WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Title: WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Author: Donna McIntosh
Email: dmcintoshtx@yahoo.com
Fandom: Brokeback Mountain
Genre: Slash
Warning: None
Rating: NC – 17 FRAO
Summary: If Jack hadn't died, I'd like to think that some of this is what might have happened.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Ennis threw another log on the fire and looked at his watch again. Jack should be there by now. He listened carefully to see if he heard a truck coming. He reminded himself that he was early and that Jack would be along shortly. Jack had a lot father to drive than he did. He was probably tired and stopped for something to eat. He paced out to the river's edge and stood and watched it for several minutes. He'll be here, he told himself. Just give him time.

"I wish I knew how to quit you!" The words kept echoing in his head. But that was months ago when they had that fight – last spring. He wouldn't still be mad. They had straightened everything out before they parted – hadn't they? He picked up a branch and broke it into smaller pieces for the fire. He'll be here any minute. He opened another beer and took a good long drink. He looked at his watch again. "Dammit, Jack! Where the hell are you?" He muttered and continued his pacing.

Finally, finally he heard the truck. It was Jack's truck. I had to be! He stood and watched the road way and heaved a sigh of relief when he got a glimpse of Jack's truck and that smiling face looking out at him.

"Hey, Cowboy! You beat me here!" Jack said as he climbed down out of his truck. He barely got the door closed when Ennis was all over him. Holding him, kissing him, whispering sweet things, telling him how much he missed him.

"What's goin' on here? You're actin' like you didn't think I was gonna come?" Jack held him back at arms length.

"I was scared that maybe you wouldn't. You was kinda mad at me last time we met."

"Oh Ennis." He took him in his arms and hugged him tight. "I wasn't really mad at you. I was just mad at the situation we was in. I just HATE that we don't get to see each other more is all."

"Jack … I been thinkin'. We said a lot of stuff that day and I'm thinkin' maybe you was right."

"Of course I was right. I'm always right … right about what?" Jack teased.

"All this … misery we got goin' on here … it's all because of me. I been makin' us both miserable."

"Ennis, it ain't your fault. It's just the way you was brung up, and seein' that body put a scare in you that you just can't get around. I hate it but I understand it."

"I want to though, Jack. I really do. You think maybe we could talk about … stuff?"

"Well sure we can. You know that. We can talk about anything you want. You want to get the tent set up first them we can talk all night if you want to."

"I'd like that." Ennis said with a little smile. "Let me give you a hand there." They unloaded Jack's truck and in no time had the little tent up and were sitting by the campfire, their lawn chairs up close together.

"What's you got on your mind, Ennis?" Jack lit a smoke and drew in deep on it.

"You and me. I wanna fix things. I been thinkin' about it since May."

"Thinkin' about what?"

"How we can fix everythin' – if you still want to." Ennis pulled his chair around so he was in front of Jack, their knees touching.

"I'd be interested in hearin' how you think we could fix things." Jack was full on curious now.

"There ain't but one way, Jack. You was right. I guess you been right all along. I was just too scared to see it."

"Go on." Jack flipped his cigarette into the fire and leaned forward.

"You and me. It's like you always said. We belong together."

"Uh huh … and?"

"And I think you're right. I think we should … if you still want to and all?"

"Should …?"

"Be together." Ennis struggled for the words.

"Like now, you mean?"

"Like … a place of our own." Ennis swallowed hard, cleared his throat and went on. "Jack, I sold my horses. I got two thousand dollars for 'em. Out at the stables where I was keepin' 'em … the owner's daughter got real attached to my mare. I knew the price I was askin' was steep but I knew he had the money and I knew she would be broken hearted if I sold them. She always comes around when I'm there seein' to 'em and sayin' what a fine horse I had. I told her I was fixin' to sell the both of them and that I'd try and find real nice people to take them as a pair since they been together so long. She begged me not to leave and she ran to her Daddy. He come out and we talked. I finally came right out and told him I needed two thousand for the pair. He hemmed and hawed a bit but his girl was beggin' and pleadin' and he gave in. Just pulled out his check book and wrote me out a check. I know it ain't a lot but it's somethin'."

"Ennis, what're you sayin' here?" Jack grabbed onto Ennis' arms.

"I'm sayin' you was right. I'm sayin' I sold my horses. I'm sayin' … let's find us a place."

Jack stood up and slapped himself in the face with both hands. "I'm dreamin'! I know I'm just dreamin' again!"

"No, Jack, you ain't dreamin'. Cut that out!" He caught Jack's hands in his. "You still wanna do this? You think we really can? I mean … without havin' to fight for our lives every single day?"

A thousand things were racing through Jack's mind and all he could think of to do was lean his head back and let out a war-hoop that put the coyotes to howling. He grabbed Ennis then, "You mean it? You serious? You're ready to get a place with me?"

