAAADuM/GOcbg1i8P38/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+09.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_zpXNjhit30/TpKD7AMyhAI/AAAAAAAADuM/GOcbg1i8P38/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+09.JPG" width="400" /></a>Ennis disagreed.<br />
<br />
While del Mar busied himself setting up the camp tent, Jack was facing away lying on his back against a log lazily playing "He was a friend of mine" on the harmonica <span style="color: #006d9f;">that he’d brought with him intending to give it to Aguirre to return to his son Johnny-Jack.</span><br />
<br />
Finding a space between Twist’s sour notes, Ennis stood back, studied his work and complained, "Damned tent don’t look right."<br />
<br />
Jack paused playing.<br />
<br />
Without looking over his shoulder he replied as if he were bored with listening to him bitch, "Well it ain’t goin’ nowheres... let it be." and went back to playing.<br />
<br />
As he adjusted a pole further out, del Mar glanced over at the back of Twist’s hat and observed, "That harmonica don’t sound quite right neither."<br />
<br />
Jack stopped long enough to reply, "Well that’s ‘cause it got kinda flattened when the mare threw me."<br />
<br />
Still adjusting the tent, Ennis chuckled and sarcastically objected, "Oh yeah? I thought ya said that mare couldn’t throw ya, huh?"<br />
<br />
Jack cocked his head back and declared, "Welllllll... she got lucky."<br />
<br />
Ennis shook his head and countered, "Well if I’d got lucky, that harmonica woulda broke in two."<br />
<br />
Jack thought a second and laughed, then went back to playing.<br />
<br />
Their friendship had gotten to the point where they could joke around and fling half-hearted insults at each other and it felt good... damned good.<br />
<br />
They worked together through the afternoon putting away the new load of supplies and then settled down in a meadow that looked up into the mountains, sharing a quart of Canadian whisky that’d been sent. In front of them was a no-name little lake that fed the start of the Proulx River. To the left of it was a twenty-five foot ledge that looked like it’d make a good improvised diving cliff if the water wasn’t so cold.<br />
<br />
After a couple of swigs, Jack frowned at the bottle and decided he liked it just as good, then half succeeded in pulling another squalling tune out of the harmonica, but finally gave up and put it away <span style="color: #006d9f;">when some distant wolves rudely began joining in.<br />
<br />
Ennis remarked with a smirk that they were carrying the tune better than Twist was.</span><br />
<br />
After a good meal, Jack suddenly remembered it was Sunday and almost startled Ennis sitting next to him off of his log by abruptly yelling out an old hymn with dirge slowness.<br />
<br />
Ennis reached over, grabbed a twig and with a grin began half-heartedly keeping time banging it against the coffee pot.<br />
<br />
After another encouraged minute Jack ended it with, "...I know I shall meet you on that final day, water-walking Jesus, take me uhwaaaaaaaaaaay," hoping it was loud enough to echo off the nearby rock face.<br />
<br />
Ennis rapidly pounded the pot enthusiastically out of rhythm almost as if he were applauding, and remarked dryly, "Very good," and then rewarded Jack with another warm smile.<br />
<br />
Twist took a swig from the second whisky bottle they’d been sharing and nodded, "My mama taught me that... She be<u>lieves</u> in the Pentecost."<br />
<br />
"Oh yeah?" Ennis shrugged, took a swig from the bottle Jack just offered and asked in a puzzled tone, "Well what exactly is the Pentecost? I mean... my folks; they was Methodists."<br />
<br />
Jack seemed to be lost for an answer and frowned, saying in an embarrassed tone, "The Pentecost? I don’t know. I don’t know what the Pentecost is; mama never explained it to me. I, I... guess it’s when the world ends 'n fellas like you ’n me - we march off to Hell."<br />
<br />
Ennis scoffed and declared self-assured, "Speak for yerself. You may be a sinner, but I ain’t yet had the opportunity."<br />
<br />
Jack raised his eyebrows skeptically, "Oh yeah?" and tossed the empty bottle towards the tent.<br />
<br />
He’d clean them up later.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As the shadows grew longer, their friendship grew stronger. As the alcohol flowed, Jack wanted more and more to tell Ennis about the feelings that he’d started having for him, but didn’t dare for fear of rejection or possibly the same over-reaction he gave Johnny-Jack last year.<br />
<br />
Night fell some time later and after a few hours more of laughing and drinking Jack began yawning loudly.<br />
<br />
Del Mar felt lightheaded and was shocked when a giggle escaped his mouth before he could stop it. </span>He gestured wildly toward the distant mountaintop as if he were trying to pull it down to within walking distance and called out enthusiastically, "Well uh, I’m gonnaaaaaah go up to the sheep now!"<br />
<br />
Jack cheerfully encouraged, "Give ‘em hell!"<br />
<br />
Del Mar clumsily tried to get up but finally settled for crawling off balance toward his horse on hands and knees. Shaking his head in resignation, he paused worried he was about to fall over... and then did just that.<br />
<br />
Lying there, Ennis was nearly helpless to get up again, but he managed to struggle to one elbow pointing <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-enJP6L41oHY/UeiAFBImejI/AAAAAAAAGcE/Qiy9uAkKOj8/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+drunk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-enJP6L41oHY/UeiAFBImejI/AAAAAAAAGcE/Qiy9uAkKOj8/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+drunk.JPG" width="400" /></a>vaguely towards the trail.<br />
<br />
"Too... it’s uh... Oh uh, I don’t give a damn... too late to go up to them sheep," declared Ennis in a slurred voice.<br />
<br />
Dizzy drunk, he managed to get up on all fours. In a low groan he struggled to stay upright and abruptly fell over on his side again. "Got, I, You, Um ya got a extra blanket? I’ll just er-er-roll up out here 'n grab four, uh forty winks 'n I can uh I’ll ride out at first light."<br />
<br />
The mountain cold had set in and they could see their own breath now. By then the full moon had notched past two in the morning. <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The meadow stones glowed blue-white and a sharp stiff wind worked over the wild grasses, scraped the fire low and then ruffled it into yellow silk streamers.</span><br />
<br />
Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled out as if calling to its pack and after a moment several more joined in.<br />
<br />
Jack shrugged and staggered toward the tent commenting, "You’ll freeze yer ass off when that fire dies down."<br />
<br />
"Oh that’s good."<br />
<br />
"Yer better off sleepin' in the tent."<br />
<br />
"Oh, uh, I doubt I’ll feel nothin'."<br />
<br />
Jack shrugged and went in, grabbed a blanket and tossed it to a crawling Ennis as he groaned, lost his balance again and toppled over like a little metal bear in one of those county fair cork pistol booths, and landed on his side next to the fire.<br />
<br />
As a rack of wispy clouds threatened to obscure the full moon, an owl hooted.<br />
<br />
The campfire soon became only dull red embers...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Gun’s Goin’ Off!</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n hour later, Jack got up in a blurry sort of haze and went out to lay gently beside Ennis at the campfire, pulling the blanket around them trying to warm his friend. He felt temporarily confused because they both seemed to be floating about an inch off of the ground.<br />
<br />
Ennis rolled over in the cold, facing him and kissed Twist tenderly on the lips.<br />
<br />
As they both shivered together Jack felt Ennis’ hand travel down his chest and begin to unbuckle the belt of his jeans. Transfixed, Twist began to harden between his legs.<br />
<br />
Suddenly Ennis begin gasping for air, moaning in pain and shivering in passion...<br />
<br />
As if cracked by a whip, reality suddenly snapped Jack awake.<br />
<br />
Twist sat bolt upright in the tent, covered in a cold sweat and realized he'd been having another one of "those" dreams. He cocked his head listening for what woke him up but heard nothing but the wind.<br />
<br />
Just as he was about to lay back down and try to recapture the slumbered fantasy where he’d left off</span>, Ennis groaned again outside and gave out a loud shivering breath through clattering teeth.<br />
<br />
Jack’d never get any sleep like this.<br />
<br />
Parting the tent flaps, he yelled out sharply in an annoyed tone, "Ennis!!!"<br />
<br />
The ranch hand jerked awake and in a weak-shivering voice replied, "Wuh-what?"<br />
<br />
"Just quit hammering 'n get yer ass in here. Bedroll’s big enough," he yelled in an irritable sleep-clogged voice.<br />
<br />
In no position to argue, Ennis got up dizzily, grabbed his blanket and wove to the tent, knocking over and spilling the coffee pot in the process, killing what was left of the fire.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2mVuGdfXbek/TpKD7XspiyI/AAAAAAAADuQ/W_UJ8r0XiYA/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2mVuGdfXbek/TpKD7XspiyI/AAAAAAAADuQ/W_UJ8r0XiYA/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+10.JPG" width="400" /></a>Inside the tent, Jack unzipped the bedroll and after pulling off his boots, Ennis wriggled in. It was just big enough and warm enough for two grown men to tightly fit in it but they’d have to sleep intimately close.<br />
<br />
In a little while they fell back asleep as the full moon crawled farther across the sky outside.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"></span>With their combined body heat, in no time it got progressively warmer in there. First the extra blankets came out and were rolled up to make better pillows and then their coats and eventually their shirts came off too.<br />
<br />
<br />
With the front of Ennis’ chest now pasted to Jack’s back by warm sweat, it was only natural in the name of comfort that sooner or later del mar’s arm came up and over Twist’s side and his palm rested across Jack’s torso.<br />
<br />
Ennis felt his breath quickening as the friction of his hand began to harden Jack’s right nipple. Alma’s did that too and for some reason he never knew that men got nipple erections so he left his hand there.<br />
<br />
In the silence they both pretended sleep, but that wasn’t all that was hardening.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ gentle breath felt good on the back of Jack’s neck and he snuggled backwards to be closer in their embrace.<br />
<br />
His movement had the wrong effect.<br />
<br />
In his sleep, Ennis rolled away onto his back... or so Twist thought.<br />
<br />
Actually Ennis was scared of the thoughts roaring through his mind again and needed a break to think things over.<br />
<br />
After a minute that seemed like eternity, Jack could no longer take it. He couldn’t understand the want welling deep inside but he wasn’t going to fight it either.<span style="color: #006d9f;"></span> He groaned and reached behind to find Ennis’ right hand, pulling it up and over, bringing the young ranch hand's body along with it so that del Mar was once again surrounding him in an intimate hug.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Twist guided Ennis’ wrist so that his palm absently strayed down his bare stomach and planted it firmly on Jack’s denim covered crotch.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis’ was still a little drunk and mentally stopped paying attention to what was happening in the here-and-now, and began remembering the goodbye fuck he’d given Alma, replacing the feel of Jack’s lithe body with the memory of hers.<br />
<br />
In his semi-consciousness, Ennis’ hand absently rubbed the mound it was on for a moment and then traveled ticklishly up Jack’s quilted abs to grip his developed pecs one at a time, marveling again at how hard the nipples were. In his drunken slumber they were Alma’s tits.<br />
<br />
This time it wasn’t a dream for Jack as he was tenderly caressed from behind. The handsome ranch hand’s palm strayed up his abdomen to grip his left pec and seemed to squeeze it. Ennis’ breath seemed to quicken on the back of Twist’s neck.<br />
<br />
Something hard was pressing through denim against Jack’s ass sending chills of passion through his body that he couldn’t explain. As Ennis began humping his erection against Jack, his arms tightened.<br />
<br />
From out of nowhere Jack felt the need to be fucked... to actually crave Ennis inside of him. He was almost in panic not understanding the urge that was overwhelming his mind, but as it grew he couldn’t fight it. It became a roaring in his head that he couldn’t ignore. Oh god don’t let this happen, Oh God make me stop, Oh god let this happen... make this happen!<br />
<br />
Ennis HAS to be able to feel me shaking from wanting this.</span><br />
<br />
Both stayed that way for what seemed like an hour, but was only a minute or so.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">...Then without them knowing it, history repeated itself as sure as if "Jumpin’ Johnny Twist" and Big Jim were in the tent with them; guiding them.<br />
<br />
As Jack’s breathing became labored, Ennis’ palm slowly roved back down and his fingertips probed inside Twist’s open jeans just beneath the crotch buttons. Ennis’ arms tightened even more around Alma’s desirable body that he was blindly embracing</span> and <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">as they did his hand slipped deeper until it rested over the pulsing, oozing head of Jack’s raging hard-on.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis’ own erection grew even more urgent as he continued gyrating his Levis against Jack from behind.</span><br />
<br />
Twist breathed a soft pleasured sigh and reached back to pull Ennis’ head forward and felt the young ranch hand’s lips brush the nape of his neck.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Half consciously, Ennis nuzzled him moving his hand deeper and began jacking Jack’s rock-hard cock as if it were his own until he suddenly realized what he was doing versus what he was dreaming!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The young horseman jerked his massaging fingers away as though he’d touched fire.</span><br />
<br />
Within moments, unspoken, unplanned, and unhesitating, the zipper of the sleeping bag was torn open along with the rest of Jack’s jeans buttons. The hell with all this denying what they’d been frustrating and fantasizing about for weeks now with no release.<br />
<br />
In a partially drunken stupor, Ennis desperately tried to act innocent in case God was watching.<br />
<br />
Jack’s hands possessed both sides of his man's face gently but unsuccessfully trying to pull their mouths ever closer together.<br />
<br />
Ennis had to fight himself to pull away and begged out loud unsure, "What... what ‘r ya doin’?" as much at Jack as towards himself.<br />
<br />
Ennis was now on his knees, unbuckling his belt and shoving his own Levis down. Then he forced Jack around onto all fours facing away in front of him, shucked down the young rodeo rider’s jeans with trembling hands and with the help of the clear slick of pre-cum and a little spit pushed the head of his ramrod against Twist’s pucker, entering him with a pleasured whimper from behind.<br />
<br />
Both cried within themselves to stop it before it went too far, but that was no longer possible. Not a single emotion on God’s green Earth, be it from man or beast, trumps male lust once it’s set in motion.<br />
<br />
A heavenly sensation gripped every fiber of Ennis' being as the tight warm ring of Jack’s ass slid slowly down his quivering cock from its head gradually to his pubic hair. It was something he’d done with Alma before so she wouldn’t get pregnant ahead of their getting married, so no instruction manual was needed.<br />
<br />
Ennis closed his eyes and almost convinced himself that it was Alma he was fucking not Jack... almost.<br />
<br />
They went at it at first in silence except for a few sharp intakes of breath. Both were naked but for their pants and boots at their ankles.<br />
<br />
Ennis withdrew completely and then reentered, both of them thrilling at the heretofore unknown and forbidden passionate sensation.<br />
<br />
As the alcohol haze began lifting, Ennis now fully realized it was Jack he was fucking but it was too late to stop now, he was getting closer and closer; too close to stop as that intensely roaring tingling sensation began building behind his pubic hair. The base of his cock felt white-hot and it felt better and better, he became bolder and bolder thrusting ever harder and faster determined to keep his manhood by completely dominating the man beneath him.<br />
<br />
Oh Jesus, don’t tell me I’m hurting Jack, tell me he isn’t suffering, because I cain’t control myself, I just, I just cain’t stop!<br />
<br />
The tip of his penis felt as if it were filling to near burst, desperately close to release and about to explode gushes into the brawny man before him.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">No, this wasn’t love, nor was it passion, just animal lust drowned in mutual youthful loneliness and pure male horniness.<br />
<br />
Jack in front of and beneath him began matching Ennis’ rhythm as if he had his own desperate need for what the ranch hand was doing to him.<br />
<br />
Suddenly Jack shot forward in the confines of the tent and got away from Ennis.<br />
<br />
The ranch hand grabbed at him roughly, furiously; like an angry bear whose meal had just been stolen away.<br />
<br />
Avoiding him Twist tore his jeans; boots and socks off from where they bound his feet.<br />
<br />
Del Mar realized, and then followed Twist’s lead and soon clothes were shed all over the tent until they <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jer1rhqrYso/TpeXFsXq0-I/AAAAAAAAHdc/EE1Fl2zOFPg/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+38c1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jer1rhqrYso/TpeXFsXq0-I/AAAAAAAAHdc/EE1Fl2zOFPg/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+38c1.JPG" width="320" /></a>were completely naked despite the cold.<br />
<br />
Moments later the alcohol succeeded in stripping all of their remaining inhibitions away and Jack rushed back there under Ennis again, being fucked even harder.<br />
<br />
Without knowing why, when Ennis felt close to shooting his load, he reached around under Twist’s bucking hips to begin working Jack’s swelling manhood because he needed and craved the thrill of holding it again. He couldn’t be sure over his loud gasping, but Jack seemed to be whispering, "Harder! Harder!"<br />
<br />
Ennis wasn’t clear if he wanted to be masturbated harder or fucked harder, so he did both as they became more and more overcome with intense lust powered by surges of adrenaline. Jack was pushing back and upward against him so hard that Ennis’ hands and legs both nearly left the ground supported by Twist’s hips alone.<br />
<br />
Their breathing got more urgent and then their gasps came in unison as if they’d joined somehow and became one. Each time Ennis withdrew for another stroke, Jack desperately pushed his hips backward to keep him in there to not allow the contact to break, to make it last forever if he could, craving even one more fraction of an inch of penetration.<br />
<br />
Only then did fear leave Twist’s distracted mind to realize in a sudden flash of purity... it didn’t hurt; not one bit.<br />
<br />
Ennis was erotically rubbing Jack’s prostate from within with the head of his long iron cock, driving them both into a frenzy of ecstasy. The cowpoke’s hips rhythmically slapped against the rodeo rider’s ass cheeks loudly and got faster and faster as did his fist around Jack’s throbbing erection.<br />
<br />
He worked on holding back from shooting his load until Jack was ready too.<br />
<br />
It became really important to him that they come together to experience each other’s joy as one. The wanting they didn’t know they’d share the rest of their lives was based on this single moment in time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Jack finally choked out "Gun’s goin’ off," </span>and Ennis screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged forward in a final carnal 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.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Both men felt as if they were about to pass out from exhaustion and joy.<br />
<br />
Jack collapsed spent, falling forward in an immense pool of his own sperm and at first faked sleep.<br />
<br />
Ennis had fallen forward with him, his cock still buried deep within Twist’s quivering ass wanting more.<br />
<br />
Del Mar marveled at how the muscled shoulders, back and firm pillowed butt beneath him seemed to have been molded by god himself or fate to fit his chest and hips perfectly as if destiny had meant them to come together.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Guilt invaded his thoughts as he remembered the kid he’d herded sheep with from last summer here on the mountain. Jack wondered now what would’ve happened if he hadn’t rejected his advances.<br />
<br />
Eventually, Ennis was so exhausted; he reluctantly fell on his left side away from Jack and silently suffered the feelings he couldn’t name that most young men have after an orgasm. Confusion rocked his conscience until he eventually fell asleep himself.<br />
<br />
Some time later in his sleep, he rolled over to spoon Jack’s still naked body from behind in an unconscious embrace like he did with Alma every night."</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>See Ya Fer Supper</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>E</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">nnis woke with the deep blue dawn in a blurred foggy haze that he didn’t understand. His bedroom didn’t look right, but he couldn’t put a finger on why. Every corner of the room seemed curved and the floor undulated like a waterbed. Somehow all four walls had multiple windows; no two on the same level, size or shape.<br />
<br />
Someone was playing a Willie Nelson tune on a record player nearby, but it sounded like the music was playing backwards and a coyote appeared to be singing along with him.<br />
<br />
Huh?<br />
<br />
It'd gotten so warm last night that he'd kicked the blankets off and now his bare exposed feet, ass and shoulders felt cold.<br />
<br />
He wasn't looking forward to another useless day of putting in applications around Riverton looking for temporary work that’d only last until he had to hitchhike to Signal later this month. He and an American Indian poker and drinking friend named Gene Autry planned to check out the local rodeo later.<br />
<br />
He envied Gene the eagle feather he wore in his hat; something only Indians were allowed to do by tradition and federal law.<br />
<br />
With a groan he found that he had a massive and painful hangover from another night at Betsy's Tavern downstairs that forced his eyes tightly shut against the bright light as the sunrise glared through the thin glass panes from every direction at once.<br />
<br />
As usual, he was cradling Alma's warm and naked body in his arms from behind.<br />
<br />
His morning erection was nestled against the small of her back and he smiled to himself; he always woke up like this with her and it became a routine to rub himself against her until he'd built up enough precum lubrication to enter her, then he'd give her a few strokes until he got off to get his morning started.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QyXUq3bOvqc/UhrYoSJ7zgI/AAAAAAAAHWI/KuIFXSBHCGs/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+Jack+sex+love+tent+scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QyXUq3bOvqc/UhrYoSJ7zgI/AAAAAAAAHWI/KuIFXSBHCGs/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+Jack+sex+love+tent+scene.jpg" width="660" /></a>His eyes stayed shut as his arm moved downward to tighten around her warm waist. He scooted down in the bed a little so that his drooling hard cock traveled the crack to her pucker and with a gentle push, he began to stroke in and out ever so slowly, in and out, in and out as he felt the pleasure build.<br />
<br />
Del Mar moaned in near ecstasy and molded his body to Twist's as his hips gyrated faster headed for orgasm. He groaned and moved with Alma as Jack squirmed from being entered again and tilted almost onto his stomach in his deep slumber.<br />
<br />
Apparently the sleeping rodeo rider thought he was having another of his recent fantasy wet dreams because as his ten-inch horse cock grew to rock hardness, Twist abruptly reversed himself and started pushing backwards instead onto his left side towards his friend, pressing his hips against Ennis' rhythmic groin apparently wanting to be penetrated deeper.<br />
<br />
The young rancher was within seconds of shooting an intense cum load and his hand wandered down to finger Alma's pussy to get her off... and encountered an enormously long penis instead.<br />
<br />
Ennis realized with a start who it was he was fucking and carefully moved backward withdrawing, while praying not to wake him; if he hadn't already.<br />
<br />
Daring to open his eyes, he found the brawny rodeo cowboy completely naked and laying on his side facing away with his hungry ass jutting toward him.<br />
<br />
Ennis' cock began pulsing in the first throws of ejaculation and his balls suddenly felt like they'd been kicked, as the pressurized sperm suddenly had nowhere to go.<br />
<br />
Ennis grimaced in agony and cupped his testicles as a cool morning breeze blew through the untied tent flaps bringing the young blond horseman fully awake.<br />
<br />
He quickly grabbed Twist's coat, hung it haphazardly across his companion’s shoulders for warmth and then pulled the blankets up over him, debating with himself whether to risk pulling up the zipper of the open sleeping bag.<br />
<br />
Then in the flash of a just-woken-from nightmare, Ennis remembered what he’d done to his friend last night and he suddenly found himself flat on his back, helplessly gasping for air as his cock spontaneously shot gobs of cum several feet into the air.<br />
<br />
When it was done, he grabbed his t-shirt to dry and clean himself of the strong smelling sperm.<br />
<br />
His temples painfully protested as he carefully rolled naked onto his right side towards the opening, parting the tent flaps to look out. He squinted into the bright light and agony shot through his eye sockets.<br />
<br />
Confusion jumbled his thoughts as near panic set in. Last night might have been a possibility, but there was no way he could blame this morning on being drunk.<br />
<br />
He rolled back onto his back and silently grabbed for his jeans at his feet. Jutting his hips upward, he pulled them on, fumbled with the loud belt buckle, and then slipped out of the tent carrying the rest, feeling like an escaping rapist who’d fallen asleep with his victim and was fleeing hopefully before his crime was discovered.<br />
<br />
In the space of a minute, he stumbled forward into his socks and boots, squirmed into his shirt and coat, and positioned his hat while quickly making his way to Cigar Butt.<br />
<br />
No time for even coffee.</span><br />
<br />
In a panic, he needed to get away up the mountain to the sheep before Jack woke up, hoping against hope that Twist would think it was all a whisky hazed dream and that the ranch hand had been up with the flock all night...<br />
<br />
...instead of down here ass raping him... twice.<br />
<br />
He'd just grabbed his Winchester when he realized it was too late.<br />
<br />
Jack crawled out dressed to his black hat and without even exchanging glances; the denim clad victim of last night’s misplaced lust stood silently at the tent flaps tucking his shirt in.<br />
<br />
The loud clack of the rifle as Ennis checked his ammo brought the bullrider out of his thoughts.<br />
<br />
Wracked with guilt and sorrow, del Mar shoved the gun into its saddle sheathe and mounted his steed as Twist started striding towards him.<br />
<br />
As much of a question as a comment, Jack said softly, “See ya for supper."<br />
<br />
Ennis spurred his horse and took off toward the herd at a gallop without a word and barely a glance back.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">They both suffered something terrible through the morning, each in his own way thinking the other was pissed at the absence of an apology for what had happened last night and this morning.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The One To Blame</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n Ennis’ case he rode quietly deep in tormented thought.<br />
<br />
Jack would never... no man could ever - never forgive being ass raped last night. How would Ennis ever be able to face him again?<br />
<br />
Del Mar fought a stinging, welling up in his eyes because he’d done something horrific to a guy he’d considered his friend and now he’d have an enemy for the next couple of months.<br />
<br />
What if Jack rode down the mountain and reported him to the sheriff while del Mar was up here tending the sheep?<br />
<br />
He’d be arrested, ruined, maybe even lynched.<br />
His marriage plans to Alma would be destroyed.<br />
What had he done?<br />
Why had he done it?<br />
<br />
Had he started it dreaming of Alma and in his slumber blindly used Jack to replace her; then when he woke up he’d gone too far to stop?<br />
<br />
Destroying his friend’s trust like this was surely god’s way of punishment... something he’d been thoroughly taught was evil and that he’d certainly go to hell for.<br />
<br />
If anyone found out he’d suffer the same fate as Earl and Rich.<br />
<br />
All through his boyhood he’d been taught that that kind of “thing" was like a cancer that had to be cut out before it spread.<br />
<br />
Ennis suffered an uncontrollable trembling just thinking about being hung, or dragged from the back of a truck, or beaten to death with tire irons.<br />
<br />
No, he couldn’t be one of those, he just couldn’t be!<br />
<br />
It was that damned Canadian whisky - stronger than their usual stuff... yeah... no it wasn’t... no... hide it, don’t look at it... don’t let God catch you even thinking it.<br />
<br />
His mind became confused comparing the lisping, swishing, limp-wristed cross-dressing fags that appeared sometimes on hate-filled religious pamphlets against his loving boyhood memories of the manly Earl and Rich... and Michael. ...His eyes burned at the thought of Michael and he sadly hung his head remembering how much he loved his best boyhood friend... and ached when he’d learned Salisbury had killed himself.<br />
<br />
For the whole ride up the rocky trail, he could think of nothing else and tried to figure out a way to apologize to Jack, to somehow set it right between them... but the words wouldn’t come.<br />
<br />
He fought hard against hating himself for what he’d done to Jack. Why the fuck was he always destroying any happiness he came to deserve? Closing his eyes as tightly as he could in self-loathing and frustration, he screamed at the pines on the trail, “I’M SO ALL-FIRED GODDAMNED STUPID!!!“ and choked back a sob of sorrow.<br />
<br />
His mind kept wandering back to how good the sex felt; so natural, so... right... to hold Jack in his arms. He felt doomed to be haunted every time he reached out and touched Alma in the same way.<br />
<br />
Something wasn’t true about the whole thing though; it was almost as if Twist had enjoyed being fucked.<br />
<br />
Why hadn’t he left the tent after escaping him that first time instead of staying right there; almost as if he wanted more?<br />
<br />
As he cleared the crest of a hill overlooking the herd, he heard a dog crying...<br />
<br />
...<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Other One To Blame</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>B</b></span>ack in camp, Jack watched him ride away.<br />
<br />
Did he really get Ennis drunk on purpose and then seduce him?<br />
<br />
Clearly Ennis blamed him for it. Jack had worked so hard to get Ennis’ friendship, and now it was all in ashes.<br />
<br />
He became convinced his friend blamed him when del Mar wouldn’t even speak to him as he rode off up to the woolies.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack tried to distract himself by setting out some ingredients for that night’s meal, which he’d long before planned special. He opened a can of mixed vegetables and another of stewed tomatoes, added some water and spices, and then lowered the lid over the cast-iron kettle, moving it slightly off the fire to cook slowly through the afternoon like he’d seen his mother do many times.<br />
<br />
One thing was for sure, this would have to be resolved or the next couple of months would be unbearable.<br />
<br />
This couldn’t wait until supper.<br />
<br />
Suddenly he frowned twisting his spine.<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gcz-wc-n9Yg/Vw7lnyPJR5I/AAAAAAAAMBc/zG9b-3ruyRcYAXNivp9OkeQx-1lfzZ76gCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2BJack%2BTwist-Jake%2BGyllenhaal%2Bnaked.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-right: 4px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gcz-wc-n9Yg/Vw7lnyPJR5I/AAAAAAAAMBc/zG9b-3ruyRcYAXNivp9OkeQx-1lfzZ76gCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2BJack%2BTwist-Jake%2BGyllenhaal%2Bnaked.JPG" /></a><br />
<br />
His ass was burning and itching something awful and he lowered his jeans to the acrid smell of after-fuck shit, which it never occurred to him to expect.<br />
<br />
He undressed completely and took a couple bars of Ivory soap to the stream, dragging the bedroll with him.<br />
<br />
Naked, he first washed himself, and then used a stick to rub and beat the shit out of the seat of his pants, rubbing the soap all over them and the sleeping bag.<br />
<br />
Later he wrung them out and hung them over a makeshift tripod high above the cook fire to dry.<br />
<br />
His mind kept straying back to how good it felt to have Ennis’ arms passionately cuddling him and how little the fucking had hurt; amazed that after a few seconds it actually began to feel mighty damned good, as if his life centered around a spot just behind the base of his cock.<br />
<br />
Despite the number of girls he’d fucked, and there were many, he’d never felt that sensation before and like a potent drug, he wanted... no, he needed... no, he craved it again.<br />
<br />
Watching Ennis’ ass that afternoon had haunted his dreams and jack-off fantasies for days and now he seemed to understand why in a vague sort of way.<br />
<br />
He smiled when he realized that for hours now he’d had his own private little nudist camp up here in the woods and his nipples hardened like they had last night. He decided to prolong the experience and discarded getting dressed until he finished his chores.<br />
<br />
Suddenly his mother Martha seemed to inhabit his body.<br />
<br />
He began peeling potatoes and then chopped them up along with carrots, onions and celery into big chunks and added them to the kettle. As a boy he’d helped her do this and a thoughtful remembering smile came to his face. He took the rest of the dried elk meat, diced it, and then added it too, suddenly feeling like a restaurant chef.<br />
<br />
He searched through the supplies for spices to add to his wilderness soup and when he was satisfied with it he grinned to himself about the smile he’d be rewarded with from Ennis when he tasted it.<br />
<br />
Ennis...<br />
<br />
Standing there naked, his eyes wandered to the flock up above and to the right, scattered on the mountainside, but he couldn’t see Ennis there.<br />
<br />
What if del Mar had a mind to head down to Signal to report what Jack had done after getting him drunk and all?<br />
<br />
The feeling of doom associated with losing Ennis’ company felt like having your ribcage cracked by a bar punch.<br />
<br />
Lifting the kettle lid, he stirred his concoction again and was amazed at how good it smelled. The starch from the potatoes had begun thickening it from soup to stew and he felt a wave of proud satisfaction.<br />
<br />
He didn’t know how he felt, much less how Ennis felt, because he’d never been taught words that described what he was going through, but making peace with his friend was a bull that had to be ridden soon and that was the long and short of it.<br />
<br />
As the afternoon set in, the warmth of the sun covered his bare skin. He admitted to himself that he’d actually set out to seduce Ennis into having sex with him last night. The question remained as to whether it was intentional or had been fueled by horseplay brought on by all the whisky they’d drank.<br />
<br />
He dropped to his knees and then spread out face down on a blanket to relax and remembered how warm Ennis felt on top while the sexy horseman was fucking him. As he hardened, he raised his ass up off the ground towards the sky recalling the sensation of being entered and reached beneath himself to masturbate.<br />
<br />
When he’d finished, he pulled on his clothes, now smelling fresh of soap and campfire smoke, and came up with an excuse to ride up to see him.<br />
<br />
After toting six beers and a quart of whiskey down to the stream to cool, Jack packed up a couple of bacon and egg sandwiches and a thermos of hot coffee in his saddle bag to replace Ennis’ missed breakfast and then mounted the still-skittish mare. With a glance back to make sure the cook fire had enough fuel to discourage any animals drawn in by the smell of food, he took off toward the high pasture.<br />
<br />
He’d figure out what to say on the way up there...</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Two Rifles Out For Revenge</span></b></I></center>…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>G</b></span>lancing around quickly, Ennis spotted the young dog in the distance whining next to a nearly hollowed out and bloody corpse of one of the lambs.<br />
<br />
Spurring Cigar Butt, he took off at a gallop down to the herd in case the wolf, mountain lion or coyote was still there.<br />
<br />
When he reached it, the scene was gruesome with a cloud of flies buzzing around and on it. He took little comfort in this being the only apparent victim of last night’s neglect.<br />
<br />
He spent most of the afternoon tracking down what turned out to be a son of a bitch coyote by the blood trail, killed it and strung it up by it’s feet on a tall pole like a triumphant trophy.<br />
<br />
For the next hour he sat with the herd, not understanding why the death of that poor lamb hit him so hard until he realized it wasn’t that; it was how he felt about Jack that was tearing him apart.<br />
<br />
One of the dogs came over and appeared to try to comfort him, whining and licking his face. Ennis smiled sadly, stroked its head, and then fell into a deep dark brooding...<br />
<br />
<br />
...<span style="color: #006d9f;">On his way up the trail Jack heard Ennis' gunshot at the coyote and spurred his mare into a gallop in case Ennis was in trouble.<br />
<br />
When he arrived half an hour later, he yanked his own rifle from the saddle and stood guard on the top of a knoll surveying the herd and looking for predators.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Twist spent the next ten minutes scanning for additional threats and debated with himself about going down to Ennis to apologize...<br />
<br />
<br />
...Meanwhile Ennis was still deep in thought when the dog <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifvHBO9IrAw/TpKD67fGGYI/AAAAAAAAH1I/7A0INheR2AY/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+08.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifvHBO9IrAw/TpKD67fGGYI/AAAAAAAAH1I/7A0INheR2AY/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+08.JPG" height="218" width="400" /></a>beside him suddenly jerked his head. Del Mar glanced up yonder on the hillside to see what had caught its attention.<br />
<br />
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 toting his rifle in a way that said he’d come to use it.<br />
<br />
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 at half the range.<br />
<br />
If the roles were reversed and Jack had raped him, would he go gunning for him? The young rancher nodded to himself that he probably would’ve and then walked over to his horse, pulling his own rifle out, checking it over.<br />
<br />
Picking up the reins, he led Cigar Butt behind him and climbed upward towards his friend on foot. Ennis was on his way to take what was coming to him like a man, for what justice he thought he deserved.<br />
<br />
Better by Jack’s hand than to end up in some drainage ditch after torture and a lynching.<br />
<br />
In the space of fifteen minutes, del Mar strode straight up the steep grassy hill never letting Twist out of his sight. Only then did it occur to Ennis to wonder why he was carrying his own rifle, but his mind was too cluttered with worry to deal with it.<br />
<br />
<br />
He continued pacing uphill trailing his chestnut horse behind him being careful not to look threatening, as if he were approaching an only partially broken stallion that he didn’t want to spook.<br />
<br />
Halfway there Jack put his rifle down, making sure del Mar saw him do it and lay down on his side propped up on his right elbow facing away from Ennis’ advancing figure, surrounded by sheep on all sides, bleating, moving, grazing and sleeping.<br />
<br />
Ennis parked Cigar Butt beside Jack's mare “Her," then paced the final steps to the top of the knoll.</span><br />
<br />
Jack heard the grass rustle under foot and looked up at him as Ennis came up close. The ranch hand passed his feet by a couple of paces to stand in front of him facing away, presenting his back as a sacrificially offered target.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Fear smothered the hilltop like a cloud of unbreatheable ammonia. Just for one anxious moment Jack thought that Ennis had brought the rifle to shoot him. Mysteriously, the young horseman only stood there holding the gun, but not in a way that he was about to fire it.<br />
<br />
From behind, Ennis thought he heard Jack let out an anxious breath as if he’d been holding it for a long time and wondered what that meant.<br />
<br />
Without knowing it, both thought the other was out for revenge, neither knowing how wrong they were.<br />
<br />
Just for one brutal moment Ennis closed his eyes, waiting for Jack to reach for the rifle just out of his reach and put the bullet that del Mar thought he deserved into his back.<br />
<br />
He never looked back or down at Jack, but seemed to exhale a sigh of relief for some reason when all he heard was silence between them and the bleating of the surrounding sheep.<br />
<br />
Somewhere in the distance a hawk cried out.</span><br />
<br />
They remained there in limbo, quiet for a long time, not knowing what to say to each other, both watching the brown ocean of wool slowly flow down below and around them.<br />
<br />
Without taking his eyes off the sheep, finally Ennis crouched down on his haunches. <span style="color: #006d9f;">He meant to promise that it’d never happen again and to beg his friend’s forgiveness and silence.<br />
<br />
He’d rehearsed it all the way up the mountain, but the correct words wouldn’t come out right so he settled for swallowing hard and saying, </span>“This is a one-shot thing we got going on here," <span style="color: #006d9f;">meaning it as a promise that he'd never do it again, but somehow it didn't come out that way. He fought to keep from looking back to see Jack’s reaction.</span><br />
<br />
Jack looked up at Ennis’ shoulders from where he lay and sadly answered, “It’s nobody’s business but ours."<br />
<br />
Both were still tense but relieved that the other seemed to have forgiven the one to blame, though Jack struggled with the thought that Ennis wouldn’t turn and look at him because he was still angry.<br />
<br />
“Ya know I ain't queer," mumbled Ennis carefully, knowing it needed to be said lest Jack think differently, but immediately worried the statement might insinuate that he thought the rodeo rider was.<br />
<br />
“Me neither," Twist answered instantly.<br />
<br />
They both turned somber as Ennis settled down on the grass with his rifle cradled in front of his knees at the ready.<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NaDZ3WsHj3I/TpUANRo5V3I/AAAAAAAADvQ/o3a9Au2TOks/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+31.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="373" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NaDZ3WsHj3I/TpUANRo5V3I/AAAAAAAADvQ/o3a9Au2TOks/s660/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+31.JPG" width="660" /></a><br />
Minutes felt like hours creeping by because Ennis still hadn’t turned to make eye contact with his friend.<br />
<br />
Jack began nervously pulling up blades of grass one by one, smelling them while sneaking glances at his companion's back.<br />
<br />
They sat like that seemingly frozen in time, not speaking for about half an hour...<br />
<br />
Ennis watching the herd...<br />
Jack watching Ennis.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Finally unable to stand the tension between them any more, Twist got up, looked down toward their horses and asked over his shoulder, “Ya hungry?"<br />
<br />
Del Mar only nodded.<br />
<br />
Twist reached for the sandwiches he’d transferred to his pocket, and then changed his mind. He’d spent hours every day teaching “Her” a trick and finally got it right only a week ago.<br />
<br />
With a shrill whistle from her master, the mare looked at him as if to protest, “Ah, not again!” and reluctantly trotted up to him.<br />
<br />
Ennis showed hardly any reaction, though he was impressed. Twist’s horse got even though by moving out of range just as he tried to put a foot in the stirrup to climb aboard.<br />
<br />
On the second try she let him get a foothold and he said, “Come on, then," as he swung his leg up and over the saddle, met Ennis’ eyes, then spurred his steed and they spun around on the top of the hill to study the sheep.<br />
<br />
Del Mar nodded again and walked carefully down to trusty Cigar Butt while Twist waited above deep in thought.<br />
<br />
The ranch-hand's mind was welling with his feelings for Twist and once he reached his horse, he stood down there a long time trying to sort them out.<br />
<br />
While Jack watched expectantly, long minutes passed as Ennis seemed to carry out a conversation with Cigar Butt before mounting him.<br />
<br />
Jack lingered patiently, sipping some coffee straight from the thermos and absently eating one of the sandwiches he'd brought up here for del Mar while he waited for his friend to collect his thoughts and join him…</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-67-73-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-88564946954238915592014-02-24T12:14:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:23:07.844-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XVII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 17 ~ The Forever Joining Of Souls</span></b><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-61-66-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" /></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center>- Reminder - Images can be clicked on to E-N-L-A-R-G-E them<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Responsibility & Loneliness</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he ride down to camp was made in complete silence. They rode side by side, each adjusting their speed to keep exact pace with the other, only pausing to detour around a tree or a boulder.<br />
<br />
At the campsite, Jack added wood to the fire and moved the kettle over it to bring it back to a boil.<br />
<br />
Though Ennis wordlessly made sure Jack knew that he enjoyed the meal and appreciated the effort by eating a couple servings and mmmmmming a lot, he uttered not one single word, which worried Twist.<br />
<br />
Needlessly though, for the ranch hand was still convinced that Jack hated him for being ass raped last night and again this morning but was too embarrassed to report it to the sheriff or Aguirre; probably for fear of what people would say.<br />
<br />
On the other hand Twist had gone to a lot of trouble to make this special meal for him so the young rancher was still confused… Maybe Jack had enjoyed what they'd done as much as Ennis thought he had?<br />
<br />
On the other side of the campfire, poor Jack still thought Ennis hated him for trying to turn him into a queer or something.<br />
<br />
Unable to find the right words, neither spoke.<br />
<br />
In the uncomfortable silence, wolves and owls called out into the surprisingly warm night.<br />
<br />
Twist finally gave up and crawled into the big camp tent muttering, "G’night," sort of hoping Ennis would follow.<br />
<br />
When nothing happened, he peeked outside as Ennis walked slowly over to his horse, mounted it and rode away into the darkness.<br />
<br />
Jack bowed his head alone, then shrugged out of his shirt, opened the soap-scented bedroll and pushed the blanket into the foot of it while kicking off his boots.<br />
<br />
He was just preparing to bed down for the night when twigs snapped outside in the darkness beyond the campfire.<br />
<br />
A bear or a wolf attracted by the smell of food? His eyes glanced at his rifle ever within reach next to his bedroll and he stretched his hand out for it.<br />
<br />
Ennis had returned for his forgotten coat… or at least that’s the reason he gave himself for coming back to camp. He tended Cigar Butt and then walked towards the tent.<br />
<br />
The young good-looking horseman suddenly stopped in his tracks at the fire as though changing his mind and his whole body shuddered once from nervousness as he stood there looking down sadly.<br />
<br />
Jack lay back down, shivering from pent-up anticipation and waited to see what would happen next. When nothing did, he sat up and peered out through the flaps.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e2BGMUXYaYA/TpUANlTlijI/AAAAAAAADvU/c6Lj6hDSjuQ/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+32.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e2BGMUXYaYA/TpUANlTlijI/AAAAAAAADvU/c6Lj6hDSjuQ/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+32.JPG" height="242" width="400" /></a>Ennis had settled back down on the log staring like a lost puppy into the flickering embers for what seemed like forever. Sometimes he'd look over at the tent flap causing Jack to duck out of sight, sometimes just shaking his head as if he were really miserable… which he very much was.<br />
<br />
If he did this now there was no turning back, no undoing what was done. He could deny and delude himself but he’d always know it happened.<br />
<br />
There was also the terror of rejection if he was wrong.<br />
<br />
He looked off toward the hillsides where he had a responsibility to be with the sheep and then at the tent, then back toward the herd. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Something compelled Jack to quickly slip out of his jeans, boots and socks as if wanting Ennis to have no doubt that he was welcome to take up where they left off last night and this morning.<br />
<br />
Still keeping an eye on his friend, Twist pulled the blanket up to cover his nakedness in case he was wrong. He too was worried about this big step in his life, though less unsure than Ennis was.</span><br />
<br />
Out next to the crackling spitting fire, suddenly his young life’s worth of 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.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Letting Go Of Fear & Finding Love</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>ack almost jumped up to comfort him when Ennis suddenly <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kIbsUVFrY20/TpUAOMFZiSI/AAAAAAAADvY/68xT917Owss/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+33.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kIbsUVFrY20/TpUAOMFZiSI/AAAAAAAADvY/68xT917Owss/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+33.JPG" height="225" width="400" /></a>stood as if making a decision and then he slowly advanced on the tent.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Both felt it but neither knew yet that in that precise moment their souls had been joined together by fate for all the rest of their born days. This was a bridge that would flash-burn the moment they crossed it making it impossible to return from where they were before… no looking back.<br />
<br />
Ennis abruptly realized that he had only seconds to stop himself before it was too late and he fought with the decision. Last night and this morning could be written off with lame and bad excuses, but this… this was intentional and he knew it. Suddenly he felt he couldn’t resist the sexless “want” and the undisguised “need” that was in Jack’s eyes as it welled up inside of himself too.<br />
<br />
The terror-filled memory of the price that Earl and Rich paid for what Ennis now needed from Jack slammed into del Mar full force.<br />
<br />
Jack drew closer but hesitated with a bewildered look.<br />
<br />
Without a word their eyes locked.<br />
<br />
Ennis didn’t know what to do as Jack reached out and took his hat, tossing it aside.<br />
<br />
Jack merely knew that he wanted to do it again, only this time with feeling.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ pent-up emotions began to spill out and his fear that God was watching 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."<br />
<br />
Jack grabbed his forearm and held it, keeping him from chickening out and tenderly whispered, "It’s all right. Come bed down here with me, it’s all right," as Ennis’ eyes seemed to glaze over with want.<br />
<br />
The comforting palm of Jack's hand found Ennis' cheek and tenderly caressed it as they became more lost in each other's eyes.<br />
<br />
With each softly repeated "It’s alright," that followed, something inside both of them began to heal and without voicing it they each gave the other permission to explore forbidden thoughts… to stop fearing something they’d both denied all their lives.<br />
<br />
Jack brushed the blanket aside.<br />
<br />
Ennis' eyes hungrily explored the muscular naked body of his friend and frowned, mystified that Jack wasn’t erect, then realized too, that it was love more than sex that had taken such a strong hold of both of them.<br />
<br />
With shuddering hands they embraced, knowing that the unfeeling animal sex they’d had last night was the only thing that was "a one shot deal." As their lips met for the first time, hesitant at first, they became locked in breathless passion.<br />
<br />
Ennis couldn’t stop whispering that he was sorry and suddenly drew back again, scared of the feeling he couldn’t understand and feared.<br />
<br />
As it came welling up inside of himself too, Jack pulled away this time unsure that he’d mistaken this man’s intentions, but Ennis drew him back <span style="color: #006d9f;">and Jack’s trembling hands pulled his new lover’s clothes off as their lips relocked in a fiery kiss.<br />
<br />
