BrokenBack Mountain
"Well, see you around, I guess." The wind tumbled an empty feed bag
down the street until it fetched up under his truck.
"Right," said Jack, and they shook hands, hit each other on the shoulder,
then there was forty feet of distance between them and nothing to do
but drive away in opposite directions. Within a mile Ennis felt like
someone was pulling his guts out hand over hand a yard at a time. He
stopped at the side of the road and, in the whirling new snow, tried
to puke but nothing came up. He felt about as bad as he ever had and
it took a long time for the feeling to wear off.
In December Ennis married Alma Beers and had her pregnant by mid-January.
He picked up a few short-lived ranch jobs, then settled in as a wrangler
on the old Elwood Hi-Top place north of Lost Cabin in Washakie County.
He was still working there in September when Alma Jr., as he called
his daughter, was born and their bedroom was full of the smell of old
blood and milk and baby sh*t, and the sounds were of squalling and sucking
and Alma's sleepy groans, all reassuring of fecundity and life's continuance
to one who worked with livestock.
When the Hi-Top folded they moved to a small apartment in Riverton
up over a laundry. Ennis got on the highway crew, tolerating it but
working weekends at the Rafter B in exchange for keeping his horses
out there. The second girl was born and Alma wanted to stay in town
near the clinic because the child had an asthmatic wheeze.
"Ennis, please, no more damn lonesome ranches for us," she said,
sitting on his lap, wrapping her thin, freckled arms around him. "Let's
get a place here in town?"
"I guess," said Ennis, slipping his hand up her blouse sleeve and
stirring the silky armpit hair, then easing her down, fingers moving
up her ribs to the jelly breast, over the round belly and knee and up
into the wet gap all the way to the north pole or the equator depending
which way you thought you were sailing, working at it until she shuddered
and bucked against his hand and he rolled her over, did quickly what
she hated. They stayed in the little apartment which he favored because
it could be left at any time.
The fourth summer since Brokeback Mountain came on and in June Ennis
had a general delivery letter from Jack Twist, the first sign of life
in all that time.
Friend this letter is a long time over due. Hope you get it. Heard
you was in Riverton. Im coming thru on the 24th, thought Id stop and
buy you a beer Drop me a line if you can, say if your there.
The return address was Childress, Texas. Ennis wrote back, you bet,
gave the Riverton address.
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