"I ain't gonna lie to you, Jack. I'm scared to death and probably always will be but we gotta fix this. We need to be together."

"I been tellin' you that for near twenty years now!"

"I know, I know and you been right. I guess it took us yellin' at each other for me to realize that I could lose you. I don't wanna lose you, Jack. And I don't want you goin' a Mexico or gettin' shot sneakin' around seein' folks you shouldn't be seein'. 'Cause, I kinda feel like … well … like you belong to me."

"Oh Ennis!" He hugged him tight. "You're the only one I want. The one I always wanted ever since Brokeback. Even when I was with someone else I was wishin' it was you."

"Well, I'm sayin' here and now, if you still wanna try … I think we should."

Jack held him tight. He couldn't speak for several moments and speech wasn't really necessary right then. They just needed to stand there and hold each other. Jack kept mumbling "I can't believe it" and Ennis kept repeating, "I can't lose you, Jack. I can't lose you."

"When? When can we do this?"

"Any time you want. How about in the mornin'? I don’t really want to break camp right now." Ennis grinned at him.

Jack grinned and pulled him down into the tent. They slept very little and were up at the crack of dawn fixing coffee and oat meal over their fire.

"I hate that we'll have to drive back alone. We still need to talk more and decide things." Ennis said.

"We're only about an hour out of Lander. We'll stop there and find us a place to put a hitch on the front of your truck. I've got one on the back of mine so once we get your truck fixed up, we can pull it and talk all we want."

"Good idea. I'd like that."

They broke camp and stowed their gear. "You got any preference where you want to live?" Jack asked.

"Just NOT in Riverton. I'd like to stay in Wyomin' if that's Ok with you but if you want to go outta state, that's be Ok I guess – as long as it ain't Texas."

"Oh hell no! I ain't no Texan. All I ever thought about since I settled down there was how much I'd rather be livin' back in Wyomin' again. I was thinkin' about Sheridan. It's beautiful country up there and the town is big enough so that we could get jobs there doin' somethin' or other until we got the ranch up and runnin'. You ever been to Sheridan?"

"Uh huh. Years ago. When K.E. and me worked up in Worland. We went huntin' up near there and stayed in Sheridan. It's a good sized town – twice the size of Riverton but only half the size of Laramie or Cheyenne. Good choice."

"That's what I was thinkin'. If we found a place somewhere, say about twenty or thirty miles out, we could drive back and forth into town easy and a town that size should have work."

"Well let's get on the road then and on the way to Lander. It ain't that big a place but we should be able to find someone who can fix me up with a hitch."

They gave each other one last lingering hug and each climbed into his truck and headed out. They made good time and shortly after they arrived they found someone to sell them a hitch and to install it. They were on the road again in less than an hour.

"So we stop in Riverton long enough to pick up the rest of your things and then we can head north?" Jack asked.

"Uh huh. Won't take long – I ain't got that much. Just a few things outta my trailer then I can turn my keys in to the manager. I'll need to stop in town at the bank and get my money. I'll need to make a quick run over to Alma's to give her the last two month's child support."

"While you're doin' that, I'll make my phone call to Lureen."

"She gonna give you any trouble?"

"Nah – she ain't like that. We ain't never had no big romance between us. We was really more good friends than anythin' else."

"I think they call that 'friends with benefits'." Ennis said with a grin.

"Yeah but I got her pregnant so I had to do the right thing."

"You did and I'm proud of you for it. What about Bobby? How you think he'll take it?"

"He's away at that fancy-assed school in Switzerland. He won't even know about it till he comes back to Texas next summer."

"Why you go and send him so far away for? They don't have good schools in Texas?"

"Yeah they do. Perfectly good schools but Lureen's daddy made a reservation for him the day he was born and he's payin' for it. Lureen says Bobby loved it when she took him over to look at the place. I've talked to him and he seems to really enjoy it there."

"It's a hell of a long ways away though."

"It is for a fact." Jack agreed as they pulled up into Ennis' trailer court and got out.

Ennis unlocked the door and they went in. "You can use the phone there by the bed to make your calls."

"Thanks. You gonna be Ok? I mean goin' to see Alma?"

"Before, all I ever wanted to do after seein' Alma was to go out and get drunk. This time though, I'll be hurryin' back here 'cause I know you're here waitin' for me."

"You want me to go with you?"

"Nah – it's for me to do and I'll do it."

"You gonna be Ok with leavin' Jenny? I know that Junior has moved off and all."

"Jenny and me, we was never very close. She looks more like me but she's all Alma's girl. They been tight as ticks for as long as I can remember. She don't think much of her Pa. I reckon Alma had a lot to do with that."

"I'm sorry, Cowboy."