Jack pushed him onto his back and did likewise beside him to his right.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ head fell onto Twist’s left shoulder. Letting his fears go completely, del Mar began caressing Jack’s bare muscular chest, then his fingers strayed to his neck and then his chin.<br />
<br />
In a state of pure joy, Ennis tenderly gathered Jack in his arms and threw his left leg over Twist's, snuggling to him in need.<br />
<br />
Jack rolled over on top of Ennis, who was still shaking from pent up emotions and as their lips met again, Jack kissed him as no one had ever been kissed before.<br />
<br />
Ennis began exploring Jack’s body again with the palms of his hands. Gradually... slowly... they sought out every inch of each other with kissing lips and lapping tongues, but not in lust, but in the freedom and release of hidden wants that they’d secretly carried all of their young lives but until now hadn’t been free to express.<br />
<br />
It was like falling for your first crush all over again.<br />
<br />
In the warm evening tent, Jack rolled onto his stomach, turned his naked back to Ennis’ iron erection and raised only his brawny hips up in desperate want. His voice came in a hoarse anxious whisper, "I want ya so bad Ennis, do it… make love to me, give it to me agin, I need it… I need ya bad."<br />
<br />
Ennis lovingly eased his full weight onto Jack’s back straddling his spread legs. With shaking breath, he passionately kissed up the warm skin between Jack’s shoulders to the back of his neck and carefully entered the desirable body beneath him lubricated with sweat and dribbling precum.<br />
<br />
He groaned as Jack’s tight ass ring slid up his quivering cock and as they became one Ennis gathered his forearms forward beneath Jack’s armpits as he softly kissed the side of his new love’s face from behind.<br />
<br />
A sigh of contentment came from both young men at the same time as if their minds had become one too. Soon they were really making love, not just having sex, it was love as undeclared as it was deep, leaving them convinced that they’d never before felt this way about anyone else.<br />
<br />
Ennis took his time easing himself in and out in slow motion savoring every moment and sensation of their joining. Every sigh and groan from Jack thrilled him completely beyond their understanding, easing del Mar’s fear that he’d hurt Jack in the penetration last night. <br />
<br />
Through the evening their bodies and then souls joined. It was an emotion-filled and tender love that both had never experienced before and they became lost in it.<br />
<br />
I'm fuckin' Alma - I ain't no queer ...I'm fuckin' Alma. I ain't fuckin' no man I'm fuckin' Alma... I want... I want... I'm fuckin' Jack.<br />
<br />
Ennis never left Jack's back and at times forgot he was still inside him. If he tried to ease out in concern that Jack might be in physical pain, Twist softly moaned a plea not to withdraw.<br />
<br />
Alma never liked to be fucked for more than ten-fifteen minutes or so, but Jack beneath him acted as if he wanted it all night... indeed forever. ...Every man's dream. Every time Ennis was on the verge of cumming, his lover seemed to sense it and slowed things down just barely enough to keep it going on... and on... and on.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ elbows still remained beneath Jack’s armpits.<br />
Ennis’ hands were being kissed by Jack’s tender lips.<br />
<br />
In annnnnnnnd almost out, in annnnnnnnd almost out.<br />
A satisfied moan, a content whimper; it didn’t matter from whom.<br />
Both bawling tears from the freedom and joy each gifted the other.<br />
In annnnnnnnd almost out, over and over for hours because neither wanted it to end... so it didn't.<br />
Ennis’ knees between Jack’s, their ankles intertwined and free and then intertwined again.<br />
At times Ennis thought and then hoped his body would dissolve into Jack’s to become one man to complete their joining.<br />
<br />
They cuddled, they kissed, and became like Siamese twins joined at the back to chest.<br />
<br />
They made love all night only cumming hours later when manly lust took over from emotion…<br />
<br />
Jack flipped onto his back and Ennis quickly reentered him again. Jack’s face expressing pure joy, his feet atop Ennis’ strong shoulders.<br />
<br />
Del Mar fucked and rubbed Twist’s prostate.<br />
Faster now, more urgent, Breaths in loud gasped throws of passion.<br />
Hearts pounding, urgent... faster... faster... harder... Harder Baby, HARDER!<br />
More, Oh More... faster... deeper... some-something's happening... oh my oh my God...<br />
Del Mar finally came up Jack's ass in gushes that nearly caused him to pass out.<br />
The pulses from Ennis’ enormous cock made Jack writhe in ecstasy.<br />
Jack was astonished seconds later when he shot another enormous load without even touching himself.<br />
<br />
The urgency ended with lips locked together like they’d never part.<br />
<br />
Ennis was hesitantly considering asking Jack if he wanted to do it again, but before he found the words Twist guided the ranch hand’s rehardened cock back inside him and ten minutes later they orgasmed simultaneously again never breaking that gasping kiss in loud freeing screams down each other’s throats.<br />
<br />
It was never this way with Alma. Why wasn't it this way with Alma?</span><br />
<br />
…Theirs was a deep love that their upbringing wouldn’t allow them to express to each other in words.<br />
<br />
Without saying anything about it, both knew how it would go for the rest of the summer<br />
<br />
...sheep be damned.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>16905 D Road, Lightning Flat Wyoming</span></b></I></center>…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">oe Aguirre answered his kitchen phone that evening, taking a call for his son Johnny who was staying the night at a friend’s.<br />
<br />
Climbing the stairs to his boy’s 2nd floor bedroom, he turned on the lights and smiled. He didn’t come up here very often and was pleased to see the room cluttered with football and basketball paraphernalia, sports uniforms from his high school, assembled plastic model cars and trucks, and he smiled wondering where the hidden Playboys were.<br />
<br />
On the nightstand next to the neatly made bed was a scribbled-on notepad and he sat down to scrawl the phone message for his kid, but frowned at what was written on the top page.<br />
<br />
16905 D Road, Lightning Flat Wyoming.<br />
<br />
Frowning, Aguirre tried to remember where he’d seen that address before. Putting the pad down, his eyes caught a crumpled piece of notebook paper on the floor. He bent forward to scoop it up and stood at the bed reading it with a frown.<br />
</span><blockquote><span style="color: #006d9f;"><b><i>Dear Jack,<br />
Thanks for keeping my secret from my dad. I’m so sorry for all the trouble I caused you and hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.<br />
<br />
My back’s doing much better and I’m getting around fine.<br />
<br />
My love for you still burns in me and…”</i></b></span></blockquote>That was all it said.<br />
<br />
“What the hell?” mumbled a concerned father.<br />
<br />
On the dresser was a loose-leaf notebook where maybe the second draft of the letter he’d just read was hidden.<br />
<br />
As he picked it up, something fell out and Joe bent down to find a 5” x 7” cheaply printed softbound booklet <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B75rXwAKVbU/Uov-nMldWYI/AAAAAAAAJGY/CIyH_Q6KxgY/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+Johnnys+porn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 2px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B75rXwAKVbU/Uov-nMldWYI/AAAAAAAAJGY/CIyH_Q6KxgY/s400/Brokeback+mountain+Johnnys+porn.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a>that contained page after page of naked men in posing straps, some holding or kissing other men, or bare-assed in wrestling poses.<br />
<br />
An anger began brewing in Joe. On the back fly leaf of the pornographic tabloid was taped a newspaper clipping about a young bullrider who’d just won a minor junior first-place trophy with a blurred photo of him bucking on a horned behemoth.<br />
<br />
The caption beneath the news photo said JACK TWIST.<br />
<br />
The strangely named D Road… Lightning Flat… Jack Twist… “SHIT!!!” he bellowed loud enough for the whole house to hear.<br />
<br />
A muffled female voice came from downstairs, “Honey; ya alright?” asked his wife.<br />
<br />
Aguirre steadied his voice and called down to her, “Yeah, Baby, jest fine, sorry.”<br />
<br />
He leaned over and picked up the little notepad again. Flipping the page, he found Ennis del Mar’s information. How the hell did his kid know about that fool ranch hand?<br />
<br />
His face grew a baffled frown when he realized del Mar had been assigned... at random!... to Twist... How the hell?<br />
<br />
From under his son’s mattress came three porn booklets filled with more naked men.<br />
<br />
He muttered under his breath between gritted teeth, “Where the hell did he get these from?’ and then, "Them bastards turned my boy queer?”<br />
<br />
For the next half hour he scoured his son’s room and when he was satisfied he’d found everything, burned it all out back in the trash barrel. He wouldn't say a word to his boy; just let him find them missing and then suffer a good long-long time worrying about who'd found them, removed them and then be scared of who was coming to punish him for it.<br />
<br />
Johnny'd probably think it was his mother cleaning.<br />
<br />
He tried to calm himself watching the flames. Gil Rowan had had Cheryl at head office send out cards to former employees to see if they wanted to work again this year. It never occurred to him to tell his wife to exclude Twist’s name. He was so preoccupied with last-minute hiring this spring that the name and face somehow completely slipped his mind.<br />
<br />
Damn it!<br />
<br />
Thinking rationally and not rushing it, he finally figured it had to be just a normal teenaged boy’s rodeo hero crush and the kid was just over the moon at Twist for saving his life.<br />
<br />
That still left the porn.<br />
<br />
Aguirre spent the next hour trying to figure out a way to know for sure about Twist being queer… or whether the bastard had ever touched his boy or was it just a crush. Maybe that's why the son-of-a-bitch got him drunk!<br />
<br />
The solution came with a phone call from Twist’s mother the next morning.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Invisible</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>W</b></span>ithin the next few love-hazed days after they’d joined their souls and bodies together even further, they admitted to themselves ...but not to each other that they’d fallen in love…<br />
<br />
There were many tender moments like the morning Ennis found Jack asleep on his feet by the fire. <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi1fc78GVpc/Ugx3yn5NHrI/AAAAAAAAHL0/guGQrH9IlPo/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+drowsy+dream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hi1fc78GVpc/Ugx3yn5NHrI/AAAAAAAAHL0/guGQrH9IlPo/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+drowsy+dream.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a>He came up lovingly behind him, wrapped him in his arms and sweetly sang a lullaby that his mother had taught him as a boy, then pointed him toward their tent with a small push and jumped on Cigar Butt, riding off to tend the sheep.<br />
<br />
As Jack watched him go he thought about their new relationship and wondered if he had the courage to make it last past September when they’d have to part.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Oddly the one forbidden thing that seemed to thrill them the most was kissing, which they did often. It wasn’t something they’d ever discussed; they just became comfortable doing it without thinking.<br />
<br />
Ennis realized it was like cussing when you were a little kid. Your parents continuously forbade you to do it, so it gave a little mental adventure every time you swore behind their backs.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">They never talked about the sex either but gradually just sort of let it happen, at first only in the tent at night, then in the full daylight with the hot noon sun striking down and in the evening within the fire's glow, masculine, quick, rough, laughing and snorting, no lack of noises.</span><br />
<br />
Del Mar figured that if God hadn’t struck him down with lightning by now for doing it right out in the open under his nose, it must be okay with the Lord.<br />
<br />
Through the intense passion and comfort with each other, they never uttered the one word they felt but that neither of them could say out loud. Not that it really needed to be said.<br />
<br />
Ennis never did admit that in the very beginning most of the time he was fighting to think of Alma while they made love… but now to his mind it was all Jack.<br />
<br />
Twist suspected it and came up with a plan. Jack tried new and progressively more daring things like making Ennis lay completely still on his back while he squatted over him, raising and lowering himself as if jacking Ennis off with his tight throbbing ass.<br />
<br />
Another night Jack tried oral sex for the first time but didn’t like it, but Ennis expressed how much he enjoyed it, saying it was like giving Jack his life to swallow when he came, so Jack kept using it as foreplay and eventually got really good at it, even acquiring a taste for it... (excuse the pun).<br />
<br />
Ennis became another man; almost like a kid experiencing the freedom of being left alone at home without a babysitter for the first time. The handsome cowboy began grinning, even laughing. Most surprising of all... del Mar began walking around naked as casual as you please in camp, and seemed to glory in the freedom.<br />
<br />
Jack's gaze followed him wherever he went when that happened, and helplessly fell deeper and deeper in love as Ennis seemed to become free and happy before his eyes.<br />
<br />
Ennis suddenly began smiling all the time and became the practical joker. Many's the time Ennis would get him into clothes fights where he'd steal Jack's pants or shirt before he could put them on in the morning.<br />
<br />
Ennis had never volunteered to allow Jack to fuck him so Jack never asked, though one night he tried to urge him over on his stomach to enter him but Ennis resisted, so Twist gave up quickly.<br />
<br />
Always the sight of Ennis’ athletic cowboy sexy ass sent chills through Jack's loins, and now that he was allowed to openly admire and sometimes even compliment it, that happened often.<br />
<br />
Del Mar tried giving head to Twist once and they wound up in an aggressive "69" that lasted half an hour<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WccW4jt_wFY/TpfMlitdPaI/AAAAAAAADvw/ijrh1x1zM6c/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+39.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WccW4jt_wFY/TpfMlitdPaI/AAAAAAAADvw/ijrh1x1zM6c/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+39.JPG" height="184" width="320" /></a>. It turned into a competition to see who could bring his partner to orgasm without shooting his own load first.<br />
<br />
They’d both became accomplished at making their joining last but after that night Ennis never offered again.<br />
<br />
As men, all men straight or otherwise, they had one overriding fear of not pleasing their sexual partner, so though they’d begin something they didn’t particularly like to do, once started, they gave it their all for fear of failure. Let loose the reins, balls to the wall, all out, whole hog.</span><br />
<br />
They’d blissfully created their own Eden and they were both happier than they could ever remember being their whole lives.<br />
<br />
It was as if there were only the two of them on the mountain, indeed in the whole world,<b> <span style="color: #cc0000;">their souls soaring joyously high in the brisk mountain air, looking down on the hawk’s back spreading it’s wings far beneath and the crawling lights of cars and trucks on the plain far below, suspended above ordinary affairs and distant from tame ranch dogs barking in the dark hours.</span></b><br />
<br />
They believed themselves invisible...<br />
<br />
...they were wrong.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Horse In The Parking Lot</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hey moved the camp again, even closer to the sheep this time, fire and all, not caring about the Forest Service rules or what Aguirre would think.<br />
<br />
The little pup tent stayed permanently rolled up behind Ennis’ saddle.<br />
<br />
Even though there were seventeen other two-man teams on the upper stages of the mountain, they hadn’t seen a single soul, other than that young camper that Ennis had talked to, since coming up here and for some reason even the wolves and coyotes stayed away.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">It had gotten to the point where they couldn’t stand to be apart for more than a few hours and one or the other would come up behind and give an affectionate hug or a peck on the back of the neck.<br />
<br />
Usually both began tending the sheep together, always keeping the flock within sight of camp.<br />
<br />
They spent hours sitting next to each other talking about their hopes and dreams.<br />
<br />
Ennis wanted to buy back his parents’ ranch on Lake Sage and raise championship horses, cattle, and a huge family in a home full of love.<br />
<br />
Jack wanted to be king of the rodeo and then retire famous and own some huge successful business chain selling hunting and camping supplies.<br />
<br />
Eventually the story about Michael came out and how sad it made Ennis to think about it.<br />
<br />
Both knew their dreams were impossible.<br />
<br />
Del Mar fell into a brooding and never told Jack about how he might have had a hand in his parents’ death.<br />
<br />
Jack never mentioned Johnny-Jack, and oddly enough, Ennis never thought to ask about Twist’s first summer up here.<br />
<br />
Too much talking about Sage caused a nightmare one night for Ennis. Rich and Earl, Michael killing himself because he was homosexual. Everything being ripped from del Mar every time the boy and then man thought he was happy.<br />
<br />
Ennis woke up crying but wouldn't say what was wrong.<br />
<br />
Jack noticed the change in him immediately. He also knew that his lover was trying to go back to being the happy man just for him... but not quite succeeding.<br />
<br />
Eventually routine settled them back on track, though Jack worried that the slightest thing might derail them again.<br />
<br />
When they got hungry whoever was in the mood would leave early and go down to prepare something to eat for the both of them, then they’d share the meal together. For obvious, but unspoken reasons, Ennis was the one who always left occasionally to hunt for wild game to eat.<br />
<br />
The camp was wherever the sheep and dogs were, one and the same. It might have been against the rules but the woolies were a lot safer being constantly looked after by both of their shepherds.<br />
<br />
Twist noticed that the ewes had even begun keeping their lambs quiet at night so Jack and Ennis could sleep peacefully in the tent amongst them, almost as if they were showing their appreciation for the increased care the men gave them.<br />
<br />
Sometimes Twist would laugh when one of his favorite dogs would sneak in and try to sleep between them, licking either or both faces playfully.<br />
<br />
Jack loved to make his wilderness stew and Ennis came up with a way to make a covered iron pot into an improvised campfire oven and made breakfast biscuits and even cookies.<br />
<br />
Their friendship grew closer and closer to full-blown no-turning-back love, which worried Ennis because they’d have to separate a month or so from now… but he had time to prepare for it.<br />
<br />
One morning while Jack was shaving at a chest high tree stump, he became aware of Ennis’ eyes on his back.<br />
<br />
Twist was dressed in his tight jeans and denim shirt and as his companion approached, Jack froze where he was with his safety razor dipped in the galvanized cup of cold water.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ whispered in his right ear, "Don’t move."<br />
<br />
The ranch hand’s fingers came around the rodeo rider's waist from behind and fastened the handsome young man's shirt up, tucked it into his jeans, then his fingers moved lower to the belt loops to tug his jeans up even tighter.<br />
<br />
Twist smiled in anticipation of what his friend had in mind.<br />
<br />
Into Jack’s left ear Ennis instructed, "Start shavin’ agin 'n don’t stop no matter what happens. There’s a'somethin’ I wanted to do on the day I met ya in Aguirre's parkin' lot 'n I cain’t get it out of my mind."<br />
<br />
Twist smiled and slowly began scraping again at his smooth face.<br />
<br />
Ennis stood back and nodded; except for the absence of Jack’s pickup truck it was perfect – just the way he remembered. He approached his brawny friend, and thought back to those first moments outside of the office trailer watching Twist shave in the side mirror of his truck. He nodded to himself in approval and then moved onward to stand just behind Jack.<br />
<br />
Del Mar slowly knelt on one knee and his vertical right palm extended carefully forward to hover just above and between Jack’s knees. Fighting the urge to rush, del Mar moved his right hand slowly to the left to make contact with the tight denim skin of Twist’s inner left thigh. Like closely sizing up a prize stallion, his palm joyously explored the muscled firmness of it as his eyes closed to savor a fantasy that he thought would never come true.<br />
<br />
The whole surface of his hand slowly explored upward and ever so gradually met Jack’s warm crotch just beneath his balls where all the seams of his jeans met. His palm remained there a moment longer caressing and then lovingly drifted back down just as slowly, eventually losing contact at his knee.<br />
<br />
Ennis rose and whispered an impassioned, "Thanks," gave him a light kiss on the back of his left ear lobe and then silently rode off to tend the outskirts of their herd checking for strays and predators.<br />
<br />
Neither spoke of it again.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Jack Be Nimble - Don't Be Quick!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he following day fresh pasture turned out to be on the side of a broad hill with no level place nearby to pitch their camp tent. They eventually found a flat spot amongst tall lodge poles at a stream that still looked at the herd across the way maybe a quarter mile over.<br />
<br />
They were separate from the herd, but satisfied that it was close enough to hear alarm cries or the dogs barking out warnings.<br />
<br />
Late the next morning, Ennis came up from the rocky cold stream naked from a swim to find Jack making breakfast.<br />
<br />
It’d bothered Ennis that maybe his friend resented their unequal sexual partnership and long had tried to think of a way he could give of himself to show his appreciation. He’d been pondering the gift reluctantly for a long time and though hesitant, decided today was the day to find out what Jack found so pleasurable when they had sex.<br />
<br />
As Twist eyed del Mar’s still-wet horseman's body hungrily, Ennis spread out a blanket on the ground near the fire and then gave him a seductive backward look as he lay spread eagle face down and waited. Then to Jack’s shock, Ennis imitated him that first night and kept his shoulders flat on the ground, arched his back and then raised his muscular cowboy ass up in the air in invitation.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n094vDIG3hk/Vw7bOygL1gI/AAAAAAAAL84/lGQnP4_jFNw9mVq-ynBZKPsot4u1reRZgCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bf%2Bme%2B%2Bsex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n094vDIG3hk/Vw7bOygL1gI/AAAAAAAAL84/lGQnP4_jFNw9mVq-ynBZKPsot4u1reRZgCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bf%2Bme%2B%2Bsex.jpg" width="660" /></a><br />
Jack began breathing so hard he nearly fainted. He’d begged the fates for so long and finally they smiled on him!<br />
<br />
Before he knew it, he too was naked.<br />
<br />
Twist knelt down behind del Mar and was about to spit on his hand, then had a better idea - he’d apply it directly, after all Ennis had just come from washing in the stream.<br />
<br />
As the sexy young horseman began to rise up on all fours, Jack gently laid his hand on his warm firm ass and pushed him back down to lay flat again.<br />
<br />
Ennis gasped as Jack’s face made contact with his ass cheeks as if he were using them as a pillow, gently kissing one then the other, back and forth, taking his time ...reveling in his joy.<br />
<br />
Ennis inhaled suddenly as Twist's finger touched his sensitive pucker and began running it up and down his ass crack briefly touching the hole.<br />
<br />
With a deep sudden intake of stunned breath, he realized it wasn’t Jack’s finger… it was his tongue!<br />
<br />
Twist thrilled as Ennis squirmed and moaned in forbidden pleasure raising his head to gasp loudly every time that tongue caressed his opening.<br />
<br />
Several times the handsome ranch hand screamed out in agonized ecstasy and didn’t want the sensation to end.<br />
<br />
Jack obliged, prolonging his foreplay as long as he could enjoying the pleasure it gave the blond fantasy before him, but wanting that ass so bad he could quite literally taste it.<br />
<br />
With an amused smile the rodeo rider used the only phrase that seemed to fit the occasion.<br />
<br />
Surveying his prize, Jack muttered, "Fuck this," and impatiently straddled Ennis before both could change their minds.<br />
<br />
With a mighty groan, he pushed forward entering del Mar, taking his time, whispering and moaning tenderly in his conquest’s ear. It was like a warm tight halo of pleasure was rolling from Jack’s quivering cockhead eventually, gradually meeting his pubic hair as his hips met his lover's soft warm glorious muscular twenty-year-old ass cheeks.<br />
<br />
Instinctively Ennis tightened muscles and forcefully gripped Jack's throbbing shaft, causing him to throw his head back and scream out "OHHHHHHH!" at the top of his lungs.<br />
<br />
Ennis only exhaled once in the beginning through a tightly clenched throat as Jack moved forward to lower his full weight onto his man’s back.<br />
<br />
Del Mar was determined to hide the intense internal pain of entry as Jack’s rock-hard cock slid in to the hilt again, but he seemed to relax as Twist slowed his strokes and they both found joy as he rubbed the lanky young cowpoke’s prostate from within with his impossibly long penis.<br />
<br />
Ennis quickly got used to him being there and gave out with grunts and pleasure-filled moans.<br />
<br />
The absolute thrill had Jack stoned out of his mind in ecstasy, throwing him into an immediate early gasping ejaculation.<br />
<br />
Twist began crying bitterly because it was over too soon, no… NO!!! Oh too goddamned FUCKING soon, and he’d probably never not ever get another chance at this from this man beneath him.<br />
<br />
Unaware, Ennis grew proud with accomplishment at the sensation of every warm squirt of cum, nearly orgasming himself while Jack's throbbing cock gushed and pulsed inside him.<br />
<br />
As Jack was about to withdraw in sorrow of it ending, Ennis tenderly pleaded him to keep going and was temporarily mystified as his lover withdrew anyway.<br />
<br />
NO… it can’t end this way damn it; I won’t let it!<br />
<br />
Suddenly Twist grabbed del Mar’s legs and playfully flipped him roughly onto his back.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ ankles went up onto Twist’s shoulders and he was quickly but painlessly entered again. Pushing forward, Jack began slow thrusts in and out nearly crying from ecstasy in and out and folded Ennis in half, pinning his knees back against his own shoulders, in and out craning his neck to hold their lips together in a fiery kiss.<br />
<br />
Their mouths separated and each peered into the other’s soul. Tears from Jack’s determined eyes fell directly into Ennis’ and mingled there while both breathed mightily.<br />
<br />
Now that it no longer hurt and started feeling damned good, Ennis realized and then growled through gritted teeth the words Jack needed bad to hear, “Ride me rodeo boy, ride this buckin’ bronco hard!”<br />
<br />
Jack sped up his strokes for a long time, now really slamming them into him, watching in lustful greed as a glazed look came over Ennis, who had begun jacking himself and groaning with his eyes rolled back in his head. When Twist sensed they were too close to cumming, he slowed down considerably and pushed del Mar’s masturbating hand away from the horseman’s quivering on-the-verge cock.<br />
<br />
Jack gasped in awe as Ennis cried out in protest, “Awwww no!” and began gyrating his hips, still in need of being fucked hard after experiencing such an intense sexual desperation.<br />
<br />
Ennis was heaving huge breaths of air like a run-out racehorse. His hands greedily went to Jack’s torso, exploring, clutching, caressing with his eyes tightly closed, grasping at straws to understand but failing… and didn’t care… he still wanted more!<br />
<br />
What Jack wanted was to try something he’d only imagined yesterday, but never dared think he’d ever get the chance at.<br />
<br />
If there’s one thing a rodeo broncobuster/bullrider has to be, it’s limber. Without withdrawing he arched his determined back and strained down to kiss Ennis’ right nipple, then began working his way down further and tongued del Mar’s magnificent abs and with a groan of determination tongued the head of Ennis’ cock.<br />
<br />
"Ohhhhhhhhhh mmmmmmmmmmmy Gahhhhhhhd," Ennis moaned in disbelief as his rugged body writhed, wriggled and shuddered in reaction. Sensing where this might be leading, his palms found the back of Twist’s head and pushed gently trying to help, but careful not to hurt him.<br />
<br />
As Jack’s back relaxed even more, he only partially withdrew his cock from where it was buried up that warm tight ass and his single-minded encircling lips swallowed Ennis’ pulsating seven-inch rod down to its root, then held it until he began gagging. As he pulled back his head, his still imbedded cock penetrated his lover again to the hilt.<br />
<br />
He quickly picked up a seesawing rhythm swallowing then fucking, swallowing then fucking, never letting Ennis' warm hard shaft leave his lips as he kept stroking in and out of del Mar's tight spasming butt.<br />
<br />
Ennis began thrashing around with his arms, moaning and screaming in tongues for all he was worth and somehow after holding back as long as he could, Jack filled his ass yet again to overflowing as Ennis flooded Twist’s mouth with repeated gushes of cum from being simultaneously fucked and sucked at the same time.<br />
<br />
Jack fell atop his new worship for a long time, gasping for air, tenderly kissing and stroking, Ennis tasting his own sperm on Jack’s lips as his forearms encircled Twist's muscular back and squeezed in total utter rapture.<br />
<br />
They were naked to God’s eyes and didn’t care, knowing he loved them too.</span><br />
<br />
All around them the wind hissed as it swept fragrantly through the tall pines, somewhere a crow cawed out over the broad rushing/roaring stream, and the bright loving sun warmed their love, signaling that all was finally right with the world for both men for a change.<br />
<br />
About fifty yards away amongst the lodge poles within the edge of the forest, Joe Aguirre sat astride his horse, watching them through morally disgusted Christian eyes glued to his 10 x 42 binoculars...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Here I Am</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">o the smell of burning eggs and sausage, Jack jumped up and tended to the skillet while Ennis took another bath at the brook.<br />
<br />
They sat at the fire naked eating breakfast in a relaxed state of bliss.<br />
<br />
When they finished and Jack had gathered the pans to wash, he noticed a far away smile on Ennis' face.<br />
<br />
Del Mar told him about a time long ago when his dad brought home a new car and started chasing his mother around the yard yelling "0-1-2-3-KISS ME WOMAN!" and how he hoped one day he could find a girl like his mother to settle down with and raise a family.<br />
<br />
Jack had begun dressing while in the process of handing Ennis his clothes. He stopped what he was doing and suddenly looked intensely crestfallen.<br />
<br />
Ennis knew without a doubt that it was his thoughtless fault.<br />
<br />
Fortunately the rancher knew how to make his friend laugh. Giggling he playfully tackled Twist, who then grabbed Ennis’ white plaid shirt back away from him and started yelling, "0-1-2-3-KISS ME WOMAN!" </span>while del Mar gleefully chased after him around the campfire grasping for it.<br />
<br />
Aguirre watched for another ten minutes, waiting while they buttoned up their jeans and shirts and then parted with a passionate kiss.<br />
<br />
Only after Ennis went back to tend the sheep did the supervisor come riding up slowly to the camp.<br />
<br />
Jack, who had his back to Joe’s approach, was busy splitting firewood.<br />
<br />
Aguirre’d decided on the spot to fire the both of them fags.<br />
<br />
Twist had just put another piece up to split and heard the foreman’s mount sputter behind him.<br />
<br />
The sight of their boss on horseback instantly washed away the warm smile Jack flashed intended for Ennis. He swung around startled and knocked the wood that he was about to swing at off of the stump with his axe handle as the foreman just sat and stared judgmentally from above.<br />
<br />
After what he’d just seen, looking at the young man below him was like trying to stare at vomit<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HgvIuzBoLvs/TsY7Int-2sI/AAAAAAAAD4M/9Bcp3y5cMcc/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+Twist-55.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HgvIuzBoLvs/TsY7Int-2sI/AAAAAAAAD4M/9Bcp3y5cMcc/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+Twist-55.JPG" height="281" width="400" /></a> on the ground.<br />
<br />
In revulsion, Aguirre looked everywhere but into Jack’s eyes. Two things changed his decision immediately; the freshly sharpened and lethal looking axe in Twist’s hand and the thought of losing a thousand sheep because these two queers ran them off in revenge before he could get someone else up here to look after them.<br />
<br />
The old man was wise enough to know that quick decisions were never good ones. He’d have to bide his time and wait for another reason to bring them down early.<br />
<br />
It took Aguirre a moment to clear his mind of the overwhelming hate he felt and remember why he’d come up here in the first place.<br />
<br />
"Twist," he said finally, still averting his gaze. "Yer Uncle Harold’s in the hospital with pneumonia; the docs don’t expect he’ll make it. Yer ma sent me to tell ya, so… here I am."<br />
<br />
"Bad news," answered Jack, nervously looking up at him as Aguirre pulled out a potent pair of binoculars and scanned the hillsides. Twist, trying to recapture the foreman’s attention added, "There ain’t nothing I can do about it up here I guess."<br />
<br />
"There’s not much you can do about it down there neither," replied Aguirre while watching Ennis tending the herd only a few hundred yards away from camp instead of a couple of miles like he told them to. He added, "…not unless you can cure pneumonia."<br />
<br />
Jack turned to follow Aguirre's gaze up the hillside, knew they’d been caught switching places against his orders and nervously nodded.<br />
<br />
This was trouble.<br />
<br />
He turned back to find Aguirre’s expression was as much anger as it was of loathing as he lowered his glasses and downwardly gave Jack a sickened look that nearly froze his blood.<br />
<br />
Leaving Twist with no hint of what he was thinking, the foreman turned tail to ride slowly away without another word.<br />
<br />
Had he seen them?<br />
How long had he been there?<br />
<br />
Maybe he hadn’t, after all they hadn’t been fired on the spot. He didn’t even mention them switching jobs against orders or breaking Forest Service rules by having a fire going this far up...<br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-74-77-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-7685074718152185062014-02-24T12:13:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:25:56.685-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XVIII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 18 ~ The Stairway From Heaven</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-67-73-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Fuck Aguirre!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span>ate in the evening of the twelfth of August they were getting ready to ride over to the herd together when an intense lightning and hail storm hit without warning.<br />
<br />
Jack had to forcefully hold Ennis back from rushing out to the sheep.<br />
<br />
Within moments they were cowering under the camp tent being pelted with golf ball sized ice stones and feeling thunder strikes seemingly only yards from them, mindful that the steel tent supports would act as lightning rods.<br />
<br />
Later when it was over, they rode up in the dark to find not a single sign of a thousand sheep or where they’d gone.<br />
<br />
Ennis wanted to go look some more but Jack finally convinced him that it was useless until first light, so they bedded down together, both barely sleeping after Jack told him about Aguirre’s visit and the binoculars.<br />
<br />
Their relationship changed after that.<br />
<br />
Jack gave of himself because that was what he came to enjoy not because he was the more passive.<br />
<br />
Ennis was still struggling with the sexual side of their relationship and eased off till he only fucked but never allowed himself to be entered, nor did he ever blow Jack again.<br />
<br />
Ennis craved Jack stronger in an emotional way, but Jack was more attached physically. As long as they stayed on the mountain they fit together perfectly.<br />
<br />
The only thing that saved Jack from deep resentment at the lopsidedness of it was the craving that Ennis always held in his eyes for him. Nothing else was really needed but the unexpressed and obvious want that they both felt deep in their souls. <br />
<br />
After an hour of tracking the next morning, they finally found the herd… sort of. The sheep had taken off west and gotten mixed in amongst a herd on another allotment.<br />
<br />
As Ennis and Jack sat astride their horses looking down at over two thousand or more sheep, del Mar confessed he was lost. "Well, what are we supposed to do now, huh?"<br />
<br />
"Git on in there 'n untangle them Chilean sheep outta ours I guess."<br />
<br />
What followed was a damn miserable time over five days involving Ennis and a Chilean herder with no English, <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TJrcvWao4mY/VLi2YnYuqtI/AAAAAAAALH0/ly9zQeEb-qs/s1600/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Blost%2Bsheep.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TJrcvWao4mY/VLi2YnYuqtI/AAAAAAAALH0/ly9zQeEb-qs/s320/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Blost%2Bsheep.JPG" height="217" width="400" /></a>trying to sort them out, the task almost impossible as the paint brands were worn and faint after so long.<br />
<br />
With Jack’s continued bitching about not being able to tell them apart, Ennis turned to see him dragging a protesting ewe by her hind legs toward a makeshift pen they’d set up.<br />
<br />
"This is impossible!" Twist loudly declared in frustration.<br />
<br />
Over the bleating del Mar yelled from astride his horse, "We gotta try. The least we can do is git the count right fer Aguirre."<br />
<br />
Jack went off running after another one screaming, "FUCK Aguirre!"<br />
<br />
In the midst of lassoing one, Ennis answered out of breath, "Oh yeah fuck Aguirre. And what if we need to work fer him again, huh, ya think of that? …We gotta stick this out Jack."<br />
<br />
In a disquieting way everything seemed as mixed as those two herds.<br />
<br />
The next afternoon they guided 991 sheep back to their own allotment. Midway there after being awake all night, Jack began playing his dented harmonica on horseback to keep from falling asleep in the saddle.<br />
<br />
Beside him, Ennis warned sternly with a good-natured smile, "Yer gonna run them sheep off again if ya don’t quiet down!" to which Jack only chuckled and kept on playing sour notes and all.<br />
<br />
After a while even the dogs began objecting in loud howls and fearful of attracting attention from wolves, Jack finally put it away in his pocket.<br />
<br />
When they got back, Ennis decided to sleep with the sheep from then on despite Jack’s objections. Secretly he’d begun to sneak away from Jack to ponder his fate alone. He’d been taught all of his life that what he was doing with Twist was wrong and evil, and was truly terrified that he’d pay for it by being damned by God forever in hell for it.<br />
<br />
Try as he might, he couldn’t let go of his wanting for the sexy young rodeo rider as much for the sex as for the... love. Never in his life up until now had he felt as if someone was devoted to him - not even with Alma.<br />
<br />
Herders in the other camp must've reported the incident to Aguirre during their supply run. The following weekend the foreman showed up late in the afternoon after Ennis had left. The foreman muttered the latest news of his Uncle Harold, and then he firmly ordered Jack to bring their herd back down off of the mountain immediately ...<br />
<br />
...no ifs, ands, or buts.<br />
<br />
As before, Joe wore a look of utter disgust the brief time he was there at the sight of the rodeo rider and never bothered to even get down off of his horse. Jack argued long and hard but to no avail. In fact within moments of his arrival their boss was gone again, setting off in the direction of the other herd.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Storms In Jack’s Eyes</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he next morning Ennis woke in his little pup tent with a start to find his feet freezing cold. He stumbled out shivering in confusion to discover everything was covered in white after the first snow came months early, piling up a foot in places, but was followed by a quick melt.<br />
<br />
He rode down the mountain at a gallop back to camp in case Jack needed help only to find him undoing the tie straps on the tent frame.<br />
<br />
As he spotted the food and their supplies all packed in boxes ready to be piled onto the mules, he called out mystified, "What the hell? What’re you doin'? Why are we movin’ camp?"<br />
<br />
Jack looked over and said, "Aguirre came by again. Said my uncle didn’t die after all. He says bring ‘em down."<br />
<br />
"Bring ‘em down? Why? - It’s the middle of August?"<br />
<br />
"He said there’s a storm comin’ in, movin’ in off the Pacific worse than this one."<br />
<br />
"What, but that snow barely stuck an hour, huh!" he objected. "Besides, that son of a bitch, he’s cutting us out of a whole month’s pay - it ain’t… it ain’t right."<br />
<br />
Still busy shaking snow off of and folding the big tent, Jack considered a moment and said, "Well, I can spare ya a loan Bud if yer short on cash, give it to ya when we to get to Signal, be glad to do it. You can take yer time payin’ it back."<br />
<br />
Ennis’ pride took hold and he answered angrily, "I don’t need yer money, huh; I ain’t in the poor house."<br />
<br />
Jack watched him furiously kick at some unmelted snow in a spray of white muttering "Shit." to himself and then strode to a nearby tree stump. Sitting down upset, he grabbed an unused fire log, dug around in the dirt with it a moment and then absently tossed it aside.<br />
<br />
Ennis looked around and saw that everything had already been packed and except for loading it all, they were ready to leave.<br />
<br />
But he wasn’t.<br />
<br />
His chest tightened and his eyes began to burn painfully as he realized why he was so upset; in the space of a day he’d probably never see Jack again. He couldn't cry in front of Twist.<br />
<br />
He thought he’d prepared himself for their coming separation in a month or so, but not in a few days - hours!<br />
<br />
Jack watched his lover turn and walk slowly out about a hundred yards into the meadow and then sit down in a crouch within the wet high grass on the top of a knoll.<br />
<br />
Ennis tucked his forehead to his knees as his arms surrounded them, his tan cowboy hat hiding his face. <span style="color: #006d9f;">A memory of seeing his father weeping at the shoreline of their ranch washed over him. His daddy was the strongest man he knew. The horseman badly needed the release that tears would give, but they wouldn’t come, leaving him alone in his deep sadness.<br />
<br />
Del Mar was always alone and now he realized that his private hidden fantasy of never leaving this mountain, to spend the rest of his days with Jack was just that... a dream.<br />
<br />
In sorrow Ennis asked himself, “How come Daddy could cry and I cain’t? Am I that damned heartless… soulless?”<br />
<br />
A vision of Michael killing himself came over him filling Ennis with even more anguish. Ennis felt as bad as the day he wanted to drown himself in Lake Sage.<br />
<br />
I have to push this away… I have to think of somethin’ else, somethin’ stronger.<br />
<br />
Anger crept into his thoughts. It seemed to him (mistakenly) that Jack had given up without a fight or a single word of objection to Aguirre. Ennis tried to substitute his sorrow with resentment towards Twist for accepting the situation so emotionlessly.</span><br />
<br />
Ennis had always pretended this was all a fantasy, because he knew that in real life it would have to end sooner instead of later. But like a really good dream, he woke up from it before he wanted to and longed to go back to sleep to be back in it. He knew that when he "woke" this time he’d have to be normal again, marry Alma and forget all about Jack.<br />
<br />
As long as he was up here, he was free... of himself and all of the hatred he’d been taught and seen as a child. He hadn’t prepared yet to face the fact he’d given his heart away on Brokeback Mountain... and so he ached there alone for Jack’s arms to comfort him.<br />
<br />
His mind kept flashing between anger and confusion… love and resentment.<br />
<br />
Don’t nobody come near me until I can sort this out in my head.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, having finished packing the camp up by himself, Jack felt it too. <span style="color: #006d9f;">He’d argued long and hard with his boss that they could stick it out through the storm, but Aguirre stubbornly would hear nothing of it, warning that if they stayed he wouldn’t pay them for the time they’d spent so far.</span><br />
<br />
With one last tug on the ropes and a look to see that the pack animals weren’t going anywhere, he scanned the clearing to find Ennis still sitting there.<br />
<br />
He'd been stealing glances of him and fought to keep from running to comfort his companion. He had to give his friend time to let it all out.<br />
<br />
Jack would cry later ...possibly for the rest of his life.<br />
<br />
When he couldn't stand it any longer, he reached up to his saddle and grabbed his lasso, heading toward his friend through the tall field.<br />
<br />
The wind was picking up and smelled of snow, pine and wet wild <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Nxe-3ax3vs/UeiKxJTui-I/AAAAAAAAGcU/3S0DR4AHYdA/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+lasso.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Nxe-3ax3vs/UeiKxJTui-I/AAAAAAAAGcU/3S0DR4AHYdA/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+lasso.JPG" width="400" /></a>grasses as the sun warmed his shoulders.<br />
<br />
About ten yards from him, Jack began twirling the lariat over his head neatly landing it around Ennis’ back and knees where he sat.<br />
<br />
With a gentle tug on the rope, he softly said reluctantly the words he'd dreaded since falling in love so deeply with this man, "Time to git goin', Cowboy."<br />
<br />
Del Mar stood up, pulled the lasso off over his head, brushed himself off and gave Jack a silent nod, walking ahead of him down the hill.<br />
<br />
Jack smiled and playfully swung the rope again, this time catching Ennis’ feet, causing him to fall.<br />
<br />
Twist giggled and playfully pounced on him, meaning to give him a kiss goodbye, but Ennis struggled away and laughingly protested, "This ain’t no rodeo, you," and began mock fighting him like a calf that didn’t want to be roped and tied.<br />
<br />
With joyous peals of laughter, giggles and grunts, they both rolled down the hill, side-by-side in each other’s arms struggling mischievously.<br />
<br />
Then something happened and that emotional switch flipped in his head that he’d been struggling with. Alma… Jack… Fearing lynch mobs the rest of his life. Getting tied down in a useless marriage that he’d only recently realized he didn’t want.<br />
<br />
God had been watching him this whole time and only now decided to punish him for his sin?<br />
<br />
This is all Jack’s fault; he shoulda fought harder against Aguirre’s decision.<br />
<br />
Ennis started fighting for real, circling Jack’s neck with his strong hands.<br />
<br />
Something inside of him thought that if he killed Jack, he’d kill the hurt of the coming separation and painlessly destroy the forbidden feelings he had for him.<br />
<br />
Surprised and near panic with his wind nearly cut off, Jack fought back and accidentally butted Ennis’ face with his knee.<br />
<br />
Del Mar stopped abruptly and stood up, wiping gushing blood from his nose onto his white plaid shirtsleeve and cuff. The blow had cleared his head, and he stood dazed wondering what the hell was he thinking?<br />
<br />
Aghast at what he’d done, Jack jumped up, pulled him close and started wiping Ennis' nose with the sleeve of his heavy denim shirt.<br />
<br />
Suddenly an intense rage and confusion welled up again within Ennis at Jack not standing up to Aguirre, for his own acting queer for the last few weeks, and the terror of being damned to hell for what he’d done on this god-forsaken mountain. Without warning he flattened Jack with a right hook to the left side of his friend's face leaving a deep red mark on his cheek.<br />
<br />
Jack collapsed hard into a sitting position all curled up and moaning on the ground painfully clutching his head, fearful of another blow. When he finally looked up he watched Ennis staggering to their horses, peeling off his shirt and wiping his nose with it.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">When he reached Cigar Butt, he searched for the spare gold plaid one he kept in an old burlap potato sack and jammed the bloody shirt into his saddlebag.<br />
<br />
Jack painfully stood up on unsure legs, strode cautiously over from the meadow and just as he reached out for his friend, Ennis backed away from him and muttered, "Gotta piss," and took off toward the woods while Twist waited by the horses.<br />
<br />
When he returned he found Jack still standing next to the bay mare, putting something in his saddlebag.<br />
<br />
Ennis stood transfixed looking for a long time at the morning sun glaring off of his bright red nose blood soaked into the sleeve cuffs of Twist's favorite denim <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85juV-eVcX8/UmruWyMii0I/AAAAAAAAI-M/unKAjE464-s/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+jack+ennis+fight.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin" 0px;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-85juV-eVcX8/UmruWyMii0I/AAAAAAAAI-M/unKAjE464-s/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+jack+ennis+fight.JPG" width="400" /></a>shirt and wondered why he hadn't taken it off.<br />
<br />
The bruise on his cheek just below his eye looked very painful.<br />
<br />
Del Mar moved forward to apologize, but Jack fixed him with a look that Ennis had never seen before... An equal parts anger… betrayal of trust… fear and powerful resentment. Like a dog kicked just one too many times that is growling a warning to stay away because he no longer trusted his beloved owner to approach… without hurting him.<br />
<br />
All of that and more was in Jack’s eyes.<br />
<br />
Ennis timidly bowed his head and mounted Cigar Butt.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Banished Angels</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span> moment later, they rode off with the dogs to silently gather and herd the flock back down the trail. They didn’t utter a word the whole ride down; after all it took a great deal of concentration to keep track of so many animals. Even if they’d tried to speak the loudly protesting sheep would’ve prevented their hearing each other.<br />
<br />
When Jack's attention was occasionally distracted by a stray, Ennis’ eyes sought him out and would become transfixed with the sight of Twist’s bloody sleeve.<br />
<br />
Every glance that Jack made towards Ennis found him looking down or away.<br />
<br />
Shrill whistles to the dogs were their only communications.<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sji6LsLtSnM/Ug7LgOQGPWI/AAAAAAAAHN0/sxzDh5dWt_I/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sji6LsLtSnM/Ug7LgOQGPWI/AAAAAAAAHN0/sxzDh5dWt_I/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+sheep.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
With the difficult task that required all of their thoughts, both young men were unable to express themselves for fear of losing track of their charges. The inevitable result would be for the whole situation to totally crash down on them emotionally once they reached their pissed off boss.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> All around them, the mountain boiled with demonic energy from the sudden snowmelt, glazed with flickering broken gray cloud light; the wind combed the grass and swayed the tall pines, moaning through slit rock in a bestial drone. </span> <br />
<br />
As they descended the slope Ennis felt that he was in a slow motion, headlong, and irreversible fall, like a child who’d been punished for a crime he didn’t commit or an angel who’d been banished from heaven by the god he still feared might punish him for loving another man.<br />
<br />
His breath caught at the first time he'd consciously used the word love.<br />
<br />
Across the flock about 20 yards away, he noticed that Twist kept rubbing the deep bruise on his left cheek next to his eye where del Mar had hit him.<br />
<br />
Ennis sank back into his life-long pattern and withdrew further into himself, becoming the stoic and nearly wordless man he was before.<br />
<br />
Through stolen glances, Jack watched it happen close to tears and helpless to do anything about it.<br />
<br />
Both men hid the building heartbreak that they felt.<br />
<br />
