Brokeback Mountain
Summer 1963
Ennis was drunk and Jack was not far behind. It was moments like this, when they had consumed too much Old Rose that they got silly and playful and Jack usually decided he could sing. “Water-walkin Jesus!” he'd shout at the top of his lungs, the words reverberating off the mountains.
“Shut the fuck up,” said Ennis, throwing some dirt at Jack’s head. “You’ll scare the sheep.”
“You pick the song then,” said Jack. “I can sing anythin. I know all the words.”
“I bet the fuck ya don’t,” said Ennis, hitching up his pants and leaning back. “Lemme think.” He paused for a minute, then, in a high falsetto:
You don’t remember me
But I remember you
It was not long ago
You broke my heart in two
Tears on my pillow
Stains on my sheets
Caused by you….yooooouuuuu…..
“What the fuck?” said Jack, falling off his log and rolling on the ground, doubling over in laughter.
“What?” said Ennis, proud of his accomplishment, remembering the words to the Little Anthony and the Imperials hit from 1958.
“It’s ‘pain in my heart’ you stupid fuck. Not ‘stains on my sheets.’”
“Really?” said Ennis, perplexed. “Stains on my sheets is more realistic, don’t ya think?”
Jack continued to howl with laughter. “Ya really think they’d play ‘stains on my sheets’ on the radio? Holy Christ, Ennis, use yer head.”
“Fuck that, then,” said Ennis, his head hanging down. “Yer the one who asked me ta sing. Yer gonna make fun a me, I ain’t singin no more.” He crossed his arms and looked resolute.
Jack crawled on his hands and knees to were Ennis was sitting on his log. He reached for his lover’s hips and then with a wink, began to sing:
The clock downstairs was striking four
Couldn't get you off my mind...
I heard the milkman at the door..
Cause I was tossin and turning
Turning and tossin
Tossin and turnin all the night..
(333 words)