"Ain't nothin' to be sorry about. I did the best with her I could do; just like I done with Junior but we never really got on like me and Junior."

"You could always come visit with them."

"Sure enough," Ennis agreed, "You be all right here till I get back? You need a beer or somethin' there's some in the fridge. Help yourself. I'll be back quick as I can."

"I'll be fine. You just take it easy and get back here so we can get on the road." They went out and un-hitched Ennis' truck and he took off for town. Jack went back inside and made his call to Lureen.

"Twist residence?" Lureen answered the phone.

"Lureen, honey, it's me. I need to talk to you. You got some free time?"

"Sure I do, Jack. What is it – somethin' wrong? You didn’t wreck your truck did you? You never called me from one of your huntin' trips before."

"No, it's nothin' like that. I'm fine and I didn't have no wreck. I just spent a lot of time thinkin' while I was drivin' up here and I made some decisions."

"What kind of decisions? About what?"

"About us, Lureen. About our lives and how we been livin'."

"Is this that ranch thing again? Jack, I told you before – if you want a ranch, I'll get you one. There's plenty of ranches right here at home. It's Texas for God's sake!"

"Lureen, that's just it – Texas is your home. It ain't mine."

"Jack, you told me yourself how much you hated that place you lived in up there. Now you sayin' you want to move up there? There's no way in hell I'm movin' to Wyomin'. I'm a Texas girl, born and bred!"

"What I hated was livin' with my Pa and livin' in Lightnin' Flat – Wyomin' a big state. I can find a place far enough away from them so they won't be a bother."

"Texas is far away from them."

"Texas ain't my home, Wyomin' is."

"I'm not movin', Jack. Childress is my home. I was born in this very house and my mother before me. I thought you liked this house? You want to re-do your room, your study? I told you, you could fix it up any way you want."

"Lureen, you've been a good wife to me and you're a wonderful Momma to Bobby – that ain't never been the point."

"Well what is the point then? You got some gal up there you're wantin' to play house with?"

"No, honey, it ain't nothin' like that. I know you're a Texas gal, and always will be but that's the same way that I feel about Wyomin. It's in my blood. I'm a Wyomin' boy. The only time I ever feel comfortable, like I'm really home, is when I'm up here in the mountains. This is where I belong. It's where I want to live."

"I ain't movin' to Wyomin', Jack. With Daddy retired now and Momma in the nursin' home, that leaves me the runnin' of the business by myself. I couldn't leave here even if I wanted to and I don't want to."

"I figured that's what you'd say and I'm sorry as I can be but I been livin' the life you wanted all these years. I think it's time now for me to start livin' the life I always wanted. I ain't gettin' any younger and if I'm gonna have my dream, I need to do it know while I'm still young and strong enough to make a go of somethin'. Lureen, the last thing I'd wanna do in this world is hurt you after you've been so good to me all these years but I think it's time we called it quits."

The line was dead silent for a spell.

"You askin' me for a divorce, Jack?"

"I think it's time. You know you'll always have a special place in my heart, Lureen, but I ain't that young bull rider no more. I always went along with whatever you wanted to do but it's time now for me to go after my dream instead of drinkin' myself half to death there in Texas where I don't belong."

"Is THAT why you been drinkin' so much? I always thought it was because I was the one bringin' in most of the money – thought you resented that."

"No way, honey. You always been the smartest one and the one that worked the hardest. And that was because you loved the work that you was doin' and the people you was workin' with. Runnin' your daddy's place was your dream and you took hold of it and made it somethin' special, somethin' to be real proud of. That's what I'm gonna do now. I'm gonna make my dream come true. I'm gonna find me a place up here and I'm gonna work my ass off and I'll make a go of it. That's what I been wantin' all my life, Lureen, a place of my own, a place I can fix up and take care of and run just like you're runnin' your daddy's business."

"You could still do that and fly back here weekends."

"No, honey, I couldn't. There wouldn't be no money for flyin' back and forth to Texas all the time."

"Well, hell, Jack. I got the money for air-fare."

"I don't want your money, Lureen. I wanna make my own money, and live on what I make and there won't be no money for flyin'."

"So you think divorce is the only solution?"

"Right now I think it's our best option. Once I got back home up here in Wyomin' I knew I could never bring myself to go back down to Texas again. This is where I belong and this is where I'm stayin'."

"Well, all right, Jack, if that's what you want. Listen, I gotta go. I'm supposed to meet the girls at the club for lunch. I'll call Barrington first thing in the mornin' and see if he handles divorces. You got some number where I can call and let you know what's goin' on?"

"Not yet. Soon as I do, I'll let you know. I'll probably just get myself a PO box once I get me a place. I'll either call you or write and let you know how to get in touch with me."

"You ain't never comin' back? What about Bobby?"