At the Proulx River commercial trailhead they shrugged into their coats as a misty rain began to fall and waited at a split-rail fence for their boss.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack bowed his head and openly began sobbing, knowing the rain disguised the burning tears he could no longer hold back. After the difficult task of bringing the woolies down, his mind finally felt the emotions of the situation crash down on him.<br />
<br />
Ennis saw it happen, haunted and worried by the ghost of Michael’s suicide, and turned away feeling like his heart would break if he watched, unable to comfort his young friend… his lover without showing weakness himself.<br />
<br />
Del Mar finally broke away and strode over to say goodbye to trusty Cigar Butt and sadly give a few affectionate pats on his neck. He felt miserable that he probably wouldn’t have enough to buy the horse from Aguirre. Too many things in his young life were going wrong at once and in his emotional frustration, he wondered how much longer he could hold out before breaking down himself.<br />
<br />
Ennis had more practice at holding things in, but he knew it was building like the steam in "Old Faithful" and that sooner or later it’d release. He also knew that the longer he held it in, the more brutal it’d be coming out… and more’n likely he’d be alone when it did.<br />
<br />
Ennis turned to go over to his boss to ask how much he wanted for his beloved mount and stopped in his tracks at the sight of Aguirre’s near-threatening eyes on him.<br />
<br />
The distant foreman kept openly shooting them both pissed-off looks as he supervised the wranglers loading the sheep, mules and horses into trucks.<br />
<br />
As if cruelly sensing what Ennis wanted, Joe Aguirre gestured to one of the Chileans and moments later Cigar Butt was abruptly led away to a staging area filled with stock vans and semi trailers.<br />
<br />
The young horseman turned and went back meekly to stand beside the still crying Jack as the rain became a downpour.<br />
<br />
Twist’s eyes were bloodshot red and the swollen bruise where he’d been punched was turning purple and yellow.<br />
<br />
In his heart, Ennis ached to hold Twist in his arms and comfort him but didn’t dare.<br />
<br />
Spotting his approach, Jack quickly composed himself as </span>Aguirre walked over with a clear plastic-covered sheaf of paper on a clipboard in his hand. A sour expression said. "Some of these never went up there with you. The count ain’t what I’d hoped for neither. You damned quee... damned ranch stiffs ain’t never no good."<br />
<br />
Both young men bowed their heads and looked away.<br />
<br />
Aguirre handed them both envelopes with cash in them and walked off toward his Rambler muttering something under his breath that sounded like "fuckin’ queers."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Twist and del Mar turned to follow after him, expecting a ride back to the office trailer where Jack’s truck was still parked, but he started his car up and drove away before they reached it leaving them stranded.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Sharp Knife Cuts The Cleanest & Hurts The Least</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he rain eventually stopped and a drying stiff wind took over. An hour or so later they hitched a ride with the Chilean herder back into Signal. While the silence between them during that drive healed the resentment in Jack, it only festered in Ennis.<br />
<br />
The driver told them in confidence that Aguirre had started having them use Twist’s truck to run errands in, but the considerate herder laughed when he told him that he’d kept the old pickup full of gas and had even had the leaky fuel line replaced… on Aguirre’s dime.<br />
<br />
When the stockmen determined it needed a tune up and possibly a new battery, Aguirre drew the line and they parked it where it stood now about a month ago and hadn’t touched it since.<br />
<br />
Once there, they noticed the truck was backed in where it was previously parked nose to the wall of the building next door. Aguirre must’ve gone straight home, because his car wasn’t there.<br />
<br />
Jack thanked the man after getting his keys back, shook his hand and waved as the Chilean pulled out of the lot.<br />
<br />
Ennis had heard that K.E. and his wife and moved to Signal and he thought of looking his brother up; then thought better of it.<br />
<br />
With nowhere else to go, he silently turned to head toward the highway to thumb a ride back to Riverton. He’d thought of asking Jack for one, but needed to cut the ties fast.<br />
<br />
Ennis was fighting the urgent want to kiss him goodbye and apologize, but remained stoically silent below his lowered hat brim instead. While he felt the need to get away fast, he equally wanted to somehow say he was sorry for hitting him, but couldn’t find an excuse or even the words to stay and talk about it.<br />
<br />
He ached for a way to not let it end like this, but in his deep regret couldn’t think of one. His daddy taught him that in life, love, hunting and friendships, a sharp knife cuts the cleanest and hurts the least.<br />
<br />
They parted without a word or even a handshake.</span><br />
<br />
Ennis got only fifteen feet away on foot, when he heard the grinding of Jack’s starter. What if Twist pulled up and offered him a ride home? Ennis ached to hold his lover in his arms one last time.<br />
<br />
From behind, the starter stopped and started twice more, then Jack cussed loudly. The carburetor probably wasn’t primed properly when they changed the fuel line.<br />
<br />
Reversing course, Ennis silently strode back to the truck, reached into the old grill above the bumper and pulled on the latch, raised the hood and began fiddling with something for a moment. After employing a couple of tricks he’d learned from Earl and Rich on how to get a reluctant engine running, he yelled, "Pump the pedal," still crouched over the engine. After nodding to himself, he shouted, "Okay, try again 'n give it some gas!"<br />
<br />
The starter grinded and then caught immediately, the truck roaring to life in a cloud of smoke that was quickly carried away by a gust of unusually cold wind.<br />
<br />
Ennis slammed the hood closed and when Jack jumped out to thank him, he found del Mar searching absently through his canvas bag. "I cain’t believe I left my damned shirt up there. Oh well, I’d never have gotten the blood out of it anyways."<br />
<br />
Ennis looked up to find Jack nodding, "Yeah," and then looked away.<br />
<br />
Twist asked, "You gonna do this again next summer?" with a hopeful tone interrupting Ennis’ continued search.<br />
<br />
Jack was prepared for a fast exit and already had one foot up on the running board of his idling old pickup, his arm propped over the top of the <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iyaTsPR8WXE/U2j9wEbKhqI/AAAAAAAAKj4/0_wIGTobJSQ/w834-h433-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+Ennis+part+way.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iyaTsPR8WXE/U2j9wEbKhqI/AAAAAAAAKj4/0_wIGTobJSQ/w834-h433-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+Ennis+part+way.JPG" width="400" /></a>open door between them.<br />
<br />
For only a moment, Ennis' eyes sought out the bloodstained sleeve again, but it was now covered by Jack's heavy coat. He fixed his eyes on the ground in front of his feet to avoid Twist's expectant gaze.<br />
<br />
The breeze was picking up and blowing hard and cold. He glimpsed Jack’s bruised cheek, unable to settle his eyes on it for more than a second. He returned to looking down, absently rummaging through his burlap potatoes bag some more.<br />
<br />
Jack had asked him something about coming back next summer hadn't he?<br />
<br />
"Oh, maybe not," he answered finally.<br />
<br />
A dust plume rose and hazed the air with fine grit and Ennis squinted against it. "Like I said, me ‘n Alma’s gettin’ married in November, so uh, I’ll try to get somethin’ on a ranch I guess... You?"<br />
<br />
"I might go north up to my daddy’s place 'n give him a hand through the winter… I might be back… if the army don’t git me."<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded nervously a lot and after an uncomfortable silence between them he finally said, "Well, I guess I’ll see ya around, huh?"<br />
<br />
"Right," replied Jack looking down.<br />
<br />
The wind tumbled an empty feedbag down the street towards them until it swept up under the truck.<br />
<br />
Ennis felt his gut welling up in his throat as if he were sick and decided to cut and run.<br />
<br />
Quickly there was forty feet of distance between them.<br />
<br />
Nothing for Jack to do but drive away and as his truck came up alongside and then passed del Mar on foot, he looked back through the side mirror hoping against hope that Ennis would gesture after him to stop or at least look up in a final glance goodbye.<br />
<br />
Ennis' broken heart begged him to call out after the rodeo cowboy and after no more than fifty paces he felt like someone was pulling his guts out hand over hand a yard at a time. His overwhelming sorrow at their parting before he had time to emotionally cope with it destroyed his ability to summon the strength to run after his friend... his... his...love?<br />
<br />
As he began feeling dizzy, his eyes stayed focused on the uneven ground he was now stumbling over. He finally looked up in time to see the old GMC turn the corner...<br />
<br />
...and Jack was gone.<br />
<br />
He choked back a confused and anguished sob and crashed zigzagged to his knees between two utility shacks and tried to puke but nothing came up... no; it wasn't his stomach. In his deep state of confusion, he didn’t want it to end with Jack, but couldn’t admit it to himself or face it either, so he did what any man brought up in the West would do; he began punching the wall of the building until the pain took away his unwanted thoughts.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">His mind drifted back to the day he punched that tree trying to kill the pain of Michael leaving him.</span><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_d20JZZQFf4/TpKP-bl_mNI/AAAAAAAAHRk/31VOtSabGqc/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_d20JZZQFf4/TpKP-bl_mNI/AAAAAAAAHRk/31VOtSabGqc/s660/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+12.JPG" width="660" /></a><br />
He felt about as bad as he ever had. The throbbing in his knuckles was so intense he began sobbing. Deep inside himself he knew why he cried, but the man in him blamed it on his sore fist.<br />
<br />
A cowboy on foot came up on him and silently paused to see if he could help.<br />
<br />
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YA LOOKIN' AT?" Ennis roared ferociously and the man retreated, figuring he was drunk.<br />
<br />
As he ached for the comfort of Jack's strong arms and the tender caress of his lips, Ennis collapsed against the wall and bawled in despair for almost fifteen minutes. His eyes felt like someone threw acid in them as his nose clogged and tears ran down his face.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">A gust of wind hit him and froze the wet skin on his cheeks as tiny snowflakes invaded the dark space between the buildings that surrounded him. In frustration he balled up his fists and yelled at the wall, "It’s goddamn August fer crimony sakes!" and then curled up in a ball on the ground and cried in emotional agony… alone... as he suspected he'd always be... as he feared god had damned him to be.<br />
<br />
He told himself he should've learned his lesson with Michael… why couldn’t he have learned his damned lesson with Michael?</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-78-80-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-83393670052951173132014-02-24T12:12:00.001-05:002019-07-29T12:27:10.335-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XIX<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 19 ~ Junior & Jenny</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-74-77-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Goin’ Straight With Only Three Deuces</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>S</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">eptember was miserable for Ennis.<br />
<br />
He only came out of his cheap apartment over Betsy’s Bar to buy basic groceries, cigarettes or to sit in the tavern downstairs drinking and playing poker.<br />
<br />
In his depressed condition he didn’t care how soon his cash reserve would run out, so he never sought a job.<br />
<br />
Alma Beers was lost to figure out what had happened to change him; it was almost like he was in mourning for someone he'd lost.<br />
<br />
She had no idea how right she’d guessed.<br />
<br />
Before Alma had set off on her own at 18 and moved to Sage to find a husband only to become a waitress, she lived and grew up in Riverton. Mother Beers still had their old homestead there, and was determined to meddle in her daughter's life.<br />
<br />
Now that she and the unemployed ranch hand were both broke and getting broker fast, Alma hated taking money from her mother and having to endure the "I told you so" looks she got from her. That’s how Ennis had long ago figured out why Ma Beers' husband had left her when Alma was a child.<br />
<br />
Del Mar had a terrible argument with Alma one night over him spending so much time gambling, and rather than deal with her, he went downstairs to Betsy’s just to spite her.<br />
<br />
Along about 1AM, she was startled out of bed when from somewhere out behind the old building came the unmistakable voice of her fiancé joyously screaming, "Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! at the top of his lungs.<br />
<br />
After he cheerfully stumbled home up the steps half drunk from a bar fight, she became furious at how battered he was and he couldn’t understand her problem, mainly because he was so proud of himself for winning an old <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YGraGq5gF4M/UgAIY_5d-nI/AAAAAAAAG6s/4Z5a2gb0CJI/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain+Ennis+new+truck+heath+ledger.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YGraGq5gF4M/UgAIY_5d-nI/AAAAAAAAG6s/4Z5a2gb0CJI/s400/Brokeback-Mountain+Ennis+new+truck+heath+ledger.JPG" width="335" /></a>55 GMC pickup in a poker game.<br />
<br />
The brawl was because the truck's owner said del Mar had cheated and he threatened to kill him. Del Mar had bluffed his way through a high-stakes hand with eight other guys and won out with three deuces! The loser, (a local American Indian friend of his) folded with three jacks.<br />
<br />
"Ennis; ya ain’t got that many friends to begin with," she shouted before storming out to go home to her mother’s, "Ya don’t need ta run off the few ya got left over somethin’ as stupid as a run-down no-good truck!"<br />
<br />
Ennis resented Alma’s attitude; Jack would’ve been proud and laughed about it with him the rest of the night.<br />
<br />
It was something women would never understand. His first vehicle is like his first love. He'll overlook how battered and dented it is and all of its problems because it will always be his first. Others will come along and maybe the first one that he'll ever buy new off the showroom floor may take its place... but only for a while.<br />
<br />
October came and Alma pulled him out of his shell by visiting every day. Bitching at him for not getting a job would be counterproductive, so she started living with him full time to get away from her mother, cooking his meals and sleeping with him.<br />
<br />
She finally figured out a way to get at the problem and in mid-October she got rehired part-time at the local Monroe’s Grocery Store to keep food in the apartment.<br />
<br />
It worked.<br />
<br />
Ennis wasn’t about to let no woman support him and made her quit after he found a job on a ranch.<br />
<br />
He also suspected she was flirting with the storeowner's son to make her fiancé jealous and true or not that worked too. He began paying more attention to her and allowed her to take up where she left off last summer making wedding plans.<br />
<br />
He'd changed sexually too.<br />
<br />
He began to prefer ass fucking her from behind doggie style or he'd flip her over and lay her flat and seemed to have a "thing" for kissing her shoulder blades tenderly.<br />
<br />
His dreams often involved the day Jack fucked and sucked him at the same time and one night he loudly called out Jack’s name in his sleep, startling Alma out of bed.<br />
<br />
As he’d pretended with Jack to be fucking Alma, now he was pretending with her to be fucking Jack, imagining her shoulder blades were his pecs. At one point he'd even talked her into cutting her hair short for no apparent reason.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Brotherly Love</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span>s planned, in November of 1963 they were married and with the ceremony brought a new change in Ennis. Suddenly he became fun to be around and most of <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jWu3PiKMWmA/Uf7hS0jbziI/AAAAAAAAG4Y/e7KIhtIPFLA/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+and+Alma+wedding+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jWu3PiKMWmA/Uf7hS0jbziI/AAAAAAAAG4Y/e7KIhtIPFLA/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+and+Alma+wedding+photo.jpg" width="348" /></a>their days were spent together laughing, seeing movies and dancing in the local bars.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">In the middle of their improvised honeymoon in Casper the whole world came to a halt. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated down in Texas somewhere and everyone held their breath waiting for Russia to react.<br />
<br />
As rumors swirled about new President Johnson getting deeper involved in Vietnam, escalation of tensions with Cuba, and the Civil Rights marches, Ennis cut things short and took his bride home and started planning for a family, wondering if at any moment he’d be drafted into the army to fight World War III.</span><br />
<br />
Alma's mother's interference got too much for him to stomach and they moved up north near the Idaho line, figuring he could get a job on a ranch he knew from when he and K.E. were up there five years ago.<br />
<br />
In January of the next year Alma was pregnant.<br />
<br />
Ennis kept busy on ranches and farms during spring planting and roundups. As things got rough financially and some ranchers couldn’t afford to pay him, Ennis began taking horses in trade, which infuriated his new wife even though he was making a fair resale profit on them.<br />
<br />
Later he barely made ends meet with occasional part-time summer jobs like working on road crews in the miserable heat.<br />
<br />
For a long stretch Ennis avoided whisky because it reminded him of Jack and how much he missed him; but now he drank it all the time…<br />
<br />
…because it reminded him of Jack.<br />
<br />
All through July they moved from place to cheaper place and finally Alma had her fill of it and demanded Ennis take an apartment back in Riverton so they could have their own permanent home base, but he <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rHSkVa9_OQ/UpfyHfD1gBI/AAAAAAAAJHo/G0W61Owxb3U/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Lightning+Flat+map.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1rHSkVa9_OQ/UpfyHfD1gBI/AAAAAAAAJHo/G0W61Owxb3U/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Lightning+Flat+map.JPG" width="310" /></a>refused... and refused... and loudly refused.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Twice, he tried to locate Jack with no luck. He even drove up to a nearly deserted Lightning Flat to try to find the Twist Ranch on the confusing and zigzagged D Road, but failed. The damned street kept changing names the closer it got to the Montana line.<br />
<br />
Armed with good news for a change, he finally located K.E. in Signal and gave him a friendly call one afternoon from a pay phone.<br />
<br />
Ennis barely had five words out when his half-drunken brother asked, "What'd ya think of God takin' out our Sodom 'n Gomorrah, eh? First he brought down the lightning 'n fire 'n... 'n... then he wiped it out with a flood. Goddamned rotten place fuckin' deserved it too by damn."<br />
<br />
Ennis frowned at the phone and asked, "What're ya talkin' about?"<br />
<br />
“Hey! Speakin' of Sodom 'n Gomorrah, how’s yer queer boyfriend Mikey doin’?”<br />
<br />
The ear-splitting shriek of a young child roughhousing with another came over the phone along with loud country/western music as he told his brother that Mike was dead.<br />
<br />
Kyle yelled loudly at the child in the background who kept screaming, and Ennis was sure from a lack of reaction that K.E. hadn’t heard him.<br />
<br />
After a puzzled moment to collect himself, he continued, “Me ‘n Alma got married and we’re expectin’ our first baby soon and I…”<br />
<br />
Seemingly not hearing the last part over the brat yelling for his mama, K.E. interrupted, “Now that’s a corker; we don’t allow no faggot weddin’s in Wyoming. He’s callin’ himself Alma now is he? I reckon that means yer playin’ the man?”<br />
<br />
Aghast, Ennis looked at the payphone receiver as if he could see his brother through it and asked, “K.E. what’s gotten in to ya?”<br />
<br />
“It’s Kyle… got that? Kyle… Mr. del Mar to you, ‘n if’n yer tryin’ to hit me up fer dough to have one a them queer operations, I got a wife ‘n four kids ta support.”<br />
<br />
“K. uh Kyle, we was jest tryin’ to have ya meet yer own flesh ‘n blood after it’s born ‘n…”<br />
<br />
“No fag is kin o’ mine. Don’t call here no more.”<br />
<br />
The connection clicked and the buzz of a dial tone followed.<br />
<br />
Ennis sort of collapsed against the side of the glass booth.<br />
<br />
After all they’d endured together. After his saving his brother's life when he was sick and at death’s door, after all…<br />
<br />
…after all<br />
<br />
Eventually the young horseman put the heartache away with all the others. He was getting a lot of practice at it. Occasionally Alma would ask after his kin and he’d just grunt a noncommittal answer so she’d let it drop.<br />
<br />
Slowly the thought of being a father pushed everything else out of his mind.<br />
<br />
Prodded by her mother always complaining that she deserved a better life and a better man, Alma became selfish and impatient in her pregnancy and never seemed satisfied with anything he did for her.</span><br />
<br />
He surprised her on a hot August day by announcing they were moving. Ennis had gotten an important job on the Hi-Top Ranch up in Washakie County working with horses and agreed to take lower pay in exchange for a rent-free house on the southern tip of the spread.<br />
<br />
Alma was overjoyed… until she saw the place.<br />
<br />
In September she had a baby girl. His bitch of a mother-in-law was named Alma too and his wife seemed determined to name the baby Alma as well, so Ennis dubbed her "Alma del Mar Jr." on the birth certificate.<br />
<br />
After that, Jack eventually faded from his mind reluctantly replaced with midnight feedings, the responsibilities of being a husband and a father, the impossible task of trying to do anything that pleased his constantly demanding wife, and the pride of feeling like a real family man for the first time.<br />
<br />
He had Alma pregnant again in less than a month, hoping for a boy this time so he’d have a namesake.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">By the end of October the Hi-Top folded without warning and the del Mars began worrying about where to move. Ennis knew of a ranch near Signal that’d take him and wondered if his brother could help him find a good job down there. He briefly fantasized about showing up at K.E.’s door with his pregnant wife and child, if only to watch his brother apologize to him for being wrong about the hateful things he’d said the last time they spoke.<br />
<br />
A week later Ennis tried to call him only to discover Kyle’s phone had been disconnected.<br />
<br />
Both K.E. and Cornelia seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth; almost as if they were avoiding him.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Struggles Of A Husband, Father & Provider</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he immediate problem was money with no current paycheck coming in.<br />
<br />
Circumstances made up their minds for them.<br />
<br />
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 and a busted up chair in an old stove after the coal ran out, with the baby next to it to keep warm.<br />
<br />
After going to town hall the next day, he had it turned back on under his own name and while there, he 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 or offer Ennis a job.<br />
<br />
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 ship even though she had no idea which direction to go either.<br />
<br />
The following January Ennis got himself hired on at the Rafter-B and like their present arrangement it came with low pay, an old rundown house and a place to keep his livestock. By then, Ennis had taken on another three horses in exchange for back pay that he wouldn’t get, infuriating Alma... again.<br />
<br />
The new house was even more rundown than the old one and through the rest of the winter Alma became more and more miserable fighting drafty rooms and a leaky roof.<br />
<br />
Ennis thought only of his family and never himself, and nearly got frostbite on one very windy day putting up plastic over the windows, and then a week later fell off the roof fixing shingles over a leak.<br />
<br />
Not a word of appreciation came out of his wife’s ungrateful mouth. She did however bitch him out about the possibility of not being able to work if he'd hurt himself when he fell.</span><br />
<br />
Everything was about "her" never "them."<br />
<br />
He began watching the newspapers to find movies at the drive-in theater that she might like… it was the only way to be with her and not have to listen to her bitch about this and that for two hours’ peace.<br />
<br />
In May came the birth of a baby girl three weeks premature, which she named Jenny Francine. Ennis wanted the first name to be Francine after his mother, and Jennifer after the kindly old midwife that delivered her for free, but Alma wouldn’t even let him have that little triumph without screwing with it somehow and reversed the order.<br />
<br />
A resentment had begun building in Ennis after that, as though his constantly-criticizing wife was determined to "wear the pants" in the family, never pleased with his decisions, never happy with how hard he was working to support his family <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CbqRz1oIfKU/UgU272gMwwI/AAAAAAAAG-Y/QmTSyQajib0/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+del+Mar+1st+truck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CbqRz1oIfKU/UgU272gMwwI/AAAAAAAAG-Y/QmTSyQajib0/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+del+Mar+1st+truck.jpg" width="290" /></a>or what income he brought home. She seemed to always be withholding her pussy as a way of getting her way - whether he liked it or not… and usually he didn’t.<br />
<br />
Many late afternoons she'd hear him come home outside and go to the window, only to find him tired and standing out between his truck and the house staring at the ground like he was torn between coming in to his miserable wife or turning tail and just leaving her.<br />
<br />
She was so self-centered that she never really caught on, or cared for that matter about just how unhappy she'd made Ennis become with his life.<br />
<br />
The house became smaller and smaller, with constantly crying babies, dirty diapers, and feedings at all hours of the day and night. Infant Jenny developed a cough that wouldn’t go away and as the doctor bills mounted Ennis took on more part-time jobs and became increasingly fed-up.<br />
<br />
Whenever he came home the babies were always screaming in piercing high-pitched shrieks and never seemed to quiet down.<br />
<br />
Finally in 1967 Alma seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The kids, especially little Jenny, were getting more and more sickly and a trip to the hospital or doctor could take 45 minutes not counting how long it took to find Ennis to drive them there.<br />
<br />
Most of those expensive doctor visits proved to be unnecessary, and always wiped out what little money Ennis had barely been able to save up.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">More and more of their fights were about her frantic calls over a sniffle or a slight fever. Alma painted him as a selfish and uncaring father to anyone who'd listen and of course it always got back to him.<br />
<br />
As a result, instead of beating on her, Ennis grew an impatient and mean streak with everyone else, getting into fistfights in bars and coming home drunk or arriving the next morning after spending the night in jail to sleep it off.<br />
<br />
He’d become more distant to his wife sexually too, continuing the trend of mostly rolling over and facing the wall away from her, claiming to be too tired for sex.<br />
<br />
He'd grown to as much fear as to ache for the love he'd once shared with Jack and worked hard to keep those thoughts from his mind.<br />
<br />
He was hurting too, because he realized when he thought back on it, he never really loved Alma, ever. She was only his opportunity to prove to everyone and himself that he was a "man," whose job it was to sire a family to continue his blood line. The closest he came to loving his wife was when Junior was born, but with her constant demands and complaints; that didn’t last long.<br />
<br />
Now, if it weren’t for how much he loved his kids, he’d have left her.<br />
<br />
Finally it came to a head on July 4th of 1966 when Ennis was arrested for assault and battery involving two leather-clad hippies he’d beaten up in front of his family at the fireworks display that night.<br />
<br />
Two half-drunken longhaired bikers, the likes of which Ennis had never seen before, began making pussy jokes in front of his wife and baby girls. After several warnings to keep their slop-bucket mouths shut, he laid into them both.<br />
<br />
Instead of showing him any kind of support, all his wife did was loudly try to get everyone within earshot to feel sorry for her for having such a heartless husband while the deafening skyrockets shot off above their heads.<br />
<br />
For a while there, it was a toss-up as to what was louder, the skyrockets or Jenny’s screaming.<br />
<br />
Del Mar pled guilty to the assaults; basically to temporarily put some distance away from her in order to prevent himself from beating the hell out of his increasingly self-centered wife.<br />
<br />
After three weeks in jail, Alma threatened to leave him unless they moved back to Riverton where her mother and sister could help her take care of the kids and he relented.<br />
<br />
What Ennis didn’t know was that Grandma Alma had called Monroe Jr. after she'd heard that he'd taken over the businesses from his old bedridden father and told him her lovely <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-deMTFHbUs3A/UeONnQIB-nI/AAAAAAAAHcg/FVeBmCLoReg/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+monroe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-deMTFHbUs3A/UeONnQIB-nI/AAAAAAAAHcg/FVeBmCLoReg/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+monroe.jpg" width="400" /></a>daughter's marriage was falling apart, pleading with him to help pick up the pieces.<br />
<br />
Monroe had recently invested in a chain of dry cleaners, hoping Ennis' wife would come work for him at the grocery store in exchange for an "employee discounted" rent on an apartment over the laundromat that was obviously meant for only one person instead of a family.<br />
<br />
Old-lady Beers just hoped maybe her daughter would dump her worthless cowpoke husband in favor of someone with money and if a little lie in Monroe's ear accomplished it, so much the better.<br />
<br />
It didn't help that secretly Jack had been invading her husband’s dreams. One in particular had Ennis naked and lost on Brokeback Mountain calling out Jack’s name trying to find a way out of the forest. When they finally found each other, Twist, who was also naked, held Ennis with his strong arms in a sexless romantic hug and kissed him until he woke up heartbroken and aching to feel Jack’s embrace around him for real.<br />
<br />
Trying hard to push them "faggot" feelings away, he became more aggressive and masculine to suppress it but it was hopeless. He felt more and more lost and lonely in Alma's arms. In fact everywhere he turned he found himself lost in the arms that had found him. The only reason he agreed to move back downstate was to try to get a new start.</span><br />
<br />
Once in Riverton he got another job on the road crew while working at a couple of ranches - one without pay just so he could board and feed his horses.<br />
<br />
He finally settled with himself that even if he wanted to, he’d never find Jack again, so he allowed life to go on and once more became a good husband and father.<br />
<br />
Monroe planned to house Alma there until after the impending divorce, and then move her into the home he'd just bought... on E. Monroe Avenue. It came as a shock when he found out that the whole del Mar family had moved in up there.<br />
<br />
The girls took the bedroom, and husband and wife slept on a foldout couch in the living room.<br />
<br />
Alma was mad at herself for taking the apartment sight unseen based on her mother's description and made damned sure everyone around her was as unhappy about it as she.<br />
<br />
As 1967 ended, Ennis came home more and more reluctantly from working on outlying ranches and he suspected she was having an affair with Monroe again; this time for real.<br />
<br />
If he hadn't fallen so madly in love with his daughters he would've left her...<br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-81-84-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
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...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-16137009368678480242014-02-24T12:12:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:28:25.743-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XX<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 20 ~ Two Rodeos In Texas </b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-78-80-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Bastard</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;">fter he came down from the mountain, Jack spent the rest of 1963 at his parent's ranch mending fences, harvesting crops, plowing fields and tending to the stock. <br />
<br />
His father demanded half of what he'd made babysitting sheep again this year, so Jack spent a lot of time up in his tiny room thinking obsessively of getting out of town, maybe joining the rodeo again or of finding Ennis and making a new start. <br />
<br />
At one point he began making rough pencil sketches of Ennis’ face or of him on a horse, sometimes standing shirtless. Eventually the torso became more muscular and the crotch bulge was exaggerated. These were tacked up on his bedroom wall, safe from his parents who never came up to his room anyway. <br />
<br />
Lightning Flat was becoming a ghost town and though there were miles and miles of empty land around him, Jack felt more and more crowded in with only his mother’s constant questions and his father’s judgmental stares day in - and day out.<br />
<br />
Martha didn’t seem as religiously enthused as John was, though she never expressed that to Jack in so many words. His mother seemed lost to explain her husband's meandering, sometimes radical, faith paths and like a bird clinging to a tree limb in a wind storm, defiantly held on to her Pentecostal roots.<br />
<br />
All through his childhood, every-so-often Jack would overhear his father refer to him as "the bastard" to his mother, but never when he was in the room or to his face. He’d even heard his mother slap John hard a few of times afterwards. <br />
<br />
All through his teens he’d wondered… When friends of his parents dropped over or whenever they went somewhere, people always commented on how much he looked like his mother but no one ever seemed to say he favored his dad.<br />
<br />
There was however, one major difference between them that would color his memory of his father for the rest of his life.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">From a very young age he feared John and became convinced that his father hated him. The tone of their relationship was set forever when one day his daddy came into the bathroom to take a piss just as a very young Jack was undressing to take a bath.<br />
<br />
While watching his dad, he laughingly remarked that his father would have to clean the excess spray from the rim of the toilet and floor because it was splattering all over the place. Then without knowing any better he observed that it was probably because of all that strange extra skin his daddy had on the end of his dick that the boy didn’t have.<br />
<br />
John became infuriated, pulled off his belt and began beating the child with it. Unable to escape the leather’s lash in the tiny confines of the bathroom, Jack went into a defensive tight ball on the floor and started screaming for dear life, convinced his father was trying to kill him.<br />
<br />
To add insult to injury, the man finished his pissing all over his sobbing and terrified son.<br />
<br />
When the yellow flow stopped, John made little Jack mop it all up, clean the walls, and then take a bath with his piss-soaked clothes because his mama wasn’t gonna clean ‘em for him.<br />
<br />
From that day forward, Jack’s pulse jumped a little in reflex fear every time he saw another guy that had an uncircumcised cock in the locker room and shower at school. In fact he instinctively looked for them in those situations thinking it was an indicator that the owner was cruel, quick-tempered and to be avoided.</span><br />
<br />
Jack could never have heart-to-heart talks with his father after that and it hurt. He would never know why his estranged dad had fallen so deeply into religion over and over again lately, nor his unexplainable avoidance of bragging about when he was "Jumpin’ Johnny Twist" the rodeo champion in his glory days…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>“Hi Jack!”</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>O</b></span>ne day in November of ‘63, some of his old rodeo buddies invited Jack to go with them to an arena in Dallas to see a bronco-busting competition slated for Saturday the 23rd. He accepted the invitation thinking on the way back he could look up that cowgirl in Childress.<br />
<br />
They arrived early in the morning on Friday the 22nd and the boys got breakfast at a little luncheonette and explored a while. His friends had a little surprise for Twist. After parking again, and then threading their way through hundreds of people in downtown Dallas, Jack was told that all the excitement, red-white-and-blue street banners and crowds were for President Kennedy’s motorcade swinging through town on the way to a convention.<br />
<br />
After they used up a couple of hours working their way down to a good vantage point on the route, they found themselves at the packed corner of Houston and Main. Jack's tall burly friend Buford noticed him jumping up and down trying to see over the heads of five or six other people. Buford just laughed at him, crouched down and said, “Come on then, saddle up Buddy!”<br />
<br />
Twist frowned, “What?”<br />
<br />
The muscular tree-trunk chested cowboy grinned, “Hurry up, boy! Git up on my shoulders so ya can see too.”<br />
<br />
A moment later Jack was teetering, swaying and scared that they were both going to topple over, but he was now happily head and shoulders above everyone else.<br />
<br />
Off to his left a bunch of motorcycles approached, followed by the fanciest black convertible stretch limousine Twist had ever seen in his life… and there she was… Jackie Kennedy in the most honest-to-god beautiful pink women’s suit and hat he’d ever laid eyes on. Unfortunately her attention was focused on the cheering people on her side of the car away from him.<br />
<br />
Beneath him, Buford scared the living daylights out of Twist when he started jumping up and down yelling and waving.<br />
<br />
As the car came up in front of them and paused briefly to make a right turn, Twist yelled down to the First Lady, “Hey Jackie! I’m Jack too!”<br />
<br />
In all of that excitement at seeing her, the dumb cowboy didn’t realize until that second that the President of the United States was looking right at him. <br />
<br />
Kennedy nudged his wife, whispered something and they both looked up at the crazy man waving his black<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-43_ZrRGyDK0/Un60wmAejJI/AAAAAAAAJEo/BIZtg_u-aWw/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+and+Kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-43_ZrRGyDK0/Un60wmAejJI/AAAAAAAAJEo/BIZtg_u-aWw/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+and+Kennedy.jpg" height="297" width="645" /></a> cowboy hat down at them, laughed, and to all of Twist’s friend’s amazement they called out from the limo, “Hi Jack!”<br />
<br />
As the motorcade rounded the corner and disappeared, Buford lost his balance, the two men fell to the sidewalk, and their friends all started pounding Twist’s shoulder happily congratulating him.<br />
<br />
Somewhere off behind them a motorcycle backfired twice and by the third bang everyone realized they were rifle shots. <br />
<br />
In fearful desperation, Jack and his friends had to plaster themselves against the storefront to keep from being trampled to death as hundreds of people rounded the corner and rushed by screaming, “Someone shot the President! The President’s dead! Someone gunned down Kennedy and Governor Connolly!”<br />
<br />
Twist tried to battle his way to see for himself indignantly protesting in tears, “NO! I just talked to him. He ain’t dead! It cain’t be! NOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOO!”<br />
<br />
…It took all four of his friends to drag Jack kicking screaming and crying back to their car. Hours later it came over the radio that the president was indeed dead.<br />
<br />
No matter how manly or macho or tough you thought you were, every male in America cried that day for a man who was too young and had so much promise… and didn’t deserve to die.<br />
<br />
With the Saturday rodeo canceled, the boys stayed in the motel room they'd reserved. The others walked around town aimlessly sightseeing while a stunned Jack stayed alone... crying... and praying Jackie hadn't been shot too. He stayed glued to the room's TV with news that they'd caught the gunman, and on Sunday they all drove home to Wyoming still trying to console Jack, who was just now beginning to believe what had happened, but couldn't get the President and Jackie's smiles for him out of his mind. A radio report said that Lee Harvey Oswald had himself been shot.<br />
<br />
At home, after too many remarks from his father about how the Catholic devil Democrat was probably being punished for letting the Pope run the country or some other horrible sin no one knew about, Jack locked himself in his room on and off for a week, only coming out for meals and to do light farm chores.<br />
<br />
Since they didn't have one, Jack journeyed a couple of miles south to watch the funeral on Buford's TV. The sad image of brave little John-John saluting his daddy's passing casket parade would live with Twist forever. <br />
<br />
He’d also remember with both joy and tears John Kennedy yelling his name hello and waving, and be haunted by it too for the rest of his life.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>No Looking Back</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>N</b></span>orthern Wyoming had a rough winter that year. Over the holidays his father became a born-again fundamentalist at yet another Baptist revival meeting and Jack knew the next few months would be hell unless he could find a way out.<br />
<br />
One day in mid-December, John proposed that since his son was an adult now, he should get a side job on top of his farm duties and pay rent on his room in order for them to tithe more to their church. <br />
<br />
Jack already considered himself an unloved and unpaid ranch slave to his father and this was the last straw.<br />
<br />
He was no longer a son; he was now no more than a tenant and an underpaid farmhand in his father’s eyes…<br />
<br />
As 1964 rolled around, Ennis was still never far from his mind and after spring planting, summer couldn’t come fast enough. He was sure that Ennis missed him as much as he missed del Mar. He’d even sent in an application to work up on Brokeback again, but heard nothing back so he figured it’d gotten lost in the mail.<br />
<br />
By June he still hadn't heard back on his application and in desperation, Jack was drawn to the office trailer in Signal. <br />
<br />
He made the long drive hoping that maybe del Mar’s plans to get married had fallen through and Ennis had already signed up for more shepherding.<br />
<br />
Either way he’d damned sure rather spend a third summer up on Brokeback than with his parents; even if it meant four months with Aguirre’s teenaged kid again.<br />
<br />
By then he’d come to accept the jack-off fantasies he kept experiencing in the nearly year since he parted ways with del Mar. They’d start out with him fucking some really sexy girl and end up with him being the one being fucked under Ennis, resulting with Twist having an exploding orgasm just as they both shot their loads together.<br />
<br />
More often than not it was the one where Jack fucked and sucked Ennis at the same time up on the mountain. <br />
<br />
What broke his heart even more were the tender times when they just held each other silently feeling the love between them even if it wasn’t expressed out loud. Jack would sometimes lull himself to sleep remembering the many times that Ennis kissed him tenderly…</span><br />
<br />
<br />
...That cold early morning brought clouds racing across the sky. Signal hadn't changed - it never changed.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">The office trailer rocked a little in the wind as Joe picked up the application on the top of the stack he’d been reviewing. He blinked at the name on it twice and frowned and wondered if they were related, then muttered to himself, “Kyle del Mar Jr. from here in Signal huh; that’s all I’d need is another one of them.”<br />
<br />
He crumbled it up, tossed it in the overflowing wastebasket, and picked up the next one.</span><br />
<br />
As Jack pulled into the wind blown dirt-and-gravel parking lot, he spotted Joe Aguirre’s car. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Someone had done a sloppy job of painting the office trailer door blue, the mailbox white and the applications box red. Twist smirked at them and muttered, "How patriotic," under his breath.</span><br />
<br />
Pounding loudly on the door, he still hoped Ennis had been there.<br />
<br />
The foreman’s voice held an aggravated tone as he bellowed, "Yeah?"<br />
<br />
Jack entered, finding the foreman seated sideways at his desk reading some papers from a stack.<br />
<br />
Twist respectfully removed his hat and Aguirre looked up to blink at him as if he didn’t believe his eyes. He shook his head and then pointedly returned his gaze back to the employment application in his hand, contemptuously remarking, "Well look what the wind blew in."<br />
<br />
Twist nodded and replied with a nervous smile, "Hi, Mr. Aguirre. Uh... I was wonderin’ if you’d be needin’ any help this summer?"<br />
<br />
Chewing on a toothpick, the foreman just looked off in the distance, still not bothering to meet Jack’s eye, amazed this son of a bitch actually had the balls to come here looking for a job. <span style="color: #0b5394;">A remembrance of when he watched Twist having sex with del Mar in the clearing that day filled his mind with disgust.<br />
<br />
Jack scanned the room and spotted a pair of spyglasses hanging on a nail next to the man’s hat, then he darted his eyes back to Aguirre.</span><br />
<br />
With a tone of pure contempt, the foreman replied, "Yer wastin’ yer time here."<br />
<br />
Jack frowned, almost turned to leave, but wasn’t ready to give up yet. "What; you ain’t got nothin’?" then after a pause he added, "Nothing up on Brokeback?"<br />
<br />
Aguirre turned to face him in his squeaky desk chair and as his narrowed hateful eyes were lit by the desk lamp he said, "I ain’t got no work fer you."<br />
<br />
Jack felt the man’s hatred but stood his ground till he saw the foreman’s eyes and finally took the message. The son of a bitch had seen them for sure last summer with those binoculars. <br />
<br />
He turned to leave but figured he had nothing to lose, so he turned back and asked, "Ennis del Mar ain’t been around has he?"<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">In a flash the foreman recalled finding those magazines with naked men and that clipping with Jack’s picture riding a bull hidden in his son's room and still wondered if Twist had corrupted his son, especially after seeing them up on the mountain. His son’s name was John, but everyone called him Jack… everyone but Aguirre that is. <br />
<br />
In a building rage, he seriously considered murdering this faggot standing before him with his bare hands, but decided it wasn't worth a long stretch in jail.</span><br />
<br />
Aguirre’s expression looked just barely controlled, "You boys sure found a way to make the time pass up there. …Twist; you guys wasn’t getting paid to let the dogs baby-sit the sheep while you stemmed the rose."<br />
<br />
Aguirre looked away and then spat out a warning by glancing toward a tire iron sitting on the counter next to a pair of work gloves, "Now get the hell out of my trailer."<br />
<br />
Jack swallowed hard, nodded and put his hat back on.<br />
<br />
He wasted no time and slammed the door behind himself, <span style="color: #0b5394;">wondering if Aguirre knew about his son. It'd serve him right to turn tail and go back in and tell him to his face that his damned kid had made the first move and that Jack had rejected it.<br />
<br />
As he slowly backed his truck out, he wasn’t paying attention and came up tailgate to bumper against Aguirre’s Rambler.<br />
<br />
The contact was gentle enough not to be heard in the trailer and his surprise turned to bravado. With a touch of the gas, both of the Rambler's tall taillights crunched and with a grin he shifted into first and intentionally popped the clutch, spraying driveway gravel at the car and the office trailer. As the shrapnel hit the wooden walls and windows, he roared off.<br />
<br />
A few blocks away, he pulled over, rested his forehead on the steering wheel, and felt like sobbing though the tears wouldn’t come.<br />
<br />
He wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of the threat Aguirre had made or disappointed at not finding Ennis.<br />
<br />
As del Mar had done a year before, he punched the metal dashboard as an excuse for the pain he felt.<br />
<br />
Putting it in gear, he drove off again and eventually came to a T intersection and stopped. Should he try to find Ennis somewhere near here or turn left and head south? North was out of the question; he’d had his fill of his father all winter and spring.<br />
<br />
The street he was on dead ended at a closed-up and vacant gas station across the way and he spotted a payphone booth. He pulled into the lot and slid a dime into the slot dialing the operator as the sun crept up over Brokeback Mountain in the distance.<br />
<br />
No listing was found in Signal or Riverton for Ennis del Mar or in any of the surrounding counties. Next he inquired for a listing in Sage and the operator just laughed and asked if he was serious.<br />
<br />
A police car drove by and it suddenly occurred to Jack that Aguirre was just capable of calling the sheriff on Jack for vandalizing his car so it was definitely time to leave town. <br />
<br />
He got back into his truck, slammed the door and closed his eyes, feeling them start to burn beneath their lids.<br />
<br />
He’d heard some things about finding male prostitutes in Mexico, shrugged that he had nothing better to do and figured maybe he’d become one after he ran out of money, servicing women and/or the occasional man.<br />
<br />
Maybe if he got good at it and became rich, he’d drive up and rub his new occupation in his born-again father’s face.<br />
<br />
Gunning the motor, he turned right, and wondered what his daddy’s reaction would be on the news his son was a male whore...<br />
<br />
Boy-howdy, he had no idea…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Send In The Clowns</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>S</b></span>ix months later he wondered what would’ve happened if he’d actually made it to Mexico, but as fate would have it the truck broke down near Childress Texas.</span><br />
<br />
He’d had second thoughts all the way south anyway and instead decided to look up the barrel riding cowgirl he’d gotten lucky with two springs ago, and in the process entered himself in the bullriding competition in a rodeo at a local arena. <br />
<br />
Of all the girls he’d had, she stood out the most with those cherry red outfits and those unforgettable breasts.<br />
<br />
He did fairly well, but only managed to come in second or worse in most places on the circuit, which wasn’t <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xl75ErQjBcA/TpkeksaKKnI/AAAAAAAADwM/_w8DuXHgq_U/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+46.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xl75ErQjBcA/TpkeksaKKnI/AAAAAAAADwM/_w8DuXHgq_U/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+46.JPG" width="400" /></a>enough to make much of a living.<br />
<br />
The constant strenuous exercise turned his once-boyish body into a defined man’s well toned but bruised build. Bullriding was taking its toll on his back and legs too. <br />
<br />
His nighttime thoughts became divided between Ennis and the "buckle bunnies" that tagged along with him from rodeo to rodeo. <br />
<br />
He may not have been winning much, but like his father before him, he only needed to pull his shirt off in the parking lot to bed any girl he liked - sometimes two at a time.<br />
<br />
A new (what he thought was amusing) catch phrase had entered his vocabulary and he used it often until he figured everyone had heard it at least twice… "She can suck the chrome clean off a trailer hitch!;" which was soon replaced with, "She can suck a golf ball through fifty feet of garden hose!"<br />
<br />
Still the easy girls didn’t satisfy him and one day after a particularly grueling couple of hours of bullriding, a rodeo clown caught his eye in the corral. <br />
<br />
The man under all that comic makeup made him feel like a 90-pound weakling that’d just had sand kicked in his face. <br />
<br />
Later that afternoon, Jack pert near got stomped to death paying attention to him instead of the bull that’d just thrown him.<br />
<br />
It took him a while, but he finally figured out why; the protective clown reminded him of Ennis.<br />
