for yesterday's prompt...
What They Needed
The last visit to the doctor for Jenny emptied his wallet, except for the two twenties he kept against times like this. That would be it for food, and for gas from the cheapest station in town, until the end of next week. Oughta be ok. Alma knew how to shop for a bargain, and maybe he could trade rides out to the ranch with Len. He pulled out the creased bills, just to check they were still there, and on the other side of his wallet, tucked behind his driver's license, the frayed edge of a slip of paper barely showed. He took it out, a supplies list for a week in summer three years gone. Beans, spuds, powdered milk, whiskey, apples, lard, eggs, flour, coffee, sugar, the list returned by the Basque, each item checked off. Ennis remembered the happiness in Jack's voice as he'd run down the list, said, “Ennis, we got everything we asked for, we'll be livin' high this week.” Ennis had taken the paper from Jack's hand, looked it over, not believing. Damn Basque never brought everything he wrote down. He'd held the list back out to Jack, but Jack waved it off, said, “Give me a hand unpackin' these mules,” so Ennis had stuffed the list into his shirt pocket, and later into his wallet against some time when he figured he'd be the one trailing the mules down to the bridge again. Hadn't happened, so the list of what they needed stayed with him down off the mountain, and after, when he realized what he'd lost, he'd tried to keep it safe, that scrap of Jack's handwriting. Knew he wouldn't see any more.