"Oh, I'll come back to see Bobby. You'll let me know when he comes home from school?"

"Well that won't be until next summer. I can explain things to him next time I talk with him."

"That'd be good. I'd appreciate that, Lureen."

"You sure you wanna do this, Jack? I mean on a permanent basis?"

"I never been more sure of anythin' in my life. This is my dream, Lureen, and I gotta do it or I'll spend the rest of my life regrettin' it."

"Ok then. I'll see to the legal stuff and get you the paperwork soon as you get me an address."

"Thank you, Lureen."

"You're welcome, Jack. In the mean time – if you change your mind, give me a call. I can always stop the paperwork from goin' through."

"I won't be changin' my mind. This is what I need to be doin' and I'm gonna do it."

"You'll get in touch as soon as you get that PO box?"

"I will. You go on now and have lunch with your girlfriends."

"I will. Take care of yourself, Jack. And if you need anythin', anythin' at all, you just give me a call."

"I will. I'll be in touch."

"Ok. Bye for now then."

"Bye, Lureen."

Jack hung up the phone and heaved a big sigh. That was easier than he thought it would be. Unfortunately, Ennis wasn't having as easy a time.

****

"What are you doin' here? Jenny's over at her friend's house and it ain't your day to see her anyway?" Alma greeted him at the doorway – not inviting him in.

"I come to bring you this." He handed her the wad of bills. "It's the last two support payments, two hundred fifty dollars. That settles things between us now."

"What are you talkin' about – settles things?"

"That's the last of the money I owe you. My debt to you is paid in full."

"Your debt to me will never be paid in full, Ennis del Mar. You think money makes up for all the things you did to me?"

"Alma, I ain't here to go over our nightmare of a marriage. That's the last of the court ordered support payments so it's over with. I'm leavin' Riverton – I'm movin' away. You can tell the girls that once I get settled someplace I'll write to them with my new address."

"Where you movin' to? Did you get fired or somethin'?"

"No, I didn't get fired. I quit. I got me a better offer. It's way outta town so I'm movin'."

"Back out to some dirty old ranch I reckon." Alma said as she counted the money a second time."

"It's what I do, Alma. I'm a ranch hand. Always was and always will be."

"It's stupid is what it is – dirty, nasty work for next to nothin' pay. You'd think by now that you'd wanna make somethin' of yourself, but oh no – not Ennis del Mar. He's gotta find the dirtiest job for the lowest pay."

"We can't all be grocery store clerks, Alma."

"Monroe is NOT a clerk! He's the manager and he makes more money than you ever dreamed of!"

"Good for him. And he's got you to spend it all for him!"

"He likes to see me wearin' pretty clothes! I dress nice for him." Alma defended herself.

"I'm sure you do. And I'm sure he's tickled pink end of the month when the bills start comin' in."

"He makes enough money to pay all my bills!"

"Sounds like a marriage made in heaven then. He makes a lot of money and you spend a lot of money. It makes no difference to me. I'm outta here."

"Ennis del Mar, you get back here and give me your new address." She called after him as he took the stairs off the porch, two at a time."

"Ain't got one yet. When I do, I'll write to Junior and give it to her. If Jenny wants to write to me, I'll write her back. You got no need of my address." With that he jumped into his truck and burned rubber out of there, spewing stones and dirt up on her perfectly manicured lawn and sidewalk. A glance in his rear-view mirror showed her shaking a fist at him and her mouth going. He was happy to see the last of her!

Ennis skidded to a stop in front of his trailer, jumped out and hurried inside. Jack had just reached for a beer when Ennis tackled him, shoved him over on the bed and had is way with him. They lay side by side, both on their backs with Ennis' head on Jack's shoulder.

"You get your call made to Lureen?" Ennis asked as he lit a cigarette for each of them.

"I did. Did you get squared away with Alma?"

"I did. What do you say; we burn rubber out of this shit-hole town?"

"I'd say I like the way you think! You wanna have lunch first though? I'm starvin!"

"You're right. I'm starvin' too. I got some canned stuff we can eat – that be all right?"

"Uh huh. Whatever you got will be fine."

"Ok." Ennis sat up and pulled Jack up with him. "I need to pack too. I stopped at the grocery story and got some boxes from the back. You still any good with a can-opener?"

"Sure I am! You want me to fix lunch?"

"Might as well. You gotta get up off a this bed or I won't be able to concentrate on my packin'. There's some cans up there, cupboard over the sink. I'm gonna grab those boxes outta my truck and get packin." Ennis stood up and pulled his jeans and boots back on, grabbed his shirt and headed out the door as he snapped it shut.