<br />
Later on that evening, he sat in a dark hole-in-the-wall bar eyeing the girls, listening to the music and incidentally watching the young guys playing pool within a haze of cigarette smoke. <br />
<br />
A tall good-looking shorthaired blond man in his late twenties with a fancy stark white cowboy shirt and hat entered. The overhead light at the door bounced off his Stetson and shoulders, causing a flash that made everyone look up in the dim room.<br />
<br />
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, and shiny black boots. His V-shaped muscular torso and arms turned heads. The man was spectacular and knew it, possessing the pecs, swagger, biceps, slim waist and the impossible crotch bulge of a Greek god in western disguise.<br />
<br />
He also possessed a heart-melting grin, which never left his face. <br />
<br />
One of the barmaids yelled out "Hey, Jim!" and he politely tipped his hat towards her with a familiar smile.<br />
<br />
The man definitely had friends and most of them seemed to be here tonight.<br />
<br />
A few days earlier, Jack had found some badly printed flyers in the trash for some homosexual prostitution house down in Mexico. The jack-off fantasy that resulted later that night looked just like this guy, making Twist wonder.<br />
<br />
All eyes couldn’t help but follow him cross the room, both male and female. <br />
<br />
The cowgirls wanted his body - the cowboys wanted his leftovers. <br />
<br />
His face didn’t look as much like Ennis’ as he’d thought, but that body kept drawing his gaze and quickened his breath. <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The popular rodeo clown went straight over to a group of his buddies shooting pool. He dropped a couple of coins on the billiards table and then glanced over towards the bartender.<br />
<br />
Moving forward again with an affable smile and a few nods, he met many eyes in the crowd with a warm friendly expression... including Jack's.<br />
<br />
For a moment their gaze locked across the noisy bar, then just as quickly flicked away. <br />
<br />
Jack began breathing hard, as the hunk seemed to be coming directly toward him, but at the last moment he detoured <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0D0NnanYyb0/TpkeLg2V12I/AAAAAAAADwI/X2aXRlZJWwI/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+45.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0D0NnanYyb0/TpkeLg2V12I/AAAAAAAADwI/X2aXRlZJWwI/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+45.JPG" width="400" /></a>to the rail twenty feet away to sit down and order a beer from the friendly barman.<br />
<br />
Was it an invitation or a casual glance?<br />
<br />
Before he could wonder why or chicken out, Jack grabbed his own beer from the bar and found himself walking the length of the rail to sit next to him.<br />
<br />
To the barkeep, Jack said, "I’d like to buy Jimbo here a beer," giving the clown a bright smile.<br />
<br />
The bartender nodded and reached for a brew when the good-looking stud gave Twist a quizzical glance and shook his head no as Jack laid a dollar on the bar. <br />
<br />
Just then a pretty barmaid went by with a full tray of frosted mugs, the clown's eyes following her hips. <br />
<br />
Jack’d made a bad mistake and knew it with everyone watching. Now all he had to do was get out of the situation. Thinking fast, he added quickly, "The best damned rodeo clown I ever worked with!" was a good excuse to innocently buy another man a beer.<br />
<br />
Without realizing it until after he'd done it, Jack had blinked both eyes at him in a sort of flirtatious double wink.<br />
<br />
The powerfully built object of his hopes stood up to his full six-foot-five and answered with a look that said he definitely wasn't interested, "No thanks Cowboy," looking away. Speaking to the bartender instead he said, "If'n I’s to let every rodeo hand I ever pulled a bull off of buy me liquor I’d a been an alcoholic long ago."<br />
<br />
The barman chuckled as the hunk shoved his own dollar forward, pushing Jack’s away in the process and said to Twist, "Pullin' bulls off of you buckaroos is just my job." <br />
<br />
As he moved to turn away while grabbing his foaming mug, he added, "So save it for your next entry fee Cowboy," gave a look that left no doubt that his flirtation (if that was it was) wasn't to be repeated without dire consequences and headed back through the crowd. <br />
<br />
Jack twisted around and watched the handsome man stroll over to the guys at the pool table as they all gathered around him... then all of them looked his way suspiciously. <br />
<br />
Depending on what he'd just told them; it just might be a good time to make a hasty exit.<br />
<br />
"Ya ever try calf ropin’?" the barkeep asked Jack’s back.<br />
<br />
Jack turned around and tersely replied, "Do I look like I can afford a fuckin' ropin' horse?" slapped his dollar across to pay for his own drink and made his way quickly out of the bar.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Outside, a good-looking buckle bunny in a cowgirl hat with an ample chest sidled up to him and asked if he had any plans. He took that as a sign, escorted her back up to his cheap room over the bar and fucked her silly repeatedly over the next few weeks, deciding to give up on men unless it was Ennis...<br />
<br />
<br />
...Martha Twist was sorting through the mail after breakfast and handed a letter to her husband John.<br />
<blockquote><i><b>It is my sad duty to inform you that Lightning Flat United Pentecostal Church must out of necessity merge with Rocky Point Pentecostal Church, due to our dwindling congregation being unable to support our continued fellowship.<br />
<br />
Beginning this Sunday, please join me in our fellowship in Christ there, as our building will be closed until such time as we can gather more membership.<br />
<br />
Yours in Christ<br />
Reverend Morris Q. Plevrokeno</I></b></blockquote></span>John thought back to a time in his childhood when he used to be afraid of the painting of a scowling judgmental God staring down at him from the ceiling of the sanctuary...<br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-85-87-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-31803186041386393412014-02-24T12:11:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:43:18.468-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXI<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 21 ~ The Singing Cowboy</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-81-84-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Truck For Sale</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">ack circled the old dirty 1955 GMC pickup a couple of times noting the tires, the dented brown driver’s door and half-repaired front fender from another pickup, the carbon at the end of the exhaust pipe, unsanded bondo on the other front fender and hood, sloppy duct tape sealing a leak at the upper corner on the driver side of the windshield, the lack of any mirrors inside or out and the missing phone number on the FOR SALE sign taped to the inside rear window. <br />
<br />
He’d spotted it around town and sometimes in a field on a low hill across the street from the BULLS-HIT bar just outside of Houston. He’d check on it every day after the rodeo that he was currently competing in let out, but never seemed to catch the owner. This time the windows were rolled down, so he decided to wait to see who showed.<br />
<br />
Compared to his own "pickup bitch," which was five years older, he figured this one had a few hundred more miles left in it than his own did; maybe even a thousand. The thing was caked with dust, which was unusual for someone trying to sell something. About the only conclusion he could come up with was that the dirt probably<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChR-MO2z48c/UmNdojw03eI/AAAAAAAAI70/N-DFvm2t57E/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+ennis+pickup+truck+jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: center; float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="403" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ChR-MO2z48c/UmNdojw03eI/AAAAAAAAI70/N-DFvm2t57E/s660/Brokeback+Mountain+ennis+pickup+truck+jack.jpg" width="660" /></a>hid more rust than it revealed.<br />
<br />
After about half an hour of waiting, he climbed up on the driver’s side bedrail, leaned his back against the cab and crossed his feet on the fender skirt.<br />
<br />
As the bright sun started creeping towards evening, he pulled his jacket closer and buttoned it up as the breeze began to chill.<br />
<br />
Across the way, a tall trim muscular man in his late twenties came out of a black tavern door that had a life-sized shapely pink silhouette of a naked girl painted on it. He looked both ways for traffic and limped across the street towards Jack. Reaching this side of the road, he paused to size up the smartass fool that had the nerve to park his scrawny ass on the man's truck and moved forward towards Twist.<br />
<br />
The stranger’s face was handsome in a sort of Native American way. A loosely woven straw cowboy hat covered long braided straight black hair that trailed down the back of his leather jacket in a single thick ponytail almost to his hips. He had a full noble nose parked above lips that seemed to be deciding between a friendly smile or a threatening scowl.<br />
<br />
Their eyes met and Jack jumped down to meet him halfway.<br />
<br />
Glancing down at his left foot, he asked, "You okay?"<br />
<br />
"Rodeoin’," he muttered.<br />
<br />
Twist grinned, "Me too!," and extended his open hand. "Jack Twist," he added, "Lighting Flat, Wyoming."<br />
<br />
The big man smiled, "Gene Autry; Riverton, Wyoming…" he replied shaking hands. To Jack’s raised eyebrows, he added, "And no; I ain’t related to the singer."<br />
<br />
The man gave off mixed signals; he seemed to make friends easily, but there was a dangerous side to him that made you leery of ever coming up against him in a bar brawl; even with his gimp leg.<br />
<br />
Gesturing behind himself, Jack asked, "How much ya askin’?"<br />
<br />
Autry wordlessly hobbled past him, opened the door and sat down in it without pulling his legs in, wincing as he kneaded his left ankle. Looking up he answered, "Four hundred."<br />
<br />
Twist blinked at that and frowned. Looking it over quickly again, he replied, "At the risk of screwin’ myself out of a good deal, friend; you could probably get a lot more’n that out of it."<br />
<br />
To Gene’s amused smile, Jack gestured toward the front and asked, "Ya mind?"<br />
<br />
"Be my guest."<br />
<br />
Jack raised the hood and found a relatively clean bone stock in-line 6. Checking further revealed no oil leaks at the valve cover or off the pan. No carbon around the manifold either.<br />
<br />
Dropping the hood loudly back into place, he detoured around the other side taking a second look. The lights were all there; the fenders looked straight so no frame damage from whatever dented it. <br />
<br />
He gradually came back around to the open door.<br />
<br />
To Jack’s mystified frown, Gene explained, "I’m leaving town tomorrow so I’m looking for a quick sale. My father’s buying a new Chevy pickup. He wrote 'n said I could have his three-year-old one if I wanted it, otherwise he’s using it as a trade-in day after tomorrow." He shrugged and added, "Rather than leave my baby here abandoned on the side of the road, I’m selling it for train fare and expenses to up north."<br />
<br />
Twist skeptically asked, "Why don’t ya just drive yerself up, won’t it make it?"<br />
<br />
Autry looked pointedly down at his ankle, "She’s got a brand new and very stiff bitch of a clutch."<br />
<br />
Twist nodded realizing.<br />
<br />
"I’ve been a’fixin' her up since I got her. She’s mechanically sound 'n just needs a few things like mirrors, another door, a radio, seat covers 'n a paint job.<br />
<br />
Jack nodded, considering, and then dug a wad of bills out of his jeans to show the man he was serious.<br />
<br />
"One condition," the handsome Indian said.<br />
<br />
Distracted, Jack met his eyes and thought to himself, "Here it comes."<br />
<br />
"I’m asleepin' in it tonight so I gotta keep it till tomorrow… 'n because it’s such a good deal, ya have to drive me to the train depot in the morning."<br />
<br />
Jack smiled, handed him a hundred in twenties in good faith, shoved the rest of his money back in his jeans, and offered his fist, "Deal. I’ll see ya right here early tomorrow morning with a ride 'n the rest."<br />
<br />
They shook hands and Jack turned to leave. As he began walking away a cold breeze chilled him. Something the handsome Indian said when they first met bothered him, but he couldn’t remember what. <br />
<br />
He’d made it almost to the road and turned tail back to the truck.<br />
<br />
Reaching the man, he asked, "Where’d ya say you were from?"<br />
<br />
"Riverton… Why?"<br />
<br />
"Might’n ya know a guy name of Ennis del Mar?"<br />
<br />
Surprised eyebrows shot up, "About 21-22 there-abouts, dirty blond hair, dating a homely chick named Alma, don't say much ‘less he knows ya good?"<br />
<br />
Twist nodded getting excited.<br />
<br />
"He lives over a bar I useta go to a lot. We useta play poker 'n drink 2-3 times a week," he added. "How do you know ‘im?"<br />
<br />
After quickly explaining about them working together up on Brokeback and finding out that Ennis was still strapped for cash without a car or a job, Twist came up with a plan.<br />
<br />
"Follow me in yer truck."<br />
<br />
Gene trailed Jack all the way to the train station, watched him lock his pickup in the parking lot and then came up to his door, opened it and said, "Slide over partner; I reckon I’m a drivin’."<br />
<br />
"Where?"<br />
<br />
"Riverton."<br />
<br />
To Autry’s puzzled frown, he explained, "Ya ever do somethin’ fer a someone, just fer the sake a doin’ somethin’ nice ‘n not wantin’ nothin' in return?"<br />
<br />
The Indian nodded to Jack, who was busy concentrating on the road while trying to figure how much give he had in a very very tight budget.<br />
<br />
He was flat broke, but still devoted to Ennis and would do anything to help… including spending nearly every last dime he had.<br />
<br />
Twist dug another two hundred dollars out of his jeans before he could change his mind and handed it to his new friend.<br />
<br />
On the way north after stopping for supplies, supper and gas, Jack made a new deal as they drove on through the night. <br />
<br />
For three hundred, he’d buy the truck. Of the remaining hundred, $75 would go towards Gene’s poker antes and the rest would partly go towards train fare for Jack back down to Houston.<br />
<br />
Just to be clear, Twist explained that he was now buying the truck not for himself, but for Ennis, only del Mar wasn’t to know about it; instead Gene would lose it to him by throwing a high stakes game of poker where Autry would get in over his head and put up the pink slip on his truck.<br />
<br />
Gene happily nodded understanding what a wonderful thing Jack was doing for his friend, but he insisted that they split the remaining hundred so Autry would feel like he was going in on the gift too.<br />
<br />
Jack told his new buddy about Ennis’ reaction to him trying to loan him money the last day they were on the mountain.<br />
<br />
Autry agreed to keep his – now their - secret and grinned to himself and at Jack for about the next twenty minutes of traveling the dark highway north.<br />
<br />
To Jack’s mind, everyone won. Autry got the money for his truck, plus getting his daddy’s used Chevy pickup free.<br />
<br />
Ennis would get something that he could fix up to drive around in and keep his pride. <br />
<br />
It’d take Twist months to recover financially, but that was the last thing on his mind right now.<br />
<br />
Autry pondered the scheme for a while and objected, "Only one little problem with that plan o’yer’s."<br />
<br />
"Yeah; What’s that?"<br />
<br />
"Ennis knows I’m a damned good hand at poker."<br />
<br />
Jack nodded, "I’m a countin’ on that, ‘cause you gotta overplay everyone off and away from that table exceptin' Ennis, whilst still lettin’ him win enough not to get suspicious…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Indian Giver</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>he handsome cowboy had just come downstairs after a surprise phone call from an old friend. <br />
He entered the tavern via its back door and was immediately hit with a wall of loud cowboy tunes and cheap cigarette smoke. <br />
<br />
He greeted his tall old buddy with a very rare grin and a slap of shoulders, then took a seat with nine other men waiting at a big stained bright green felt-topped poker table and called the barman over to buy some gambling chips.<br />
<br />
As usual the guys who wanted to play blackjack were overruled.<br />
<br />
Betsy’s on E. Monroe Avenue was a typical cheerful dimly lit hole-in-the-wall joint on a Friday night. It had all the usual obligatory western tavern features; old pickup trucks lining the street out front, a half-drunk singing cowboy at a dark table wedged between the pinball machines and a jukebox blaring country ditties. <br />
<br />
Below-average women with over-the-top over-curled hair, over stuffed bras and overdone makeup haunted below-average middle-aged cowboys with socks uncomfortably crammed in the front of their underwear crotches and too much cologne, bouncing cue sticks on the worn wood-plank floor to the beat.<br />
<br />
Every single one of the men bragged about how they thought they had more of a chance with the girls than anyone else. In turns, they clumsily attempted trick-shots at the billiards tables and held brown glass bottles whilst burping out the melody of whatever tune was blaring out of the overhead speakers and laughing at themselves.<br />
<br />
Neon beer signs glowed everywhere while a friendly barkeep with a handlebar mustache served watered drinks while watching/refereeing an ongoing poker game that by now was in full swing in the far corner. This was a mid-month Friday payday, so money was flowing more than usual and he'd have to play close attention for cheats and thieves.<br />
<br />
A fat bouncer/doorman was usually brought in for such occasions and most of the cowboys laughed when the young man tried out his "tough" looks on them.<br />
<br />
A lone chatty blond cowgirl waitress with the usual blond cowgirl smile and the usual cowgirl hat, wove through the room wearing shorter-than-short cowgirl denim "Daisy-Maes" revealing too much of a young average cowgirl ass, and sported an unbuttoned tight white cowgirl top barely tied together beneath an ample blond cowgirl bosom designed to earn her better tips from the usual horny flirtatious cowboy patrons who usually didn’t stand a chance with her. <br />
<br />
She had a habit of usually bending over low while delivering the usual pretzels, chips and drinks to the usual tables. <br />
<br />
As things progressed the women grew surer that they were getting sexier with each succeeding cocktail. <br />
<br />
With each beer that was downed the men got bolder and thought themselves more and more irresistible to the girls. <br />
<br />
The singing cowboy eventually began running low on coins after about three hours, and had by then played all of his favorite songs at least twice and now had resorted to less popular B-sides; much to the chagrin of the regular patrons.<br />
<br />
As the night wore on, the cigarette haze began building under the imitation stained glass lights hanging over the two pool tables, while the drunks got drunker and pissed off voices got louder at the over-sized poker table. <br />
<br />
Flirting couples talked over the thunderous music and shuffled in and out of worn and stained imitation cowhide booths to writhe clumsily together on the dance floor.<br />
<br />
After a while, the singing cowboy finished his chore of dutifully caterwauling the wrong slurred lyrics to entertain what he thought was his regular audience. He gave up feeding coins into the jukebox and eventually fell asleep at his table under his black hat amongst six empty beer mugs and a half consumed bowl of pretzels.<br />
<br />
The bartender glanced up at the big Budweiser clock and yelled out, "Last call!"<br />
<br />
After tallying her take for the night, the blond cowgirl waitress blew a big exaggerated blond cowgirl kiss to everyone and left; her cowgirl hips swaying a blond cowgirl goodbye.<br />
<br />
One by one the cowpoke poker players folded their hands in disgust and got up to watch in hushed whispers over the shoulders of the two left sitting at the table. <br />
<br />
One player was a decent looking careworn blond guy under a tan cowboy hat, with an impressive pile of chips in front of him. He'd had a couple too many beers but he didn’t care unless he later stumbled on the steps outside on the way upstairs to his fleabag apartment. <br />
<br />
Ennis, who was usually a very quiet soul, spent the night bragging to his old friend the Indian across the table about how he was "final-lally... ally" going to clean him out for his change, uh no… for a change.<br />
<br />
He’d just raised Gene Autry more than the handsome Ute had in chips and smiled at the jackpot in the middle of the table like a cat eyeing a canary. <br />
<br />
The big man looked over-assured and pulled out a folded piece of paper, calling the bartender over to hand the title for his old truck to him in exchange for a hard-negotiated $400 in chips.<br />
<br />
Unphased and in half-drunken overconfidence, del Mar raised everything he had, $417, saying, "All in, Bud," and the Indian angrily cussed to himself for a long minute and then folded three jacks, demanding to know what Ennis held that would make an unemployed ranch hand so bold.<br />
<br />
Ennis flipped three cards on top of the kitty one at a time… a deuce of spades, a deuce of hearts, and a deuce of diamonds.<br />
<br />
The table flipped spilling pretzels, drinks and chips everywhere as one man jumped the other. After a brief flurry of fists and yelled accusations, the other men broke up the fight. <br />
<br />
The bartender cashed in the chips, paid del Mar enough to pay six more month's rent with money left over for supplies (and now gas,) and declared loudly that the cowboy had won it fair and square to cheers of everyone present for their underdog.<br />
<br />
Ennis tipped the barman $20... a more than generous amount in those days, while Autry reluctantly signed over the title, handed over the key, and described the truck.<br />
<br />
The young bouncer made an angry Gene wait while he ushered the loud and cheering crowd out, pushing hero Ennis with them to the curb to claim his prize conveniently parked right at the front door.<br />
<br />
Now that the two were alone, Autry gladly shook the barman’s hand and thanked him, explaining what had actually just happened, gesturing over towards the pinball machines.<br />
<br />
From the dark corner next to the jukebox, the drowsy cowboy woke up, burped loudly from all the warm ginger ale in beer mugs that he’d been drinking all night, looked around, walked over to the Indian and gave him a big bear hug. <br />
<br />
After being introduced, Jack Twist reached over, shook the bartender’s hand and thanked him too.<br />
<br />
Looking into Gene's eyes, he said with a grateful grin, "Yer my kind of Indian giver," and slapped his shoulder with the palm of his hand. <br />
<br />
Hating to have to go, Twist looked down and said, "Well I hate for this to end, but I got a train to catch."<br />
<br />
Autry tossed him a set of keys and said. "I got other business to transact. Be right with ya."<br />
<br />
Jack shrugged and after making sure Ennis had already taken his new truck and pulled it out back, he left alone and began walking east.<br />
<br />
From somewhere out behind the old building came the unmistakable voice of Ennis del Mar screaming, "Yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! at the top of his lungs.<br />
<br />
Smiling to himself as he walked the block and a half down East Monroe to Autry's pa's truck, he got in on the passenger side, sat to wait for his buddy and began crying from the sound of Ennis' joy.<br />
<br />
Five minutes later the Indian came down the sidewalk and got in, grabbed the key from Twist and started up the motor, getting the heater going. "Did ya hear 'im?"<br />
<br />
Jack burst out laughing, "I think all of Riverton; hell all of Wyoming; no all of tarnation heard that boy!"<br />
<br />
They drove off into the night towards the train station in silence.<br />
<br />
In the depot parking lot, Jacked jumped out muttering his thanks, and Autry quickly limped after him, leaving the motor running. <br />
<br />
A few paces away, the tall Ute tugged on Jack's arm to stop him before Twist went in to buy a ticket.<br />
<br />
Standing there in the dark, Autry said, "Ya recollect how ya said you was countin' on my expertise as a poker player; right?"<br />
<br />
Twist frowned and nodded, "Right."<br />
<br />
Gene dug a thick wad of greenbacks out of his pocket, split it into what he figured was about half, and pushed the rest into Jack's hand.<br />
<br />
Jack scowled at it and opened his mouth to ask... but was interrupted by the big man who warned, "Shut up and put it in yer pocket - Now!"<br />
<br />
While Twist quickly complied, Autry explained, "For hours, every hand I won; I harvested fifty bucks in chips all night long into my pocket. By the time we got to the last hand, the only money left in the pot was from them nine other guys who lost their shirts. By doin' that Ennis consistently had more money than me on the table, 'n that's how he was able to out raise my last hand."<br />
<br />
Jack's eyes widened and his face grew a huge grin causing the big handsome Indian to laugh at him.<br />
<br />
..."After ya left, I cashed in all them chips."<br />
<br />
With a knowing grin, Autry added, "Now who says no good deed goes unpunished?" then pushed Twist towards the front doors of the station with a warning not to thank him.<br />
<br />
Jack watched a real man among men drive out of the parking lot, and then he strolled grinning and shaking his head into the warm lobby. <br />
<br />
At the ticket teller's cage, he paid his fare back to Houston with what little money he had left in his wallet.<br />
<br />
The spare cash his new hero'd given him was probably enough to buy a tank of gas and a good meal once he got home and he was grateful for it.<br />
<br />
Sitting down with a groan, he prepared to wait about an hour for the train and curiously pulled the wad Autry'd given him from his jeans...<br />
<br />
His jaw dropped after counting out $625... he counted it again in awe... yep; $625.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Pink Paint</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>N</b></span>ear the end of the Rodeo season, Jack finally found the girl Lureen that he’d been looking for in Childress. During a small town rodeo, he made a point of watching her ride and had even caught her eye a time or two. <br />
<br />
One afternoon after a successful day, he stayed to watch her go through her paces, retrieving her hat afterward when it’d blown off as she passed him on horseback. <br />
<br />
She returned his flirting grin. <br />
<br />
Five minutes later one of the bullriders gave him the very same seductive look and for a moment his breath <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wUpP2TIEOPY/TpKP-wLYNjI/AAAAAAAADuc/2U_ROYZhuK0/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 1px;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wUpP2TIEOPY/TpKP-wLYNjI/AAAAAAAADuc/2U_ROYZhuK0/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+14.JPG" width="400" /></a>left his lungs.<br />
<br />
He spotted her again across a crowded dance floor in the local tavern that evening while celebrating a shiny new first-prize belt buckle in his event. After catching her looking at him a couple of times, he turned to the barkeep to ask about her and was told that she had an expensive horse, an expensive car and cheap tastes in men, fortunately for him. He also learned that her daddy L.D. Newsome Jr. was rich and sold expensive farm equipment. <br />
<br />
Just then the bullrider that had caught Jack’s eye earlier sauntered up to shake his hand and offered to buy him a drink.<br />
<br />
In the midst of trying to decide which held the most promise of getting into his bed that night, she strolled over and startled Twist along with half the people in the tavern by loudly yelling over the jukebox, "Hey Cowboy, what are you waitin' for - a matin' call 'r somethin'?"<br />
<br />
The muscular rodeo stranger shrugged, let go of Jack’s hand reluctantly and headed towards the billiards table.<br />
<br />
He married her the following month after finding out he’d gotten her pregnant in the back of her father’s new Thunderbird that night. Lureen Newsome’s daddy did indeed own a company that sold very pricey farm equipment.<br />
<br />
It gave him pause when he found out her grandfather used to be some kind of traveling preacher, but he’d passed away several years ago, so he didn’t give it a second thought.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">A couple of months later he found out Lureen wasn't really pregnant and was furious. He spent more and more time out on the rodeo circuit and seriously considered leaving her after being tricked into the marriage.<br />
<br />
L.D. started hinting around that she should divorce him on the grounds of abandonment. Instead, she traveled out to her husband, and then joined him on the rodeo circuit continuing her barrel racing. Both delighted in how infuriated her father was at the turn of events.<br />
<br />
In January of 1965 Jack Twist got notice that he’d been drafted just after his 21st birthday. Newsome said he had political contacts that’d help his son-in-law avoid winding up in Vietnam. He promised his daughter he’d try.<br />
<br />
Senior never lifted a finger; the best thing that could happen would be for his little girl to be widowed overseas by that loser. L.D. was secretly real pleased to potentially have a dead war hero in the family and immediately bought a large life insurance policy on his son-in-law... with himself as the beneficiary.<br />
<br />
Jack reported to the draft board for his physical and failed because of the rodeo injuries to his back. Of course, Deke took credit for keeping him out of the war, but a more resentful tone crept into his voice whenever he called him "Rodeo" from then on.<br />
<br />
<br />
In late 1966 Lureen was pregnant for real and moved in with her parents while Jack tried to support her on what he earned in prize money.<br />
<br />
In the late spring of 1967 Jack was out rodeoing when the baby was born. It was an unnamed boy, and Lureen's father fell madly in love, bragging that the infant looked just like his grandpa.<br />
<br />
Weeks later, his son would've been hastily christened Lucas Deke Newsome Twist III before Jack returned, if Twist hadn't been injured and come home two days early.<br />
<br />
He angrily informed the preacher that his son was to be baptized Ennis Jonathan Twist. After compromising in outraged hushed tones with Lureen at the back of the church, Jack decided that a suitable alternate would be to name his son after one of his heroes… Bobby Kennedy. His son was dubbed Robert Lucas Newsome Twist on his birth certificate...<br />
<br />
...L.D. defiantly added a "Sr." to the end of his name anyway.<br />
<br />
Everyone called the old man "Deke" or L.D... He never let Jack feel comfortable calling him anything <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZJcqt8odBs/Uf_qJYo5M4I/AAAAAAAAG5E/ZuCzWW4zmJo/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Newsome+Farm+Machinery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-: 0px;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UZJcqt8odBs/Uf_qJYo5M4I/AAAAAAAAG5E/ZuCzWW4zmJo/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Newsome+Farm+Machinery.jpg" width="400" /></a>but Mr. Newsome.<br />
<br />
Senior wasn’t too happy that Jack stayed out on the rodeo circuit for a couple of years after the marriage. After some prompting from his daughter, L.D. offered Twist a position selling expensive combines and tractors to rich farmers and ranch owners if he’d agree to quit bullriding. <br />
<br />
As it turned out, the job kept him on the road as much as riding bulls ever did. <br />
<br />
Twist instantly bought a new car for her that Lureen picked out, then he bought a big modern new house that his father-in-law co-signed the loan for and proclaimed it was the only place in all of Texas worthy of his little girl, and then reluctantly got used to her mother Fayette being around all the time - butting in and "making suggestions." <br />
<br />
Within a week she'd chosen a gaudy dining room set with lavender chair backs and he had to put his foot down and assert his authority by refusing delivery when Lureen ordered a dark pink couch and chair for the living room.<br />
<br />
Lureen’s nickname for Jack was "Rodeo" and he became comfortable with it until Deke started using it in an insulting tone as if it was the ultimate put-down. <br />
<br />
Twist came home one day in July after a long trip to find his mother-in-law Fay and Lureen painting their <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DVEzD-vW5Uo/UgSMMZqhdhI/AAAAAAAAG9w/dwAFRCGuTbM/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+miserable+in+a+pink+bedroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DVEzD-vW5Uo/UgSMMZqhdhI/AAAAAAAAG9w/dwAFRCGuTbM/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Jack+miserable+in+a+pink+bedroom.jpg" width="400" /></a>bedroom pink.<br />
<br />
L.D. came up behind and passed him in the doorway, ignoring him as he entered the room to pose in the middle of the floor. <br />
<br />
Just as Jack was about to raise hell about her choice of color, Lureen grinned at her daddy and gushed, "Ain’t this the prettiest shade of pink ya ever did see?"<br />
<br />
Newsome nodded approval before Jack could voice his objection. <br />
<br />
Jack’s head dropped in resignation to stare at the floor as their infant started loudly screaming. It was then that he knew he’d never be happy here and started longing for what he’d shared with Ennis.<br />
<br />
Twist wandered out to pull his pickup into the garage, only to find his spot next to Lureen's new Lincoln Continental was taken up by a car under an old heavy fabric tarp. Frowning at it, he discovered a beautifully preserved brown 1938 Packard deluxe coupe, probably stored there by his father-in-law.<br />
<br />
Deke was implying in a not-so-subtle and lopsided way that there was no room for Jack in his own home.<br />
<br />
The next day, he started making inquiries in Riverton, but only found that the del Mars had married and moved away a year or so ago but no one seemed to know where.<br />
<br />
Jack became miserable living under his wife and father-in-law’s thumbs, despite the new modern home, a newer red company truck, a bigger new Cadillac for her, and the even larger salary. <br />
<br />
With the increase in income came a way to "tune them out" when he was home; he became an audiophile, buying the latest stereo equipment and collecting record albums. By constantly having his headphones hooked up to his reel-to-reel tape deck in his den when he was home, he didn’t have to listen to his wife and mother-in-law plan out his life for him. <br />
<br />
With the advent of the audiocassette, he began making homemade music tapes to listen to on the road and had a brand new player mounted in the dashboard of his truck, and carried another portable in with him to his sales office.<br />
<br />
Three whole years had passed since the marriage and Jack’s parents never visited once; not for anniversaries, their grandson's birth, nor for his christening, because his father didn’t approve of his marrying out of their faith. Hell, his parent’s had changed denominations so many times he had no clue what religion they were anyway.<br />
<br />
Jack still reluctantly drove north alone once or twice every year since 1964 to help out around his parent’s ranch after his mother would call and plead with him to. <br />
<br />
Lureen and Martha would gab on the phone and exchange photos in the mail, but never met eye to eye. <br />
<br />
He heard once that somehow L.D.'s preacher father knew Twist's dad when he was a rodeo champion years and years ago, but could never confirm the rumor.<br />
<br />
L.D. no longer had any use for Jack now that he had a grandson. His attitude towards him at the office showed that he'd make life as miserable as he could for his son-in-law. Once he offered Twist $5,000 in severance pay if he'd leave the company and find another job, but it was obvious Deke meant if Jack left the marriage.<br />
<br />
Without bothering to explain why, the cowboy stopped making love to his wife and moved into the spare bedroom. </span>Hearing this news from his daughter, L.D. offered an even better deal to help Jack start a new life for himself if they separated, hinting he might foot the bill for the divorce if it came to that.<br />
<br />
It was then that Jack started making regular business trips to a little town in Mexico just south of the border where he found men that reminded him of del Mar and were willing to fuck him all night… for a price.<br />
<br />
The return trips to Texas were emotionally painful and he usually sulked the whole way over how much his life sucked without his true love and the lack of hope <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npOpcpG2k-E/Ude-SpCz91I/AAAAAAAAGXU/92w2BFUp1NM/s1600/Brokeback+mountain+Lureen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npOpcpG2k-E/Ude-SpCz91I/AAAAAAAAGXU/92w2BFUp1NM/s400/Brokeback+mountain+Lureen.JPG" width="400" /></a>that he’d ever find him again after discovering that he went through with marrying Alma and they'd moved somewhere north.<br />
<br />
Deke Newsome stopped doting on his grandson and started calling him Rodeo Jr. instead of just "Junior," and didn’t seem to visit as frequently as he used to after that.<br />
<br />
Lureen began keeping the books for her father and became good at running the day-to-day operations of Newsome Farm Equipment Company.<br />
<br />
Jack contented himself to drive around the surrounding states in his new red and white Ford pickup away from her. It was then that he came up with a long-shot idea of how to find Ennis using general delivery postcards and guessing at towns the handsome ranch hand might have moved to.<br />
<br />
He used up a lot of postage on his Newsome expense account, but if it eventually paid off, it'd be worth it…<br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-88-92-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-65256430752105030502014-02-24T12:10:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:45:24.821-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 22 ~ Jack Fuckin’ Twist</span></b><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-85-87-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" /></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Hippy</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>uly of 1967 Ennis settled happily into fatherhood and ranching, and seemed to get along with Alma because he was spending more and more time away from home and from her constant whining about wanting a better life. <span style="color: #006d9f;">He’d considered applying to work up on Brokeback again that summer to escape her, but decided against it because the pay was better ranching and he didn’t think he could stand to be separated from Junior and Jenny for three months.<br />
<br />
He was saddened to hear that Gene had moved to northern Arizona somewhere.</span><br />
<br />
Ennis’d cut down on his drinking and brawling since moving back to Riverton and had a full time job tending livestock and two steady part time jobs caring for horses.<br />
<br />
The old GMC had become a real challenge to keep running and he had to use the emergency brake to stop it, but it got him back and forth to his jobs. Things settled deeper into a pattern of church picnics, drive-in movies, eating cheap food and barely making the bills.<br />
<br />
As things got more strained between them, Ennis asked Alma to start working for the market down the street again where she had a job before, figuring that it’d give him an excuse to be out working while she watched the girls and vise versa. She also got a healthy discount on food and home supplies… especially cigarettes.<br />
<br />
Every so often, he’d get called out to the ranch on his day off and be unable to get a hold of their regular babysitter. It became a habit about once every-other-month for him to just drop the girls off “out of the blue” with Alma at the store.<br />
<br />
Her Boss Monroe enjoyed looking after her kids for her and without knowing any better would let them have free rein of the market; which usually resulted in broken glass jars of pickles, opened and consumed bubble gum, and ketchup smeared on the faces of new baby dolls for lipstick on the shelves.<br />
<br />
As they grew, Ennis loved teaching the girls to talk and had even discussed sending Junior to kindergarten next year.<br />
<br />
Looking back on it years later, Ennis was at a loss to figure out how he missed all the signs of what the future held. They now lived in an upstairs apartment behind and over <b>Monroe</b>'s Custom Cleaners... on East <b>Monroe</b> Avenue... his wife worked for a man named <b>Monroe</b> W. <b>Monroe</b>... at <b>Monroe</b>'s Food Market... on West <b>Monroe</b> Avenue! Sometimes he wondered why the town was named Riverton.<br />
<br />
[<span style="color: #006d9f;">Seriously, those streets actually exist in Riverton, Wyoming!</span>]<br />
<br />
Alma was always checking the want ads trying to get him a better job here or there, her latest with the local gas company, but Ennis only remarked, "Hell, honey, as clumsy as I am, I’d probably blow up the whole damned town. He had similar excuses for openings at the electric and water too.."<br />
<br />
Alma had done her best to fix up their new place, though it was obvious that Ennis hated it. Aside from it obviously being too tiny for his family, the sound of the washers and dryers going at all hours in the dry cleaners below was tough to handle for a man who was used to living out in the peaceful prairie.<br />
<br />
Mostly he’d come home for meals, catch up with "his girls" and then head out to Betsy’s Tavern unless he had to watch his daughters that night. Though he'd cut down on his drinking considerably, she didn’t have to know that and mostly he played pool, poker and shot the breeze.<br />
<br />
He had few friends because of his standoffish attitude and sparseness of words.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">At a church social, Ennis ran into Joe Aguirre whose family was having a reunion in town. The foreman seemed to genuinely warm up to him after being surprised to meet Alma and the girls.<br />
<br />
His ex-boss in turn introduced an attractive young man standing with him as his youngest son John, who immediately corrected his father saying, "Everyone calls me Jack." He frowned after a moment and asked, "del Mar you said?"<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded and offered to shake his hand, but the guy flashed a warm smile instead, raised two fingers in a V and said, "Peace Brother."<br />
<br />
The elder Aguirre appeared to be uncomfortable with his son. Ennis wrote it off as embarrassment because like all the younger generation those days, Jack wore tight white denim bellbottom jeans and an open psychedelic shirt that showed off a toned athletic physique. He sported love beads, stylish long sideburns and shoulder-length straight brunette hair that covered his ears, with bangs parted in the middle that reached his eyebrows.<br />
<br />
By the day’s standards he was conservative in appearance, but his father still considered him a "hippy."<br />
<br />
Ennis and Alma had seen them on TV before, but this was their first one-on-one encounter.<br />
<br />
Del Mar began finding it a struggle to keep his eyes above this guy’s hips, shocked that it was now the norm for men to walk around in public in trousers that were form fitting enough to appear painted on.<br />
<br />
After Joe mentioned that Ennis had worked for him before up on Brokeback Mountain, Jack seemed to suddenly shy away from conversation and excused himself to get a drink from a nearby concession stand.<br />
<br />
Del Mar hadn’t given the bullrider much thought in years, being too busy keeping his family fed and settling on the excuse he’d never find him again anyway… And even if he did want to look him up - which he didn’t, he had too many problems in his life now without trying to sort out feelings he still didn’t understand.<br />
<br />
But after that incident, Jack Twist began playing on Ennis’ mind again and sometimes the erotic dreams came back. In the middle of the night he’d wake up from thinking he’d heard Jack’s voice calling from the forest as if del Mar were lost and Twist was looking for him. Each amazingly fast-growing tree in the woods had a dark secret in it from Ennis’ past and as they quickly towered around him, it was harder and harder to find Twist. The lodge poles swiftly accumulated so close together that eventually he found himself locked there with no escape calling out Jack’s name.<br />
<br />
Ennis would stir out of bed sometimes, feeling even more lost, but awake or asleep, he was still locked inside of his secrets… and his troubling hidden love for Jack that he kept trying to deny existed.<br />
<br />
The war in Vietnam was escalating and Ennis became ever more worried about being called up to join the military. The anti-war movement hadn’t invaded del Mar’s corner of the world yet but the TV and bar conversations made the possibility of being drafted impossible to ignore.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Little Darlin’</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>N</b></span>ear the end of a hot August afternoon, he climbed the stairs to their apartment to find Alma cooking as usual and the kids playing loudly. He crossed the kitchen to wash his hands for supper muttering a hello to his wife who didn’t answer.<br />
<br />
After a few mumbled sentences at each other she asked, "Hey Ennis, you know someone name of Jack from Texas?"<br />
<br />
He froze a moment as his face grew a puzzled frown. How the hell did she know about Jack? In Texas? Noncommittally he replied, "Maybe… Uh, why?"<br />
<br />
"Ya got a postcard come general delivery," she replied, nodding to the counter beside him.<br />
He read;<br />
<blockquote><b><i>“Friend this letter is a long time over due. Hope you get it. Heard you was in Riverton. I’m coming thru on the 31st. thought I’d stop and buy you a beer. Drop me a line if you can, say if you're there, Jack.”</i></b></blockquote>The return address was Childress, Texas.<br />
<br />
His wife asked, "He someone you cowboyed with… or what?"<br />
<br />
Ennis blinked and brought himself out of a fond memory. In reply he mumbled, "No Jack; he rodeos mostly." As he turned to walk toward the front door he added over his shoulder, "We was fishin’ buddies."<br />
<br />
He grabbed his hat and nearly ran down the stairs to his truck, leaving Alma wondering where he was going. <span style="color: #006d9f;">His mind wandered back to the day he'd let Jack fuck him. His head swam in the devotion to one another that they'd once shared... and the kiss Jack'd given him afterward as if the cowboy was sacrificing his very soul at the alter of Ennis' reluctant love.<br />
<br />
He was so distracted by the memory of that kiss that Alma had never been able to match and his deep longing for another one, that he drove right past the post office.<br />
<br />
After turning around and going two blocks south</span>, Ennis bought a plain pre-stamped postcard at the post office, jotted a quick "You Bet!" then scrawled his own address on it, copying Twist’s address over from Jack's card and dropped it in the outgoing mail slot.<br />
<br />
Within a week, cards were exchanged along with directions and a date was set, though Jack didn’t know what time he’d get there.<br />
<br />
<br />
...That Friday Ennis, wearing his best shirt and clean jeans, had taken the day off to anxiously wait for the man he still wouldn’t admit to himself that he loved… and craved. He spent the morning pacing back and forth with a beer, often looking down into the dusty rear parking lot from his second floor window.<br />
<br />
Alma was done up in one of her best dresses as if she had intended to go out with Ennis and his old friend Jack, and was saying something as he paced back and forth but he wasn’t really paying attention.<br />
<br />
He’d have to find a way to ditch his wife and if his mind weren’t so preoccupied with anticipation he’d be pissed that she was so determined to tag along with them.<br />
<br />
On his second trip to the kitchen for another beer after forgetting the first time, Alma repeated, "I said; ya know Ennis, it’s so hot today maybe we could get a babysitter fer the girls 'n take yer friend to the Knife 'n Fork fer dinner?"<br />
<br />
Coming back out of the kitchen on his way to the chair he’d been sitting on at the window sill, he replied, "Nah, Jack ain’t the restaurant type; we’ll more’n likely just go out 'n get drunk… that is if'n he shows."<br />
<br />
There… that ought to discourage her.<br />
<br />
Nervous with anticipation, Ennis sat at the window playing with his lighter and chain smoking, knowing but not knowing why he wished Jack would hurry and arrive. He scanned the sky watching clouds roll by and worried that the heat and humidity could bring a storm with them later in the day.<br />
<br />
Alma busied herself feeding the girls, trying to figure out what Ennis was so anxious about. She’d never seen her normally stoic husband act like this about anybody.<br />
<br />
Sometime around five o’clock, after Ennis gave up watching and moved to his easy chair, he heard the sound of a car pulling up out back.<br />
<br />
Thunder rumbled from the east as he jumped up anxiously to watch a new red and white Ford pickup come to a stop just below his 2nd floor window. He could feel his heart pounding beneath his shirt and he inhaled sharply as he saw Jack get out of it and his eyes began to burn.<br />
<br />
A hot jolt scalded Ennis and he was instantly on the second floor porch landing pulling the door closed behind himself.<br />
<br />
Oddly enough Ennis found Jack smiling at del Mar’s truck of three years like it was an old comrade or something. A sound distracted him and Twist looked up at his friend and their eyes met.<br />
<br />
The horseman suddenly sported a grin from ear to ear that was so big he was afraid his face would split and he abruptly glowed with joy as he began gasping for breath.<br />
<br />
From the top of the landing he happily slapped both palms on the railing, gushed out in a shaky voice, "Jack Fucking Twist," and bounded down the steps two at a time as Jack met him halfway across the lot in front of the girl’s new swing set.<br />
<br />
They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other saying, "Son of a bitch… Son of a bitch."<br />
<br />
Afraid of attempting a first move on this now-married man enclosed in his wanting arms; Jack ached to do more than just hug him.<br />
<br />
As their embrace seemed to end and their eyes bored into each other’s souls, to Twist’s astonishment Ennis nervously looked around, weary of who might see and then roughly grabbed him by his vest.<br />
<br />
"Come here," he growled, pushing Twist backwards twenty feet like fancy dancers in a ballroom. He threw him against the back wall of the laundromat at the bottom of the neighbor’s little hidden staircase across from the foot of their own leading up in the opposite direction.<br />
<br />
With their bodies pressed tightly together, <span style="color: #006d9f;">the anxious words came out so low that they could barely be heard even by Jack as Ennis growled in a hushed wanting whisper, "0-1-2-3 - kiss me Jack."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">As easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together and hard, Jack’s teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the ground, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling between them.</span> So urgent was their need for each other, it seemed like more of a bar fight than a greeting, both competing to see who could hold the other tighter.<br />
<br />
Tears ran down both men’s cheeks as Jack’s trembling fingers gathered up in Ennis’ shirt’s shoulders and grabbed them, pushing him roughly away only to pin del Mar forcefully against the opposite privacy wall, crushing him against it as he returned the fevered kiss.<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YMubSb-M2Aw/TpKP_FwQReI/AAAAAAAADug/BTNuS3SWx-Q/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+15.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YMubSb-M2Aw/TpKP_FwQReI/AAAAAAAADug/BTNuS3SWx-Q/s660/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+15.JPG" height="472" width="660" /></a><br />
Their ears roared with thunderous passion as they fought for each gasp. Like a frenzied thief, every breath Jack took was stolen from Ennis’ wanton mouth; answering the silent questions on both men’s minds, "Do you still love me… do you still need me?"<br />
<br />
In the flash of a moment, four 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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 truly feared that if either let go, the other would disappear and they’d wake up from a dream.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
From above, she peered through the glass of the outer storm door down to 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.<br />
<br />
When her mind finally processed what she was actually seeing, her jaw dropped in utter disbelief.<br />
<br />
She watched Ennis’ straining shoulders feverishly pulling the other man ever 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 erotically grinding together, she went into a sort of shock at the sight of them holding such a fiery kiss, still not believing what she was seeing with her own eyes.<br />
<br />
It was something she never even had imagined or heard of.<br />
<br />
Hurt, jealousy and confusion shattered her as she watched Ennis show such an intense adoring want for someone that he’d never even come close to showing for her.<br />
<br />
As both of the stranger's hands invaded down the back of her husband’s jeans to cup his buns, Ennis began caressing Jack's crotch to an obvious erection through his jeans, their lips still locked together as if glued.<br />
<br />
Shutting the door, she began crying, choking down blurred questions, unable to answer any of them as she stumbled back to sit down at the kitchen table.<br />
<br />
Comprehending no other explanation, she believed in her ignorance that the devil must’ve sent that strange homosexual man here from hell. He had touched her husband and instantly turned him queer, stealing his soul and his love for her in the process and now she was emotionally helpless as to how to fight this.<br />
