A little teaser for chapter 17 of LMtYD!
******
“Can’t sleep?” Ennis finally found his voice.
Jack squeezed the still glowing end of his cigarette with his thumb and forefinger until the embers were completely extinguished and then tossed the butt off to the side.
“Nope.”
“Got a lot on yer mind?”
“Yep.”
Ennis let it go at that, wouldn’t pry any farther unless Jack decided to share. They sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes, looking up at the sky, the new moon barely visible in the darkness, the stars the only light for miles.
“Where were you in 1963?”
Jack looked over at Ennis, surprised by his question.
“What d’ya mean?”
Ennis took a puff of his cigarette and then exhaled slowly.
“I mean, where were ya, what were ya doin’?”
Jack turned forward again, rested his elbows on his knees. He thought. Hard.
“Jesus. 1963. Seems like a million years ago. Let’s see…”
Antsy, he repositioned himself again, leaned back, rested a hand on the log to either side of him, and stared up at the dark sky.
“ I was helpin’ my daddy out on the ranch when jobs were scarce. But, I guess that was maybe the second year I’d tried ta get a job somewhere away from home. I’d signed up with the Farm and Ranch Employment agency, hopin’ fer somethin’ good…”
“What happened?”
“I don’t remember.” Jack turned his head to the side, a funny grin on his face. A memory was just beyond his reach, but he couldn’t manage to touch it.
“I think the first summer I tried ta get away, we’d had a busy season at the ranch, busier than normal at least, and it turned out that my folks needed me more than I needed a job. Then the next summer, I guess…my daddy, yeah that’s right, he got hurt, fell off his horse and threw out his back, needed my help again. Shit, I thought I’d never get away.”
Jack laughed.
“I’d already been rodeoin’ when I could, locally, whenever the rodeo would come in ta town, but the next summer, I decided ta call ranchin’ quits and took up ta tourin’. Thought I was gonna be a famous bull rider or sometin’.”
He shook his head. “Got me away from Lightenin’ Flat and that’s ‘bout all I wanted.”
Ennis nodded then threw his own cigarette down.
“Why do you ask? What were you doin’ in ’63?”
“Believe it or not, I also signed up with Farm and Ranch Employment that summer. KE had jest gotten married, and I had nowhere ta go.”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?”
“Yeah, I’d gotten a job with ‘em too. But, uh, this friend a’ KE’s also needed some help with his spread, was short handed that summer, so my brother decided ta help me out and told his buddy, name a’ Carden, that I was lookin’ fer work.”
Ennis took in a deep breath; let it out.
“Anyway, I turned down the job that F.R.E had assigned me and went to work cleanin’ up horse shit fer a summer. That November I married my ex-wife.”
Jack was silent. He wasn’t sure why Ennis had brought this up.
“Don’t ya get it?”
Jack shook his head. Ennis sighed.
“Do ya remember what job ya’d been assigned to that summer?”
******
More to come tomorrow after 4!