He brought the four cardboard boxes in and started packing while Jack worked the can opener on a couple cans of Chili Mac. Ennis dumped his extra pair of boots and his dirty clothes in one box, his clean clothes in one box, his bathroom stuff and pots and pans in one box, and what few dishes and glasses he had, he wrapped in towels in the last box and pulled the sheets and blankets off the bed, folded them and stacked them on top. What few groceries he had left, he bagged up in three brown paper grocery bags and the two of them hauled everything out to Ennis' truck. Next came his saddle, his fishing gear and his hunting rifle.

Everything else, he dumped in the garbage can out front, took a quick look around the place and headed for the manager's office to turn in his keys and they were on their way.


****

"So where you figure on us stayin' while we're lookin' for a place?" Ennis asked as they drove into Sheridan.

"I figured we'd get us a motel room somewhere. What about a Ramada Inn? Sign says there's one up ahead – two miles."

"That's too expensive, Jack. We gotta watch our money real close."

"Ok. You're right. I'm sure we can find somethin' cheaper."

"When K.E. and me come here, we found us a place over on the west side of town that you could rent by the week. It was good and cheap."

"One of those pay-by-the-hour places?"

"Uh huh. I'm sure they did a lot of business like that too but the place was clean, we had hot water and they didn't complain if you did some cookin' in your room."

"I don't care where we stay, Cowboy, as long as I get to sleep next to you." Jack reached over and squeezed Ennis' arm.

"We need to stop some place and see if we can get us one of those little two-burner hot plates. K.E. and I borrowed one and we fixed all our meals on it. We never had to eat out once while we was here."

"It's kinda late. Probably won't be much open at this hour. Let's stop up ahead and get gas. Maybe they'll know where we can find a place still open."

The gas station attendant didn't know of any place open that late but told them about the Goodwill store where he often shopped. He said they carried all that kind of stuff and told them how to get there.

They bought some ready made sandwiches for their dinner and headed for the motel. Jack couldn't believe the price when Ennis came back out and told him. "You're kidding! A whole week for just seventy five dollars! That's what the Ramada costs for one night."

"That's what I was tellin' you, Jack. This ain't no fancy place like the Ramada but the price is right and we can make do. We'll hit that Goodwill place in the mornin' and hopefully we can come up with a hot plate. This ain't the greatest neighborhood though so we best take all our stuff inside." Ennis pointed the way to the last row of rooms and Jack found a place to park their trucks.

They each carried a double handful of their stuff inside and Jack sat down on one of the beds and bounced a little.

"Not bad," he said with a lecherous smile. Ennis sat on the bed opposite and did the same. "It ain't fancy but we slept on worse."

"We have for a fact, Cowboy, and it's only temporary – just until we find us a place."

"Right. Now get up off your sweet ass and help me carry the rest of this stuff in so we can try these beds out."

The room was small – just large enough for two full size beds with a tiny passage way between them, a small dresser with chipped brown paint and cigarette stains on it and a tiny bathroom with just a toilet, sink and shower stall – no bath tub. The place was very old, the paint was chipped and falling off in some places, the faucets dripped and the fixtures were stained beyond cleaning. It didn't smell too bad and the ancient heating unit in the window worked somewhat. The windows rattled when the wind blew and the light fixtures held only the dimmest of bulbs. But they settled in and made the best of it.

They piled all their stuff on the second bed – one was all that they would be needing.
First thing in the morning they headed out for the Goodwill store. Ennis reluctantly agreed they could go through a drive-through and order breakfast. They were both starving and anxious to get started.

They found the Goodwill store easily enough and found exactly what they were looking for – a two burner electric hot plate plus an electric frying pan and coffee pot. They made their purchases and headed back to the motel after picking up a newspaper.

Ennis set up the hot plate on the dresser and started a pot of coffee while Jack scanned the real estate adds.

"See anything?"

"Well they got a lot of stuff for sale but so far nothin' in our price range. You know, I been thinkin' …"

"You always was a great thinker, Jack Twist." Ennis grinned at him and handed him a cup of coffee and sat beside him on the bed.

"Most of this stuff is handled by local Real Estate companies. A couple are listed by the First National Bank of Sheridan. I'm thinkin' these are repossessed properties. We might have better luck goin' over to the bank and talkin' to someone there about a place."

"I hate thinkin' we'd be takin' over a place someone got kicked out of." Ennis said.

"Well, that's a sad fact of life, Ennis. Sometimes people get in over their heads and they just have to move on. That don't mean their places should just sit empty forever."

"I'd rather just go to a Real Estate place where we know the people want to sell their property."

"Those are the places that cost the most, Ennis. The places the bank's holding title to you can get a lot cheaper – sometimes just for catchin' up on the back taxes."

"You kiddin?"

"Nope. It happens down in Texas too. But the only way you can find these deals is through bankers. They don't want to hold on to these properties any longer than they have to. They ain't in the Real Estate business to make money. The most they're hopin' for is to reclaim the money they loaned out on the properties."