<br />
Without knowing what had just happened above them, the two men clung desperately to each other, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until they pulled apart to breathe in huge gasps and <span style="color: #cc0000;">Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, "Little darlin’," with a satisfied smile.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Lucifer In Denim</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>D</b></span>el Mar peered carefully around the little privacy wall hiding the stairwell where they hoped they were safe from view and breathed a sigh of relief that no one had seen or heard. They exchanged a look that ended the passion and they immediately began arranging their clothes and combing their hair with their fingers to straighten it.<br />
<br />
Ennis was so full of joy that he’d had Jack in his arms once again after so long that he almost glowed with it. He’d buried it so deep within himself that he’d somehow forgotten how intensely he actually felt for this man until it all came flooding back like an emotional dam burst on him.<br />
<br />
Trying to calm himself, Ennis bent over, picked up Jack’s hat, and as he handed it to him, gestured with his head to follow up his own set of stairs to their apartment.<br />
<br />
As Jack climbed those steps behind his long lost love, he prayed for one scenario, and hoped desperately against another; Either Ennis lived here alone and an afternoon of reunion passion was about to occur, or he’d actually married Alma like he’d heard he had, and he was about to meet the dreaded wife and kiddies.<br />
<br />
A few anxious moments later they both appeared in the inside upper front hallway. Alma was stunned as she watched her husband try to unsuccessfully hide an expression of unbridled glee. She gave Ennis a knowing look but said nothing, but he knew that she knew or maybe had seen.<br />
<br />
Try as he might, he couldn't stop joyfully smiling; even after clamping his lips tightly closed his face still betrayed his happiness that Jack was here.<br />
<br />
A resentful fear began building in Alma. Who was this evil man that could bring out so much in her husband that she couldn't?<br />
<br />
The uncomfortable moment hung in the air too long. What could he say? "Alma, this is uh Jack Twist… and Jack, my wife, Alma."<br />
<br />
His chest was still heaving and his eyes lit up having merely said the name out loud in front of her. His hormones were now on overdrive and he could smell Jack’s intensely familiar odor of musky testosterone-filled male sweat and a faint sweetness like new mown grass.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LfksVnxDVGg/UgVCP1sTAfI/AAAAAAAAG_s/YJMnCmu4188/s1600/Brokeback-Mountain-Jack+meets+Alma1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LfksVnxDVGg/UgVCP1sTAfI/AAAAAAAAG_s/YJMnCmu4188/s400/Brokeback-Mountain-Jack+meets+Alma1.jpg" height="400" width="377" /></a><br />
<br />
Ennis became puzzled that Alma’s facial expression for a flash of a second said that she was almost terrified of his friend.<br />
<br />
Sensing the tension, Jack nodded politely, tipped his Stetson and said, "Howdy."<br />
<br />
"Hello," she replied meekly, still completely lost for a reaction and somewhat frightened of the man she’d just seen kissing her husband.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Ennis seeing her discomfort said, "We ain’t seen each other in four years," as if it were a reason that they were so glad to greet each other the way they had. He was thankful the light was dim in the alcove because he’d grown rock hard between his legs from holding Jack and it stubbornly refused to subside.</span><br />
<br />
"Sure enough," said Alma in a low voice for want of a better response. She had seen what she had indeed seen and noticed his erection.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Behind her the wind pushed a curtain and suddenly a bright white flash lit the room followed a moment later by a loud clap of thunder.</span> In the other room one of the girls suddenly cried out in fear.<br />
<br />
"Oh ya got a kid?" asked Jack grinning. His shaking hand grazed Ennis’ and electrical current snapped between them.<br />
<br />
"Yeah, I got two little girls," Ennis said proudly. "Alma Junior 'n Jenny. Love them to pieces."<br />
<br />
Alma’s mouth twitched nervously.<br />
<br />
"I got a boy," said Jack. "Three-months-old. He smiles a lot. I married the prettiest little gal in Childress Texas - Lureen."<br />
<br />
Alma thought she had this figured out until the homosexual stranger revealed that he was married and had a child… but now she was lost again; maybe more than before.<br />
<br />
From the vibration of the floorboard on which they both stood Ennis could feel how hard Jack was shaking. He turned to his blank-faced wife and said. "Me 'n Jack - we’re gonna head out 'n get ourselves a drink."<br />
<br />
"Sure enough," she replied, trying to quickly come up with a reason to delay him and came up empty.<br />
<br />
"Pleased to meet ya ma’am," said Jack, trembling like a run-out horse as he politely tipped his hat.<br />
<br />
"We might not get back tonight, when we get to drinkin' 'n talking 'n all..."<br />
<br />
After what she’d just seen, she didn’t want her husband and the father of her children running off with this man until she could figure out a way to compete with him. Alma took a dollar bill from her purse.<br />
<br />
Ennis grabbed at his hat in haste and pushed Jack towards the door. He’d guessed she was going to ask him to get her a pack of cigarettes to bring him back sooner than the next day.<br />
<br />
"Ennis," said Alma in her misery voice, "Would ya get me a pack of smo…" but that didn’t slow them scurrying down the stairs.<br />
<br />
He called back from below at a run, "Alma, you want smokes there’s some in the top pocket of my blue shirt in the bedroom."<br />
<br />
They went off in Jack’s truck, bought a bottle of whiskey and within twenty minutes were in the Motel Siesta...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Ember & The Flame</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>O</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">utside 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.<br />
<br />
Jack was trembling with passion so hard his teeth were chattering.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Yet they still stood there not touching only inches apart as though afraid of the other vanishing in a dream come true.<br />
<br />
Finally Jack raised a severely shivering hand to tenderly touch Ennis’ face, feeling his stubble rasp as the horseman pressed his cheek against it.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
In the dark Ennis moaned while running his fingers through Jack’s hair comforting him.<br />
<br />
Tears were flowing uncontrollably down both men's cheeks now.<br />
<br />
Jack backed up, pulled him to the foot 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Twist moved back down to the foot of the bed, grabbed the jeans and urged Ennis to raise his hips while he shucked the denim downward and off taking his socks with it.<br />
<br />
Jack smiled - Ennis still didn’t wear underwear; just like old times.<br />
<br />
Still dressed, Twist climbed on top to lay slowly… luxuriously down to cover the now-naked and rock-hard body of his long-lost love… and then kissed him silently full on the mouth… He took his time to enjoy what he was doing… making it last until every breath Ennis took was his; just like last time.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ fingertips dug into Jack’s pant waist and pulled his shirttails out, running his palms up the warm skin of his longed-for love's back. His hands came out and reached for Jack’s shirt buttons but Twist backed away out of his reach.<br />
<br />
Sliding down while kissing trembling skin as he went, Jack ducked his head below Ennis’ pubic hair and swallowed him whole to the root. The huge, hot and quivering shaft completely filled Twist's mouth and touched his tonsils, causing del Mar to utter the first words they’d said since entering the room together.<br />
<br />
"Ohhhhhh my God… Ohhhh, oh my gahhhhhhhhhhhhd."<br />
<br />
Ennis’ cock head swelled within the back of Jack's mouth trying to gag him, but he fought it for a moment and then eased back to breath without releasing the eight-inch steel hard shaft. Jack began swirling his tongue around the mushroom head ridge working his lips up and down - up and down - up and down, causing Ennis to moan and buck his hips. As his lips kept working, Jack’s palms greedily explored Ennis’ abs reaching higher to gather his mounded pecs and thumb both of his hard nipples.<br />
<br />
Not wanting to cum yet, Ennis suddenly grasped Jack’s shoulders and<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SYF_6Iyzdh0/UxJKZXbGe9I/AAAAAAAAJk0/9SMoqv4kcGM/w604-h994-no/Brokeback+Mountain+siesta+motel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="640" ps="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SYF_6Iyzdh0/UxJKZXbGe9I/AAAAAAAAJk0/9SMoqv4kcGM/w604-h994-no/Brokeback+Mountain+siesta+motel.jpg" width="388" /></a> shoved hard, knocking him to the floor. Instantly the naked man was atop Twist, yanking at buttons tearing at boots and within impatient moments had him undressed.<br />
<br />
With a rough shove Jack was flung back onto the bed and Ennis was instantly on top of him, lovingly pressing all of his weight onto the brawny ex-rodeo rider.<br />
<br />
They repeated their earlier kiss of this afternoon over and over again with just as much impatient urgency and passion, teeth brushing lips, greedily inhaling each other’s gasped breaths.<br />
<br />
Both became like blind men trying to memorize each other by touch until they’d found their heads at each other’s feet. Lying on their sides and without a word they began kissing and lapping at each other’s ankles, working their way up until both reached the other’s balls.<br />
<br />
After a pause to savor the moment they urgently began sucking each other’s pulsing cocks, clutching the other’s hips tightly while working passionately to bring the other to orgasm but desperately trying to hold back his own.<br />
<br />
Their bodies became so contorted in passion that it was sometimes impossible to tell who was on top and neither cared.<br />
<br />
Twist had learned something in Mexico and maneuvered Ennis on top of him. As del Mar planted his knees on either side of his friend's head, Jack urged him to fuck his mouth with his impossibly long cock. Suppressing his gag reflex Jack allowed Ennis to penetrate past his esophagus, began jacking him off both orally with his throat and tightened lips at the same time while still working his tongue!<br />
<br />
The ranch hand moaned loudly and leaned forward and down to swallow his lover’s warm shaft whole, sucking on it for all he was worth like a starving calf milking its mother’s tit.<br />
<br />
After about a minute, Twist spat him out to breathe, then wrapping his arms around del Mar’s hips tightly, he pulled himself up, craned his neck and began licking at Ennis’ pucker.<br />
<br />
Unable to hold back, Ennis spat out Jack and screamed.<br />
<br />
Twist quickly wrapped his wanting lips around it again as del Mar’s huge cock began flooding Jack’s mouth to overflow.<br />
<br />
With each spurt Ennis gasped harder and harder barely able to breathe or speak until finally he collapsed exhausted.<br />
<br />
Taking advantage of his helpless condition, Twist quickly got out from under Ennis’ dead weight leaving him on his stomach still panting. Jack had dreamed of this for years, but never dared think it'd ever really happen again except in countless masturbation fantasies. With his victim still face down and gasping for air in exhaustion, Twist gently grabbed his ankles and spread Ennis’ legs.<br />
<br />
In an instant Jack was hungrily rimming the powerfully built horseman alternately kissing each pillowed ass cheek in turn back and forth. As his tongue greedily returned to slurp around and around Ennis’ puckered and sensitive opening, both of Jack’s palms explored the muscled sides and spine crease of his lover gradually moving up to his man’s strong shoulders while Twist’s face stubble was causing sensations too incredible to bear for long.<br />
<br />
Del Mar helpless to resist, kept raising his craving hips up ever higher to meet Jack’s tongue.<br />
<br />
Ennis began bawling in ecstasy, totally helpless to whatever Jack wanted to do to him, craving every touch and sensation as he became overwhelmed and dominated by Twist’s passion.<br />
<br />
Sensing it, Jack took advantage and moved himself upward guiding his anxious cock to enter Ennis' sphincter slowly and tenderly, releasing a sigh of pleasure as he sank deep within until he was satisfied he could go no further. The strong glove of Ennis’ butt was now gripping Twist’s penis tightly as if it wouldn’t ever let go.<br />
<br />
Beneath Jack, his lover moaned softly in paradise, folded his forearms under his pillow and groaned while Jack’s throbbing member found and massaged his prostate.<br />
<br />
Jack began slow strokes in and out – in and out wanting to savor the chance he might not get again and was surprised when Ennis began bucking his hips to meet each thrust. Twist began pulling out completely and re-entering giving them both pleasure as the smell of passionate sweat and testosterone filled the room.<br />
<br />
Jack moaned in lust and love as he molded his chest and hips to Ennis’ back and muscled horseman's ass, resting his head against the tussled blond hair of his man. Then he dug his arms within and beneath Ennis’ armpits and squeezed as he continued to fuck him slowly, his mind in a stoned high he’d never experienced before.<br />
<br />
As he felt his orgasm build he couldn’t hold back for much longer and from under him, Ennis gathered Jack's forearms with his own beneath them tightly and continued pushing his hips upward till they were a couple of inches above the bed as Jack pounded harder and faster, sobbing tears of elation.<br />
<br />
Del Mar began chanting rhythmically, "Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah," with each thrust's impact and suddenly Jack groaned and collapsed dead weight onto Ennis’ back as his buried cock unloaded into his lover in mighty gushes that drained his strength.<br />
<br />
Ennis lay there in a cloud of bliss, unable to remember when he’d been this happy and at peace.<br />
<br />
Jack went to withdraw, but Ennis reached behind and held his hips down. Twist kissed the back of his neck and began stroking in and out again, only slower and less urgently.<br />
<br />
Something began happening within Ennis’ cock. With each of Jack’s thrusts, it was as if his penis were invading inside of Ennis’ own internally like fingers into a glove and it became thrilling. To his shock del Mar instantly orgasmed in violent body-jolting spurts flooding the bedspread beneath them with warm slick fluid. Unable to hold back Jack unloaded yet again and collapsed.<br />
<br />
Their breathing came slower and together as they silently lay there spent, savoring the sensation of Jack's hips joined to Ennis' warm ass cheeks. Both sobbing in unison while Twist buried his face in Ennis’ hair.<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY4MIAKS_Pw/Vw7bRq7fNfI/AAAAAAAAL9U/97Ic6IMd-g8hmyTZpYTB8PmTOLGih0LZACKgB/s1600/%2560%2BBrokeback%2BEnnis%2Bn%2BJack%2Bshower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY4MIAKS_Pw/Vw7bRq7fNfI/AAAAAAAAL9U/97Ic6IMd-g8hmyTZpYTB8PmTOLGih0LZACKgB/s400/%2560%2BBrokeback%2BEnnis%2Bn%2BJack%2Bshower.JPG" width="237" /></a><br />
Jack withdrew and fled to the shower, and moments later Ennis joined him in the tiny tiled cubicle.<br />
<br />
After a few minutes of laughing while playfully soaping each other, things got serious again and Ennis found himself lost in heaven holding the body in his arms that he'd missed so much.<br />
<br />
Del mar reached down to cup and caress a firm familiar ass cheek, causing the handsome cowboy to groan while steam and passion rose up around them. They explored each other's yearned-for lips once more, but a fear rose up to grip Ennis.<br />
<br />
Without explanation, the ranch hand stepped out and grabbed a towel without looking back to see if Jack followed...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Desperate ...and The Disappointed</span></b></I></center><span style="color: #cc0000;">Note: Text in red is from the original short-story.</span><br />
...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span>lma was in tears, barely able to read the phone book as she began calling Ennis’ favorite bars in town starting with Betsy’s.<br />
<br />
She’d made up some emergency about little Jenny’s asthma to get her husband away from that man. Next she tried the diners and with no luck there began sobbing as she turned to the yellow pages to look up the one and only motel in town…<br />
<br />
<br />
...Jack entered the room a moment later to find Ennis sitting naked on the far corner of the foot of the bed, bent over with his face on his palms and his elbows on his knees facing away. The discarded soiled bedspread was now on the floor in front of him.<br />
<br />
Del Mar didn’t even look up, as though he were ashamed. His head was filled with thoughts of Alma and the girls and how much he loved them… and how much more he loved Jack.</span><br />
<br />
Twist lay down face up on the right side of the bed and after a moment, Ennis scooted on his back diagonally up across the sheets to rest the his head on Jack’s chest with his big feet hanging off the opposite corner.<br />
<br />
Jack lovingly wrapped his right arm around Ennis’ head as the nape of his neck rested against Twist's shoulder and chin.<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqMmFDHldEI/TpKW55KER7I/AAAAAAAADuk/oiO1nAvaIyY/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqMmFDHldEI/TpKW55KER7I/AAAAAAAADuk/oiO1nAvaIyY/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+16.JPG" height="277" width="400" /></a><br />
As with all men it was sex first, conver-sation and cigarettes later.<br />
<br />
With Alma it was doing his husbandly duties and getting it over with; with Jack it was as if he couldn’t get enough, like once they started he couldn’t reach the reins to slow the horse down, out of control, passion and lust.<br />
<br />
It was something only men understood.<br />
<br />
"Four years… Damn!," exclaimed Jack in a whisper distracting Ennis from his thoughts.<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded, "Yep, four years." He took a puff from his cigarette and then added, "I didn’t think I’d hear from you again."<br />
<br />
Jack grunted in disagreement.<br />
<br />
Ennis chuckled as he flicked his cigarette against the ashtray perched on his chest. "I figured you were sore at me about that punch."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">To Jack’s sniggered response, Ennis explained, "I come up under my brother K.E., three years older'n me, slugged me silly every day. Dad got tired a me comin’ bawlin’ into the house 'n when I was about six he set me down 'n says, Ennis, ya got a problem 'n ya gotta fix it or it's gonna be with you until yer ninety 'n K.E.'s ninety-three.<br />
<br />
Well, I says, he's bigger'n me. Dad says, ya gotta take him unawares, don't say nothin’ to him, make him feel some pain, get out fast 'n keep doin’ it until he takes the message. Nothin’ like hurtin’ somebody to make him hear good. So I did. I got him in the outhouse, jumped him on the stairs, come over to his pillow in the night while he was sleepin’ 'n pasted him damn good.<br />
<br />
Took about two days; never had trouble with K.E. since. The lesson was, don't say nothin’ 'n get it over with quick."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack realized now why Ennis was so heartless with people. His father had taught him to hurt before he was hurt and then get out fast. Sadly it’s one of the hardest habits to unlearn once you’ve mastered it; especially at a young age.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Through the paper-thin wall, they heard a telephone rang in the next room, on and on, and stopped abruptly in mid-peal. Ennis wondered if Alma might try to track him down tonight and began pondering what being here was doing to him.</span><br />
<br />
Twist didn't realize it but del Mar was sinking back to his emotionless mode by way of indifference. Ennis' ego was trying to recover his masculinity by attempting to pretend that what had happened and what was happening hadn't really.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Unaware, Jack exhaled forceful cigarette clouds and said, "Christ, it’s got to be all that time of yours on horseback that makes sex so goddamn good."</span><br />
<br />
Ennis closed his eyes, enjoying Jack’s affectionate embracing arm around his neck. He was suddenly uncomfortable about what they’d just done and changed the subject to marrying Alma, picking up stakes and them moving around a lot.<br />
<br />
Still rubbing his head against Ennis’, Jack said, "That next summer, I drove back down to Signal. Talked to Aguirre about a job 'n he told me ya hadn’t been back, so I left. Went down to Texas for rodeoin’. That’s how I met Lureen. Made $2,000 that year bull ridin’. <span style="color: #cc0000;">Goddamned starved. Had to borrow everything but a toothbrush from other guys. Drove grooves across Texas. Spent half the time under that cunt truck fixin’ it. Look over on that chair."<br />
<br />
On the back of a soiled orange chair Ennis saw the shine of a buckle. "Bull ridin?"</span><br />
<br />
Jack nodded and said, "Lureen’s old man makes serious money, farm machine business. Of course he hates my guts. <span style="color: #cc0000;">I know enough about the game to know he’d do just about anything to get rid of me, ‘cause now that he’s got his grandson, I’m useless to him."</span><br />
<br />
Still in a mental haze, Ennis asked, "and the army didn’t git ya?"<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">A bright flash of light lit the window and after a few moments thunder sounded far to the east.<br />
<br />
"They can't get no use out a me. Got some crushed vertebrates. And a stress fracture, the arm bone here, you know how bullridin you're always leverin it off your thigh? — she gives a little ever time you do it. Even if you tape it good you break it a little goddamn bit at a time. Tell you what, hurts like a bitch afterwards. Had a busted leg. Busted in three places. Come off the bull and it was a big bull with a lot a drop, he got rid a me in about three flat and he come after me and he was sure faster. Lucky enough. Friend a mine got his oil checked with a horn dipstick and that was all she wrote. Bunch a other things, fuckin busted ribs, sprains and pains, torn ligaments.<br />
<br />
It's guys with money go to college, trained ath-a-letes. You gotta have some money to rodeo now. Lureen's old man wouldn't give me a dime if I dropped it. </span>I got out of rodeo just in time while I could still walk; it ain’t like it was in my old man’s day.<br />
<br />
Not really listening, Ennis just nodded <span style="color: #cc0000;">and said. "You sure as hell seem in one piece to me. You know, I was sitting up here all that time trying to figure out if'n I was… if I was, I mean I know I ain’t. I mean, here we both got wives 'n kids, right? I like doing it with women, yeah, but Jesus H., ain’t nothin’ like this was tonight, even better than back on Brokeback. I never had no thoughts of doing it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hunderd times thinkin' about you."</span><br />
<br />
Ennis closed his eyes tightly; he’d damn near used the word "love"… something men weren’t supposed to say to each other.<br />
<br />
Jack groaned and said, "We gotta talk about this. Swear to God I didn’t know we were going to get into this again." He paused to stroke Ennis’ hair and admitted, "Oh yes I did, I red-lined the tach all the way, couldn’t get here fast enough; doubt if I did less than 90 the whole way up... What about you?"<br />
<br />
"Me? ...I don’t know."<br />
<br />
Jack smiled, pulled the back of Ennis’ head to his lips and whispered, "Old Brokeback got us good."<br />
<br />
Love weighed heavily on his mind too. He’d all but come right out and said he’d leave his wife and infant son for Ennis, now it was all up to him.<br />
<br />
Twist thought a moment and then asked with a prayer for the answer he was silently hoping for, "Well, what do we do now?"<br />
<br />
Ennis silently flicked another ash as if distracted. His responsibility to his family weighed heavily on his mind and he barely heard Jack through his thoughts. He was busy weighing Alma and the girls on one side of the scales and what really made him happy on the other.<br />
<br />
He inhaled a slow thoughtful breath and exhaled smoke. "I doubt there’s nothin’ we can do. So I’m stuck with what I got here. Makin’ a livin’ is about all I got time for now. <span style="color: #cc0000;">I got my hands full just tryin' to feed my kids. We’re both committed to our families Jack, there’s not much more we can do. I hate that yer gonna drive away from here tomorrow and I’ll be headin’ back to work, but it’s what we gotta do."</span><br />
<br />
A resentment started to build in Jack. Twist would’ve happily settled for just seeing del Mar again, talking over old times and having a beer together, but Ennis was the one who made the first move, forcefully throwing him against that wall, pinning him against it and then kissing him with such passion.<br />
<br />
Ennis was the one who injected hope into the situation with his kiss. Ennis was the one who didn’t resist one little bit when Jack returned that kiss neither. Damn him. Del Mar’s move sealed their fate for the rest of their lives.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">The phone in the room next door started ringing again seven times and then stopped. The wind picked up and rain pelted the front window.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack’s heart sank along with his hopes. He changed the subject and they spent the next hour or so talking about their separate lives, how Aguirre threatened Jack the summer of ’64, and how Jack peppered his car with gravel.<br />
<br />
Ennis laughed and told Jack about meeting the foreman and his son at a church social, and Aguirre not remembering him, even offering him a job up on Brokeback last year. Jack seemed to tense at the mention of Johnny/Jack Aguirre's name.<br />
<br />
The phone in the room next door started ringing again; ten times.<br />
<br />
Ennis inhaled a long thoughtful breath, "I gotta get home, Alma’ll be worried. I gotta be at work early tomorrow too."<br />
<br />
As he tried to get up, Jack pulled Ennis back to him and kissed him full on the mouth as the ashtray fell to the floor.<br />
<br />
"Not just yet, cowboy," said Jack as his eyes spotted the unopened whiskey bottle. For once <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JhfXnfY5Fqg/UgVJ1mxBpHI/AAAAAAAAHAM/ZfChKe1V2jw/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+motel+reunion+sex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JhfXnfY5Fqg/UgVJ1mxBpHI/AAAAAAAAHAM/ZfChKe1V2jw/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+motel+reunion+sex.jpg" height="410" width="252" /></a>he was proud of himself for not needing it.<br />
<br />
They turned off the lights and cuddled in each other’s arms. Ennis kissed his way down Jack's stomach and swallowed him. Sexually Ennis had loosened up a little, servicing Jack orally, which he almost never did when they were on the mountain and they passionately went at it again.<br />
<br />
Jack needed to be fucked badly and Ennis took his time spending the rest of the night entering and reentering him, making sure they both were satisfied until they fell sound asleep contented…<br />
<br />
<br />
…Now the old lady room clerk was getting annoyed and impatient after answering another outside call on her switchboard. "I told ya already before ma’am we only got two guests; a woman from Casper and a business man from up north. We ain’t got no one from Texas here."<br />
<br />
She wasn’t about to risk her job to disturb her guests at this hour of the night and hung up on the persistent bitch on the other end of the line. She’d already rung an empty room three times to humor her when she called to talk to the man, but since that didn’t work - maybe rudeness would… she huffed and went back to playing solitaire while watching Johnny Carson on the little portable TV.<br />
<br />
When Jack traveled, he used to get increasingly annoying and constant phone calls from Lureen. After a while as a joke he resorted to registering under the name Ennis Newsome…</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-93-96-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp" /></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-30591481468016083312014-02-24T12:09:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:46:45.176-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXIII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 23 ~ The Fish That Got Away</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-88-92-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>What Harm Can A Weekend Do?</span></b></I></center><center><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WOoAbVhwiGA/Ud4dCkbJzGI/AAAAAAAAGZE/Ft_ybMOroV0/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Motel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WOoAbVhwiGA/Ud4dCkbJzGI/AAAAAAAAGZE/Ft_ybMOroV0/s660/Brokeback+Mountain+Motel.jpg" width="660" /></a></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he next morning after waking up in each other’s arms, it was obvious that Ennis was having second thoughts about the whole situation. His man of the west cowboy ego began suffering something terrible as he realized that he was the one that was so completely dominated sexually last night. But more than that, he had to accept the fact that he not only craved it from Jack, but that he needed it from him too and had thought about it for the long years they’d been apart.<br />
<br />
It was beginning to hit them both hard that unless they did something about it together, they’d never see each other for another long stretch, maybe never and both were saddened by it.<br />
<br />
Jack wanted to head for their mountain, but Ennis had responsibilities.<br />
<br />
Twist argued, "What harm can a weekend do? <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Take a couple days off. Right now. Get us outta here. Throw yer stuff in the back a my truck and let's get up in the mountains. Couple a days. Call Alma up ‘n tell her yer goin’. Come on, Ennis, ya just shot my airplane outta the sky - give me somethin’ ta go on. This ain't no little thing that's happenin’ here."</span><br />
<br />
Ennis began swaying to his argument, but insisted on going home first. There was something about the way Alma acted when he left yesterday that convinced him it’d be better to explain in person than over the phone.<br />
<br />
They agreed to head for Brokeback right away.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately Jack read more into it than was there.<br />
<br />
Ennis had come face to face with just how much he craved Jack, but there was that secret fear; the one that his childhood had bred into him. The one that had reared its ugly head.<br />
<br />
Ennis still cared about his wife, but he only agreed to go <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TO_04u8qj60/Ujikiz7zWkI/AAAAAAAAHkA/yRxunBbhRFk/w877-h906-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Alma.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TO_04u8qj60/Ujikiz7zWkI/AAAAAAAAHkA/yRxunBbhRFk/w877-h906-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Alma.JPG" width="308" /></a>because he needed time away from her...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
…Alma had been sitting at the dinette table for what seemed like all morning; sobbing and convinced her husband had left her and the girls. When she heard them pull up out back, she wiped her tears and rushed to the window, relieved that she’d been wrong. Had he come back or was he just here for his things and to say goodbye?<br />
<br />
Her heart sank as she saw them both jump out of Jack’s pickup.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As she watched her rival wait below, she heard Ennis run up their stairs… not a good sign.<br />
<br />
She watched Jack and grew a puzzled frown as he walked over to their truck and leaned forward, looking into the empty cargo bed and grinning like he was proud of it as if he’d built it or something.</span><br />
<br />
Rushing through the door Ennis gave Alma a quick, "Hey," in passing and quickly gathered his coat and fishing equipment.<br />
<br />
Alma opened her mouth to ask something but he interrupted with, "Jack 'n me is going up to the mountains for a couple of days to get in some fishin' before he has to go back home."<br />
<br />
The concept of Jack as the "other woman" was something she still couldn’t understand or figure out. Her head was spinning trying to conceive a way to keep him here, to make him realize he had a family to support. "Cain’t yer friend even come up fer a cup a coffee?"<br />
<br />
"Well, he’s from Texas," replied Ennis without even thinking as he went to the bathroom and grabbed a toothbrush and a shaving kit.<br />
<br />
"What; Texans don’t drink coffee?" she objected, moving to the window to look down on Twist now leaning against his own truck.<br />
<br />
Little Alma Junior came rushing in and wrapped her arms around her father’s knees, "Bring me home a fish Daddy! A big, big one!"<br />
<br />
Ennis smiled down at her, picked her up, kissed her and then silently handed her to her mother. He looked out the window and his breath quickened.<br />
<br />
Alma’s world was shattering for reasons she still couldn’t understand, nor could she hide the confusion in her face. All she could think to say was, "You sure that foreman won’t fire you fer just taking off?"<br />
<br />
Ennis looked back at her and replied, "He owes me... Huh? Didn’t I work all Christmas Eve through a blizzard fer him last year? ‘sides I can always find another job."<br />
<br />
Ennis saw her face crestfallen and muttered a quick, "Come here," to her, kissed her over Junior’s shoulder and was gone out the door calling out, "Be back Sunday latest."<br />
<br />
Moving to the window, she watched her husband hit the bottom of their stairs running. Across his face was the biggest brightest smile and it was more of a shock than yesterday's partially controlled grin. With Jack, her husband could openly show so much happiness... but not with her.<br />
<br />
She broke down and began sobbing.<br />
<br />
Junior hugged her closer and she sniffed as she heard them down below.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">"You hungry?" asked Twist.<br />
<br />
"Starved!" exclaimed Ennis enthusiastically in a gushing joyous voice. The truck doors slammed, the motor started up and they were quickly gone.<br />
<br />
For a fleeting moment she considered quickly packing up the girls and following but the last time she tried to drive their truck she tore up the transmission, never having been taught how to work a clutch or use a manual column shift, and it cost them hundreds to fix.<br />
<br />
She stood transfixed in that window for a long time until Alma Junior began squirming…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Leap Of Faith</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hat first trip back up to "their" mountain was glorious. Ennis couldn’t remember being so at peace and realized that Jack was the reason why he was so damned happy.<br />
<br />
On the way they stopped off at a little out-of-the-way trading post/convenience store/gas station to eat and buy whisky and supplies for their hastily planned trip.<br />
<br />
After Ennis stowed the provisions in the bed of the truck, Jack decided to try coaxing a laugh out of Ennis like the old days. As del Mar climbed into the cab of the pickup with a sack of food, Twist suddenly cut the engine, asking his love, "Ya sure we got everythin'?"<br />
<br />
With a puzzled frown del Mar shuffled through his grocery bag as Jack leaned over to look in it. Suddenly his door was open and Twist yelled, "Be right back!" over his shoulder as he ran towards the store.<br />
<br />
A few moments later he emerged with another little sack, got in, handed it across to Ennis, and then started the truck.<br />
<br />
Jack shifted into gear.<br />
<br />
Ennis peered into the bag and began laughing until tears streamed down his face, making Jack Twist the happiest man on the face of the earth.<br />
<br />
The bag contained a can opener, plastic spoons and two cans of Better Most pork and beans…<br />
<br />
They spent the trip talking endlessly about what the last four years had been like. The rodeo, working on ranches, being a traveling salesman, the newly born son, the sickly daughter, the hateful father-in-law, and the heartless mother-in-law.<br />
<br />
With everything that had so joyously happened in the last few hours, it was only natural that only then did Jack think to tell Ennis about being one of the last people to greet President Kennedy on the streets of Dallas just before he was shot to death and how affected he was afterwards.<br />
<br />
Ennis was in awe for his friend, and told about how he was on his honeymoon when the President was shot.<br />
<br />
Feeling that the mood had suddenly gotten a little too somber, Jack changed the subject and asked with a little hesitation how del Mar’s truck was holding up.<br />
<br />
Well… he loved it because it was his first and Ennis went into a bold exaggerated story of how he got it in a dangerous poker game.<br />
<br />
Jack had to stop himself from correcting embellishments, fighting to keep from calling him out on them having been there himself.<br />
<br />
Then del Mar went into how he had to use the parking brake sometimes to get it stopped and the fucked up clutch after his wife got her hands on it. What with tune-ups, bald tires and such lately, he’d been going broke keeping it on the road.<br />
<br />
Jack looked disappointed, but silently recalled how when he initially looked it over down in Houston he thought it had at best a thousand miles left in it, and here Ennis had stretched three times that out of it.<br />
<br />
Changing the subject, Ennis talked about how much he loved his girls and how he and Alma might not be getting along as well as they could be, but they were working as a team to build a future for themselves.<br />
<br />
Before they knew it they were at a twenty-five foot tall cliff overlooking where a no-name lake <a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tulILHO1osc/VOjC9NWgrUI/AAAAAAAALOo/G9ral_W-5tE/w1191-h842-no/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B094%2Bskinnydipping.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tulILHO1osc/VOjC9NWgrUI/AAAAAAAALOo/G9ral_W-5tE/w1191-h842-no/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B094%2Bskinnydipping.JPG" width="400" /></a>fed a little brook that eventually became the Proulx River. They’d camped just downstream from there the night they made love the first time.</span><br />
<br />
Laughing as they scurried out of the truck, Ennis challenged, "The last one in…" as they joyfully raced to the edge, shedding all of their clothes as they ran and leapt off into the frigid mountain water below.<br />
<br />
Their heads surfaced, both screaming about how cold it was.<br />
<br />
They felt they were in their own private heaven, laughing their heads off and splashing each other. Here they didn't have to hide. Here they could be themselves.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">The laughter ended suddenly when they both realized at the same time that their clothes were at the top of that cliff; a good 20-minute walk naked around the rocky prominence back up to the truck in what was now a public campground.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Bottom Line</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>hey spent the day hiking and then setting up camp about a mile and a half downstream, regretting in their haste at not bringing a couple of Ennis’ horses from the Aloia ranch.<br />
<br />
Around this time of year the brook always swelled to a rushing foaming stream. A while after sunset, they bundled up in coats, surrounded in peace without a care for the first time in a long stretch.<br />
<br />
Jack got a roaring fire going against the cold.<br />
<br />
Ennis fell silent while looking into the flickering smoking flames and eventually eased back to lay with his feet near the fire, one knee up with his hat propped on it. He seemed to be in a state of contented rapture, just staring up at the stars in wonder with a half smile.<br />
<br />
Jack had never seen Ennis smile so much and so continuously and it gave him hope. He sat on the log beside him, listening to the roaring water deep in thought and eventually looked over at him. Twist had come a long way north hoping their reunion would be permanent, but every time he brought it up, Ennis would sidestep the subject wanting to just enjoy being up here together again.<br />
<br />
For a long time they sat, gradually becoming uncomfortable with their silence.<br />
<br />
Jack settled to just watch the man he was now convinced that he loved, who at the moment was looking dreamily skyward at nothing, bathed in the warm flickering firelight.<br />
<br />
To break the silence Twist asked, "See anythin' interestin' up there in heaven?"<br />
<br />
Ennis' relaxed smile grew a rare mischievous grin in response and he commented lazily, "Ohhhhhh, I was just sendin’ up a prayer of thanks."<br />
<br />
Jack’s heart suddenly swelled with hope. "Fer what?"<br />
<br />
Ennis snorted a laugh, "I’m thankful that you forgot that damned harmonica… Huh. I was just enjoyin’ the peace 'n quiet."<br />
<br />
Hiding his disappointment, Jack chuckled and shook his head.<br />
<br />
The horseman closed his eyes and moaned enjoyment. There was no fighting here, no arguing over bills or worry one of the girls was sick. Not a damned thing to care about until…<br />
<br />
Jack straightened and looked out at the mountain, topped with glowing light blue snow in the dark lit only by the full moon. At that moment he’d give up his life, his wife, his child and everything sacred and unsacred he cherished if only he could keep Ennis for himself forever.<br />
<br />
If only.<br />
<br />
He was so in love it hurt down deep in his soul to the point where he couldn’t keep it in any more. Gathering his courage he hesitated and then said softly, "Ya know it could be like this, just like this fer always," knowing that it was as close to a declaration of love and commitment as he dared make.<br />
<br />
Ennis opened his eyes and looked at him quizzically. "How do ya figure that?"<br />
<br />
In one fleeting and horrible moment Jack knew his hopes had been dashed, but bravely collected his thoughts.<br />
<br />
They both stared into the campfire, realizing the consequences of what had just been said, but more importantly of what hadn’t been answered.<br />
<br />
Fighting acid tears from his eyes and a tight chest, Jack continued softly and hesitantly trying to renew his fleeting wish, "Ya know, if we had a little cow 'n calf operation together; ya know… along with yer horses, it could be a sweet life... Lureen’s old man; you bet he’d give me enough fer a down payment if'n I’d get lost. Already more or less said it…"<br />
<br />
Halfway through the sentence he knew it was doomed when Ennis began shaking his head no and Jack felt frustration welling up in his throat.<br />
<br />
Ennis sat up still shaking his head, put on his hat to hide his eyes and corrected as he settled closer beside Jack, "Now I… I told ya it ain’t gonna be like that." Resting his back against the log, he continued, "You got yer wife 'n baby in Texas 'n I’ve got my life here in Riverton."<br />
<br />
Unable to hold his resentment in any more, Jack asked skeptically, "You 'n Alma; that’s a life?"<br />
<br />
Ennis’ heterosexual sense of self set in suddenly and answered for him, "You shut up about Alma, this ain’t her fault… The bottom line is Jack; if we’re around each other, ‘n this… ‘this thing’ catches a hold of us at the wrong time, or the wrong place 'n someone sees us, we’re dead Jack. Dead… both a us."<br />
<br />
Thinking of Alma and the girls he added, "Cain’t get out of it. Jack, I don’t wanna be like them guys ya see around sometimes. And I don’t wanna be dead neither."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">The rancher sat there silently for long minutes, trying to see through the blurred and hazy fog of childhood memories from years and years ago that had been pushed aside and hidden in a dark place. Times that were colored by other men's recollections that weren't always accurate, but they were all he had.<br />
<br />
Jack frowned an unphrased question at his love’s hidden eyes and watched him consider an answer.<br />
<br />
Ennis' heart was aching at recollecting how much he loved his two special uncles who seemed so much older and wiser back then than he was as a little boy, only to realize that when he was killed Rich was only four or five years older than he was right now.<br />
<br />
His thoughts were also still haunted by Michael’s unexpressed and lost love, and the hidden pain it still caused.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Every Four Fuckin’ Years?</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span>fter a final moment deep in thought, Ennis explained, "There was these two guys ranched up together down home; Earl 'n Rich - Dad would pass a remark when he seen them together in town and mom’d make us turn our eyes away from them when we passed ‘em on the pavement.<br />
<br />
They, they was a fag joke fer everybody, even though they was pretty tough old birds. I was what, no more 'n nine years old I guess when the sheriff found ‘em both dead one day down near an irrigation ditch.<br />
<br />
Ennis’ entire body shuddered. "The story’s been passed around fer years that a couple of local ranchers 'n their boys jumped them both one night. They took a tire iron to Earl 'n beat him up bad.<br />
<br />
They took his clothes from him, wrapped a clothesline real tight around his balls 'n made him run behind their pickup until he fell 'n split his head open 'n didn’t stop ‘til his dick - it pulled off. <span style="color: #006d9f;">Then they tied him dead by his ankles to the back of their truck 'n drug his body up 'n down Dead Horse Road ‘till all that was left was just a bloody pulp."<br />
<br />
Awestruck, Jack asked, "What about Rich?"<br />
<br />
Another full-body nervous shiver wracked him while fear and sadness clouded his eyes. "Rich was a strong sturdy army hero, a real one a them snipers ya hear ‘bout ‘n see in them war movies. He was hurt in Korea but he was tough as shoe leather, so he was a stronger 'n stubbornly didn’t cash in so easy - I guess that made it worse.<br />
<br />
While they was doin’ all that to Earl, the bastards tied Rich up in their pickup’s bed sittin’ up 'n facin’ backwards 'n they forced him to watch Earl’s body draggin' around 'n gettin' tore up… ‘n they had their fun watchin’ him cry fer his… his boyfriend.<br />
<br />
After that they strung Rich up by his neck with that same bloody clothesline to the top of a tall deer fence with only just barely enough cord for him to stand without it chokin’ off his air.<br />
<br />
Then they tied his hands behind his back 'n took turns takin' hard punches at him in the gut, kickin’ his game leg, lightin' all his body hair 'n clothes on fire, bein’ careful not to kill him or knock him out ‘cause they wanted him to suffer bad and fer as long as they thought it was fun puttin’ ‘im through the mill.<br />
<br />
Rich knew if he fell or lost his balance the string would choke off his air. If’n it’d been me, I’d a had a mind ta just drop ta my knees ‘n end it there ‘n then… but not ole Rich… uh uh.<br />
<br />
One a the men held his eyes open ‘n they squirted his face with lighter fluid 'n lit it up. He musta been hurtin’ somethin’ awful by then but he was stronger’n any of them thought.<br />
<br />
When they was done having their fun, they just left him standin’ out there blind ‘n all, burnt up, naked 'n bleedin’… all alone… all alone, 'n finally he was so weak from the pain that he slumped down 'n hung himself ‘cause he was too tired to stand up no more… hear tell that they still laugh that ya could hear Rich cryin' fer help half a mile away. I wish that was a joke, but me'n my brother heard him from our house that night 'n had nightmares fer weeks after us looking at Rich all burned 'n hung.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Jack looked appalled that a child would be exposed to such a sight and asked, "You seen that?"<br />
<br />
Ennis nodded, "Like I said we was just little kids who needed to be taught a lesson. My daddy - he drove my brother 'n me out to see the bodies like they was some sideshow at a circus.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Him and some men took me 'n my brother K.E. and we walked over to the fence where Rich was rotting with flies all over him.<br />
<br />
Rich’s head was all bald 'n blistered from where they burned off his hair 'n his skin was all black 'n shriveled because like I said, one of them kept dousing him up with lighter fluid, then puttin’ the flame out before he could pass out from the pain.</span><br />
<br />
Then ol’ dad walked us over to see Earl layin’ in that irrigation ditch... <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">What the tire iron done to Earl looked like… like pieces of burned tomatoes all over him, nose 'n face tore down from skiddin’ on gravel.</span><br />
<br />
My dad made sure I seen it and that we knew why it happened."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Another violent shudder ran through del Mar as the memory came back to him of the sharp bang of a lighter fluid can hitting his bedroom door from the other side.</span> "Hell, for all I know he done the job. <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">I tell you what; if'n he was alive 'n saw us last night or together right now like this, you bet he’d go get his tire iron."</span> He shook his head no, "Two guys livin together, Jack… No way… Now, we can get together once in a while way the hell out in the middle a nowhere…"<br />
<br />
Jack’s jaw dropped, "Every so often? Every four fuckin’years?"<br />
<br />
"Jack, if you can’t fix it, you gotta stand it," Ennis replied.<br />
<br />
"Fer how long?" he asked hesitantly.<br />
<br />
Ennis bowed his head lower as his face became a mask of sadness.<br />
<br />
Twist felt tears welling up again, as he realized that this man couldn’t love him - was afraid to love him like he needed to be loved.<br />
<br />
Unable to meet his eyes, Ennis gazed down into the fire with a heartbroken look and mumbled, <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HBjb_LXzrW4/Tpkek2FV5TI/AAAAAAAADwQ/9Y2MoyC1J9k/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+47.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HBjb_LXzrW4/Tpkek2FV5TI/AAAAAAAADwQ/9Y2MoyC1J9k/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+47.JPG" width="400" /></a>"This horse don’t got reins on it Jack, we just gotta ride it as long as we can."<br />
<br />
They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Leaning over to him, Jack brushed the top of the fingers of his left hand against Ennis’ right sideburn and gently rubbed.<br />
<br />
As the fire crackled, Ennis’ hand quietly found Jack’s.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">That night in the tent there was no sex between them, they just lay naked spooned together in the sleeping bag; Ennis pressed against Jack’s back cradling him in his strong and loving arms.<br />
<br />
Ennis decided that being there was just too hard for him and asked Jack to drive him home the next morning. The long trip down the mountain was done in almost complete silence.<br />
<br />
Just after nightfall, about a block from the laundry parking lot, Jack pulled over and gave Ennis a big bear hug and a peck on the cheek.<br />
<br />
They promised they’d keep in touch.<br />
<br />
Ennis walked home alone fighting boyhood memories and confusion, not looking up as Jack passed, tapping his horn and waving out the window.<br />
<br />
Down in the parking lot, Ennis got into his truck, started it, but didn’t want to go anywhere and shut it back off. He just sat there eventually resting his head against the steering wheel. Emotionally exhausted, he started to doze off and a nightmare began of his father beating him.<br />
<br />
Alma Jr. rushed down the stairs to come up on his door. "Daddy, did you bring me a big fish?"</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-97-102-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-29787395850122082382014-02-24T12:08:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:47:55.870-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXIV<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 24 ~ 1968-1977 ...Dreams Die</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-93-96-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Bobby?</span></b></I><br />
[images can be clicked on to enlarge them]</center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>O</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n the evening of June 4, 1968, Jack had been in Los Angeles for three days on Newsome Farm Equipment business and was fixing to check out of his Ambassador Hotel room and head to LAX to board the “red eye” home to Texas at 3AM. Twist was a very disappointed man that night because no matter how many contacts he called in favors from, he could not get in to Bobby Kennedy’s Presidential campaign rally that was scheduled for around midnight in the ballroom downstairs.<br />
<br />
Twist’s hopes had been high on the possibility of getting an autograph for his young son... until he found out that the place was packed with a standing-room-only crowd of nearly 1,800 people.<br />
<br />
A weak vice-president Humphrey presumably going up against Nixon would certainly fail, so many Americans' hopes and dreams for the future were pinned on another Kennedy in the White House.<br />
<br />
After being waved at in 1963 by the President and First Lady, and naming his son after Bobby, the brave Kennedy family members were Twist’s heroes. Considering what happened the last time he’d seen a member of the famous clan it was just as well. At least he could boast that he'd stayed in the same hotel, though with L.D. and Lureen being staunch Republicans along with most of the rest of Childress, he didn’t know whom he’d brag it to, other than his own son... Bobby.<br />
<br />
Around 11:30 p.m., the candidate left the Royal Suite and took the elevator to the ballroom where he gave his victory speech for winning the California primary. Even if he wasn’t nominated, he’d still be a force to be reckoned with and Jack Twist couldn’t be more pleased.<br />
<br />
