BrokenBack Mountain
"I got a boy," said Jack. "Eight months old. Tell you what, I married
a cute little old Texas girl down in Childress -- Lureen." From the
vibration of the floorboard on which they both stood Ennis could feel
how hard Jack was shaking.
"Alma," he said. "Jack and me is goin out and get a drink. Might
not get back tonight, we get drinkin and talkin."
"Sure enough," Alma said, taking a dollar bill from her pocket. Ennis
guessed she was going to ask him to get her a pack of cigarettes, bring
him back sooner.
"Please to meet you," said Jack, trembling like a run-out horse.
"Ennis -- " said Alma in her misery voice, but that didn't slow him
down on the stairs and he called back, "Alma, you want smokes there's
some in the pocket a my blue shirt in the bedroom."
They went off in Jack's truck, bought a bottle of whiskey and within
twenty minutes were in the Motel Siesta jouncing a bed. A few handfuls
of hail rattled against the window followed by rain and slippery wind
banging the unsecured door of the next room then and through the night.
The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old carpet
and sour hay, saddle leather, sh*t and cheap soap. Ennis lay spread-eagled,
spent and wet, breathing deep, still half tumescent, Jack blowing forceful
cigarette clouds like whale spouts, and Jack said, "Christ, it got a
be all that time a yours ahorseback makes it so goddamn good. We got
to talk about this. Swear to god I didn't know we was goin a get into
this again -- yeah, I did. Why I'm here. I f*ckin knew it. Redlined
all the way, couldn't get here fast enough."
"I didn't know where in the hell you was," said Ennis. "Four years.
I about give up on you. I figured you was sore about that punch."
"Friend," said Jack, "I was in Texas rodeoin. How I met Lureen. Look
over on that chair."
On the back of the soiled orange chair he saw the shine of a buckle.
"Bullridin?"
"Yeah. I made three ****in thousand dollars that year. f*ckin starved.
Had to borrow everthing but a toothbrush from other guys. Drove grooves
across Texas. Half the time under that cunt truck fixin it. Anyway,
I didn't never think about losin. Lureen? There's some serious money
there. Her old man's got it. Got this farm machinery business. Course
he don't let her have none a the money, and he hates my f*ckin guts,
so it's a hard go now but one a these days -- "
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18 嶄猟井