"I guess we'd better go talk to the banker then. I ain't got much money to put into this, Jack. All I got is the two thousand I got for sellin' my horses and my last pay check which was $267.

"I brought a thousand cash with me, like I usually do and I spent less than a hundred of it on gas and food gettin' up here. I got a little over three grand in the bank back in Childress. I can get that transferred up here soon as I open an account."

"I doubt we can even get a place for what we got." Ennis mumbled sadly.

"We don't need to buy the place outright – just come up with enough for a down payment. We can take out a loan on my truck and get maybe another ten or twelve grand. That ought to be enough for a down payment if we can find a place cheap enough."

"Well, let's get on over to the bank and see what they have to say. Hold on to that paper though. We'll be needin' to look at the want ads for jobs."

Jack did the talking when they got to the bank and they spoke with the loan officer, Martha Walsh. Jack explained their financial situation and asked about any really cheap places they might have that they could pick up for back taxes. She spent some time at her files and came back carrying one folder.

"We do have one place that might meet you're requirements."

"What's wrong with it?" Ennis asked.

"It's the house. It's not livable. It's recommend that it be torn down and rebuilt."

"That'd cost some big money." Ennis said.

"I'm afraid so," Martha said. "But this is the only property that remotely fits your financial situation. It can be had for ten thousand dollars down."

"We ain't got ten thousand dollars." Ennis said.

"How much can you loan me on my truck?" Jack asked.

"Our appraiser will have to take a look at it but if it's in good shape and it's only a year old, I think we could probably go around eight or ten thousand. You said it's paid off and you have the title with you?"

"Yes ma'am. It's paid off in full and the title is in the glove compartment. I'll get it for you." Jack and Ennis walked out to the truck.

"Jack, we don't make no deal till we see the place. We gotta see what the soil is like – we gotta look around some."

"We will. We'll do all those things. But right now we need to see if we can come up with some money for a down payment."

They went back in and handed the title over along with the keys so that the appraiser could go take a look and come up with a figure.

"Can you tell us about this place? How big is it?" Jack asked.

"And how far out of town?" Ennis asked thinking about driving back and forth to work.

"Certainly. Just one moment." Martha shuffled through her papers in the folder."

"Its two hundred fifty acres, I know that's small but it's a nice starter place. And it's, let me see, thirty three miles out of town on 331. Once our appraiser is finished looking at your truck, you can drive out there and have a look around. I can't go with you because there is a manager's meeting in about thirty minutes but I can give you the keys and you can go out and have a look around." She laid the keys on the desk in front of Jack and got up and went into the back.

"What do you think?" Jack asked Ennis.

"I think we need to go take a look before we get our hopes up. The ground might be worthless and we'd just be buyin' ourselves two hundred fifty acres of nothin'."

"Even though the price is right, if it ain't got a house – it might not be such a good deal."

"She said they recommended that the house on it be torn down so at least we know it's got a house. I know how to do a lot of that fixin' up stuff, Jack. Maybe we could get it good enough to live in without tearin' it down and startin' over."

"You think so?" Jack brightened up again.

"Won't know till we get a look at it. Here she comes."

Martha came back to her desk and handed Jack the keys to his truck. She told him the bank would be open until three o'clock so they had that much time to get back with the keys. She also handed them a small map to show them how to get out to the place.

They found the place easy enough, unlocked the gate and drove up to the house. Jack took one look at it and said, "I agree with her. This place should be bulldozed."

"Let's leave the house for now and take a look around. I want to get out into the pastures and see what kind of soil we got here. Head out over that way, back behind the barn."

They drove back and forth across the place for about an hour before heading back to the house again – Ennis getting out every so often and digging down into the soil.

"I tell you, Jack. This soil ain't half bad. It ain't been worked in years but I dug down far enough to see it looks pretty darn good to me. We need to check out the county records and see what the wells are like in this area – see if there's been any contamination and what the percentage is of them goin' dry."

"This house is the big loser though." Jack stopped outside and lit a cigarette. "You sure you wanna go in?"

"Uh huh. You can stay out here if you're afraid of ghosts or somethin'." Ennis teased.

"I ain't afraid of no ghost, Ennis. I'm afraid that thing will fall down on our heads!"

"That's just the porch that's hangin' and that's because that tree pushed that support down. Let's check out the foundation first – see if we find any cracks." They walked around the place, pulled the bushes back and checked the foundation out thoroughly.

"Not a crack. Looks sound to me." Ennis said as they rounded the front of the house and headed to the door. Ennis worked the key in the rusty old lock.

"Foundation may be Ok but the rest of the place looks like shit."

Ennis got the door opened and they walked inside. Birds flew in every direction and other critters scampered into their hiding places.