Just after midnight while Twist called down to arrange for a cab to Los Angeles International Airport to pick him up around 2AM, Kennedy left the ballroom and walked through a kitchen pantry shortcut to get to the Colonial Room where hoards of anxious reporters were waiting.<br />
<br />
He never made it after he was shot by an assassin just like his brother. With Martin Luther King having been murdered only two months before, the country was close to spiraling into chaos.<br />
<br />
With the hotel in lockdown Jack didn’t make his flight and prayed most of the night while Bobby lingered in the hospital.<br />
<br />
Despite the hopes, dreams and useless prayers of a whole nation for him, Senator Robert Kennedy died that morning.<br />
<br />
His father-in-law became annoyed when Jack had a local jewelry shop make up some personal accessories that Twist wore all the time. A couple of Texas-style string neckties with Kennedy half dollar clasps, and two silver belt buckles similarly adorned.<br />
<br />
Though Twist would contribute heavily in the years to come to Jack and Bobby's brother Teddy’s many campaigns, out of superstition Jack never once went to a city where a Kennedy was staying at the same time.<br />
<br />
The following year the country… indeed the whole volatile world had something joyful to celebrate for a change. While the globe sat glued to their televisions, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon... Well maybe not the whole world; the USSR probably wasn't happy the U.S. beat them there.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>The Times; They Are A’changin’</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>ime dragged unstoppably onward into the 70’s and instead of being just a regional fad, the psychedelic age slammed into the country full force. One day Ennis turned on the TV in the middle of a televised Senate hearing and paused to watch an attractive girl wearing a man’s suit and tie give testimony… and realized it was a man!<br />
<br />
Suddenly women were “chicks” and wanted to look like the British fashion model “Twiggy.” Men began radically slimming down Mick Jagger style or working out in gyms to emulate Superman’s muscles. To show off their new looks, the younger generation started wearing fewer clothes to fit in with their peers. Popular television shows and every trendy magazine from TIME to TV Guide sported articles and ads featuring sexy trendsetters.<br />
<br />
Almost every sentence out of anyone’s mouth now began and ended with the word “man.”<br />
<br />
Before Ennis’ astonished eyes, local guys suddenly grew their hair increasingly longer to match their girlfriend’s in “unisex” style, and men wore tight low-rise jeans showing off toned bodies that initially made Ennis blush. Everything suddenly became "groovy" and peace symbol stickers appeared on everything from billboards to jewelry to Volkswagen busses. Flower power, “love beads,” and the "sexual revolution" had arrived all around them without the del Mars.<br />
<br />
Naked “streakers” at crowded events weren’t gasped at; they were the accepted comedy relief that were applauded and cheered. Top-10 songs were even written about them!<br />
<br />
The Beatles broke up and went solo. Portable radios got bigger and louder broadcasting Motown, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Mamas and the Papas and Bob Dylan tunes. “Head” shops sprouted everywhere selling hash pipes, rolling papers; fluorescent colored posters and scented incense sticks to burn. Apparently Aguirre’s son Johnny was ahead of the times, because nowadays you’d no longer shake hands or say “hi” to someone on the street; you'd put up two fingers and say “Peace” instead.</span>"<br />
<br />
Like it or not, the ranchman in his late 20’s became known as an extremely attractive “hunk” because of his sun-bleached blond hair, tan, and muscled body from working with horses and ranch chores. Girls… and men took notice of him and he shyly became popular at the bars he frequented.<br />
<br />
Ennis began feeling trapped in his increasingly loveless marriage. He and Alma fought almost constantly and in the five <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6pO2KN47CEo/Vw7bKe-t9VI/AAAAAAAAL8k/voualvbE_IIe7W8QklIz6kKz15iwzXINgCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BEnnis%2BSkinnydip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6pO2KN47CEo/Vw7bKe-t9VI/AAAAAAAAL8k/voualvbE_IIe7W8QklIz6kKz15iwzXINgCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BEnnis%2BSkinnydip.jpg" /></a>years after their reunion, "Rodeo" and "The Horseman" did keep in touch, exchanging post cards and meeting twice a year or so when they could both get time off from family and work.<br />
<br />
Their fishing/camping/hunting trips usually lasted between a week to ten days and both men spent most of the seemingly endless months between hookups looking forward to the next one.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">During their most recent one, Jack returned to camp from a nature hike to clear his head only to find Ennis naked at the shoreline of some lake. A week or so before, the ranch hand had taken his family to a community swimming pool that earned him a bathing suit tan line that Jack couldn't take his eyes off of. Del Mar seemed to sense the extra attention and he would playfully find any excuse to wander around without anything on... which drove Twist crazy with lust.<br />
<br />
Ennis paid for all the teasing that night, and before long their special position of del Mar getting fucked while being sucked at the same time became the norm.<br />
<br />
Twist's love got more intense, but as del Mar allowed their sexual relationship to get more and more urgent, he seemed to drift further away from any kind of emotional attachment that was more than a deep friendship that just happened to include sex.<br />
<br />
Jack was becoming more and more troubled by it, but his love overrode any doubts of how he felt. In his mind they were a long established loving couple and had sadly convinced himself that his lover felt the same way.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile with each coupling, Ennis became more and more tortured by the aftereffects as he'd drive home from them. His masculine ego was suffering from being sexually dominated... and trying not to admit to himself that he intensely enjoyed it. He'd put it out of his mind the moment he walked in his front door and greeted Alma and his girls. He'd become the heterosexual husband and father as he'd been taught that God demanded.</span><br />
<br />
A few months later, another post card would come, he'd find himself impatiently fantasizing and craving Jack's body like an animal in heat. He was being emotionally torn in two and knew sooner or later the stress would take its toll on him. The memory of seeing Earl and Rich dead ran shivers through him and he'd concentrate on satisfying Alma...<br />
<br />
...But he'd rush to his lover's arms every chance he got... then fight not to show how much he needed it.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The two men worked their way through the high meadows and mountain drainages, horse-packing into the Big Horns, Medicine Bows, south end of the Gallatins, Absarokas, Granites, Owl Creeks, the Bridger-Teton Range, the Freezeouts and the Shirleys, Ferrises and the Rattlesnakes, Salt River Range, into the Wind Rivers over and again, the Sierra Madres, Gros Ventres, the Washakies, Laramies, but they didn’t return to Brokeback.</span><br />
<br />
The omission was Ennis’ doing, though Jack suggested going there several times and finally gave up asking after a few years.<br />
<br />
Alma was left to imagine what horrid things happened on those trips but was relieved when her man returned to her... but the resentment grew more and more as each year passed. The look of glee on Ennis' face whenever he'd get a card from Jack haunted her for weeks afterward.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">L.D. Newsome semi-retired in 1970 after failing to get selected to a seat in the Texas State Republican primary mid-term races. He turned the day-to-day operations of his farm equipment business over to Lureen while he’d been out campaigning, but he kept a close eye on things, never letting Jack advance higher than head salesman.<br />
<br />
After the defeat, </span>he allowed his daughter to remain in charge, letting her get used to running things; sort of an on-the-job training program for when he decided to leave the business altogether. That’s not to say he didn’t stick his unwelcome hand in when it wasn’t wanted, and always when Lureen had just made a major decision or investment.<br />
<br />
As little Bobby grew, his learning disability became more of a problem, but Grandpa doted over him anyway. He considered the "Sr." at the end of his name a badge of honor.<br />
<br />
Over the years, Jack came to realize he wasn't getting the kind of love from Ennis that he needed. Twist had regular bouts of depression and began developing a drinking problem though he kept pulling himself back from the brink before it became serious. He’d always come home from one of his fishing trips tenser than when he left. He knew he loved Ennis but was never brave enough to utter the word.<br />
<br />
The torture was that if Jack out-and-out said he was in love with Ennis he feared del Mar would reject him like he’d done so many times before.<br />
<br />
Ennis grew up convinced that if he loved someone and told them so; he’d lose them or be left behind by them… his parents, his sister and then his brother and of course Michael. As a result he hid his true heart from Alma and most heartbreaking of all from his little girls.<br />
<br />
He tragically convinced himself that if he didn’t love Twist, he wouldn’t lose him too. Because of his strict upbringing, Ennis also still believed that he was safe from eternal damnation as long as he didn’t say the word “love” out loud to another man while God was listening...<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bWMLmAxt4oM/Vw7bNvnY5FI/AAAAAAAAL8k/-pH16YR1AqAjMJP2ZYnuOhGtWARGTKzggCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B66%2BFord%2BF-100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bWMLmAxt4oM/Vw7bNvnY5FI/AAAAAAAAL8k/-pH16YR1AqAjMJP2ZYnuOhGtWARGTKzggCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B66%2BFord%2BF-100.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">…Jack Twist took an airliner a little over 5,500 miles north and then rented a car to end up standing in front of a house in Casper Wyoming. He circled the light blue and white pickup with his mouth gaping open. He'd found it in the back of a car magazine. The 9-year-old 1966 Ford F-100 looked like it had just been driven off the showroom floor.<br />
<br />
A tall fat black man in his mid-fifties wearing jeans, plaid shirt and a white cowboy hat stood next to him beaming with pride and commented, “My daddy bought it brand spankin’ new when he retired, and him ‘n mama drove this thing from one end of the country to the other ‘n back probably 6 times.”<br />
<br />
In those days Mr. Rand knew Twist could go out and buy a brand-new truck for five grand, but he figured if that's what he asked for, maybe he'd get what he actually expected for it... around half that.<br />
<br />
While the owner pondered, Jack frowned, opened the driver’s side door on well-oiled hinges and looked at the odometer… 115,117.9 miles.<br />
<br />
Mr. Rand remarked, “All freeway miles to Florida, Mississippi ‘n up to New York to visit relatives ‘n back.<br />
<br />
The interior was nearly immaculate.<br />
<br />
Jack walked around to the hood and after lifting it found a new-looking engine that someone took very good care of.<br />
<br />
Rand added, “He passed on in ’72 ‘n we ain’t had the heart to drive it, so it’s been sittin in the garage since then.”<br />
<br />
The hood came back down with a solid clunk as Jack admired the new wax job, the immaculate chrome and the shined nearly-new tires.<br />
<br />
The thing looked like it could go another 200,000 miles without any trouble; which is exactly what Jack wanted.<br />
<br />
Twist met the big man’s eyes and said, “Your ad said $5,000.”<br />
<br />
Rand nodded, “I’m ‘bout ta try ta put my oldest thru college… you know how that goes?”<br />
<br />
Jack nodded knowingly, pulled a wad of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket, and handed $5,000 to the astonished man.<br />
<br />
Rand grinned in startled surprise at the lack of an argument and turned back towards the house, “I’ll get the title.”<br />
<br />
To his back, Jack raised his voice, “We ain’t done yet partner!”<br />
<br />
Rand turned around and frowned down at Twist.<br />
<br />
Jack responded by handing the big black man standing over him a personal check for $3,000 more and asked, “Ya willin’ to do some work on it for me?”<br />
<br />
“What? it’s perfect, man!!!”<br />
<br />
“Go cash that check, then pull the cargo bed off it and sell it along with the whitewall tires, the shiny bumpers and the pretty chrome ‘n then pocket the money you get for ‘em. Find some used mismatched tires that’re safe but worn, an old rusted out and dented bed at a junkyard ‘n all the other stuff ya need. Then take some steel wool pads ‘n some laundry soap and get rid of the wax job.”<br />
<br />
Rand protested, “Ya outta yer mind?”<br />
<br />
“Scuff up the seats and the dash; don’t forget the carpet and the shift knob,” continued Twist. “I want this thing to <u>look</u> like it’s been through hell and back even though it ain’t.<br />
<br />
“Why? My Daddy's truck,” he replied shaking his head, looking like he was about to hand the check back.<br />
<br />
Twist handed him a piece of paper with the name Ennis del Mar and an address in Riverton on it. “He owns a black GMC parked out back. Park this next to it with a sign on it. Now, he ain’t got two nickels to rub together now-a-days, he’s got too much pride to take charity, but he damn well needs a new truck that he can depend on, but it’s gotta look like $750 is a good price on it.”<br />
<br />
Dawn broke in Rand’s eyes, a broad grin blossomed across his face, and he nodded his head and jutted out his hand.<br />
<br />
They shook hands and the big man understood, “Look like hell, dependable, and $750. Man, you spending $8,000 for a friend has to be the nicest damn thing I ever seen ‘n I’ll do ya up proud…” With a grin he added, “Gimme a couple weeks. I’ll put a $1,150 ‘FOR SALE’ sign on it ‘n make him dicker it down to $750 ‘n I won’t make it easy for him neither. The clean engine 'n the like-new glass I'll explain that I was fixin' it up 'n run out of money.”<br />
<br />
Jack smiled and nodded, then gave him his mailing address in Childress after the big man offered to take “before and after” photos and send them to him.<br />
<br />
They exchanged a grinning hug and Jack headed back to the airport a happy man... until he returned home.<br />
<br />
Entering his kitchen, he called out unanswered hellos and went into a panic when he discovered a note from L.D. saying he and his wife had taken Lureen and Bobby on a "trip of discovery" to Wyoming. The message didn’t mention when they’d return or where specifically they went.<br />
<br />
Twist spent four days trying to guess if they’d located Ennis somehow or traveled to see his parents in Lighting Flat or God knew what; only to be told on their return that they’d flown up to see the majestic Devils Tower National Monument.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Trip To The Bank</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>ack was away in Mexico when Martha Twist’s brother Harold Caine died after a seven-year on-and-off fight with ill health. She and her husband John made the long drive to Signal and after the funeral were ready to drive north when Mr. Twist decided to make a side trip to look at some farm equipment at a distant dealer.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Twist asked to be left off for a couple of hours instead at some friends that she hadn’t seen in years, and then she’d walk over to the local bank to cash a check for gas for the trip home.<br />
<br />
Neither one went where they said they were going.<br />
<br />
John journeyed south to visit Pete Hutchison’s grave.<br />
<br />
As soon as he pulled away from the curb and drove off around the corner, she set off on foot a block north towards Signal Savings and Trust.<br />
<br />
She didn't know how long he'd be gone or how much time she had. She paused to look in her purse, making sure she had the mysterious letter she’d gotten in the mail two weeks ago.<br />
<br />
The young man on the other side of the teller’s window frowned at the key the older woman had handed him, along with some paperwork in an envelope with the company’s letterhead. On the stem of the key was <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qxbT3LoFhwk/UeIKDL6WIWI/AAAAAAAAGZk/sXY_7xgbhOo/s1600/~+Brokeback+Mountain+key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="72" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qxbT3LoFhwk/UeIKDL6WIWI/AAAAAAAAGZk/sXY_7xgbhOo/s200/~+Brokeback+Mountain+key.jpg" width="200" /></a>stamped K598.<br />
<br />
It was one of the larger boxes that the bank kept in its safe deposit section. According to the paperwork it was rented in the sole name of someone called Ennis del Mar. Martha had heard her son mention someone by that name once; they were supposed to come up to help run the Twist Ranch a few years back, but nothing ever came of it.<br />
<br />
Thinking further back on it, she recalled finding a sheet of notebook paper in Jack’s trash up in his room. He’d signed "Mr. Jack del Mar" on it over and over again.<br />
<br />
Strict instructions were included in the letter that del Mar was to be given the key only in the event of Jack Edward Twist’s death. Jack had included a note with it that said he would send her regular letters when this mysterious Ennis person changed his address, and that under no conditions were her husband John or del Mar to even know of the existence of the bank box.<br />
<br />
"Excuse me a moment ma’am," he said politely distracting her thoughts as he went over to his supervisor.<br />
<br />
They shuffled through a small index file and discovered that while it was only in del Mar's name, the card mentioned two other people, One had opened the account for him and was paying the long-term fee on the box, and the other was Mrs. Twist, who was listed as having temporarily custody of Mr. del Mar’s key, so both clerks shrugged at each other. The head teller initialed something and put the card back in its place.<br />
<br />
About twenty minutes after being shown into a private booth in back, Martha came out visibly shaken and asked for a piece of paper and a pen, then disappeared back into the vault area.<br />
<br />
A half an hour later, she asked a teller to cash two one-hundred-dollar bills into twenties. She also wrote a check on their joint account for sixty dollars, cashed it, and went to a restaurant two doors down. After an hour of leisurely enjoying a fine meal that she’d never hope to normally be able to afford otherwise, she paid the check, left a generous tip and went back to the bank to sit on a bus stop bench just outside, watching the traffic deep in thought.<br />
<br />
John pulled up to the curb in their old Chevy truck some time later after his round trip took longer than expected.<br />
<br />
Twist looked at his wife in concern. "You alright?" he asked.<br />
<br />
She nodded silently and handed her husband sixty dollars. Both remained silent the whole trip back up north.<br />
<br />
Over the years they’d return to Signal to put flowers on Harold’s grave, but she never set foot in that bank again, nor did she ever tell John what had upset her…<br />
<br />
<br />
...Ennis’ old ’55 GMC finally gave out and he used what joint savings they had left and bought a light blue Ford F-100 pick-up that he'd been eyeing in the back parking lot one morning. Alma said it looked like it was nearly falling apart and needed parts that they didn’t have the cash for.<br />
<br />
After going over it, the Ford turned out to be mechanically sound despite the high mileage on it, and del Mar spent the money he'd budgeted on repairs for a tall cargo cage so he could haul a couple of horses in the bed.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Free Love, “Jorts,” Jesus Freaks & Disco</span></b></I></center><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-udcqzaCXTGI/UzZCp-NZyLI/AAAAAAAAKCU/TqxA-MFuYYg/w1348-h993-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Ed+Fury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="235" ps="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-udcqzaCXTGI/UzZCp-NZyLI/AAAAAAAAKCU/TqxA-MFuYYg/w1348-h993-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Ed+Fury.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>D</b></span>own in Texas, Jack sprouted long “lamb chop” sideburns, a slightly shaggy mustache, and allowed his hair to reach his collar. Ennis would laugh at him, because it seemed that every other time he saw his friend, Twist had shaved it off only to regrow it again.<br />
<br />
Lureen got into the spirit of the times and her hair color perpetually changed to whatever seemed in fashion at the moment.<br />
<br />
L.D. bitched, but had to bend to popular trends as Newsome Farm Equipment customers increasingly came in to the shop wearing the very same look, and Twist insisted he needed to appear “mod” if he hoped to be in sync with the buying public.<br />
<br />
In the summer months, young brawny men and sexy girls both wore tight jeans cut-off so short that the fringed bottom hems met their crotches. The outer denim side-seams usually were split up to the waistbands showing lots of hip skin, making it obvious <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QCrXZzC7lmw/Up-uqYoxrXI/AAAAAAAAJK8/xvXcXbr3k9Y/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+tries+jorts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QCrXZzC7lmw/Up-uqYoxrXI/AAAAAAAAJK8/xvXcXbr3k9Y/s640/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+tries+jorts.jpg" width="308" /></a>the wearers weren’t sporting underwear.<br />
<br />
In 1974 Ennis had turned 31 and he kept telling himself he looked 25... maybe 26. He was desperate to try to hang on to his youth just as a new catch-phrase “Never trust anyone over thirty” became popular, so Ennis briefly tried letting his hair grow over his ears and collar and sported a pair of cut-offs like other guys did. The first day he went out in public with them on, he turned beet red in embarrassment feeling like he was strutting around town naked… then he realized no one was taking notice of him and other guys were wearing the same thing and mostly went shirtless to boot.<br />
<br />
Once he realized that he was actually showing no more than he would wearing a bathing suit and how comfortable they were in the heat, he started enjoying wearing them.<br />
<br />
Of course as soon as he found something that made him feel good about himself, his wife had other ideas. Alma had a righteous fit for a week afterward, gasping at the “obscenity of it all.”<br />
<br />
After her constantly bitching at Ennis, he reluctantly went back to dressing “like a damned old man,” to shut her up.<br />
<br />
The generally accepted style aimed at women shamelessly wearing less and less, and "micro" miniskirts and halter-tops became the norm. Alma stubbornly imitated what she saw on “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie” instead and insisted on dressing the girls the same way. A couple of young ladies that worked with Alma had become “Jesus Freaks” and she finally found something in the mid-70’s counter-culture that she could identify with.<br />
<br />
Poor Junior began complaining that the kids in school were constantly teasing her and calling her “Amish Junior,” and pleaded with her father to let her change her name.<br />
<br />
His wife even took exception with the woven straw cowboy hat that he liked so much with the brim curled tightly up on both sides. Alma bought Ennis a new one that was more conservative looking and said it made him look like a proper husband and a father. When he went out by himself, he still took the straw one despite her because it made him feel young. While packing for an upcoming camping trip it disappeared only to be found much later when he returned behind a pile of his girls' winter boots at the back of the hall closet<br />
<br />
Soon del Mar without realizing it began missing the straight-laced "good old days" and slowly more conservative attitudes began creeping into his head. He hated that he was gradually beginning to sound like his wife and fought it off as long as he could... but it wasn't easy.<br />
<br />
Two weeks later he drove his newly bought pickup out to join Jack and was mystified that Twist seemed to be grinning more at the truck than at him...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">[Abbreviated and reworked deleted scene]<br />
The next day while on horseback near the Tetons, they were nearly hit from behind by a speeding yellow VW minibus trailing blaring loud music and a cloud of dust behind it.<br />
<br />
"Shit!" exclaimed Ennis reining in his panicking steed. "They're a'gonna miss that curve if he don't slow his stupid ass down!"<br />
<br />
The two men galloped ahead and sure enough encountered the bus half-submerged in a stream. As predicted, the hippie driver buzzed on grass had strayed off course on the winding mountain road with his two girlfriends who looked to be co-eds from some college.<br />
<br />
Ennis and Alma had noticed a lot of them lately, fleeing the city to settle all over the open Wyoming countryside looking for a simpler life away from cops and protests.<br />
<br />
The lean shirtless driver had long blond hair and a well-trimmed short beard. When they arrived on site, the guy was hanging out his window yelling for help as the green water lapped at the sill. Two girls on the passenger side were busy trying to out-scream him.<br />
<br />
After calming them, Jack and Ennis attached a rope to the back bumper of the nearly submerged van, and their struggling horses pulled it partially back towards land, but the bus' tires became wedged in the big rocks at the bottom of the little river.<br />
<br />
Ennis kept shaking his head in disapproval while Jack on the other hand silently wondered if these careless strangers had any spare weed maybe as a reward for their help?<br />
<br />
Jack remarked, "Maybe if ya got out; it'd be easier ta pull?" as Del Mar and Twist approached them through the fast moving stream. The plan being to have them crawl out through the windows and onto their horses.<br />
<br />
Twist wound up on the driver's side and the attractive young man seemed to be searching for something under the waste-deep water inside his vehicle. It turned out to be his absent denim shorts hidden beneath a bunch of floating 8-track tapes and plastic picnic cups. Not showing the least bit of embarrassment, the guy pulled them on and then crawled out into Jack's arms to settle behind him on Twist's new horse "Trusty." <br />
<br />
In the process the buzzed hippie knocked Jack's Stetson off and it went floating around front and then downstream. A few minutes later it got snagged on an overhanging branch that reached the water's edge about thirty yards away.<br />
<br />
The stoned guy who looked to be in his mid-twenties kept repeating over and over, "Sorry Dude," and seemed more concerned with not getting his long hair wet than his waterlogged bus. Twist got another surprise when the guy's palms began exploring Jack's torso intimately from behind as two arms caressingly tightened around him. Twist straightened as his passenger rested the side of his head between Jack's shoulder blades.<br />
<br />
The ex-rodeo cowboy distracted himself by deducing that if the stoners had any marijuana left they would've grabbed it as a priority before leaving their van.<br />
<br />
As soon as both horses and their passengers hit shore, one of the young ladies went rushing after Twist's expensive black hat.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHvqRIKJfhY/UpKpadAha0I/AAAAAAAAJHA/Qa_1MnVsd3g/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+the+hippies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-right: 4px;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHvqRIKJfhY/UpKpadAha0I/AAAAAAAAJHA/Qa_1MnVsd3g/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+the+hippies.JPG" width="400" /></a>Sizing up the ugly and rusted yellow vehicle's situation, Ennis judged it to be a lost cause and rode the other girl to a campsite payphone to call for a tow truck.<br />
<br />
Her female friend returned to the group a few minutes later wearing a big inviting smile... and Twist's soaking wet hat on her head. Twist grew a relieved and broad smile while he thanked her, but when he reached for it, she giggled and ran away.<br />
<br />
After an hour or so del Mar and his female flower child returned announcing that help probably wouldn't arrive until late that evening. The guy offered to "break bread" with them in thanks, which brought an instant smile to both young women. Our two heroes were about to decline when the hippie gestured to his attractive young girlfriends and implied that they didn't have any "hang ups" about sharing anything with friends.<br />
<br />
To illustrate what he meant he had his “chicks” flash their ample breasts for them while one of the blond girls said she lovvvvvvvvved mixed orgies.<br />
<br />
"Love the one you're with, man." she sang, and then asked, "I really get off watching two guys making out with each other; have you two hunky studs ever tried it?"<br />
<br />
Ennis swallowed hard and his eyes widened in shock while his mouth gaped open watching her reach over and playfully fondle her girlfriend's nipple.<br />
<br />
The recipient of her attention remarked, "We love to share," reaching down for the top button of her tight shorts.<br />
<br />
Del Mar was trying to control his chest from panting as he realized he was hardening between his legs. He blushed red when he realized that the long-haired man nodded agreement and began eyeing him as hungrily as his girls were. To make the situation even more confusing, the guy reached over to slip his hand down the back of his nearest girlfriend's shorts. "Free love, Man!" the hippie intoned as his other hand wandered up to the bare breast the other girl wasn't still busy with. "This is the seventies Man; if it feels good - do it, Dude."<br />
<br />
After hastily declining politely, the two rode off towards their own camp.<br />
<br />
As they trotted along the trail Ennis caught Jack adjusting himself while looking back with a longing look on his face and wondered which one of the girls Twist was lusting after. Del Mar laughed and philosophically commented over to his long-time companion, “Well… at least all of her tattoos are spelled right.”<br />
<br />
Trying to hide how tempted by the young man he'd become, Jack bitched the rest of the trip about losing his hat and how he felt naked without it.<br />
<br />
Ennis just smirked and remarked laughingly, "Top hands ain’t supposed to love their hats."<br />
<br />
Gazing backwards Jack said, "Maybe if I'da had more of uh education I coulda been one of them hippies."<br />
<br />
Suddenly realizing that his partner was maybe looking back for the guy instead of the girls, Ennis felt a flush of jealousy come out of nowhere and for no good reason replied, "I don’t like damn hippies. Un-American if you ask me."<br />
<br />
Jack burst out laughing. "Talk about being a 'square' Ennis! He had a little Old Glory tattooed on his right shoulder, a flag patch sewn onto the back right ass pocket of his shorts and had a full size stars 'n stripes displayed over the whole back window of his van fer chrisakes! He couldn't be more American lessin' he was wearin' an Army uniform!"<br />
<br />
They became silent until they reached camp... then they made love.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Wildly painted muscle cars like the GTO and Mustang took over the streets, joined by Harley and Honda “chopper” motorcycles that roared around everywhere. Then the Arab fuel crisis came and suddenly vehicles became dinky economy cars that Ennis considered no more than skateboards with motors. Everything shrank on them but their bumpers, which got huge and ugly. Big Chevy, Dodge and Ford trucks were being replaced with tiny Datson and Toyota pickups, and other names he couldn’t pronounce.<br />
<br />
Del Mar reluctantly stayed with his shorter hair and country/western music to placate his wife, but he started resenting Alma when he began to feel left behind by the rest of the popular world of "If it feels good - do it, Man!"<br />
<br />
The damned years seemed to be going by too fast. Back in 1973 in the midst of it all he'd turned thirty and handled the milestone with as much difficulty as his father had. Buying into the popular culture, Ennis remembered feeling ten years older than he had the day before his birthday. The remembrance burned at him of how Alma delighted when he cut his hair even shorter, started dressing more conservatively, and was miserable for doing it.<br />
<br />
He was young when he was with Jack - he could feel her turning him into a shriveled old man... like Jack said... a square.<br />
<br />
Alma’s boss Monroe became a business chain opening up more grocery stores and laundromats, and recently had even started a catering business that he’d put her in charge of.</span><br />
<br />
Marital fights in front of the kids became more frequent as she took extra shifts to manage the business for Monroe and fill in for undependable workers… especially when she started making more money than he did.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately that didn’t keep them ahead of the bills by a long shot, what with school clothes and supplies, doctor bills for Jenny’s asthma and then pneumonia, and Alma Junior having to have her appendix out. Huge fights broke out between them over anything no matter how trivial if it concerned money.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">A big one broke out when husband and wife traded rooms with the girls. Ennis and Alma slept in the tiny bedroom now while the daughters used the foldout couch in the living room. Alma decided to use "her" paychecks to buy a new frilly and very feminine bedroom set, making her husband furious as behind on the utilities and rent as they were.<br />
<br />
When he questioned how she got it up there and set it up all by herself, she casually mentioned that Monroe helped her get it at a very reduced price at one of his general stores, and that he'd had some of his workmen tote it up the stairs for her.<br />
<br />
The most frequent fight always seemed to be how his pay was theirs, but hers was hers. They took turns with, "I, me, my; that’s all ya ever say, I, me, my - not "we" or "ours" just "I"!"<br />
<br />
Ennis tragically began turning inside on himself... and he talked less... talking meant fighting.</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Rifle Shot To The Heart</span></b></I></center><span style="color: #38761d;">[deleted scene shot but not in movie]<br />
<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span> little before a planned camping/hunting trip of Jack's, Lureen Twist dragged her husband to an estate auction in Dallas. He found something there that he'd ached to have for himself but selflessly bought it for Ennis instead.<br />
<br />
Though he got it for a lot less, after having it researched, he had it appraised at being worth $115,000, but it wasn’t about money, its value came from love, the anticipation of Ennis' reaction and the knowledge that a hunter like del Mar would covet and cherish such a gift.<br />
<br />
In camp a month later, and three days into their hunting vacation, Twist had Ennis sit on the campstool out in front of their tent and close his eyes.<br />
<br />
Jack gently laid a long wooden box across his lap and said, "Okay, open ‘em."<br />
<br />
Ennis looked at it and ran his palms across the hand tooled fancy oak lid as Jack <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nWE8tnC2XyQ/VOjNlgWEtXI/AAAAAAAALPc/n04sWRnca0A/w1337-h986-no/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B101%2BNovel-jack%2Bgifts%2Ba%2Brifle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nWE8tnC2XyQ/VOjNlgWEtXI/AAAAAAAALPc/n04sWRnca0A/w1337-h986-no/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B101%2BNovel-jack%2Bgifts%2Ba%2Brifle.jpg" width="400" /></a>announced, "Happy Birthday!"<br />
<br />
Del Mar looked up at his cherished buddy questioningly and answered, "You know it ain’t my birthday, huh."<br />
<br />
"True," he replied and then with a lot of reverence added proudly, "But accordin' to notarized paperwork and matchin' numbers, what ya got there turned 68 years old today.<br />
<br />
The story goes that an old prospector in Oregon bought it 'n died in a cave-in the next day without ever pullin' it out of that box.<br />
<br />
It's been handed down 'til it come to be in your hands now... and I want ya to have it."<br />
<br />
Ennis frowned and fumbled with the latch, then raised the lid to reveal a mint condition Winchester Model 1873 lever action .44-.40 hunting rifle. One of the finest weapons ever made.<br />
<br />
The horseman gasped in astonishment and looked back up at his generous friend in wonder.<br />
<br />
"I had it torn down 'n inspected without touchin' the patina, it’s been test fired only once, certified by a factory expert, 'n all the paperwork is in the case. I found it at an auction and the minute I saw it, I remembered how ya told me that ya hated sellin’ yer daddy’s when you was a kid, so I figured ya deserved this one to replace it."<br />
<br />
Ennis was too stunned to speak as Jack knelt to point out its features.<br />
<br />
Del Mar interrupted him and after swallowing hard, he muttered in a hushed whisper, "Henry action… I think they stopped makin’ 'em in the early nineteen-twenties… 24-inch barrel… rimfire…" <br />
<br />
He stood and placed the box carefully on the stool he'd been sitting on, and then respectfully lifted it out, hefting it marveling at its balance.<br />
<br />
Ennis turned to sight on a distant tree, worked the smooth-as-silk freshly-oiled lever action and lovingly caressed it like when he held Alma Junior for the first time the day she was born.<br />
<br />
Twist’s heart sang as he watched his friend, and with a warm satisfied smile said, "I knew you’d like it."<br />
<br />
The sound of his voice brought Ennis back to reality.<br />
<br />
"Jack. Ya know I cain’t take this."<br />
<br />
Twist fought back disappointment and replied, "What d'ya mean? Uhcourse ya can."<br />
<br />
"I cain’t take this home. Hell; in this condition it’s worth at least 85-90 thousand huh, 'n probably more'n that to a collector!"<br />
<br />
Jack was beginning to lose his patience. His friend seemed to always stomp on any joy they had together.<br />
<br />
"It’s a gift, don’t worry ‘bout it,"<br />
<br />
Instantly Ennis grew frustrated and angry. He roughly pushed the gun into Jack’s hands and barked in his face, "You ain't thought this through, Jack! Ya don’t git it - ya don't NEVER git it, huh."<br />
<br />
He backed off a couple of paces to stand in front of the empty box, then turned back to him and continued, "If'n Alma seen this... Ya just don’t git it. Alma... me 'n my shit jobs, then me struttin’ home with this in my hands, huh, with her goin’ on 'n on 'n on 'bout this an’ that that we cain’t afford fer the girls.<br />
<br />
Hell; she’d take one look at this 'n without knowin’ any better, she'd sell the goddamned thing at a pawn shop fer a couple hunderd to pay some bills the minute I turned my back."<br />
<br />
After a moment’s thought he added, "Fuck; I’d go crazy worryin’ someone would steal the damned thing… No, I just cain’t accept it… I cain’t afford it; things are too tight for us - shit I’d be tempted to sell it myself to make ends meet if’n they was to get bad enough, huh."<br />
<br />
Trying to salvage the situation, Jack said the wrong thing, "Hey, ya need help; I got plenty, you name the figure, I’ll loan it to ya or give it to ya outright… you goddamn know that."<br />
<br />
Ennis roared back, "I - DON'T - NEED - YER - HELP! ... Ya got that, huh?"<br />
<br />
Near tears, Jack turned away and silently walked over to the water’s edge carrying the incredible gift in his right hand that should’ve made his lover so happy.<br />
<br />
This was supposed to go so different. Like his love for Ennis, his joy always seemed to turn to heartbreak.<br />
<br />
Ennis growled, "I sayed…"<br />
<br />
"I FUCKIN’ HEARD WHAT YA SAID!"<br />
<br />
In frustration he almost hurled it into the water, and thankfully thought better of it.<br />
<br />
With his left hand balling and unballing into a fist, Jack turned back around to face Ennis’ still questioning eyes.<br />
<br />
"Yeah, I got it," he grunted as he stomped over to put the rifle back into its case and then carried it back to his truck.<br />
<br />
They left for home an hour later and three days early with barely a word between them…</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Jesus Loves Me, Yes I Know…</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>G</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">randma Alma Beers finally died of lung cancer in 1975 and left Alma absolutely nothing, giving it instead to her sisters and brother. Ennis felt his wife aim her resentment directly at him, saying that her mother left her nothing out of spite because it'd make Ennis work harder to support her.</span><br />
<br />
It angered her because Ennis refused to get a better job for himself that paid enough on its own so she wouldn’t have to work like other wives, though she was convinced that many were available. He also continued to buy and sell horses on speculation instead of putting money away for the girl’s further education.<br />
<br />
They couldn't even go to church without arguing in the pews. One day Ennis sang, "Jesus loves me this I know" instead of "yes" I know, and Alma had a quiet hissy fit at him for singing the wrong words on purpose to aggravate her. He squeezed her hand hard enough to almost make her cry out and told her that he'd been singing it that way his whole life, just like his daddy and granddaddy before him.<br />
<br />
Alma started going to the Methodist Church with the girls, always leaving him behind when he mumbled something about Sunday being his only day off, not liking that "fire and brimstone" crowd... that and he wanted to sleep in one day a week.<br />
<br />
Suddenly in every argument they had, "God" was on Alma’s side.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">She began making the girls say prayers at bedtime and recite grace before even a simple snack. Several bibles appeared in the living room and the nightstand of their bedroom. She’d try to read it aloud before they went to bed till Ennis got sick of it when she started intentionally and frequently quoting Leviticus. He came home one day to find a crucifix nailed above the inside of their front door.<br />
<br />
Monroe began regularly driving Alma and the kids to church every week and for socials and picnics. In her ignorant mind her husband had been "infected" by that Jack nasty Twist and this was her way of protecting her children from Ennis in turn infecting them.<br />
<br />
After a particularly spiteful and loud fight over his continued refusal to take a second job with the electric company, Ennis went out to Betsy’s bar to cool off. He’d never laid a hand in anger on Alma in their years<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPyJzgQYAcs/Vw7bQvc4QTI/AAAAAAAAL84/FGuHSEi5E5QRJfthTPzrrv2JCySWQz6tgCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2Bheath%2Bledger.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPyJzgQYAcs/Vw7bQvc4QTI/AAAAAAAAL84/FGuHSEi5E5QRJfthTPzrrv2JCySWQz6tgCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2Bheath%2Bledger.JPG" /></a>of marriage, but that night he’d come damned close.<br />
<br />
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 just sat out in the night air alone on the tailgate of his truck for about half an hour smoking and wondering if his life would ever turn around for the better.<br />
<br />
After a long while, he laid on his back in the bed of the truck and looked up at the stars through a clear dark 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
The girls started calling out "Goodbye!" so he frowned and peered out from the pickup's bed to see Monroe in his "Sunday best" come out on the landing under the porch light and down the stairs.<br />
<br />
He must’ve not seen Ennis in the dark until he was right beside him, because he practically jumped out of his skin before wordlessly rushing to his car and driving away. <br />
<br />
When del Mar finally went up to the apartment he didn’t have the energy or desire to act jealous and let it drop.<br />
<br />
Alma happened to be standing behind him one day when he opened his tackle box and she noticed that his two-year-old rod and reel looked brand new and so did the unscuffed price tag that was still on it.<br />
<br />
She nodded to herself that he wasn’t going up there to fish and had the theory confirmed for her the next time he was ready to leave on one of his "trips" when he nearly forgot to take the creel case with him and would have if she hadn’t said something.<br />
<br />
When he came home happy and rested, she ignored him... his favorite hat disappeared the next day.<br />
<br />
He figured she probably burned it.</span><br />
<br />
Her resentment opened out a little every year. Ennis’ fishing trips <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R60Zfd9vddc/Vw7bM7xFztI/AAAAAAAAL8k/0FAufoSbQtcyuhqeh6YopbohaDKsAjM_QCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BM%2Bkiss.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R60Zfd9vddc/Vw7bM7xFztI/AAAAAAAAL8k/0FAufoSbQtcyuhqeh6YopbohaDKsAjM_QCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BM%2Bkiss.JPG" /></a>once or twice a year with "him," but never a vacation with her and the girls.<br />
<br />
His not wanting to step out and have any fun unless it was alone, his yearning for low-paid, long-houred ranch work, his propensity to roll to the wall and sleep as soon as he hit the bed, his failure again to look for a decent permanent job with the county or the power company put her in a long, slow dive.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Worst of all, over the years every time she came down the steps from their apartment, she came face to face with that private stairway that led up the other direction. A couple of years ago she'd talked Monroe into having the trim painted dark brown but that didn't help. The ghosts of her husband and that nasty Jack Twist trying to climb into each other's clothes while in a passionate lip lock still tore her apart just a little more every time she had to face it.</span><br />
<br />
Finally in the summer of ’77 it all came to a head when Ennis was feeling particularly horny one night and just as he was about to enter her, Alma asked him to use a rubber. "As far behind in the bills as we are; I don’t think it’d be a good idea not to use precautions."<br />
<br />
That killed the mood immediately.<br />
<br />
Before rolling off of her panting with passion, he said in frustration, "If'n you don’t want any more of my kids, I’ll be happy to leave ya alone."<br />
<br />
She replied a little too quickly, "I’d have them, if you’d support them."<br />
<br />
She remained silent as he climbed off her and took his usual position facing the wall. The way Ennis liked to have sex with her most of the time didn’t make babies anyway. She’d long ago deduced that that’s how he had sex with that Jack and resented being used as a substitute for him.<br />
<br />
She turned off the light…<br />
<br />
Three months later Alma filed for divorce and custody of the girls. If Ennis wouldn’t support her and the girls the way she wanted, she had her own man waiting in the shadows that would.<br />
<br />
When the court day came, Ennis felt like the world had crashed down on his shoulders. His self-image as a man who was a good husband and loving father was now shattered and he felt like a complete failure.<br />
<br />
He loved and cherished his little girls more than his own life and while standing there his face held a mixture of equal parts resentment, hate and shame.<br />
<br />
He was now convinced beyond doubt that to love someone-anyone was to be condemned to be hurt by them. As he stood in the courtroom he could feel himself shutting down and was powerless to stop it.<br />
<br />
As the Judge ruled in Alma’s favor and ordered Ennis to pay child support, his chest tightened to the point of hardly being able to breathe and tears fell from his crestfallen eyes.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">He looked to be in such agony that both Alma Jr. and Jenny broke free of their mother and cried open tears as they gathered around him hugging him and looking frightened of the judge.<br />
<br />
Ennis moved out that night leaving no word of where he was going. A week later after swearing them to secrecy, he told the girls he was staying at the Siesta until he could find a job out of town.<br />
<br />
Until he did, he worked part-time pumping gas at the filling station across the street.<br />
<br />
Alma figured he'd disappeared to avoid the child support, but he just needed time to heal and would never do anything to hurt his girls.<br />
<br />
He wrote a heartbroken letter to Jack giving him the news, hoping he’d write back but heard nothing for a month. He had to leave on a roundup and missed his 2nd month in a row with the girls so he was out of town for a long stretch. Ennis wanted to be in love, but convinced himself that he was just lonely.<br />
<br />
He was shocked when after another month Junior called to tell him that Alma had married Monroe and was a month or so pregnant.<br />
<br />
The hippies came and went and all eventually become disco groupies while the music turned into K.C. and the Sunshine Band disco and then ZZ Top guitar rock.<br />
<br />
Jimmy Carter brought an excuse for prayer meetings everywhere, and televangelists raked in tons of money and started networks on something new called “cable.”<br />
<br />
Every time you picked up a newspaper or turned on a TV there was another news report about a mysterious "gay cancer" and on Sundays in the years to come there were the televangelists falsely declaring God’s judgment on only homosexuals with a horrific disease that could only be caught through their sinful sexual contact. Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant began convincing everyone that gay men roamed the streets at night trolling for little boys to kidnap and sodomize.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-103-108-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><br />
<blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-13573432775810791222014-02-24T12:07:00.000-05:002019-07-29T12:49:32.940-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXV<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 25 ~ Testing The Ties That Bind</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-97-102-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Goin’ North To Have It All Go South</span></b></I></center>…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">wist started making slow deliberate preparations to leave Lureen the moment he got Ennis’ letter with news of the divorce. He didn’t care about Newsome’s money now that he had his own, nor the son that his wife and father-in-law both had taught to hate him.<br />
<br />
He went as far as he could with his plans to just up and disappear on his family, carefully leaving a way back "just in case."<br />
<br />
Ennis’ old phone number over the laundromat had been disconnected and none of his postcards were answered, so Jack just assumed that Ennis would be waiting for him and leave hints in town where to find him.<br />
<br />
Jack was so sure of himself that he called his parents to hint that his stormy marriage was breaking up and he might be moving up north there with a friend named Ennis to help with the Twist homestead. That would’ve been the third time he made that call… he hoped this time it’d stick.<br />
<br />
When finally he could wait no longer, Twist nearly flew north in his truck; in fact at some railroad crossings, he actually left the ground. He was rushing to his man - his lover and had been rehearsing how he was going to make "Deke" real happy by leaving Lureen, but it’d cost the millionaire dearly. Jack’d would've left her for free, but Newsome didn’t have to know that.<br />
<br />
Ennis at long last had come to his senses and left his wife; they’d finally be together like it should be, like it was meant to be. He was smiling so much his cheeks ached and he couldn’t help singing all the way north to Riverton.<br />
<br />
He couldn’t find him.</span><br />
<br />
After the divorce, Ennis had moved down to Signal to put some distance between him and Alma and <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VpUc6XYc-9E/Uq0Xk3AEFQI/AAAAAAAAJVw/rtKFl9d-ecw/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+new+home+divorce+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VpUc6XYc-9E/Uq0Xk3AEFQI/AAAAAAAAJVw/rtKFl9d-ecw/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+new+home+divorce+.jpg" width="400" /></a>got a job on the Stoutamire Ranch.<br />
<br />
He rented an old run-down house at the far eastern edge of the spread. It wasn’t much, but as he was fond of saying, "If ya don’t have nothing, ya don’t need nothing." He'd have to put down permanent roots now in order to get visitation rights, which meant no more hopping from job to job on a whim.<br />
<br />
It took a lot of hard work on the place before the court would let the girls stay there over weekends, and he was overjoyed at their being there with him at last.<br />
<br />
Carl Stoutamire was so impressed, he gave Ennis five months rent for free in return for all the improvements to his property that had been made.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">One morning Ennis went out back to tend the horses and discovered the rear driver’s side tire was flat on the Ford.<br />
<br />
While in the barn, little Jenny came in carrying an old car magazine she’d found and showed her daddy an ad she’d discovered in the back “Cars and Trucks for sale” section.<br />
<br />
“Honey, I cain’t afford no new truck,” he smiled.<br />
<br />
“Look Daddy! It's just like yours!”<br />
<br />
He smiled at his youngest, and after reading the ad, he frowned at it and then out through the shed doors at his truck.<br />
<br />
Without his eyes leaving the pickup, he said, “Jenny, you’n Junior go through the paper ‘n pick out what movie ya wanna see tonight… Okay?”<br />
<br />
She giggled and skipped her way back to the kitchen door.<br />
<br />
Ennis shook his head dismissively and almost threw the old magazine away, but the picture recaptured his eye... then the familiar name in the ad.<br />
<br />
Reading "Owner: Clarence Rand," brought a vision of a tall and wide jolly black man who fought him hard while negotiating the price of his pickup down. That was a man not easy to forget.<br />
