ENNIS
By Tom Forster

Chapter 6


Late May was the beginning of the busy season at the ranch.  Barker usually took on an additional five workers to get them through the summer.  The main goal was to drive the herd, almost eight thousand head of cattle, up to the summer grazing land.  Any pregnant cows were held back until they calved and were usually taken to the upper pastures before the end of June.  Billy moved out of the little apartment and into the main bunkhouse, he didn’t want any of the new men to think he thought he was better than them just because he was Barker’s nephew.

Ennis oversaw Billy and the five hired hands.  The days were long and hard for the next month and Ennis did not get much time to spend one on one with Billy.  He admired the way Billy pitched right in and was impressed at how easily he made friends with the other men, something Ennis always found hard to do.  Ennis decided to split the herd into two groups, driving first one and then the other up the canyons.  It took three days to get each herd up to summer pasture. Ennis split the men up so only two would have to over night it each day.  He purposely made sure he and Billy weren’t paired up.  He felt it best if he distanced himself from the young man to let Billy learn for himself and build up confidence, but mainly because the six weeks  Ennis had spent with Billy awakened long repressed feelings within him; feelings Ennis knew could be dangerous for them.

By late June most of the cattle made the journey to the summer grazing land.  Old man Barker would often come out on his horse to check on things.  He was concerned about the number of losses he had the previous year to wolves, so he decided to keep two men posted at the high camp at all times so they could have easy access to the herds.

He let Ennis handle the details.  Ennis knew how isolated it could be to have men out there for weeks at a time, so he set up a rotating schedule that allowed the men to return to the ranch every other week. This seemed to work out well, but it left them short handed for the chores that had to be done down in the valley.  Towards the end of the month all of the heifers had been taken up with their new calves.  The horses had produced several foals earlier in the month, and there was one mare left to go.  Ennis could tell she was carrying twins and that she was gonna have a hard time of it.

When the day came that he knew she was getting close to giving birth he decided to sleep over in the stables.  He preferred it to the loud, stinking hot bunkhouse.  Ennis brought her into a stall piled high with fresh hay and gave her some extra water.  He rolled out his bed blankets in the next stall and stretched out on the soft bed.  He liked the smell of the hay and feed and the gentle grunts of the horses. Barker and Chet had gone down to Colorado Springs for a few days to handle some business.  Two of the men were at high camp, and Ennis  let the other three head into Riverton to blow off some steam.

As he lie there with his hat over his face, he thought about the first day he met Jack standing outside of Aguirre's trailer.  He chuckled as he thought of the cocky way Jack pulled up in his truck and strutted around like a rooster in his black hat.  Ennis was immediately attracted to Jack, but not in the way he later came to be.   As they walked over to the bar for a drink, Ennis knew it was going be an interesting summer, but at that time he had no concept of the experiences he and Jack would later have.  Ennis wondered what his life would have been like if he never met Jack,— if he never took the job up on  Brokeback Mountain.  He figured it probably would have been a hell of a lot easier, but he knew he wouldn't have had it any other way.  He dozed dreamlessly for a while.

Ennis could hear the mare rustling in the hay in the next stall.  She was becoming more agitated so Ennis knew the time was getting close.  He got up, took his knife, rope and some burlap sacks over into the stall.  He tied the mare up tight to prevent her from lying down.  He rolled up the sleeve of his faded plaid shirt, greased up his arm and stuck it up inside her to feel how far along she was.  He didn't have to go in far to feel the hooves of the birthing foal.  He washed his arm in the bucket of water and walked to the entrance of the stables.  It was a warm, still night.  The front porch light was on at the house which was otherwise dark.  The bunkhouse was lit up as always. Nobody seemed to be around.  He turned and Billy was standing outside the stall of the mare.  He came in the side door where all the riding gear was stored.

"Hey Ennis, I see you got your hands full here."

Billy needed a haircut, his dark red hair was beginning to curl in the back.  His face was ruddy from the past few weeks of being continuously out in the sun.  Ennis was glad to see him.

"Ain't nothin I can't handle.  I thought you'd gone into Riverton. Hell, you ain't had a day off in more’n a month."
Ennis walked over and stood next to Billy and looked into the stall.

"Well,— we might as well give her a helping hand.  Grab that thin rope over there."

Billy went into the stall and gave the length of rope to Ennis.  The foal’s front hooves were now protruding from the mare.  Ennis tied one end of the rope carefully around the foal’s legs and backed away a bit, handing the other end to Billy.

"Give her a tug. "

Billy took the rope from Ennis and backed away some in case the mare might kick.  He pulled firmly and the foal slowly emerged from the mare, plopping in a wet heap on the soft hay below.  It wasn't much longer after the second foal made an appearance, but it didn't need any help making its way into the world.

Ennis untied the mare and they watched her clean her foals.  Billy was kneeling in the hay watching intently, smiling, looking up at Ennis then back at the mare.

"Ennis I sure have missed you.  Seems like we don't never get to hang out and talk anymore."  Ennis kept watching the mare licking the after birth off her newborns.  "Now that the herd's been moved, you think maybe we could take an afternoon to do some riding down on the south end?  I ain't really gotten to see any of that part yet."  Billy looked eagerly at Ennis.

