It was four o'clock on the morning of june 5th, it was Alma Jr's wedding day. Ennis stirred in bed and woke up
his dream was fading fast, it was a two hour drive to the Methodist Church, Ennis thought--He swung his naked legs over the side of his bed and scratched his head. that funny empty feeling he had about Jack took hold-
so he climbed out of bed and headed for the shower, first hot water to wash his hair and shave, and then cool
to clear his head. He dried his back as he walked to the closet, and quickly dressed in his new navy blue suit.
as he was combing his hair he was looking at the two shirts hanging in his closet. he pressed the shirts to his face and smelled the scent of a meadow of long ago.
It was still dark when Ennis found his way to the highway, and when he pulled into the church parking lot
it was already full. he found his way to a side door, opened it and came face to face with Alma Sr. She seemed surprised, and kissed him gently on the cheek. all of a sudden the door opened and his two daughters came
in accompanied by Monroe. his daughters faces lit up when they saw him and he never saw Alma Jr. looking so beautiful. She gently told her mother, now that her father was here she wanted him to walk her down the aisle
Alma said no- Ennis wasn't dressed in a tux like Monroe- monroe said 'no problem kid-you only have one wedding day and your real dad should give you away. so Ennis walked his daughter doen the aisle.
Ennis walked into the wedding dinner ,and he had never seen so many people--all of a sudden he felt a
hand reach for his and shook it firmly, Howdy cowboy, I'm Bob Jones, the father of the groom, Kurt Jones
Howdy Bob - I'm Ennis Del Mar, Alma's father-- looks like I found a place for us to sit at the bar. Monroe had an open bar. the afternoon passed nicely and Ennis enjoyed watching his daughter dancing with her new husband.,to the tune of, "No One Will Love You Like Me"
Bob Jones told Ennis he was out of work and had to take the bus home to Casper because his car broke down and he had to hitchhike to the wedding-
-Ennis said 'Ill give you a ride to the bus station ,cowboy. his daughters came over to say goodbye, and Ennis had a lump in his throat, when Alma Jr. said 'I love you so much Daddy--thank you for being here--he shook hands with Monroe, nodded to Alma
and walked toward his pick-up followed by Bob Jones, when they got to the bus station Bob's bus had left , so Ennis said--since your out of work Let me drive you to Casper to get your things - my boss is hiring right now- you can come to work with me ,tomorrow It was midnight when they walked into the trailor. So Ennis had himself a new buddy. I'll sleep on the bed , you can sleep on the couch--hell' said Bob manys the night I slept on the floor!
they worked together, and ate together, and drank together , as soon as Bob got his first paycheck he rented the trailer two down from Ennis-- One night they got very drunk and Bob told Ennis how he never really loved Kurt's mother- or any gal and Ennis agreed it was the same with him. Ennis dozed off and there was a lightning storm outside- all of a sudden it started to rain-.and Bob reached over Ennis to shut the window and rested his hand on Ennis's thigh -Ennis said,under his breath, 'do you know what your doing'-Bob said 'yes'--so all the feelings Ennis had buried and stored away, came rushing back -they meted into each other.
the next day they were having coffee and Bob confessed he was so worried someone would catch on about him-- he was in a bar one time and someone smiled at him knowingly, and he took off like a shot, I was scared someone caught on.
Bob had left his drivers license on the table, Ennis picked it up and said -oh, your first name is James
thats right my name is James Robert Jones, when I worked for the rodeo, I called myself Jimbo~