<br />
With a frown he muttered, "$5,000" to himself and exited the barn.<br />
<br />
With a puzzled scowl, Ennis began pacing towards the Ford while rereading the ad.<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;"><center><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eka2jiVu1dg/U26lAyWb6yI/AAAAAAAAKnY/IDZL6eWy5LomHsvleYvyp0U_hV-9c-66wCCo/s985/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B1966%2BFord%2BF-100%2Bad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eka2jiVu1dg/U26lAyWb6yI/AAAAAAAAKnY/IDZL6eWy5LomHsvleYvyp0U_hV-9c-66wCCo/s985/Brokeback%2BMountain%2B1966%2BFord%2BF-100%2Bad.JPG" height="174" width="320"/></a></center><b>LIKE NEW – 1966 Ford F-150 – Light blue & White - 115,110 original miles, like-new interior and exterior. Well taken care of, used only for freeway travel. Contact Clarence Rand for appointment (307) 555-2622. 8681 Clagdents Ct. Casper WY.<br />
<center>★★★★ Asking price best offer over $5,000. Must be seen to be believed! ★★★★</center></b></div></blockquote>Ennis reached his truck and opened the passenger door, hit the chrome button on the glove box, brought out the bill of sale and compared it with the ad.<br />
<br />
<b>Previous owner: Clarence Rand<br />
Owner’s address: 8581 Clagdents Ct. - Natrona County - Casper WY<br />
Odometer: 115277.9<br />
Selling price: $750.00</b><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UwsYyccPmz8/TpUAOsO6GiI/AAAAAAAADvg/GCiq6t8pvEQ/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+35.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UwsYyccPmz8/TpUAOsO6GiI/AAAAAAAADvg/GCiq6t8pvEQ/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+35.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Del Mar opened the hood and stared at the motor. It was dusty, caked with mud, but it’d never given him a lick of trouble… not one, so he never had to look in here, which was unusual.<br />
<br />
He suddenly recalled buying new sparkplugs at 150,000 miles, and when he'd worked an old one out of its socket, it looked brand new. She didn’t drink oil like a truck that old neither.<br />
<br />
He walked around it and noticed the bed was rusted and dented in a few places, the tailgate screamed on its hinges loudly when it was opened, but the cab was nearly perfect except where the paint was dull and oxidized as if the cargo bed come off a different truck.<br />
<br />
He went to the passenger side utility compartment forward of the back wheel and pulled out the jack and tackle. Compared to the dusty and rusted compartment they came out of, the tools looked brand new.<br />
<br />
Once he had the back end up off the ground and crawled underneath it, he found a dusty but brand-new looking spare tire. The comparison between the condition of the rear end differential and the rusty bed was stark in contrast. He pulled the wheel off to change the flat tire and found that it hid a new-looking brake drum and shoes.<br />
<br />
Why the hell would someone…<br />
<br />
“Daddy, we made breakfast!” called out proud Junior distracting him.<br />
<br />
“In in a minute, lil' darlin’” he replied and after changing tires, he put everything back away and went towards the house frowning deep in thought.<br />
<br />
As his hand touched the doorknob, he looked back at the pickup and remembered the many fights he'd gotten into with his best friend over Twist repeatedly offering to buy him a new truck.<br />
<br />
Ennis muttered, “Jack fuckin’ Twist” under his breath. He’d punch the rich Texan in the mouth and hand the keys back to him, if he hadn’t grown so damned attached to the fuckin' thing.<br />
<br />
At the kitchen table, he bit into partially burnt toast slices holding pan-fried baloney and a runny egg with melted cheese, and then nearly raw hashed browns. They were served with extreeeeemely strong and hot black coffee with a few grounds in it.<br />
<br />
With his mind still on the truck, he decided to let sleeping dogs lie for once.<br />
<br />
The ranchman winced as he took another sip from his cup, and complimented Junior and Jenny on how gooooood it was.<br />
<br />
He lived for his girls’ smiles…</span><br />
<br />
<br />
...That afternoon he’d fried up some trout he’d caught and had frozen on his last "fishing trip" with Jack, and the girls as usual loved it. He only got to see them one weekend a month and the time was precious to him.<br />
<br />
After a nice day together teaching them how to ride horseback, he bundled them up in the truck on the earlier promise of a drive-in movie.<br />
<br />
He was walking around to his door of the pickup when he heard a truck horn blaring away around the front of the house coming toward him and was astonished to see Jack pull up and jump out with his arms outspread.<br />
<br />
Knowing the girls were watching, Ennis approached cautiously, darting his eyes at Jack towards his daughters, but Twist didn’t get the hint and rushed up to gave him an affectionate hug.<br />
<br />
Ennis pulled away cautiously and asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"<br />
<br />
"Hell, I drove fer hours up from Texas, asked a dozen people in Riverton where you’d moved to and that’s all ya gotta say?"<br />
<br />
"Jack, I uh, you don’t understand, I…"<br />
<br />
Jack stepped back and replied with a frown, "I got yer note about the divorce 'n all, 'n I figured that meant we…"<br />
<br />
The look Ennis gave him froze Twist’s throat and del Mar’s eyes darted toward the truck again.<br />
<br />
Shifting his arms so only one was around his shoulder, he guided Jack to the driver side of his old truck and gestured inward, saying, "Girls this is my old friend Jack; he’s a good fishin' 'n campin' buddy of mine."<br />
<br />
Taken aback at his first sight of Ennis’ daughters, Jack simply said, "Hi."<br />
<br />
They both stared, sort of stunned. As they’d grown up they’d heard fights through the bedroom wall between their parents about someone named Jack.<br />
<br />
When the silence went a little too long, their father tersely said, "Say ‘hi’ girls,"<br />
<br />
"Hi" they replied in unison as Ennis led him out of earshot.<br />
<br />
Looking back at the girls, Jack continued, "I just figured that yer note meant that ya wanted to, that ya wanted me to… you know."<br />
<br />
Ennis bowed his head, "Jack; I’m sorry… you know I am."<br />
<br />
To Jack’s puzzled frown, he added, "I only get the girls once a month 'n I missed last month because of the roundup, so I…"<br />
<br />
Something caught Ennis' eye out beyond the golden fields. A white Stoutamire Ranch pickup drove slowly by with two local men in it pointedly looking their way.<br />
<br />
Ennis took a step backward and Jack followed his eyes and saw the men watching them too.<br />
<br />
Twist nodded disappointment and said reluctantly, "Yeah, okay."<br />
<br />
"Jack, if there was any way I could… Ya know I would,"<br />
<br />
Jack realized that he wasn’t as important in Ennis’ life as he’d hoped he’d be, so he nodded again and turned to pace back to his truck.<br />
<br />
As he opened the door, Ennis’ voice came from behind him at a distance, "I’ll see ya next month, right?"<br />
<br />
Jack nodded and slammed his door, started the engine and gunned it backward, spitting gravel and dust, and was gone in moments.<br />
<br />
The ache in Ennis’ heart was almost unbearable, because he missed Jack as much as Jack missed him.<br />
<br />
He put on a happy smile and got in his pickup, "So what do my girls wanna see tonight?"<br />
<br />
Jack sobbed heartbroken almost all the way back south. He was thankful he hadn’t gone too far with his plans and was so deep in thought that he missed the turn off home. So full was his heart with resentment and disillusionment, he couldn’t stand to see his wife and the life he didn’t want but would be stuck with probably the rest of his days, so he made a decision and headed toward Mexico.<br />
<br />
It took him an hour or so to find a hustler who looked a lot like Ennis, and since Lureen thought he’d be gone a while, he spent the whole week with him.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis was so sorry about the misunderstanding that he risked calling Jack’s home in Childress to apologize, but hung up when Lureen answered…<br />
<br />
<br />
...Ennis wasn't being paranoid about being watched by his new boss and others; but not for the reason he assumed.<br />
<br />
The locals didn't cotton to new problems in town, and it seems there was a quick-tempered local drunk of a man and his family by the name of Kyle del Mar that had lived there for pert near 8 years or so, and lots of folks wondered if newly-divorced Ennis was kin of the no-account troublemaker.<br />
<br />
The brothers oddly never seemed to run into one and other since Ennis lived on a ranch in the outskirts, and Kyle moved from house to house in town. Since neither ever mentioned the other, they really didn't resemble each other after K.E. got a beer gut, and since Ennis was an introverted and responsible man who kept to himself, eventually everyone just assumed the names were a coincidence.<br />
<br />
Ennis of course knew his brother was in town and would catch occasional glimpses of him, but their eyes never met, and neither sought out the other. After this many years, he doubted if Kyle would even recognize him since he was but a teenager when they parted ways.<br />
<br />
One time, a lady store clerk addressed a woman with five misbehaving kids as "Mrs. del Mar," and Ennis curiously moved to get a closer look, smiling at how much they all resembled their daddy when he was a kid, but he never approached, nor spoke to her.<br />
<br />
Oh there were close calls unawares when the two parked next to each other at stores, one would be arriving just as the other left, but that's as close as it came, and of course they used the same gas stations, hardware stores etc.<br />
<br />
Ennis actually nodded or exchanged greetings with Joe Aguirre in town more than he'd ever catch glimpses of his brother Kyle.<br />
<br />
He could never find his brother's phone number and address in the book. The ranch hand chose to have an unlisted phone number, while K.E. just barely kept his family fed and didn't have one most of the time because it was repeatedly disconnected.<br />
<br />
Sometimes Ennis would cruise slowly past Aguirre's trailer or gaze up at Brokeback ever on the horizon...<br />
...and remember.<br />
<br />
A wrangler would invite him to go camping or hunting with him up there occasionally, but he never accepted</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Trouble From Every Direction</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">hat winter Ennis and Jack hooked up with a gay friend (one of the few they could be themselves with) who owned a cabin near the timberline on Brokeback on the far eastern flank opposite of town.<br />
<br />
Don Rhoe occasionally would offer to let them use it for free, so they finally accepted and spent Christmas together for the first time, bagging an elk whose head they had mounted and put up on the wall there as a gift to him.<br />
<br />
It was a good memory that they shared, but it wouldn’t last.</span><br />
<br />
Ennis got poorer, Jack got richer, and it strained their relationship when Twist would offer to help financially no matter how small the amount, or even the gesture of buying a new saddle or some better boots for him.<br />
<br />
The tension between them lingered for a long time after that and the years piled onto years for both men, but they still made time for their vacations together.<br />
<br />
Ennis stuck to ranch work with Stoutamire but hired on here and there part time too, not getting much ahead but glad enough to be around stock again, free to drop things, quit if he had to, and go into the mountains with Jack on short notice.<br />
<br />
With each passing year, Jack lost a tiny bit more hope. His trips to Mexico and most recently San Francisco became more frequent, but he needed love - Ennis' love - not just sex.<br />
<br />
With each passing year, Twist's mind began seeking out someone to give him what del Mar wouldn't. He lost a little bit more optimism every time he drove through Signal on his way to his parents.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">One Christmas he took Lureen and Bobby with him as a surprise to meet John and Martha only to find them not home and the house shut up tight. In a place where those remaining in Lightning Flat didn't lock their doors because no one was around, Jack's father had changed the locks.<br />
<br />
Twist took it personally as an affront aimed directly at him by his parents.<br />
<br />
After giving his wife and son a brief tour of the ranch he grew up on, they left the gifts at the kitchen door in a plastic garbage bag and drove back south.<br />
<br />
Jack intentionally took a more easterly route after his wife asked if Ennis lived near Signal or Riverton and suggested they stop in and say hello.<br />
<br />
That was one scene he definitely didn’t need to happen…</span><br />
<br />
<br />
The years saw Ennis watching his girls gradually grow through their teens and he realized that the passage of time was moving too swiftly for him to keep up.<br />
<br />
He’d date a woman now and again, but it never seemed to work out. As much as he hated to admit it, he’d always be comparing how he felt about Jack to how he felt about her and not many measured up... but he was tortured as to how to tell Jack he loved him.<br />
<br />
He just assumed Jack would always be there.<br />
<br />
Twist started to sense that and resentment began to build within him that del Mar took him for granted.<br />
<br />
Paying the child support was rough on Ennis but he never missed one damned payment.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">He was offered a permanent full-time job under the general manager on Carl Stoutamire’s ranch on the condition he quit all the other side work, and he began taking charge of the horses and managing roundups. It meant more money and was work he enjoyed, but it meant cutting down seeing Jack to only once in maybe seven or eight months.<br />
<br />
The times were catching up to him too as Alma Junior and Jenny themselves went through the "unisex" trend, women’s rights movement and even the gay rights push. The girls grew their hair long and feathered like Farrah. Junior recently introduced a new boyfriend to him named Troy, who was on the high school baseball team. He had longer hair than she did.<br />
<br />
One year Jack offered to take Ennis to San Francisco on vacation to experience men holding hands and kissing in public without shame but Ennis turned him down not feeling ready for that much "progress" just yet.<br />
<br />
As modern culture began invading Wyoming, more and more young new-hire ranch hands wore their hair long too, snug bell-bottoms, and sported multi-colored clothing making Ennis feel even older and resenting Alma causing him to miss out on his own awakening and freedom.<br />
<br />
If he expressed shock or wonder at it all, his daughters were quick to chastise him with an exasperated, "Oh Dad!"</span><br />
<br />
Jack began to change with the times too, always talking about the stock market or investments, or the crazy economy. His sideburns grew even longer and his hair was about an inch shaggier than it used to be. Every other year he’d show up with a brand new and bigger pickup truck offering to sell Ennis his old one dirt-cheap… which made Ennis feel dirt-cheap, so he stuck to his ancient blue Ford... which had probably come from Jack too.<br />
<br />
The only times he and Ennis were happy together were on their silent rides in the forests of the Tetons or the Big Horns on horseback. <span style="color: #006d9f;">The single Christmas trip two years ago to Brokeback Mountain had spoiled Jack, but Ennis resisted going back to their mountain, so Jack stopped asking.<br />
<br />
The two of them went to the incredibly tall Devils Tower to experience what little Bobby couldn’t stop talking about. <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFMxQAdn5Bg/Vw7bPwzFS2I/AAAAAAAAL84/2T3lwTTfJowg_xS73jOTyLIfKtfxdU1dgCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bnovel%2Bdevils%2Btower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iFMxQAdn5Bg/Vw7bPwzFS2I/AAAAAAAAL84/2T3lwTTfJowg_xS73jOTyLIfKtfxdU1dgCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bnovel%2Bdevils%2Btower.jpg" /></a><br />
Two months later Ennis took the girls and the experience was incredible for everyone. Junior and Jenny’d pleaded with him to see it since watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind at a theater in Riverton."</span><br />
<br />
Ennis started wondering if people could tell he was "different" just by looking at him, but Jack told him he was just being paranoid and once even offered to help him move to Texas, but Ennis didn't want to leave his girls and didn't like the idea of them potentially living so close to Lureen.<br />
<br />
His ego was too much part of his personality to admit he needed help from anyone - another gift from his father.<br />
<br />
As his paranoia about being "found out" grew, he began seeing a young sexy waitress named Cassie Cartwright out of loneliness. He'd met her in Betsy’s one night and they became a regular couple in town. As they became good friends it even grew to a kind of love on his part to the point of him wanting to introduce her to his daughters...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Fuck You Daddy!</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>O</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">n a business trip to Wyoming, L.D. Newsome ran into Joe Aguirre at a Farm & Ranch Equipment convention in Casper.<br />
<br />
L.D. mentioned how his son-in-law Jack Twist said he’d herded sheep up on Brokeback Mountain a couple of times, thinking he could drum some business out of the foreman since they had a mutual contact.<br />
<br />
Aguirre grabbed the businessman’s elbow and steered him to a private room.<br />
<br />
L.D. left the building half an hour later shaken.<br />
<br />
Up in his hotel room he began making phone calls to an ex-police detective down in Houston he used to know...<br />
<br />
<br />
...A week later, Jack came home and found his in-laws in the living room with Lureen and his son Bobby.<br />
<br />
While greeting everyone in turn, he got around to his son playing with their living room phone and after giving him a hug the kid said, “Fuck you, Daddy,” plain as day.<br />
<br />
The years of L.D. putting Twist down in front of his son flashed through Jack’s mind and he backhanded 11-year-old Bobby hard across the face.<br />
<br />
Newsome and his wife got up and started protesting.<br />
<br />
Angrily, Jack interrupted, “Is this how you teach your grandson to talk to his daddy?”<br />
<br />
Twist grabbed his bawling son by the shoulder and took him into his study slamming the door behind them.<br />
<br />
Shoving his disrespectful offspring into the chair opposite his desk, Jack sipped a little fine whisky to calm his nerves.<br />
<br />
Twist looked across the desk at his frightened son and patiently asked. “Who told ya to say that to me, son?”<br />
<br />
"Nobody Daddy.”<br />
<br />
Jack huffed out a frustrated sigh, then looked at his child again. “Bobby, I will never no never punish ya if'n you tell me the truth.”<br />
<br />
The kid whined, “I was playing a game, honest Daddy.”<br />
<br />
“With yer Grandpa?”<br />
<br />
“No; all by myself. When Mama ‘n them git to talkin’ ‘n all, it gits borin’, so I was playin’ a game with myself.”<br />
<br />
Now completely lost, Jack shook his head and patiently asked, “I don’t understand son.”<br />
<br />
“I was seein’ how many words I could make up out of our phone number, usin’ the letters on the buttons.”<br />
<br />
Jack frowned over at the phone on his desk and after a moment realized that the corresponding letters on the number buttons for their phone number spelled F-U-C-K-Y-O-U.<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuYR8BSsdSQ/Vw7bRQdCF-I/AAAAAAAAL84/agcBW3fYk2QqhvGiZJVNkzMjEvNWdR4ewCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Btones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuYR8BSsdSQ/Vw7bRQdCF-I/AAAAAAAAL84/agcBW3fYk2QqhvGiZJVNkzMjEvNWdR4ewCKgB/s400/Brokeback%2Bmountain%2Btones.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Bobby watched his father rest both elbows on the desk and cover his face with his hands. What the boy could see of his daddy’s forehead had turned beet red and suddenly his shoulders began heaving up and down and Jack burst out laughing so hard he was crying.<br />
<br />
“Cuh huh huh mere,” he gasped out at his boy, and Bobby went running to land on his daddy’s lap to get an affectionate kiss from his old man on the forehead.<br />
<br />
While they shared a warm father and son hug, a soft knock was heard at the door.<br />
<br />
Lureen poked her head in on a scene of fatherly love, “Ever’thing alright in here men?”<br />
<br />
Jack laughed out, “Git yer ass in here woman ‘n close the door!”<br />
<br />
With her back now against the door, Lureen waved a motherly index finger at her boy and put in her two cents, “Young man, that was a very disrespectful and rude thing ya said to yer daddy out there. That’s the kinda thing ya only say to people ya hate.”<br />
<br />
Jack nodded at Bobby, “Yer mama’s right boy; you listen to what she says.”<br />
<br />
Her two men looked at each other only seconds… then burst out laughing. Bobby fell overboard off his father’s lap and landed on the floor in a puddle of giggles, while Jack rested his forehead on the desk repeatedly pounding his fist on its surface.<br />
<br />
Lureen stood there with her mouth gaping open, appalled and mystified.<br />
<br />
Jack looked up at her and barely snickered out, “Come around here and look at this.”<br />
<br />
When she did, he picked up the phone and showed her.<br />
<br />
Out in the living room, the Newsomes were dumbfounded to hear their daughter suddenly scream, quickly followed by uncontrolled laughter…<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>"High" Up In The Mountains</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>oward the end of September Ennis ran into Monroe. Alma’s new husband had just opened a store in Signal, and Ennis had gone to check it out while picking up supplies.<br />
<br />
Monroe’s full name was Monroe William Monroe and for some reason after they were married she insisted on referring to him as "Bill;" why was anyone’s guess. He told Ennis that he’d been fighting with Alma a lot lately because he thought that Ennis deserved more time with the girls and she didn't agree but wouldn't say why.<br />
<br />
Always the good-natured one, Monroe put it down to the resentment and scorn of an ex-wife. They became instant friends and because of del Mar's irregular schedule Monroe agreed to allow him to take his "weekends" with the girls any time he wanted and even extend them when time and school permitted.<br />
<br />
Something else must’ve happened between him and Alma.<br />
<br />
Ennis didn’t know what, but he was glad of it. He smiled remembering what a bitch she was when she was pregnant both times and figured that’s probably what it was.<br />
<br />
The beginning of November 1980, Ennis sent word to Jack that he’d be able to get the week of Thanksgiving off and they immediately made plans to spend it in the Tetons.<br />
<br />
Jack joyfully started researching ways of surprising Ennis by roasting a turkey outdoors or if it was even safe (what with salmonella and all) or possible to cook it all the way through and started calling department stores and camping supply houses.<br />
<br />
Jack, Lureen and Bobby had gone camping over Labor Day weekend at Lake Kemp, and while his wife didn’t really enjoy "roughing it," she saw a glow of pure fun and enjoyment in her husband out there and came to realize why his trips were so important to him.<br />
<br />
Lately his wife seemed to understand about his occasional need to do "manly" things like hunting and fishing too. She knew he loved it, but she wouldn’t allow Bobby to tag along when he went up north because of both of their fears that he’d either wander off and get lost, or get hurt somehow.<br />
<br />
His Thanksgiving project started looking too complicated, so he settled for pre-cooking a turkey at home, surprisingly enough with Lureen’s enthusiastic help and in separate containers went bread stuffing, yams, corn, gravy, dinner rolls and mashed potatoes he’d made all by himself and packed in dry-ice.<br />
<br />
His plan was to just suddenly have the whole meal appear out of the blue roasting on a spit and warming over the campfire for Ennis.<br />
<br />
He smiled in anticipation for a whole week just thinking about the look on his beloved horseman’s face when he saw it.<br />
<br />
Jack suspected she actually seemed to want him to be with Ennis this holiday, but couldn’t figure out why.<br />
<br />
When he’d puzzled back over it, it seemed as if this trip was actually her idea.<br />
<br />
L.D. Newsome had other schemes for the holiday festivities.<br />
<br />
Just as Jack had packed up his brand new dark blue Chevy Silverado, his father in law called and announced that he and his wife were inviting themselves to his house for Thanksgiving.<br />
<br />
Lureen wasn’t all that concerned about her husband missing the holiday, but seizing the opportunity to meet the "mystery man" in Jack’s life, she suggested Ennis come down to Texas to have the holiday meal with them instead.<br />
<br />
Maybe she was beginning to suspect that this "rancher friend" was actually another woman.<br />
<br />
Jack said Ennis' old pickup truck probably couldn’t make the drive down and that was that. He’d just shorten the trip and be back in time for his in-laws.<br />
<br />
Lately, except for occasional spats about how much he didn’t like Bobby’s tutor, Jack had been getting along well with Lureen after all the years of indifference. Twist began wondering if maybe a business disagreement she’d had with L.D. may have caused a little animosity between father and daughter.<br />
<br />
Jack backed her up on her decision not to carry a line of expensive farm equipment that only a handful of ranchers would buy and they’d make very little profit on.<br />
<br />
When Deke went ahead and ordered 5 units costing nearly a million dollars, Lureen called the manufacturer behind his back and canceled the order.<br />
<br />
She and her father eventually made up, but Jack could tell that they were still pissed at each other.<br />
<br />
Lureen’s mother Fayette, concerned about Bobby’s slow behavior and how he’d stare into space for long periods of time, backed Jack up about getting him a special tutor over last summer, though he didn’t approve of the overly religious one his mother-in-law had chosen.<br />
<br />
Deke must’ve noticed his wife and daughter had seemed to side with Jack and the resentment was building up since school had started up again.<br />
<br />
Jack figured Newsome was itching for a showdown with his son-in-law and Twist was in no mood to go back under his thumb, especially in front of his wife and son.<br />
<br />
As soon the truck pulled away, Lureen got busy on the phone to a secretary neighbor of hers to tell her boss that her husband and just left…<br />
<br />
<br />
...On the way up to the mountains Jack stopped off at a department store and bought a set of new carving knives and a fancy bone china serving set with a big and expensive sterling silver tray that he figured Lureen would like.<br />
<br />
His wife loved expensive things that she could show off to her friends.<br />
<br />
Twist was pulled over by the cops in a speed trap just north of town and appeared nervous. He said he was hurrying to Wyoming and he had a whole dinner prepared and stored in back and was worried it might not keep.<br />
<br />
The cop asked to see and was impressed, but wanted the receipts for the pricey dinnerware, observing it was an odd choice to use on a camping trip.<br />
<br />
Twist laughed and said it was to appease his wife for letting him go instead of staying home for the holiday and the married cop nodded knowingly and laughed.<br />
<br />
After letting him off with just a warning, the officer sent him on his way.<br />
<br />
As he pulled away, Jack let out a loud sigh of relief that the cop was too distracted to find a bagged up "souvenir" from Mexico in his armrest…<br />
<br />
<br />
…Ennis was disappointed that their holiday had to be cut short but there was nothing to be done, so they made the best of it and had a good time despite themselves.<br />
<br />
Jack and Ennis were back on good terms again after their fight about him not being able to see del Mar as much as he wanted to, so they went into it with their hopes high.<br />
<br />
Speaking of "highs," it was the first time Jack shared some weed with Ennis.<br />
<br />
Even when they were arguing it was fun while buzzed on marijuana, though his thoroughly stoned buddy <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k7tPiFPKdGk/UpxPNOP4d6I/AAAAAAAAJJc/ERKnceXzfwI/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+stream+pot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k7tPiFPKdGk/UpxPNOP4d6I/AAAAAAAAJJc/ERKnceXzfwI/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+stream+pot.JPG" width="400"/></a>did almost lose all of their campsite cookware after it took off floating downstream during a hazy and strange argument about he and his girls moving or not moving to Texas and Jack adopting them.<br />
<br />
They had Jack's special meal Tuesday and spent practically all of Wednesday sleeping.<br />
<br />
To show his appreciation Ennis was especially good in their sleeping bag on their last night on the mountain... or maybe it was just the entire week's supply of Mexican weed that they tried to smoke in just those last two days?</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Almost Knocked Into Next Week</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>J</b></span>ack arrived back home around one o’clock Thanksgiving afternoon; having driven all night and then was delayed by snow and heavy traffic near Childress.<br />
<br />
He noticed his wife had changed hair colors to a light blond that was nearly white. Rather than get into it with her, he barely mentioned it except to compliment how she looked, wanting to keep her on his side against her father.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Her face lit up when she saw the serving set and while his mother-in-law Fayette gushed over it, Lureen quickly reset the table with the new dinnerware.<br />
<br />
Newsome took the attitude he always had; anything Jack gave his daughter was charity that came out of the old man’s pocket first whether Twist earned it himself through hard work or not.<br />
<br />
Jack was initially taken back by the look of hostile contempt that his father-in-law shot him at first sight, but wrote it off to the old man’s usual mind-set.<br />
<br />
Neither Jack nor Lureen knew about Deke's boyhood spent as a fake cripple in his father's religious salvation cons across the western U.S.<br />
<br />
Unlike his sham of a preacher/con-man father though, L.D. did occasionally believe in God when it suited his mood, and the disgusting revelation from Joe Aguirre about his son-in-law on Brokeback was something that was never far from his thoughts. In fact on this holiday he was having a particularly hard time hiding how he felt about it.<br />
<br />
Senior and Fayette sat in the living room watching football with Bobby.<br />
<br />
Jack passed through the dining room, paused to admire the table, and shook his head at those goddamned awful lavender chairs, remembering his embarrassment every time they had company over for dinner.<br />
<br />
Back when they first got married, if his meddling mother-in-law had had her way the place would be all purple and pink with the walls looking like they'd been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol.<br />
<br />
Making an effort to go unnoticed, Twist retreated to his den and slipped his headphones on to listen to music for a few hours.<br />
<br />
Around four, the inescapably wonderful aroma of roasted turkey reached his den as Lureen came in and got him. While Jack pulled the bird out of the oven and got things ready, she called everyone in to the festively set table.<br />
<br />
Twist almost said something as he saw from the kitchen that Newsome had parked himself at the head of the table, but Lureen whispered in her father's ear while filling bowls with cream of turkey soup.<br />
<br />
Even then, he only grudgingly moved when his usually stone-faced wife quietly prompted him too.<br />
<br />
Par for the course.<br />
<br />
Jack settled for listening to the football game on the TV out in the living room, paying attention just long enough to get the score before Lureen came in from serving and kissed him, thanking him again for the new table setting.<br />
<br />
Twist smiled, at least he had her for an ally for a while, especially today.</span><br />
<br />
Jack ladled some more drip juice from the bottom of the pan over the bird and then picked up the fancy turkey. With a prompt from his wife, he screwed a half-hearted smile on his face and as he entered the dining room called out "Heeeeeeeere we are!" trying to sound like Ed McMahon announcing Johnny Carson.<br />
<br />
Jack prepared for an argument over who was going to say grace and give thanks for the meal. <br />
<br />
As Lureen took her place at the table, Newsome swiftly stood up and grabbed the carving knives before Jack had even finished setting it down.<br />
<br />
All thoughts of saying grace were immediately forgotten.<br />
<br />
In a correcting tone and a smirk, Senior’s first words to Jack all afternoon were disrespectful. "Hold on Rodeo, the stud duck’ll do the carving around here."<br />
<br />
Jack had expected him to pull something like that and rather than cause more friction than there was in the house already, had planned in advance to allow him the privilege.<br />
<br />
Lureen at the other side of the table pursed her lips but said nothing as if she’d expected it too after her father tried to take over the head of the table.<br />
<br />
While her husband muttered something about saving his father-in-law the trouble, Lureen calmed down and redirected the attitude she was about to give her father to her son instead.<br />
<br />
Bobby’s eyes and attention were focused out of the dining room watching the TV in the living room with a blank stare on his face.<br />
<br />
"Bobby," she correctively warned, "if ya don’t eat yer dinner, I’m gonna have to turn that TV off."<br />
<br />
As his son began protesting in a spoiled voice about having to eat turkey for a whole week, Jack felt the need to reassert control in his own house.<br />
<br />
Twist stood up saying as he passed by the kid’s chair, "Ah now you heard yer mama." Walking across the living room, he turned off the set and added, "You finish yer meal and then ya can watch the game."<br />
<br />
Twist made a point of resting a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder in passing and she gave him an impish smile for standing his own ground.<br />
<br />
Newsome watched resentfully as Jack returned to his chair at the head of the table.<br />
<br />
When L.D. Newsome was in a room, he was in charge damn it! Before Jack even reseated himself, the old man put down the carving set and headed for the TV, flashing narrowed and determined eyes at his daughter as he passed.<br />
<br />
Wanting to avert a holiday showdown, she asked "Daddy?"<br />
<br />
Newsome ignored her.<br />
<br />
This time in a warning tone, clearly indicating she’d side with her husband if he didn’t stop now, she repeated louder, "Daddy."<br />
<br />
As the set came back on, Newsome smirked directly at Jack and announced, "Hell, ya don’t eat with yer eyes do ya?" then with a dig directly at Jack he added, "Ya want yer son to grow up to be a man don’t ya daughter?" and having gone that far cleared his throat at his son-in-law and added, "Boys should watch football."<br />
<br />
The insult was clear and Jack avoided his wife’s eyes while fiddling with his suddenly tight wedding ring and quickly stood up. He’d be damned if he’d let that bastard insult him in his own house, in front of his own wife and son.<br />
<br />
Getting up from the table, Jack quickly advanced back to the TV announcing in a barely controlled voice, "That boy is gonna finish eatin’ a meal that his mama spent over three hours cooking first!" then hit the button shutting it off, making a point of loudly slamming the little door closed hiding the set's controls and then stalked back toward his seat.<br />
<br />
It was now obviously a face-off and Newsome was determined to assert his authority. Before Jack even took his seat, Deke had put the knives back down again and took a couple of determined steps with a smug look on his face back towards the living room.<br />
<br />
Suddenly from behind him Jack’s enraged voice yelled, "Now you sit down, ya old son of a BITCH!"<br />
<br />
Lureen’s mother’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped, not knowing whether to cheer or cower in fear at her husband's coming reaction.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/---VRH2CtFLQ/TpKW6EjYa_I/AAAAAAAADuo/cMfb89n3dHo/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="float: center; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/---VRH2CtFLQ/TpKW6EjYa_I/AAAAAAAADuo/cMfb89n3dHo/s660/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+17.JPG" width="660" /></a><br />
Newsome froze in his tracks, his back to Jack hiding his reaction as Lureen held her breath in shock.<br />
<br />
Just short of screaming it out, Jack announced to his surprisingly stunned father-in-law, "This is MY house, that is MY child, and you are MY guest... Now you sit yer ignorant ass down before I knock ya into next week!"<br />
<br />
Jack held his breath and surveyed the room for allies.<br />
<br />
Fayette swallowed hard.<br />
<br />
Lureen had a wide-eyed "WHOA!!!!!!!!" look of alliance with her husband and had to bow her head to keep from cracking up at the expense of her father's pride.<br />
<br />
Encouraged, Jack looked over and found that Bobby was still staring at the dark TV in a trance as if he hadn’t noticed any of it.<br />
<br />
Daring to glance up at his father-in-law, Jack was as stunned at the look on L.D’s face.<br />
<br />
Almost meekly, Newsome smoothly turned tail and sat back down beside his stone-faced wife.<br />
<br />
Fighting to calm himself, Jack stood and grabbed the carving knives as Lureen gave Bobby a proud "See?" expression to her son indicating his father.<br />
<br />
Obediently, Bobby picked up his spoon and started eating his soup.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">The rest of the meal went in near silence, though half an hour into it the phone rang. Lureen answered it in a low voice out in the kitchen and after coming back to the table was noticeably friendlier with her husband.<br />
<br />
Without knowing it, Jack had been right; she’d all but pushed him intentionally into spending thanksgiving with Ennis so she’d be able to tell for sure when their joint trail could be picked up.<br />
<br />
The private detective reported that he indeed did go camping, and with a man who owned an old Ford truck registered in Signal Wyoming to a Mr. Ennis del Mar.<br />
<br />
Well, at least it wasn't another woman; now if she could only figure out what was keeping him so preoccupied on those trips of his.<br />
<br />
Jack knew he hadn’t heard the end of it from Deke Newsome…<br />
<br />
<br />
...That night the Newsome Mansion received a late visitor. A private detective delivered an audio cassette of the phone tap his employer had ordered on his own daughter's house. Near the end of it, L.D. suddenly pulled off his headphones and frowned, then jotted down a name that sounded familiar. Deke wrote and said, "EEEEEEEnnis dellllll Marrrrrrrrr."<br />
<br />
Aguirre and mentioned him; probably his faggot son-in-law's boyfriend.<br />
<br />
The businessman reached over and picked up his phone...</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Tied To The Line</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>E</b></span>nnis held no serious hard feelings towards Monroe after Alma married him; just a vague sense of getting short-changed and showed it was all right by accepting the grocer’s last-minute invitation to Thanksgiving dinner with them up in Riverton.<br />
<br />
Sitting between his girls and talking horses to them, he spent the meal telling jokes and trying not to be a sad daddy.<br />
<br />
It was obvious that Alma didn’t like the idea at all but went along with it for the sake of the girls, who missed their doting father. She never smiled once through the whole meal.<br />
<br />
Ennis saw she really was pregnant by about four or five months.<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4-sWdjb2z8/Ude-Sn4PFbI/AAAAAAAAGXg/xiR9-EdMXJk/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+thanks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4-sWdjb2z8/Ude-Sn4PFbI/AAAAAAAAGXg/xiR9-EdMXJk/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+thanks.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Over the loud clatter of the electric carving knife that Junior had bought her stepfather for his birthday last week, they had a nice dinner and though Monroe was polite, he mostly stayed quiet.<br />
<br />
After the pumpkin pie, while the girls and Monroe watched a skating competition on TV, Alma got Ennis off in the kitchen and while she scraped plates into a bowl, said she worried about him living all alone and that he ought to get married again.<br />
<br />
"Once burned," he said, leaning against the counter, feeling too big for the room.<br />
<br />
He dug at her, so she decided to return the favor.<br />
<br />
"You still go fishin' with that Jack Twist?"<br />
<br />
"Not often… some," he replied reluctantly.<br />
<br />
He thought she’d take the pattern off the plate she was scraping.<br />
<br />
"Ya know," she said, and from her tone he knew something was coming, "I used to wonder how come you never brought any trouts home. You always said ya caught plenty 'n ya know how me 'n the girls like fish. So one time I got yer creel case open the night before ya went on one a yer little trips… price tag still on it after five years 'n I tied a note on the end of the line.<br />
<br />
It said, ‘Hello Ennis, bring some fish home-love Alma.’ And then you come back looking all perky 'n said ya caught a bunch a browns 'n ate them up. Do ya remember? I looked in that case when I got a chance 'n there was my note still tied there 'n that line hadn’t touched water in its life."<br />
<br />
"That don’t mean nothin' Alma," he warned in a low tone.<br />
<br />
Alma realized suddenly she’d gotten in over her head and began breathing heavily in fear, tears dropping from her eyes, "Don’t lie, don’t try to fool me no more Ennis. I know what it means. Jack Twist? Jack Nasty - Jack NASTY. You didn’t go up there to fish you went up…"<br />
<br />
"Shut up," he warned through gritted teeth, "You don’t know nothin' about it."<br />
<br />
She’d overstepped his line. He seized her wrist and twisted; tears sprang and rolled, a dish clattered.<br />
<br />
"I’m gonna yell fer Bill!"<br />
<br />
"You fuckin go right ahead. Go on 'n fuckin’ yell. I’ll make him eat the fuckin floor 'n you too!" He gave another wrench that left her with a burning wrist bracelet.<br />
<br />
Working his way loose of her, he fled the kitchen as she screamed repeatedly, "Get out, git out of this house!"<br />
<br />
On his way through the living room he shoved his hat on backward, gave Monroe a stern warning look that kept him seated and slammed out the front door to the sound of Jenny and Alma Junior calling out from the porch after him, "Daddy? Bye Daddy! Daddy?"<br />
<br />
In a rage, he drove through falling snow towards town and found a bar, but was too pissed to pay attention and crossed the street on foot right in front of an oncoming pickup that slid to a stop to avoid him.<br />
<br />
Past caring, he tried to punch out the cussing driver and got his face pressed to the cold and wet street in a fight he couldn’t hope to win.<br />
<br />
Rubbing his wounds, he picked himself up and went into the Black and Blue Eagle bar that night, <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qy5L-OIq43g/UejSWyrmAAI/AAAAAAAAGdE/9OP6c9jGoys/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+del+Mar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qy5L-OIq43g/UejSWyrmAAI/AAAAAAAAGdE/9OP6c9jGoys/s200/Brokeback+Mountain+Ennis+del+Mar.JPG" width="181" /></a>got drunk, had a another short dirty fight and left.<br />
<br />
He didn’t try to see his girls for a couple of months, figuring they would look him up when they got the sense and years to move out from Alma…<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">…Twist and del Mar were no longer young men with all of it before them.<br />
<br />
Jack grew a "salt & pepper" mustache and had filled out through the shoulders and hams; Ennis stayed as lean as a clothes pole, stepped around in worn boots, jeans and shirts summer and winter, only adding a canvas coat in cold weather. A benign growth appeared on his eyelid and gave it a drooping appearance; a broken nose healed crooked.<br />
</span><br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k9_asjP9n1U/UejSXLfAP0I/AAAAAAAAGdI/-eluLf6l-4s/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+jack+twist.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k9_asjP9n1U/UejSXLfAP0I/AAAAAAAAGdI/-eluLf6l-4s/s200/Brokeback+Mountain+jack+twist.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
Time passed and they faithfully continued their trips into the surrounding mountains together. They always made love, but never spoke the word and always there was never enough time.<br />
<br />
Jack always willing to drop everything at a moment’s notice…<br />
Ennis never willing to take a chance.<br />
<br />
Down in Texas Lureen showed a skill for management and hard deals and she eventually took over the business completely, making Jack the General Manager.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Twist moved into L.D’s office and her father never set foot in the place again… which suited both of them fine.<br />
<br />
While she wheeled and dealed, Jack went to stock and agricultural-machinery shows. He had some money now and found ways to spend it on his buying trips.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">A little Texas accent flavored his sentences over the years, "cow" twisted into "kyow" and "wife" coming out as "wahf..."</span><br />
<br />
Jack got pressure from Lureen, and Ennis got the very same grief from his daughters: They both needed to stop sounding like uneducated "hicks from the sticks."...<br />
<br />
<br />
...In a big house up on a hill in Childress Texas, little Bobby Twist sat in his Grandpa Newsome's den alone.<br />
<br />
The door opened and L.D. entered with a big smile. "Guess what Little Rodeo... can ya keep a really good secret?"<br />
<br />
Bobby's face broke out with a big loving grin, "What?"<br />
<br />
"Yer mama 'n daddy's gonna be on one of them hidden-camera TV courtroom shows. Them producers are lookin' for a little boy actor too, but yer daddy said no, 'cause you was too young 'n stupid, so I secretly fixed it so ya can be the star, but yer daddy don't know it. You think ya can do that; learn some lines and not be nervous when yer mama 'n daddy see ya starrin' up there?"<br />
<br />
"SURE!!!" he gushed and ran to hug his beloved grandpa.<br />
<br />
"Now, they's gonna act real mad at what yer sayin' and upset that yer lyin', but they're only actin' their parts like them Hollywood actors, so don't be scared of 'em and forgit yer lines."<br />
<br />
"I won't!"<br />
<br />
"We'll sure show yer daddy you ain't too stupid to be a big Hollywood actor, now won't we?" he proclaimed, tickling his grandson into uncontrollable giggles...<br />
<br />
...That night Jack and Lureen came home from a fancy dinner in town. Twist got out in the rain to raise the double-wide garage door only to discover Newsome's '38 Packard was gone.<br />
<br />
Fayette called the next day and told her daughter that Deke had mysteriously begun selling off some of his real-estate assets...</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-109-112-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><br />
<blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-51540016253163621042014-02-24T12:06:00.001-05:002019-07-29T19:26:23.996-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXVI<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 26 ~ Twists, Trials & Tribulations</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-103-108-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>False Hope, False Cures & An Empty Check Book</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he big imposing man standing before John Twist in the darkened office of a southern Montana Church resembled the preacher from his rodeo days. Just one more ignorant self-appointed representative of the Lord who claimed to be able to cure Satan’s victims of their homosexuality, not caring that he was doing more harm than good… <br />
<br />
…as long as he got paid.<br />
<br />
Twist was using the name Pete Hutchison in his quest to shake off God's holy judgment of his past deeds. He'd roamed central Idaho and nearby Montana for someplace where no one knew him to confess his inability to shed himself of the memories of his homosexual lover so long ago.<br />
<br />
This Baptist fundamentalist pulpit-pounder had just convinced John that Satan himself had planted those false memories of his deep love for Hutch in his head to torture and wrench away his faith in the almighty god, and that he must fight to deny them with all his being.<br />
<br />
They never happened... they never happened.<br />
<br />
Two days later he returned home to Martha reprogrammed with a newfound hatred of gays and their evil ways. <br />
<br />
His beleaguered wife was shocked to discover that most of their checking account had been emptied to buy an anonymous postal money order and then sent to some church up north. By the time she'd gotten hold of their bank it was too late, the withdrawal was final, the check had already been cashed.<br />
<br />
She still secretly suffered because she knew all of his truths, as he suffered from being locked inside of them. <br />
<br />
As he grew ever older, he was terrified of his god’s coming damnation and still couldn’t face the fact that he couldn’t buy his own salvation.<br />
<br />
Soon others would convince him that his only out was to damn others of his own sin in hopes of being granted divine deliverance...<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Pedophile! Child Beater! Pervert! Molester!</span></b></I></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span>.D. pulled his dirtiest trick yet. He talked political friends in the Childress Texas District Attorney’s office into bringing Jack Twist up on criminal charges and he was led away in handcuffs. Newsome claimed that his son-in-law was a homosexual and an unfit father because he was abusing his son.<br />
<br />
In open court young Bobby falsely testified against his own father, saying he’d been sexually molested and brutally beaten on several occasions. The boy began using terms that neither <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9o91gwCgA0s/Ujisw9bW5GI/AAAAAAAAHk0/Ox8yrfCCSVo/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Bobby+Twist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9o91gwCgA0s/Ujisw9bW5GI/AAAAAAAAHk0/Ox8yrfCCSVo/s320/Brokeback+Mountain+Bobby+Twist.jpg" width="210" /></a>parent had heard him speak before such as, pervert, pedophile, incest and queer. All of which made Jack's lawyer suspicious with narrowed eyes.<br />
<br />
In disbelief, Lureen began choking back sobs from her place near the back of the courtroom.<br />
<br />
After a brief conference with the judge in chambers, a two-hour adjournment for lunch was called. His Honor had secretly made arrangements for Bobby to be taken to some experts at Child Protective Services.<br />
<br />
Jack didn't take this as a good sign and Deke looked smugly on, satisfied since the boy had been separated from his parents... until Bobby reentered the courtroom.<br />
<br />
When they reconvened his honor called his own witnesses to the stand.<br />
<br />
On gentle cross-examination of the boy by a court-appointed psychiatrist, it came out that Newsome had carefully coached his grandson in detail on what to say and how to say it on the stand.<br />
<br />
Lureen became livid, angrily jumped out of her seat at her father and had to be restrained in the courtroom. Up until that point, she defiantly had sat separately from her husband in the gallery but from then on she proudly took her place in one of the attorney table's chairs beside Jack.<br />
<br />
Next, an independent medical examiner determined that the boy had never been sexually or physically abused at all.<br />
<br />
Newsome’s surprise "ace up his sleeve" witness was to be Joe Aguirre, who was called to testify in court by the bailiff but didn’t appear.<br />
<br />
Behind the scenes up north in Signal, the sheep operation foreman’s gay son threatened to not only counter-testify against him, but come out of the closet as a homosexual in open court in order to embarrass his father if he showed up there.<br />
<br />
Rather than risk the scandal, Aguirre later explained that he’d been called away on an emergency up on Brokeback.<br />
<br />
L.D was so sure of himself that he foolishly didn’t subpoena Aguirre, which would've tipped his hand to the defense. The court took no action against Joe for his absence.<br />
<br />
Jack immediately counter-sued his father-in-law for defamation of character and false arrest, and later won a hefty $250,000 cash settlement that included forcing Newsome to turn over full ownership of his company to Lureen. He was also slapped with a protection order banning him from ever setting foot anywhere near the Twist’s, their home, Bobby, or their newly acquired business again.<br />
<br />
In anger Lureen also got revenge on her father by changing the company name to Twist Farm Equipment and Supply.<br />
<br />
Fortunately news of the event stayed a local affair and Jack never mentioned it to Ennis.<br />
<br />
Newsome eventually lost his court appeal of the financial judgment and a month after that his wife Fayette filed separation papers and left him to move into the Twist’s spare room.<br />
<br />
Jack moved back into Lureen’s bedroom and for the first time in years they resumed sleeping together as man and wife.<br />
<br />
Almost immediately following that, L.D. emptied the nearly half million dollars that remained in the bank after Jack walked out of the Childress Savings and Loan with a briefcase containing a quarter million in cash.<br />
<br />
Subsequently, "Deke" Newsome mysteriously disappeared without a trace. In fact, no one even discovered he was gone until a month later.<br />
<br />