Ennis looked down at his boots,

"Well… I suppose we could do that."

Another two weeks of long, hard days passed and Billy still hadn't heard anything from Ennis about the two of them getting away for an afternoon.  Billy knew that Ennis had a lot on him, and did not want to bug him about it.  In addition to all the work at the ranch, Uncle Vernon mentioned to him Ennis's daughter was having problems with her husband and left him.  Ennis was fixing up a garage apartment in town for her and the girls in his spare time,— what little there was of it.

The brutal July sun made the ranch work even harder.  Billy never imagined a place could be so cold in the winter and hot in the summer,  but he felt the beauty of the country made it worth while.  Billy liked  ranch work and felt he learned a tremendous amount about how to oversee an operation like this.  He knew if it had not been for Ennis this would not be the case.  Billy was in awe of the man.  One evening Billy had supper with Uncle Vernon in the house.  He carefully steered the conversation around to Ennis.

"Uncle Vernon, you're sure lucky to have Ennis lookin out for things around here.”

The old man was chewing a piece of steak.

"Yep, I sure am."

Billy got up and spooned some more field peas onto his plate and got another piece of corn bread.

"You know much about his past?  Like, where'd he learn so much about cattle and tendin’horses?  He got any family besides his daughter and grand-kids in Riverton?"

"Well Billy, I've known Ennis nigh on a dozen years now, and I can't say I know anymore about him now than I did when he first started up here as a summer hand.  He's a very private man, and I respect that.  All I care about is he does a honest days work for me."

Vernon Sr. knew a little more about Ennis than he was letting on. He knew the man was haunted by something from his past.  He cut Ennis a lot of slack in those early years.  Sometimes Ennis wouldn't show up to work for days at a time.  When Ennis would sheepishly knock on the kitchen door, holding his beat up white hat in his hand, the old man would give him a good talking to then hire him back. That's not something he did for anybody else.

He had a tender spot where Ennis was concerned, though that's something he wouldn't let on to a living soul, except Rita.  She was like a mother to Ennis when she was living, and the old man could see Ennis took it hard when she died a few years back.  During the past five years it seemed like Ennis turned a corner and the old man couldn't ask for a more loyal, trustworthy employee.  Nope, he didn't  ask Ennis any questions.  He knew all men had their demons, himself included.  The situation with Vernon Jr. tore away a piece of his heart. It was ultimately something a man must come to terms with on his own,— or die trying.

Billy sensed his uncle didn’t want to discuss Ennis, so he ate quietly for a few minutes.

"Billy, now that you've had a chance to get a feel for what we do up here, what are you thinking?"

Billy looked at the peas on his plate for a moment.

“I like it Uncle Vernon, but I'm still not sure if I'm the man for the job.  Give me some more time."

"There's no hurry son."  Then he looked straight at Billy,  "I've been watchin’ you, Billy.  You're a natural at this, and I'm not talkin so much about the actual ranching.  You're good at that, all right. I mean, you know how to deal with people, Son.  I've watched you with those cow pokes out there in the bunkhouse.  They respect you. You even got ole Chet startin to change his mind on you!"

"Thank you, Uncle.  I 'preciate your confidence in me."

As Billy was heading back over to the bunk house he saw Ennis grooming one of the horses just outside the front entrance to the stables.

"Hey Ennis, how you doin, friend?"

"Hey, Billy."  he continued brushing down the horse, "Doin’ fine. You have supper with the old man?"

"Yep, he was just checking to see how I was doing.  I said I was doing all right thanks to you."

Ennis stopped the brushing and stood up straight." You done it all on your own, Billy, you don't need my help no more."

Ennis went back to working on the horse.  Billy walked into the stables pretending to check on the horses.  He was hoping Ennis would say something about heading down to the south part of the spread.  Finally, he walked back outside, and looked up at the stars that were just coming out.

"Well, ‘nite Ennis,— you take care."

Billy walked slowly back towards the bunkhouse, sorely disappointed.

"Hey! I almost forgot,” Ennis called to him,  “I got some’um I been meanin’ to give you."

Billy stopped and turned with his hands in his back pockets and strolled back towards the stables.  Ennis dropped the brush and went behind the door and came back out with a box.

"Here you go buddy, I would ‘a took care of this a while back, but I had a few things come up."

Billy accepted the pasteboard box from Ennis, he pulled off the top.

"Well I'll be!  Damn if this ain't a surprise!"

Ennis soaked up Billy's radiant smile.

"Well, it's the least I could do since you lost the other one on account of me."

Billy took out the black Resistol hat, admiring it.  He placed it on his head, bending up the sides, positioning it just right.

"How's it look?"

Ennis smiled his crooked smile.

"You look like a real cowboy Billy.  Yep,— you look just fine.”

Ennis started to lead the horse back into the stables, then paused.

"How 'bout we meet up right here bout six in the mornin’?  Hell, we deserve a whole day!"

Billy stood smiling.  He watched Ennis disappear into the stall with the horse, then he kicked up some dust with his boot and ran back to the bunkhouse.


Copyright 2006 Tom Forster