Yes, Leslie, your Jack has indeed been branded with a very special tatoo!
From Chapter 1:
Over time, the harsh memories of that night had faded and Jack could look back and remember it as a happy time. In fact, the tattoo that Jack sported on his upper right arm was a direct remembrance from that day: a stylized brand for the “Circle E Ranch,” which was something Ennis had said to him—“I’m brandin’ ya, cowboy”—during their 24 hours of non-stop lovemaking. (That would be May 17th, “Screw Yer Brains Out Day,” on Ennis’s calendar.)
The tattoo had come about because Jack had said, also during that same summer of 1976, that he wanted one with Ennis’s name. Ennis had thought he was joking but Jack had been completely serious. He pictured it as a lasso, writing Ennis’s name in script. He had even sketched a few designs. But when push came to shove, Ennis had asked him not to use his name. “It’s just too personal, Jack,” he said. “I know folks know we’re together but what if we were somewhere like…I dunno…a hotel with a pool or somewhere, with strangers…I’d be embarrassed.” The compromise had been the Circle E which, in the end, Jack was happier with. It was designed by Ennis’s daughter Jenny—their daughter, now, in both their minds—who was an artist living in Massachusetts. The design was striking and unusual and anyone who saw it commented on its beauty.
Jack absent-mindedly rubbed the spot where the tattoo was and Ennis noticed. “Circle E, I’m brandin’ ya, cowboy,” he said with smile, as they sat down at the dining room table.
Marie