Rumors began spreading that he’d been killed by his ruthless son-in-law or by his timid Fayette after a fight over a divorce settlement... neither of which made any sense, but didn't stop the speculation around town...<br />
<br />
<br />
...Meanwhile up north, as predicted Alma Junior grew more and more miserable living with her mother and stepfather and on several occasions asked her father if she could move in with him.<br />
<br />
It broke del Mar’s heart to say no to her. It felt like him telling her he didn’t love her, but he explained that he just wasn’t set up at home for a teenaged girl to live with him full time, being out on cattle drives all the time.<br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Cheating On The Cheated On</span></b></I></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>I</b></span>n June of 1982, Jack and Lureen were on their way to a charity dinner one evening and came across a broken down truck. A bearded good-looking man in fine Texas duds was peering into the engine compartment of a five-year-old Dodge pickup with a camper on the back.<br />
<br />
A buxom woman in her early thirties with hair bleached blonder than Lureen’s (if that was possible,) was on the road’s edge trying to look sexy enough to stop someone to help.<br />
<br />
After about five minutes, Jack declared it too far gone for him to fix and discovered the couple were on their way to the same dinner as they, so he gave them a lift in his blue club-cab Silverado.<br />
<br />
Randal and Lashawn Tanny had just arrived here from Idaho and were in the process of moving onto <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLosk4MAS6o/TpUo0-j-gkI/AAAAAAAADvk/5B1NWfYrzJA/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+36.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLosk4MAS6o/TpUo0-j-gkI/AAAAAAAADvk/5B1NWfYrzJA/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+36.JPG" width="400" /></a>a ranch down the road where Randall had gotten a job as foreman.</span><br />
<br />
At the dinner they invited themselves to sit with Jack and Lureen and from that moment on Lashawn never stopped talking.<br />
<br />
While the wives exchanged long boring sorority house stories, Jack became aware of Randall’s eyes on him. In fact, every time he looked up the bearded cowboy was staring and whenever their eyes met, Twist got uncomfortable with the realization that it was possible that this married man was actually flirting with him!<br />
<br />
While he’d become distracted, Lureen began needling him about how husbands never seem to want to dance with their wives.<br />
<br />
Jack decided to kill two birds with one stone; namely get away from the table by asking Lashawn to dance and in the process get back at his wife for bitching at him for not wanting to.<br />
<br />
While watching her husband escort Tanny's wife to the floor with the other swaying couples, Lureen tried to strike up a conversation with Randall.<br />
<br />
From across the room Jack observed Tanny was ignoring her... and watching him hungrily instead.<br />
<br />
Outside afterwards, while they waited for their wives to exit from "powdering their noses," Jack sat down on a bench at the foot of the stairs by the front door. Randall sat next to him and moved intimately close as if to share a secret but instead asked to bum a cigarette.<br />
<br />
The hungry look returned to Randall’s eyes while he lit up, so Jack commented to distract him, "You’ll like workin’ for Roy Taylor; he’s solid."<br />
<br />
Tanny nodded, "Yeah, he’s a good ole boy," and as he leaned forward and down to flick an ash, he rested his hand on the bench lightly touching Jack’s thigh <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8zccKB_n8s/TpUo10liXJI/AAAAAAAADvo/1zAXkQrrMDY/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+37.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8zccKB_n8s/TpUo10liXJI/AAAAAAAADvo/1zAXkQrrMDY/s400/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+37.JPG" width="400" /></a>and stared pointedly at Twist's crotch.<br />
<br />
Jack looked up and behind them to check on the girls and moved just enough away to break contact with him.<br />
<br />
Tanny turned to see where he was looking and in the process pressed his hip against Twist’s and leaned into him to say suggestively, "Taylor's got a little cabin out on Lake Kemp. It’s got a croppy house… a boat… he says I can use it any time I want."<br />
<br />
Tanny’s hip pressed a little harder and his knee made contact with Jack’s.<br />
<br />
Twist looked at him to find Tanny’s eyes still fastened firmly to his crotch as Randy added, "We ought to go down there some weekend… drink a little whisky… do some fishin’… get away… ya know?"<br />
<br />
Jack no longer had any doubts in his mind. He had to admit it was tempting… he also had to admit that he was as interested in this man's wife as he was in him.<br />
<br />
Before he could respond, the door swung open above them and Lureen emerged with Lashawn right behind still chattering a blue streak about college, shopping and the jobs she could’ve had if she hadn’t run into Randy…<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">…A couple of months later during a camping trip with Ennis where they almost came to blows after Twist offered to help him out financially again, Jack came home to find a note with Randall’s invitation to go on a road trip with him to New Mexico.<br />
<br />
Lureen said it sounded like a good idea, so he accepted.<br />
<br />
Jack had been camping with Randall a few times by then but nothing happened between them.<br />
<br />
Twist was still debating with himself as to whether that was good or bad, especially since Lashawn kept showing up at the office supposedly to chatter away at Lureen, but her visits always included tempting looks towards him too.<br />
<br />
On the second night of Jack and Randall's road trip, they found a place with compact two-bedroom bungalows along the shore of a lake.<br />
<br />
They got into a good-natured dispute on whether the word was spelled w-h-i-s-k-y, or w-h-i-s-k-e-y because one bottle label was spelled one way and the other was spelled the other way.<br />
<br />
A little after dark Jack had just finished putting pizza boxes in the trash and looked out the back window, grinning at what he saw.<br />
<br />
Randall emerged from the private lake after skinny-dipping and sat naked on a secluded dock with his feet in the water.<br />
<br />
Jack had spent enough frustrated time camping with him at Lake Kemp that he thought it was about time to make a move on him. After all, if him sitting there like that wasn't a sexual invitation; what was? Stripping off his clothes quickly, Jack strode down the path to the water and came up behind him, leaned over and brushed his lips against Randall's back and then dove into the lake.<br />
<br />
When he surfaced and looked back, he saw that Randall had left and went back up to the cabin alone. They’d taken to each other as close friends, but like everything good in his life, Jack was prone to finding a way to destroy any happiness he had, especially if it didn’t involve Ennis.<br />
<br />
Randall didn't seem to take Jack's kiss on his shoulder too well.<br />
<br />
They didn’t speak to each other the whole rest of the night and slept separately, but strangely Randall didn’t suggest leaving.<br />
<br />
Then the very next night after a bottle of fine whisky, Randall shed his clothes and followed Jack into his bedroom instead of his own.<br />
<br />
Afterward Jack kept telling himself it was just sex, because he loved to be fucked, but only by Ennis, so it wasn’t the same.<br />
<br />
Suddenly Randall Tanny was in love with Twist and wanted to leave his jaw-flapping wife, maybe move up to Jack’s parent’s ranch where no one could find him and start a new life together. He started showing up at the Twist home so often that Jack leased out an apartment where they could meet on the sly instead.<br />
<br />
A few months later though, just to complicate things; Jack rented yet another apartment in town and began screwing Randy’s pretty wife on the side too.<br />
<br />
A month after L.D. disappeared, a nice couple showed up on Jack’s doorstep with all the necessary papers to prove that Deke had sold them the Newsome mansion that he and Fayette shared over the last 26 years. They’d started moving in and found her belongings still there and had come to give Mrs. Newsom an opportunity to move them out.<br />
<br />
With Lureen’s abandoned and financially destitute mother now living full-time at the house, Jack became more and more miserable.<br />
<br />
In a way it worked out well since Fay was an ex-school teacher and was happy to look after and tutor her grandson while Jack was out selling and Lureen ran the business.<br />
<br />
The police were eventually called and a missing persons report was filed, along with a divorce action from Mrs. Newsome on the grounds of emotional and financial abandonment.<br />
<br />
L.D. had done his homework ahead of time because he seemingly vanished off of the face of the earth.<br />
<br />
Randall's truck finally gasped its last, so Jack sold him his 1980 blue Silverado for almost nothing, and purchased a brand new one, this one even fancier with dual rear wheels and a two-tone tan and brown paint job.<br />
<br />
In May of 1983, Randall showed up at Jack’s house and announced he’d left his wife and asked for shelter somewhere out of town. His obsession with Jack caused his work performance to slump and Roy Taylor finally had his fill of his foreman's frequent screw-ups and fired him.<br />
<br />
Slowly but surely in Ennis’ long absences, Randall had begun getting to Jack emotionally to the point of a bond developing between them. Tanny moved into the apartment in town full time and Jack stayed there too when home life got to be too much for him.<br />
<br />
Lashawn stayed in the apartment Jack had provided for a while and then seemed to have disappeared.<br />
<br />
Randall now had more time alone with Jack to convince him that they were meant for each other. He offered the sex and the commitment that Twist wanted so badly in his life, but Ennis was the one he loved.<br />
<br />
As months went by and del Mar couldn’t get away from his work, Tanny began filling more and more of Twist’s days.<br />
<br />
With the fear of someone in town so close to home reporting to Lureen that her husband was shacking up with another man, Jack called his father up in Lightning Flat and asked if it were possible for Tanny to rent their large central bedroom upstairs and work at the ranch temporarily until some decision could be made about permanently moving north.</span><br />
<br />
He also told his father that he was close to leaving his wife Lureen again too.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">That meant he’d have to drive Randall up there to introduce him to them soon and they’d be skeptical since the last man he promised on and off to bring over the last several years never showed.<br />
<br />
John had begun referring to Ennis as Jack’s "imaginary friend."<br />
<br />
As usual, just when things started getting serious with someone else, Jack’d hear from Ennis about getting some free time to spend up on the mountain and everything would fall back into its old pattern. He almost turned him down until Ennis conceded to Jack’s pleading over the years and suggested they camp up on Brokeback Mountain this time.<br />
<br />
He told Tanny he had to take care of some farm business up in central Wyoming that would last about ten days, for which he had to tend to first, and after packing up Randall they headed north.<br />
<br />
Lureen had no idea she was being abandoned.<br />
<br />
Twist traveled as far as Riverton with Tanny, where the ranch foreman was to wait in the motel where he and Ennis once had reunited…</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>A Lesson At The End Of A Baseball Bat</span></b></I></center>[Reworked deleted scene]<br />
…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">cross the street from the nearly empty parking lot of Riverton's Siesta Motel, 17-year-old Ned Gabriel was just finishing gassing up Roger Amos’ old Dodge truck. His eyes bulged at the sight of a brand spanking new fancy stretched Chevy Silverado dually parked in the grass sideways out in front of the hotel because it was too long to park in front of a room.<br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l65AvlaNvz4/Vw7bPctcl1I/AAAAAAAAL84/utWikSPAHoQ291d1-8EAgmhwirdYhxv2wCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bmotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l65AvlaNvz4/Vw7bPctcl1I/AAAAAAAAL84/utWikSPAHoQ291d1-8EAgmhwirdYhxv2wCKgB/s1600/Brokeback%2BMountain%2Bmotel.jpg" width="660" /></a><br />
His father Wilber came up behind him at the pump and yelled, “Son, dammit, how many times I gotta tell ya ta pay attention ta what yer doin?” startling his boy.<br />
<br />
Roger looked backwards out of his open window and chastised his friend, “Ain’t no harm done Will; I told the boy to fill ‘er up anyways.”<br />
<br />
Ned gestured across the way towards the truck and said; “Now that’s what I want!”<br />
<br />
Unfortunately while all three backs were turned, Jack was getting into his big pickup and Randall stopped him long enough to kiss him goodbye on the lips. Twist then pulled his door shut and drove away.<br />
<br />
In a panic, Wilber grabbed his son and shoved him back towards the garage, “Like hell it is,” misunderstanding what his boy meant.<br />
<br />
Roger shook his head out of the cab of his pickup in disgust. Looking at his friend at the pump he snickered, “God damned faggots are ev’rawheres nowadays. Seems like ya cain’t swing a damned cat around without hittin’ one."<br />
<br />
He paid Wilber, and drove away.<br />
<br />
The elder Gabriel watched in revulsion, furious at what his son had just seen as Randall went back to the second room from the right and closed the door unaware that anything had been witnessed.<br />
<br />
Wilber turned around to find his son still watching.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fc3aJYO7AFI/UnW7YFmbX1I/AAAAAAAAI_c/hJ5-Ze8hHG0/s1600/Brokeback+Mountain+Randalls+beating.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fc3aJYO7AFI/UnW7YFmbX1I/AAAAAAAAI_c/hJ5-Ze8hHG0/s400/Brokeback+Mountain+Randalls+beating.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
Ned protested, “I meant the truck Pa, I meant I wanted the pickup!”<br />
<br />
Wilber yelled angrily, “Get yer ass in there like I told ya!”<br />
<br />
As the teenager disappeared into the office, Wilber strode to the gas station’s repair bay, looked around, picked up an old and battered aluminum baseball bat, and then headed across the road.<br />
<br />
Twenty minutes later father and son watched from the glassed-in filling station office as a bearded cowboy lugged a couple of suitcases out of his room while holding his arm as if it were broken or badly injured. With a fearful look across the street, Tanny climbed carefully in pain into a new blue Ford rental car, backed out and headed north.<br />
<br />
Ned knew what his daddy had done and pretended to approve.<br />
<br />
Truth be told the young man knew a couple gay guys from high school and didn’t care one way or the other. He even considered one of them a good friend…<br />
<br />
<br />
…On the way north from Texas, Jack had called ahead and told his father he’d definitely be up to talk to him about setting up a place to live, possibly building a small cabin on the ranch on an unused outlying acre away from his parents, and how he still planned to separate from his wife again.<br />
<br />
He said Randall was willing to manage the farm full time in exchange for room and board.<br />
<br />
Old man Twist said he and Martha were planning on going to a religious retreat up in Montana soon, so Jack told him he’d be up around noon on Wednesday for sure.<br />
<br />
His father made a point of repeating Jack’d be there at noon.<br />
<br />
As Jack drove towards Signal from Riverton looking for a phone booth, Randy played heavily on his mind.<br />
<br />
It didn't help that Brokeback Mountain was always somewhere looking down on him on the horizon the closer he got to town.<br />
<br />
While he busied himself with the Signal phonebook looking for the address of a local supply business, he actually contemplated a showdown with Ennis and how he might have to settle for Randy.<br />
<br />
It was the right dream - but with the wrong man.</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-113-116-complete.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><br />
<blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
the line of link buttons below to recommend it on Facebook/Google/ect. <br />
and tell your friends. <br />
...also <u>comments are welcome below</u>... Thank you.</i></b><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440655547563555355.post-29826777936535976172014-02-24T12:06:00.000-05:002019-07-29T19:27:48.249-04:00Brokeback Mountain The Complete Novel 1943-2006 XXVII<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 150%;">Chapter 27 ~ If I Should Come To Know Them</b></span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-ch-109-112-complete.html"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ufxu1ebijrk/UbIYZHbf0fI/AAAAAAAAEzE/JFN6myrGxqA/w119-h22-no/Previous.bmp" border="0"></a><br />
<a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QoRua74MoyY/WOvEEKOQKDI/AAAAAAAAMr8/c-eWuKku7n8i4mCDasCXTsPsNmeo9G1ggCLcB/s1600/untitled.JPG" /></a></center><b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>Their place</span></b></I></center><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Note: Text in red is quoted from the original short-story that was not included in the movie.<br />
Images can be clicked on to e-n-l-a-r-g-e them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Author's Note: I named the Proulx River after Annie to honor her.</span></b><br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qzgBc9ATKUQ/Unqx8Iu0kuI/AAAAAAAAJDY/mVWLcIu1ETU/w1220-h730-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Forest+service+sign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="415" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qzgBc9ATKUQ/Unqx8Iu0kuI/AAAAAAAAJDY/mVWLcIu1ETU/w1220-h730-no/Brokeback+Mountain+Forest+service+sign.JPG" width="660"/></a><br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>L</b></span>inda Higgons, the owner of Higgins Quik Stop Gas Gifts 'n Car Wash, eyed the stranger's out-of-state drivers license and jotted down notes on the sizable check he'd just written her. As she compared the face on the license to the man in front of her, he said, "This is a description of his truck and..."<br />
<br />
Linda snorted, "Hell I know Ennis, ain't no need a'cause that boy's in here regular pert near twice a week."<br />
<br />
The stranger politely tipped his hat and muttered, "Thanks." on his way out the door.<br />
<br />
He paused and looked back at her sternly, "Ya ain't never seen me a day in yer life. The extra in that check is to see that it stays that-a-way."<br />
<br />
She nodded and assured confidently, "I dealt with this kinda thing before; put yer mind at ease; he'll get what he deserves."<br />
<br />
Moments later, the stout woman wrote down his license plate as he drove away, then called her burly mechanics out of the service bay, giving them instructions on what to do the next time Ennis del Mar showed up at her place...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
...As planned, Jack and Ennis spent three cold days at a series of little icebound, no-name high lakes, then worked across into the Hail Strew River drainage, looking for some place warmer to spend their last vacation days.<br />
<br />
Both knew where they were headed and they arrived the next morning. <span style="color: #006d9f;">Jack had looked it up on a map once and discovered that the little stream that fed the Proulx River was called Pine Creek.<br />
<br />
Ennis grinned and nodded, saying the name fit, and said it to himself a couple of times to fix it in his memory.</span><br />
<br />
They found the same log bridge across it and the vista of Brokeback rising high above majestically covered with snow.<br />
<br />
After setting up the tent, they rode up to where the sheep had been pastured and stood on the knoll where it all began.<br />
<br />
After a night of making love like they had the first night twenty years ago, they headed for lower ground Monday morning.<br />
<br />
Jack led the way to a place he’d discovered up here on a lonely trip by himself last year because Ennis never seemed lately to want to come to Brokeback until now.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">This lower section of the tea-colored <span style="color: #006d9f;">Proulx River </span>was much wider and ran fast with snowmelt, a swirl of white rushing bubbles at every high rock, pool and setback. The tall lodgepole pines swayed stiffly as hawks argued overhead somewhere.<br />
<br />
The horses drank and Jack dismounted, scooped icy water up in his hand, crystalline drops falling from his fingers, his mouth and chin glistening wet.<br />
<br />
"Get beaver fever doin’ that," warned Ennis with a smile, then, "Good enough place," looking at a level piece of ground by the water with two or three stone fire rings from old hunting camps.<br />
<br />
A sloping paddock rose behind the bench, protected by a stand of timber. There was plenty of dry wood. The incredible panorama of Brokeback’s peaks was beyond compare from the flat meadow they’d chosen.<br />
<br />
They set up camp without saying much, settling the horses in the meadow.<br />
<br />
Jack broke the seal on a bottle of whiskey, took a long, hot swallow, exhaled forcefully and declared, "That’s one of the two things I need right now."</span><br />
<br />
He eyed his friend lovingly as he capped and tossed it to Ennis. Their tent was a more modern one with a kerosene heater and they made love through the night and into the morning.<br />
<br />
Jack made Ennis promise that they’d come up to this very spot again in August. Jack had very special plans for a late birthday celebration since Ennis couldn't get away in June on his upcoming fortieth birthday... which just happened to be their twentieth anniversary since meeting on Brokeback.<br />
<br />
It was even more important to Twist since they'd both completely forgotten their tenth back in 1973.<br />
<br />
Ennis seemed to bristle at the mention of August, but despite his apparent reluctance, he smiled and agreed to.<br />
<br />
From now on it’d be "their" place.<br />
<br />
As they prepared to settle in for the night, each noticed the other seemed to have something weighing on their minds.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Ennis looked uphill in the dark with a sad remembrance expression on his face and softly said "Pine Creek…</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;"><i>$10,000 For Bait</span></b></I></center>…<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">he sun was setting as a very alive L.D. Newsome sat in a rented silver Lincoln Continental town car smoking a cigar. By the fancy dash clock he’d been waiting here half an hour.<br />
<br />
All around him vehicles swarmed in and out of the Casper Wyoming grocery chain’s parking lot.<br />
<br />
Five minutes passed and a brand new '83 brown Camaro Z28 pulled into the slot to his left with a hearty growl from its custom exhaust.<br />
<br />
Leaving it idling, Kurt "Kirk" Kirkwood, an athletically handsome tall and well-built 22-year-old shaggy blond man wearing old tennis shoes, form-fitting jeans, a green jersey, and a John Deere baseball cap got out of the driver-side and came around to lean on his rear quarter panel opposite Newsome’s door.<br />
<br />
Newsome had gotten a very good deal on that sporty Chevy for Kurt, the down payment and credit reference for which was considered a retainer for the two young men from Oklahoma to be at his beckon call. Kirkwood had decided to hold onto his old brown 1979 Z28 too, to drive on "jobs" for L.D. but he couldn't resist bringing the new one on this trip. Besides with Newsome you knew what would piss him off and it was a good idea to keep a spare... just in case.<br />
<br />
A younger male brunette stranger, a little stockier than Kirk sat staring straight ahead in the suped-up Camaro’s passenger seat.<br />
<br />
Several men had been put in the hospital, others maimed, and a couple were even killed just for the crime of pissing L.D. off and Kirkwood and his deadly partner were mainly responsible. The young hunk was good at his job and not a single scar or scratch marred his flawless shaved body.<br />
<br />
His eye-catching physique was one of the most important tools of his lucrative trade and he knew it.<br />
<br />
As L.D. hummed his window down, the stranger in Kirk's car did too.<br />
<br />
The good-looking blond did the talking for them both. With a nod of his hat he said, "Hey there L.D., nice to see ya again."<br />
<br />
Newsome looked out his window and up at the cocky grin on Kurt’s friendly face, "Well?"<br />
<br />
The young man frowned, "You were serious? Ya goin' queer on me Mr. Newsome?"<br />
<br />
L.D. was in no mood for jokes and his expression held a barely controlled temper and impatience.<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GF4wxf4Vc5s/UbzD_s64cqI/AAAAAAAAFMA/VsxK3TrMrAs/s1600/~+Brokeback+Mountain+Kirkwood.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GF4wxf4Vc5s/UbzD_s64cqI/AAAAAAAAFMA/VsxK3TrMrAs/s400/~+Brokeback+Mountain+Kirkwood.bmp" width="267" /></a><br />
<br />
Kirk shrugged, pulled the cap off his head and placed it on the car top behind him, reached to his waist and pulled the t-shirt up over his head and tossed it into the car on Cory's lap, and then combed his fingers through his golden hair to straighten it again.<br />
<br />
Giving him grudging approval, he huffed and observed that the hair was a bit long, but that's how they wore it these days.<br />
<br />
Kirkwood reached around and replaced the green cap on his head as the businessman reached over to his passenger seat and handed a bulging envelope out of the window.<br />
<br />
Kurt took it and from the stack counted out 40 one-hundred-dollar bills. With a smirk he handed the $4,000 to Cory Baint, his friend and partner-in-crime around behind him in the car.<br />
<br />
"When do we start?"<br />
<br />
Newsome sneered, "I hear tell faggots are attracted to you like a bear to honey."<br />
<br />
A flash of anger crossed Kirkwood's face, and then vanished considering the cash he was holding. Newsome was just getting him back for the "queer" remark.<br />
<br />
As a teen Kurt often used his exceptional good looks and killer smile to lure unsuspecting fags into secluded alleys and bar bathrooms so that he and his buddies could ambush, rob and then beat the shit out of them for fun, profit and beer money. Kirkwood spent 6-months in juvenile detention for it.<br />
<br />
Gradually, his well-practiced grin answered, "That's just one of my specialties; though they don't seem to enjoy the experience for too long after my buddies got a hold of 'em."<br />
<br />
The masculine stud often bragged of keeping no less than two girlfriends at a time, and he had the muscled brawn and natural good looks that other guys envied to do it.<br />
<br />
Kirkwood narcissistically added, "Ain't a man 'r woman can keep their eyes off me from between my nipples to my crotch... it's my stock 'n trade."<br />
<br />
The rich man's stone face nodded. "That's what I'm a countin' on."<br />
<br />
Newsome handed out an old newspaper clipping that only announced Jack’s arrest for molesting his son and the upcoming trial… but not why he was later found innocent or the result of the defamation suit that cost Deke his business, a quarter million and his reputation.<br />
<br />
Kirk read it and going on the only facts he had, he nodded that that pervert Twist deserved a good beating, then handed it back saying, "Good enough reason… but then ya always have one, don’t ya?"<br />
<br />
The brawny blond reached down and adjusted the denim-covered mound at his crotch.<br />
<br />
Newsome’s eyes followed Kirkwood’s hand as it drifted up to caress his defined and hairless abs, and realized even he couldn’t keep his eyes of this Adonis for long and suffered a full-body shudder in disgust at himself.<br />
<br />
Kurt grinned knowingly, “See?”<br />
<br />
The rich man's stone face replied, "I need to convince his disbelievin’ old man that Jack Twist cain’t take his eyes off a ya ta prove he’s a queer; otherwise it’s a no-go."<br />
<br />
Deke reached out and touched the money and the clipping in Kirkwood’s hand. "That’s my grandson they’re talkin’ about there. I want justice; he got off on a technicality," he said lying through his teeth.<br />
<br />
Kurt replied, "Justice sometimes comes at a high price, L.D."<br />
<br />
They'd been promised $8,000 and as Kirkwood counted the remaining bills, he discovered there was $2,000 extra. He casually shoved it in the pocket of his tight Levis without a word; Cory didn't have to know about the bonus.<br />
<br />
Before he asked, Newsome told Kirk, "The extra’s because I want to see that son-of-a-bitch suffer bad first… I mean a lot."<br />
<br />
Kirk nodded and looked at L.D. expectantly. A pair of bib overalls were handed out next, stacked on top of a pair of dark blue one-piece mechanic's coveralls. Atop those were two fake Wyoming driver's licenses.<br />
<br />
Newsome started his car and replied, "Come on; we’ve got driving to do 'n we're losin' daylight."<br />
<br />
The Continental swiftly moved to the parking lot exit with its left turn signal on. In the rearview mirror the shiny new Camaro Z28 rumbled up behind and when the light changed they headed north and then west.<br />
<br />
Thanks to old man Twist’s heartbroken call last night, L.D. knew exactly when and where his prey would be in a couple of days…</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;">You Gotta Better Idea?</span></b></center>...<span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>T</b></span>uesday morning the clouds came that Ennis had expected, <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">a gray racer out of the West, a bar of darkness driving wind before it and small flakes. It faded after an hour into tender spring snow that heaped wet and heavy. By nightfall it had turned colder.</span><br />
<br />
Jack and Ennis set up lawn chairs facing the water and passed a joint back and forth next to the fire burning late.<br />
<br />
After about an hour, Twist had turned restless and was bitching about the cold, poking the flames with a stick and twisting the dial of the transistor radio until the batteries died.<br />
<br />
Scanning the darkening sky, Jack's breath appeared before him like a fog as he commented, "Gonna snow fer sure tonight."<br />
<br />
Ennis silently nodded, handing their third joint back to him.<br />
<br />
Twist took a good deep toke passing it back and he let the smoke out slowly, "All this time 'n you ain’t never found no one to marry?"<br />
<br />
Ennis said he’d been "putting the blocks" to a woman who worked part-time at the Wolf Ears bar in Signal where he was still working for Carl Stoutamire’s cow-and-calf outfit, but it wasn’t going anywhere and she had some problems he didn’t want. "She’s studying to be a nurse too, er something… I don’t know."<br />
<br />
Jack admitted he’d had a thing going with the wife of a rancher down the road in Childress and for the last few months he’d sneak around expecting to get shot by Lureen or her husband Randy, catching his breath at the mention of the name, wishing he could inhale it back.<br />
<br />
Not noticing, Ennis laughed a little and said he probably deserved it if one of them bagged him.<br />
<br />
Jack bowed his head.<br />
<br />
They’d have to leave early tomorrow for him to get to his parent’s by noon. <span style="color: #006d9f;">If his father agreed, Randy was waiting in Riverton for his call to head north separately to Lightning Flat in a rental car where they’d meet up.<br />
<br />
With his parents away on their retreat in Montana afterward, they’d have the place to themselves.<br />
<br />
His aching wish that Ennis would come with him instead got more intense, making him sad. Unless he could talk this man into finally committing to their mutual and long-standing love, this would be the last time he’d ever see del Mar.<br />
<br />
Jack had told himself that so many times before, but this time he knew he’d do it. It hurt too much to think he’d wasted his whole life hoping for this man that he loved. The heartache of the situation was just too much to bear any more.</span><br />
<br />
After a long, long thoughtful pause, Jack admitted in pain and near tears, "I tell ya what…" Ennis looked over into his eyes. "…Sometimes I miss you so much, I can hardly stand it."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The horses nickered in the darkness beyond the fire’s circle of light. If Ennis had said anything to that, which was doubtful, it wasn’t heard, he just looked into the glow at the end of the joint and then silently across to the mountains.<br />
<br />
Without getting up Jack threw deadwood on the fire, the sparks flying up with their truths and lies.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">That night, Ennis was especially tender with Jack as they made love in the tent, both satisfied afterward to just hold each other in their arms till they fell asleep.<br />
<br />
The next morning they talked about nothing and made love again, knowing it’d have to last a while before they could come back up here.<br />
<br />
Jack pondered if it’d be their last time and at that moment would’ve sold his soul if Ennis would just admit he loved him. Twist suspected that a loveless life with Randall would be more misery than what he was feeling now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Afterward, Ennis put his arm around Jack, pulled him close, fretting over how much he missed his daughters and how he only saw his girls about once a month, Alma, Jr. had grown to be a shy nineteen-year-old with his beanpole length, Jenny a little live-wire tomboy. "I used to wanna boy fer a kid," said Ennis, "but just got little girls."<br />
<br />
"I didn’t want none of either kind," said Jack. "But fuck-all nothin’ has worked the way I wanted. Nothin' never come to my hand the right way."</span><br />
<br />
Ennis pulled Jack into his strong arms. One thing never changed: the brilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by the sense of time flying, never enough time, never enough.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">On the ride down the mountain trial, Jack weighed whether it was worth it to keep the relationship with Ennis going; after all he’d cheated on his wife with him, so why not cheat on Randall with him too?</span><br />
<br />
An hour later at the Proulx River B public trailhead parking lot overlooking their mountain and Proulx Lake, with the horses loaded into the back of del Mar's truck, Ennis was ready to head back around the mountain to Signal, Jack up to Lightning Flat to see his folks for a few days.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">Twist realized that if this was indeed their last meeting, his horse “Trusty” would be leaving with del Mar. Nodding to himself, he decided that if it came to that, Ennis could keep her.<br />
<br />
As Jack loaded the camping equipment into his truck bed and pulled the rear driver's side door open, something fell out of his coat pocket.<br />
<br />
Ennis bent down to pick it up, but Twist's hand reached it first. He tossed whatever it was through to the front passenger seat, shoved his saddle on the back seat, and then pushed the rear door shut.<br />
<br />
It looked like a blank department store music cassette and del Mar could swear it had ENNIS written on the label in black magic marker, but he wasn't sure.<br />
<br />
Jack opened the front door of his new truck and was about to get in, but hesitated... not wanting to initiate leaving this mountain and this man for possibly the last time.</span><br />
<br />
Ennis knew it was now or never and leaned wearily against the door Jack had just closed, then said what he’d been putting off the whole week.<br />
<br />
"There's somethin' I've been meaning to tell ya Bud," he sort of mumbled as casually as he could, digging his thumb nervously into one of Jack's new chrome door handles. "It's more'n likely that I won't be able to get away again 'til November after they've shipped stock 'n before winter-feedin’ starts."<br />
<br />
"November? What in hell happened to August? Tell ya what, we said August, nine, ten days. Christ, Ennis! Whyn’t ya tell me this b'fore? Ya had a fuckin' week to say some little word about it. And why’s it we’re always in the friggin cold weather? We ought a do somethin’. We ought a go south. We ought a go to Mexico one day."<br />
<br />
Jack slammed the door of his truck and began walking away from him toward the edge of the lake 10 yards away.<br />
<br />
To his back Ennis replied, "Mexico? Jack, you know me. All the travellin’ I ever done is goin' round the coffeepot lookin' fer the handle. The trade off fer this week was August, that’s what’s the matter with August. Lighten up on me, Jack. We can hunt in November, kill us a nice elk. Try if I can get Don Wroe’s cabin again. We had a good time that year; remember?"<br />
<br />
Jack turned around to face away from the sight of his beloved mountain peak and said with barely controlled anger, "Ya know friend, this is a goddamn bitch of a unsatisfactory situation. You used ta come away easy; now it’s like seein’ the damned Pope."<br />
<br />
"Jack, I gotta work... Huh? Them earlier days I used ta just quit the jobs. You got a wife with money, a good job. You forget how it is bein’ broke all the time. Ya ever hear of child support? I been payin' out for years and got more to go. Let me tell ya, I cain’t quit this one... 'n I cain’t get the time off. It was tough gettin' this time... some a them late heifers is still calving. Ya don’t leave 'em. Ya don’t. Stoutamire raised hell about me takin' the week. I don’t blame him. He probably ain’t got a night’s sleep since I left. I told ya the trade-off was August... Ya got a better idea?"<br />
<br />
"I did once." The tone was bitter and accusatory. He meant them getting their own ranch together. Ennis thought he was still talking about heading south.<br />
<br />
Del Mar said nothing, straightened up slowly and rubbed at his forehead as a horse stamped in his metal truck bed.<br />
<br />
He walked with slow deliberation toward Jack and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You been a cheatin’ on me in Mexico, Jack Fuckin’ Twist? Huh?"<br />
<br />
Mexico was the place. He’d heard. He was cutting fence now, trespassing on verbal forbidden ground when he added between gritted teeth, "I heard what they got down there fer boys like you, Jack."<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">As Jack felt the resentment building he almost shouted, <b>"US... ENNIS... BOYS LIKE <u>US</u>...:</b> but he didn't. He burned and seethed with the wasted years of loving a man incapable of showing love back.<br />
<br />
His thoughts flashed to Randy waiting for the call that’d start their life together. What Jack didn't know was that Randall had already foolishly called the elder Mr. and Mrs. Twist to thank them for opening their home up to Jack and himself, and praised them for their generous tolerance of their son’s homosexuality.</span><br />
<br />
Twist gathered his courage; it was either split up forever or stay together. "Hell yes, I been to Mexico. Where’s the fuckin' problem?"<br />
<br />
Braced for it all these years and here it came, late and unexpected.<br />
<br />
A jealous rage began building in Ennis, a rage that he didn’t know was there because he wouldn’t let himself feel it all of these years, but now it was surfacing and almost out of control.<br />
<br />
He paced up to Jack and stood, his face only inches from the man he just admitted to himself that he could lose.<br />
<br />
"I’m a gonna say this to ya one time, Jack Twist," said Ennis between gritted teeth. "What I don’t know, all them THINGS," he spat out shoving Jack sharply, "I don’t know 'bout what you do in Mexico could get you killed if I should come to know them… 'n I ain’t foolin’."<br />
<br />
Ennis turned away and began pacing down the bank toward his truck intending to leave before Jack could answer. <span style="color: #006d9f;">Del Mar stopped and shuddered when he realized he’d just threatened to kill Twist!</span><br />
<br />
"Try this one," yelled Jack at the top of his lungs, letting the years of resentment out, "and I’ll say it just one time.<br />
<br />
Ennis suddenly turned around and angrily spat back, "Go ahead!"<br />
<br />
Jack spun back around to take in the sky, the lake and the vista of Brokeback Mountain and suddenly couldn’t stand the sight of it.<br />
<br />
Turning his back to it again, he replied in a frustrated yell, throwing both arms out and gesturing wildly, "Tell ya what, we could a had a good life together, a fuckin’ real good life. But you wouldn’t do it, Ennis, so what we got now is Brokeback Mountain." His voice raised almost an octave as he wheeled around to gesture at the beautiful mountaintop. His eyes began burning and his chest tightened to the point that he almost couldn't gather the breath to say, "Everythin’ built on that. It’s all we got, boy, FUCKIN' all, so I hope you know that, if ya don’t never know the rest."<br />
<br />
Ennis turned his back to Jack.<br />
<br />
In anger, Twist began stomping toward del Mar. A rush of adrenaline filled him as he felt the freedom to <a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9Rx17vIC3jk/Tpkek9lqo0I/AAAAAAAADwU/xonlag8y38c/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+48.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9Rx17vIC3jk/Tpkek9lqo0I/AAAAAAAADwU/xonlag8y38c/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+48.JPG" width="320" /></a> finally let out his unsaid feelings.<br />
<br />
In a frustrated rage he shouted, "You count the damn few times we been together in twenty years. Measure the fuckin' short leash you keep me on, then ask me about Mexico and then tell me you’ll kill me fer needin' what we have together 'n not hardly never gettin' it. You got NO fuckin idea how bad it gets! God damn it all to Hell, Ennis, I’m not you. I can’t make it on a couple of high-altitude fucks once or twice a year!"<br />
<br />
He turned and walked back up the bank to stand at the edge of the water. He felt the words coming, afraid they’d end it between them, but he knew what had to be said. He gave up fighting back his tears as he said it to the mountain while choking back a sob, "You’re too much fer me, Ennis, ya son of a whore-son bitch. I wish I knew how to quit you."<br />
<br />
Like vast clouds of steam from thermal springs in winter the years of things unsaid and now unsayable admissions, declarations, shames, guilts, fears all rose around them like hungry wolves.<br />
<br />
Ennis stood as if heart-shot, his face gray and deep-lined, grimacing, eyes screwed shut, fists clenched. He was always the one in control, he was always the one who was strong and through the hell he’d lived all these years there was always Jack, always Jack.<br />
<br />
In his mind he hated that he needed anybody and the crashing blow that hit him was that he’d lied to himself, he didn’t think he could live without his… his lover.<br />
<br />
Abruptly Ennis cried out in angry frustration like a bear that had been shot. "Then why don’t ya Jack? Why don’t ya jest leave me be? Yer the reason I’m like this; got nothin’ 'n no one, all alone. I, I cain’t stand this no more Jack, I just cain’t."<br />
<br />
His voice was so deep in sorrow that it shocked Jack into looking back at him. Ennis stood glaring at Jack, pawing at a tear falling from his eye, trying to hide it with the brow of his hat.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">In the blink of an eye everyone he’d ever loved that had unfairly left him appeared as if in a dream. His parents, his brother and sister, Michael, Alma, Junior and Jenny. If he allowed himself to love them they always, always abandoned him. He’d been so careful not to admit he loved Jack, terrified of losing him too, and now here it was… it didn’t work… it didn’t god-damned work… his whole life wasted on mistakenly thinking that indifference would keep the one thing he had left that he loved.</span><br />
<br />
Then their eyes met and Ennis' knees began to cave as he sank towards the ground. His strength and manhood seemed to have left him and he burst into uncontrolled sobs at the thought of Jack leaving him too.<br />
<br />
"Jesus," said Jack, "Ennis?" bounding toward him, trying to guess if it was a heart attack or the overflow <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-czPQlHNvWGo/TpkelF5ifrI/AAAAAAAADwc/C40k6hjoQJM/s1600/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+49.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0px;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-czPQlHNvWGo/TpkelF5ifrI/AAAAAAAADwc/C40k6hjoQJM/s320/%257E+Brokeback+Mountain+49.JPG" width="310" /></a>of an incendiary rage.<br />
<br />
Ennis was struggling back onto his feet and as Jack tried to extend his loving arms around him, del Mar shoved him away sharply. "Get the fuck off a me," he shouted, "Jest leave me be!"<br />
<br />
Ignoring him, Twist fought him up to his feet, both of them clutching each other tightly. Jack had rarely seen Ennis cry before and was nearly in shock as the man he thought was made of stone and steel sobbed in his arms as they both sank back to their knees.<br />
<br />
"I can’t hardly stand this no more, Jack" he blubbered again.<br />
<br />
Then, just as fast as it started, it was over.<br />
<br />
In an instant they were facing each other, though only a foot apart, it seemed like a hundred yards, as Ennis fell silent.<br />
<br />
Twist could see that the emotions Ennis had held in for twenty years had torn him completely apart in trying to get them out, so he just stood there silently as del Mar turned his back to him, waited silently for a moment collecting himself and then headed to his truck without a look back.<br />
<br />
While he silently watched Ennis finish packing his own saddle and fishing gear, Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand, the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger.<br />
<br />
They had stood that way for a long time in front of the fire, its burning, tossing ruddy chunks of popping sparks, as the morning sun cast shadows of their bodies a single column against the rock.<br />
<br />
Gently the young Ennis put his arms around young Jack’s shoulders tenderly.<br />
<br />
The minutes ticked by from the watch on Ennis’ wrist, and from the sticks in the fire settling into coals. Ennis’ breath came slow and quiet, he hummed, rocked a little in the morning silence, punctuated by a horse snorting.<br />
<br />
Jack leaned back against his man’s steady heartbeat, wanting to drown in his arms, as the vibrations of the humming like faint electricity and, while standing he fell into sleep that was not sleep but something else drowsy and tranced until Ennis, dredging up a rusty but still usable phrase from his childhood time before his mother died and said, "Time to hit the hay, my cowboy… I gotta go. Come on, yer sleepin' on yer feet like a horse," and gave Jack a shake, a push and went off without another word...<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">...Ennis realized he was due to accept a shipment of wild horses at Stoutamire's that his boss grudgingly delayed until this afternoon.<br />
<br />
He should've been on the road a half an hour ago.<br />
<br />
In frustration, he turned to see Jack standing in a dumbfounded daze, staring into the distance.<br />
<br />
"Jack?"<br />
<br />
His friend gave no reaction. Unless del Mar hurried, he'd lose his job. As it was, Carl was already pissed off he wouldn't be there to supervise until today instead of last week.<br />
<br />
Checking his watch, he gave up, banged his door shut, glanced back for a reaction and got none.<br />
<br />
He had no choice - he hit the gas throwing dust... he'd have to mend fences later... if that was even possible.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
...Jack heard young Ennis' spurs tremble as he mounted Cigar Butt and the words "See you tomorrow," and the horse’s shuddering snort and the grinding of hooves on stone.<br />
<br />
Later, that dozy embrace solidified in his memory as the single moment of artless, charmed happiness in their separate and difficult lives. Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face at first because he did not want to see or feel that it was Jack that he held. And maybe, he thought, they’d never got much farther than that.<br />
<br />
Let it be, let it be.<br />
<br />
Coming out of that wonder filled memory, Jack realized that Ennis had wordlessly driven away and as his eyes focused, he watched the battered Ford with their horses aboard round a curve and disappear between the tall pines in a cloud of blowing dust.<br />
<br />
No goodbyes, no nothing…<br />
<br />
Was it finally over between them?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;">To Jack's mind "their place" would only hold hurt now. As a tear dropped from his eye, he gazed back up the mountain near the peak towards better days gone and whispered, "Pine Creek," and then choked back a sob...</span><br />
<br />
<b><center><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 120%;">One More Thing To Do</span></b></center><span style="font-size: 200%;"><b>A</b></span><span style="color: #006d9f;">fter admitting the Riverton gas station owner into their room thinking it was Jack at the door forgetting something, then getting beaten up, Randall thought that Twist must’ve found out somehow what his real motives were and arranged for the attack in revenge, leaving before it started.<br />
<br />
On the other hand it could all just be coincidence, especially after he recognized the invader as the guy at the gas station across the way when he pulled out of the Siesta’s parking lot. The redneck could’ve just jumped him after seeing him kiss Twist.<br />
<br />
There were too many damned variables, so he rearranged the order of the elaborate con he was pulling on Twist and backtracked to Signal to wait and see if anything was going to happen to Jack; that way he’d be here in town to take care of del Mar, and far enough away to have an alibi if everything went south.<br />
<br />
In any case Malone aka Tanny was still a fugitive and needed money to get to Canada or maybe the East Coast before the manhunt got any closer to him. So far the new beard, phony last name and counterfeit wife seemed to have kept him below their radar, so he decided not to shave until he had a better handle on the situation.<br />
<br />
He knew Twist had a stash somewhere here in town and had gone through Jack’s things a dozen or more times looking for clues, but frustratingly had found nothing. Lashawn had invited herself to the Twist’s home several times on the ruse of a friendly visit with her new friend Lureen, but had found nothing either one day while Jack’s wife took a shower.<br />
<br />
He had no choice but to bide his time here, then head to Lightning Flat to mop things up, take care of Twist’s parents and maybe hide out at their place for a while in the middle of a ghost town with no police force after he disposed of them.<br />
<br />
At the moment he was mad as hell because his sister wasn’t answering her phone.<br />
<br />
Randall knew Ennis lived in Signal but not where. There was still one more thing he had to do in order to locate and silence Twist’s boyfriend, so he went out to the rental car and studied a map for the fastest way to Riverton, and hoped they had the papers he needed at their town hall without having to go to the county seat.<br />
<br />
The fewer county officials or cops he had to deal with the better… They were looking for him in Idaho and he hoped they hadn’t expanded the search this far east yet…<br />
<br />
<br />
...Almost home and already forty-five minutes behind schedule, Ennis was depressed and wrung out after circling the northern flanks of Brokeback Mt. National Forest and then entering the outskirts of Signal to its west. He pulled into Higgin's Quik Stop for gas and a hot cup of coffee. The pumps were vacant and as he shut off the engine, some of the things the two friends... the two lovers had said, and some of the things he was forced to face in himself hit him hard to the point that he was too emotionally and physically tired to move.<br />
<br />
His shoulders slumped and he just sat there with his eyes burning, suddenly realizing that shortly come June he'd turn forty.<br />
<br />
This is 1983?<br />
<br />
Forty; my god; forty?! Damn it Ennis, yer fuckin' late as it is... get a move on mule; ya stupid old cuss!<br />
<br />
Wondering why an attendant hadn't come out to pump his gas, he glanced over to his right to spy Linda inside at the register. She looked up, seemed to spot him, and suddenly yelled something, then circled her cashier's counter and came to stand at the door with her arms folded and a stern watchful expression crossed her face... probably to bitch out one of her guys for being too slow.<br />
<br />
Out of nowhere two brawny men appeared in front of the pickup, both gripping deadly-looking long black tire irons. Out of the corner of his eye del Mar spotted two more running in his direction from the repair bays carrying something bulky and they disappeared behind his truck.<br />
<br />
In panic he reached for the ignition switch, but he was distracted into looking back as the horses began bucking nervously behind him in their holding cage in the cargo bed.<br />
<br />
Just then the tailgate loudly screeched down with a bang that shook the pickup.<br />
<br />
Before del Mar could react further and defend himself, his door was yanked open...</span><br />
<center><a href="https://brokebackmountaintribute.blogspot.com/2014/02/brokeback-mountain-complete-novel-1943_24.html"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sxPrDtb0l1Y/UbIQ0i_5d5I/AAAAAAAAExM/zwZ59RP7LrE/w119-h22-no/next+chapter.bmp"/></a></center><blockquote><center><b><i>Dear Friend, If you've enjoyed this chapter, please use <br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Important notice about this novel: This adaptation of the original short story was <br />
written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner © 2005-2012 and contains enhanced versions of <u>all of the original's</u> events written by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana in <b>red/</span>black/<span style="color: #38761d;">green</b></span>.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<span style="color: #006d9f;"><b>All text in blue written by Vernon "Jet" Gardner published here ©2005-2013.<br />
Reproduction in any form or use of unique characters is <br />
forbidden without permission of the author.</b></span><br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</center></blockquote>Jethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426481042145260411noreply@blogger.com0