The Glistening Road
(August 1986)
Ennis just sat there, holding Tom’s hand. Tom stared at him, but he didn’t say a word. The clouds were still covering the sky, but there were now breaks in them from which the sun was starting to shine through. Ennis looked at Tom, then he looked ahead at the road leading out of the town, glistening from the rain and the new light.
“So what are we goin’ to do now” Tom asked, quietly.
“I don’t know” Ennis replied. “Whatever you decide, fine with me.”
“I know what” Tom said. “Let’s just drive, another fifty miles or so on this road. We’ll see what’s there, we’ll see what there is to see, and then we will decide.”
Ennis didn’t answer, he released Tom’s hand, took the keys out of the his pocket, and started the truck. He pulled the truck onto the road, and began driving away. They left the town behind them. Neither of them noticed the waitress, who had come outside of the diner and watched them as they sat in the truck and then drove away.
“You never told me” Ennis said, slowly and quietly. “In all this time now, you never did tell me.”
Tom didn’t look at Ennis, he stared out of the window, as they drove past a field with several horses lazily milling about, ignoring the two young men standing and smoking near them.
Tom stared at the young men as they drove by, then he looked at Ennis and then he closed his eyes. “Too many things you still didn’t tell me” Tom said.
“But I need to know, you knew about me, back then, you never, ever told me how.”
Tom looked back at the field at the horses and the young men. He rubbed his arm, as if there was an itch, or another sensation that just wouldn’t go away. Then he closed his eyes again.
“Why won’t you ever tell me?” Ennis asked, as they went forward on the glistening road.