In December Ennis married Alma Beers and had her pregnant by mid-January. He picked up a few short-lived ranch1 jobs, then settled in as a wrangler2 on the old Elwood Hi-Top place north of Lost Cabin in Washakie County. He was still working there in September when Alma Jr., as he called his daughter, was born and their bedroom was full of the smell of old blood and milk and baby sh*t, and the sounds were of squalling and sucking and Alma’s sleepy groans3, all reassuring4 of fecundity5 and life’s continuance to one who worked with livestock6.
When the Hi-Top folded they moved to a small apartment in Riverton up over a laundry. Ennis got on the highway crew, tolerating it but working weekends at the Rafter B in exchange for keeping his horses out there. The second girl was born and Alma wanted to stay in town near the clinic because the child had an asthmatic wheeze7.
“Ennis, please, no more damn lonesome ranches8 for us,” she said, sitting on his lap, wrapping her thin, freckled9 arms around him. “Let’s get a place here in town?”
“I guess,” said Ennis, slipping his hand up her blouse sleeve and stirring the silky armpit hair, then easing her down, fingers moving up her ribs10 to the jelly breast, over the round belly11 and knee and up into the wet gap all the way to the north pole or the equator depending which way you thought you were sailing, working at it until she shuddered12 and bucked13 against his hand and he rolled her over, did quickly what she hated. They stayed in the little apartment which he favored because it could be left at any time. The fourth summer since Brokeback Mountain came on and in June Ennis had a general delivery letter from Jack14 Twist, the first sign of life in all that time.
Friend this letter is a long time over due. Hope you get it. Heard you was in Riverton. Im coming thru on the 24th, thought Id stop and buy you a beer Drop me a line if you can, say if your there. The return address was Childress, Texas. Ennis wrote back, you bet, gave the Riverton address.
The day was hot and clear in the morning, but by noon the clouds had pushed up out of the west rolling a little sultry air before them. Ennis, wearing his best shirt, white with wide black stripes, didn’t know what time Jack would get there and so had taken the day off, paced back and forth15, looking down into a street pale with dust. Alma was saying something about taking his friend to the Knife & Fork for supper instead of cooking it was so hot, if they could get a baby-sitter, but Ennis said more likely he’d just go out with Jack and get drunk. Jack was not a restaurant type, he said, thinking of the dirty spoons sticking out of the cans of cold beans balanced on the log.
Late in the afternoon, thunder growling16, that same old green pickup17 rolled in and he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat-up Resistol tilted18 back. A hot jolt19 scalded Ennis and he was out on the landing pulling the door closed behind him. Jack took the stairs two and two. They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily20, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then, and easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva21 welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched22, pressing chest and groin and thigh23 and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments24, said what he said to his horses and daughters, little darlin.
The door opened again a few inches and Alma stood in the narrow light.
1 ranch | |
n.大牧场,大农场 | |
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2 wrangler | |
n.口角者,争论者;牧马者 | |
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3 groans | |
n.呻吟,叹息( groan的名词复数 );呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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4 reassuring | |
a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的,使人放心的 | |
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5 fecundity | |
n.生产力;丰富 | |
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6 livestock | |
n.家畜,牲畜 | |
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7 wheeze | |
n.喘息声,气喘声;v.喘息着说 | |
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8 ranches | |
大农场, (兼种果树,养鸡等的)大牧场( ranch的名词复数 ) | |
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9 freckled | |
adj.雀斑;斑点;晒斑;(使)生雀斑v.雀斑,斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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11 belly | |
n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛 | |
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12 shuddered | |
v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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13 bucked | |
adj.快v.(马等)猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 );抵制;猛然震荡;马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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14 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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15 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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16 growling | |
n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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17 pickup | |
n.拾起,获得 | |
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18 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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19 jolt | |
v.(使)摇动,(使)震动,(使)颠簸 | |
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20 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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21 saliva | |
n.唾液,口水 | |
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22 clinched | |
v.(尤指两人)互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 );解决(争端、交易),达成(协议) | |
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23 thigh | |
n.大腿;股骨 | |
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24 endearments | |
n.表示爱慕的话语,亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 ) | |
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