P.O. Boxes, Mailboxes and the No. 17

[serious crayons]

why would people be peering through a window at his mail in the first place?

Well, the postal workers would be likely to read them (I know this because one of my best friends works for the P.O.). Even so, nobody's likely to think the messages are anything more than what they appear to be: correspondence between fishing buddies.

As for the 17, I like the far-fetched explanations!

[jpwagoneer1964]

Greetings Open Forum Denizens!

 
 
Why didn't they send letters in envelopes?  If they had they could have communicated with each other better.  They could have written longer notes and with the cover of an envelope they could have told each other more private things without so much worry about other people seeing. 

I thought one of the advantages of being a gay man was you did have to write a lot of flowery love letters. Ha Ha

[Brown Eyes]

Wow Andrew!  That's amazing about the 17 mountain ranges.  You're right that it's probably just coincidence, but it's an awfully cool coincidence.


About people reading the postcards... Well people are nosy and it's a tiny town.  Plus, Alma reads Jack's postcards, we know that.  Jack and Ennis were clearly almost counting on the idea that people were going to be reading the postcards... thus the elaborate, long-lived stories about fishing trips.

[serious crayons]

OT but, now that you mention it, I've kind of wondered why they didn't fish. I mean, they had all that time on their hands, what else do they have to do?? 

OK, you don't need to answer that. But really. They go horseback riding. They go hunting. They've got all the fishing tackle with them. Why not?

Maybe because if they did, Alma wouldn't have any evidence to throw at Ennis later.

[Brown Eyes]

OT but, now that you mention it, I've kind of wondered why they didn't fish. I mean, they had all that time on their hands, what else do they have to do?? 

OK, you don't need to answer that. But really. They go horseback riding. They go hunting. They've got all the fishing tackle with them. Why not?

Maybe because if they did, Alma wouldn't have any evidence to throw at Ennis later.

I remember this question being debated somewhere before and I seem to recall the conclusions about why they don't fish are related to Ennis's little white lie to Alma about whether Jack was someone he used to "cowboy with" and Ennis fibs and says they were fishing buddies.  I think the line of argument had something to do with the idea that Ennis wanted to keep everything about his actual relationship with Jack completely separate from anything having to do with Riverton.  I think the discussion was about Ennis's specific desire to actively avoid fishing actually.  I'm going to go see if I can find that thread...
 

[Front-Ranger]

I think they fished some but they used Jack's equipment, cause it was better. When U fly fish with someone, you have to go a long ways away in order to keep your lines from getting tangled. And they wouldn't want to do that. 

[Brown Eyes]

LOL.

OK.  So here's the thread ("Why the Lie?) that contained this line of discussion before.  I just bumped it.
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=1995.90

 

[alec716]

Everyone's thoughts on the number 17 are fascinating me... so glad that this is being discussed!     I have not come up with an explanation of my own, but other's thoughts are helping me begin to spin my wheels on this question.  Thanks, Friends!

[jpwagoneer1964]

Everyone's thoughts on the number 17 are fascinating me... so glad that this is being discussed!     I have not come up with an explanation of my own, but other's thoughts are helping me begin to spin my wheels on this question.  Thanks, Friends!

I don't know, how about there were say 22 traliers where Ennis lived and his was number 17.

[serious crayons]

Mark, you just made a comment on the "fantasy scenes" thread that got me wondering. You said you think Ennis would have kept all of Jack's post cards (and that he should have tacked the very first one up in his closet, message-side out). I would like to think he did keep them, but I don't know ... I'm guessing he would find that too risky.

What does everyone else think?