"I think I've seen enough," Jack started back out to the front porch.

"Oh come on, Jack. You afraid of a few little birds?"

"It ain't the birds, Ennis; it's the stench they left behind. No tellin' what all's been livin' in that place. This place needs to be burned to the ground."

Ennis walked on into the house, checking out the rooms – four downstairs plus a bathroom – front room on the left, next the stairway, a bathroom, and a small room someone had been using for a bedroom. On the right, the dining room across from the front room and kitchen next with a back door at the end of the hall. He stepped over holes in the floor and debris scattered everywhere. Ennis took the stairs carefully as they creaked beneath his weight. Jack decided he'd join him and followed him up. The hand rail had fallen down and the wall paper was hanging loose in several places. Small things scurried out of their way as they proceeded. Bird feathers and droppings were everywhere. There were four rooms up stairs as well – hall down the middle like below and two rooms on either side. Each room was as hideous as the other.

"Let's get out of here, Cowboy. I feel like I'm in the middle of a horror movie. Someone could come out of these rooms after us at any minute with a chain saw ready to make us into fire wood."

They went back outside into the fresh air and climbed into the truck. Jack started it up and Ennis reached over and shut it off.

"I can fix it."

"What are you talkin' about? That house? There ain't nobody can fix that dump up."

"I can."

"How? You got a magic wand somewhere you gonna wave it and make it whole again?"

"Don't need no magic wand, Jack – just a strong back. I tell you, we can fix it up."

"How? Tell me how."

"The birds got in through the broken windows. We fix the windows we get rid of the birds."

"And what about the rest of the critters livin' in there?"

"You live in the country you're gonna have critters. We buy some poison in town and scatter it around and that'll drive most of them off. We get the place cleaned up and repaired we'd have us a fine house here. I tell you, Jack. We can do this."

"You saw the holes in the floors? The mold on the walls?"

"I did. I can fix the holes and scrub the mold off the walls."

"You really know who to do all this stuff? Fix holes in the floor; replace windows, all that stuff?"

"I do. The house is a mess – sure enough and it will take a lot of hard work to bring it back to livable but I ain't never been afraid of hard work. Bottom line is, the soil is good, the house can be fixed up, and the price is right. I think this is the one. We can do this, Jack."

"We ain't even looked at anything else yet." Jack protested.

"Thought you said there was nothing else in the paper we could afford."

"There wasn't. But we could check out some of the Real Estate places."

"We can for a fact. We already paid for a full week at the motel."

"You don't mind if we look around some more – see if we can find something better?"

"Not at all. Let's get back to town and give the bank the keys back and see if you were approved for that loan on your truck."

****

"I'm sorry, Mr. Twist, but that's the banks rules. You must be employed and you must have a local address – something other than a motel."

"We get jobs, we get the loan?" Ennis asked Martha.

"That was the only drawback for the loan. We verified that the truck is indeed paid off and it is in excellent condition. The only thing lacking is employment and a local residence."

"Ok. We were going to be looking for work anyway. Will the ranch be considered a local address or does it have to be in town? We figured on getting a PO box soon as we found a place."

"I'm sure it will be. And the fact that Mr. del Mar will be co-signing the loan helps too."

"All right." Jack said and he and Ennis stood up. "We'll get ourselves jobs and be back to see you. Thank you ma'am."

"I'm starvin'. Wanna hit Denny's?" Jack said as they left the bank and he lit up a cigarette.

"Nope. Let's hit the grocery store, get some stuff and fix lunch in our room."

"You're a hard man, Mr. del Mar." Jack said as he unlocked his truck.

"I thought that's what you liked about me?"

Jack grinned. "You got me there. Let's get groceries, eat and then we can visit some other Real Estate places this afternoon."

"Sure enough," Ennis agreed.

It was difficult cleaning out the electric frying pan in the little bathroom sink but Ennis got it done. They fried up some hamburgers for lunch then headed out to visit some of the local Real Estate places. By late afternoon they had talked with three other Real Estate salesmen and drove out to look at two other properties that were both vetoed because of the soil but they had an appointment the next morning to go out and look over two others.

They made it back to their room by dusk, somewhat exhausted. Jack cooked macaroni and cheese from a box and heated up some hot dogs from their ice chest while Ennis scanned the want ads.

"What time's our appointment tomorrow?" Ennis asked over the newspaper.

"One o'clock. Daniels said he had some meeting he had to go to in the morning and wouldn't be available till after lunch." Jack answered as he filled two plates full and came over to the bed with them.

Ennis took his with a "Thank you" and they started eating. "There's a couple a jobs listed that I could handle. I think I'll go check on that first thing."

"Good idea. That would please Martha. I'll take a look in a minute – see if I can find anything."

Next morning Ennis headed out to the local Safeway grocery store after a breakfast of coffee and oatmeal. Jack stayed behind and made a few phone calls for positions that he saw in the ads.

Just before noon Ennis pulled up and parked at the motel. Jack opened the door and Ennis came in smiling. "I got it, Jack. I got the job. In fact I got two jobs."

"You got two jobs?"

"Uh huh. I got the warehouse job over at Safeway. I work from 6:30 till 3:00. While I was waitin' to speak with Mr. Hennesy the manager, I was lookin' at the bulletin board they got there and saw a notice that they were lookin' for someone to throw the evening paper. That's a two hour job – four o'clock to six. I went over to the newspaper office after talkin' with Hennesy and got that job too. They both want me to start right away – tomorrow. I told them I could."

"Ennis, that's wonderful! But if you got the Safeway job, why did you go for the newspaper job too?"

"Cause it'd be an extra $25 - $30 dollars a week. We could get by on that for groceries if we was careful."

"Wouldn't your Safeway job be enough for groceries?"

"Jack, my Safeway job, I'll be makin' twice what I was for old man Cole. We could put that money to fixin' up a place or on one of the bank loans."

"Ok. That sounds good. I haven't had much luck. I been calling around every ad that I thought I might qualify for and haven't found anything. There is one pretty good lead though. The Ford dealership is lookin' for a salesman. The guy that does the hirin' was out sick today but he's supposed to be back tomorrow so I set up an appointment to go see him."

"That's great, Jack! And you show up in your fancy Ford truck – that ought to give you an edge."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'. I was gettin' ready to fix me a sandwich. What do you say we fix some lunch and get ready for our meetin'?"

"Great! I'm starvin'!" Ennis pulled off his jacket and they set to making sandwiches.

At one o'clock sharp they showed up for their meeting with Daniels and took the drive out to see the property. The soil was good, the house was good, and the price was about the same. The down payment was fifteen grand and would take almost every penny they had and it was only a hundred acres.

"You said you liked the place, Ennis." Jack reminded him later when they were back in their room.

"I do like the place, Jack, but with the size of the down payment we'd have very little cash money left over. I'd hate to start out dead broke with a place. And for about the same price we can get more than twice the land with the first place and a smaller down payment."

"Do we really need that much acreage? I mean, the folks have three hundred acres and they never used but a small part of it."

"Jack, I don't know why your Pa never made a go of your place, I ain't never seen it. But I do know ranchin' and I do intend for us to eventually use whatever amount of land that we can afford. With two hundred and fifty acres, we could do horses as well as cows and whatever else we want to try. Holdin' jobs in town will be great for the first couple of years, till we get the ranch bringin' in some money. But once we quit, we'll be on our own and we'll need to do whatever we can to bring in some cash money for the loans and taxes as well as gettin' by. I was thinkin' maybe we could put in a chicken coop too. They don't take much work at all and there's always a market for eggs."

"That sounds great! I love fried chicken too."

"Chicken is good eatin' for sure. And that back pasture where all the trees are – I was thinkin' we could put in some fruit trees back there.

"With a vegetable garden, huntin' and fishin' we wouldn't never go hungry." Jack grinned.

"That's what I was thinkin. That first place has a lot goin' for it, Jack. And I promise you we can fix up that house real nice. It just needs some seein' to."

"You're really set on that place – aren't you?"

"I think it's the best we've seen for the least amount of money. The bank really wants to get rid of it if it's willin' to let it go for back taxes as a down payment. From the looks of the soil, I'd guess the place ain't been worked in a coupla years. That means the bank has been havin' to pay the taxes on it and will probably be anxious to dump it. They'll be a lot easier to deal with than the real estate companies."

"Well, you know more about this stuff than me. And we could always stay on at the motel until we get the place livable." Jack offered.

"We'd get the most for our money that way. That smaller place was nice too but it's not big enough to do much with. We'd have ourselves a ranch but we'd always have to work in town to get by."

"And you're sure this is where we should live? We could always try Laramie or Cheyenne."

"No. Land that close to the bigger cities is a lot more expensive and those places are usually a lot bigger – a thousand acres or more and you'd need a whole crew to run a place that size. We keep it under three hundred acres, we can handle it ourselves. And besides, here we're right next to the Big Horns and we can take off huntin' or fishin' and just be gone on weekends and not have to take off work. I tell you, Jack, I think that first place is the best deal. Can you check out the water wells with the county tomorrow after your meetin?"

"I can do that."

"Good. Let's get some sleep. I gotta be at Safeway at 6:30."

"Ok. You go ahead and get ready for bed and I'll clean up this mess."

"I'll help. You wanna wash or dry?" Ennis asked as they carried their dishes into the bathroom to wash.

"I'll wash, you can dry." Jack said and tossed Ennis a towel.