Foreshadowing part 3

See part 1 for disclaimer

Just a note, I have never been to a fortune teller so I have no idea

what actually happens, but I have seen enough stuff on TV shows to

adequately do this scene. At least I hope so. And you should know that

Natasha is psychic as well.

Ennis picked his way through the many stands of foods and games. He was

thinking of going home, kicking back with a beer and just relaxing. He

was going to find Junior to let her know he was leaving when he spotted

a souvenir stand that had a stand filled with postcards with photos of

the carnival on them. One card that caught his eye was one that had a

Ferris wheel on it. He didn't really like rides but he though about

couples who would go on and get stuck at the top. He smiled when an

image of him and Jack came to mind, them being all the way up there,

being able to see the view holding hands. Just for a few moments alone

on top of the world. Ennis bought the card; he'd use it to confirm their

meeting in November.

He started to head back to the kiddy roller coaster where Kurt had been

working when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Hey you, cowboy."

Ennis turned around and saw an older woman dressed in a gypsy outfit,

her head was covered in a silk scarf and she had a pair of earrings and

a necklace made of coins.

"Uh, yes ma'am?" he suddenly noticed he was standing in front of the

fortune teller's booth.

"I sense you are very troubled, come inside and I will see what the

fates have in store for you."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I just don't put much stock in fortune tellin."

He tipped his hat and tried to depart. The woman touched his arm and

groaned in pain. "Oh my." She grew pale.

"Are you alright ma'am?" Ennis thought the woman was going to faint and

held her arms and helped her inside. He helped her to a chair; there was

a round table in front of it that had a crystal ball in the center and a

deck of tarot cards.

"I'll be alright, but I am sensing great danger. Please let me do a

reading on you."

"Ma'am, I really don't believe in this stuff, asides I don't have much

money to pay ya."

"You don't have to pay me, just please let me do this reading. Please?

It's very important."

"Alright, ma'am."

"Please call me Natasha, Ennis."

"Hey, how'd you know my name, Miss Natasha, I didn't even introduce myself."

"The spirits told me, just like they are telling me there is a dark

cloud hanging over you. Please sit down and let me see your palm."

Ennis sat opposite Natasha at the table, he held out his right hand and

she turned it over and studied the lines on his palm.

"You've had a very hard life, suffered many losses." She traced the

lines on his palm. "There is someone very close to you that you love

very dearly." Natasha closed her eyes and concentrated on images she was

getting in her head. "But it is a difficult relationship, a forbidden

love that must be kept secret."

Ennis was getting very uncomfortable with how this fortune teller seemed

to be reading his mind. He wanted nothing more then to run away, but

something kept him rooted to the spot.

"There is danger, oh, trouble coming." She started to breathe heavily.

Her hand was gripping Ennis' tightly. She stared into his brown eyes.

"Death, I see death waiting."

Ennis felt his heart beating like a jackhammer as he got caught up in

the fortune teller's ramblings. "Death? Whose gonna die?" he asked

dreading the answer. A fear welled up inside him, all at once images of

Earl in the irrigation ditch flashed in his mind and the tire irons that

had gotten him. And now he didn't want to think about what this woman

was telling him, he didn't believe in this mumbo jumbo crap. This was a

trick, she was lying. She had to be.

"A beating, oh so much blood and pain. I hear a name, a name, he's

crying out a name."

"W-whut name?" Ennis felt like he was going to gag.

"He's crying out, 'Ennis please help me.' Oh gawd they are beating him.

You've got to save him." She was becoming hysterical.

Ennis broke the contact and stood up. He was pale and shaking. He turned

to leave. "I don't know who you are, lady, but I ain't sitting here and

listen to this here bullcrap you're shoveling at me." He was halfway out

the booth when...

"Jack needs you, Ennis. He's going to die unless you can save him." She

beseeched him.

Ennis froze in his steps and turned around to look at the woman. He was

scared shitless. This was his worst fear for him and Jack. Fears he'd

kept locked inside of him all his life. Fear of being queer and the

consequences of letting himself love Jack openly and those damn tire

irons. No one else knew about this except Jack.

He grabbed Natasha by her shoulders. "How the hell do you know about

Jack, huh?"

Natasha could see the fear and anger and also the intense love this man

had for the other man.

"I can see things, Ennis. Pictures in my mind. You must go to him, now

before it's too late." Ennis looked at her dumbstruck. He left the booth

in a hurry and raced out of the carnival and into his truck and raced

back to his trailer. Completely forgetting to tell the girls he was going.

Ennis stood in his trailer, pacing in the small space trying to think

what to do next. Was Jack really in trouble? Or was Natasha just

making this all up as some kind of sham. He finally sat down on his

recliner and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his

head in his hands. 'It can't be true, it just can't be. Jack is safe in

Childress with his wife and son. Yeah he'll just send out that postcard

he got at the carnival and set up a time and place to meet Jack in

November and just forget what that charlatan said.

Ennis took out the postcard and just looked at it. Trying so hard to

get Natasha's words out of his head. 'Jack's in trouble, they're

beating him up, DEATH.'

"Just shut up! SHUT UP!" he yelled at the voices. Ennis closed his eyes

trying to get himself under control. He leaned back in the chair and he

saw an image of himself going to the post office like he did every few

days to get his mail. He walked out of the post office with his bundle

of mail, he saw catalogs, junk mail, and bills and then a postcard

caught his eye. He always got excited when one of Jack's postcards

came. But this time it was not Jack's postcard it was the one he had

sent to Jack it was returned to him marked 'DECEASED' in big red

lettering on it. Ennis eyes flew open and his heart sank to the floor.

"Jack!" he could feel his eyes tearing up. "I ain't gonna let this

happen to you, Rodeo. I ain't gonna let them get you with them tire

irons." Ennis had thought all these years that by keeping him and Jack

apart he was protecting them. He knew that Jack tended to be more

carefree then Ennis, less careful. He didn't seem to care if people

found out. Now Jack was down in Texas, alone, vulnerable and going to

die cause Ennis was too scared to take a leap of faith and live that

sweet life Jack was always talking about.

That wasn't going to happen, not so long as their was breath in Ennis'

body. "Jack I swear I am coming to get you bud, you just hang on."

Ennis packed a few things. He brought his shotgun with him and made sure

it was loaded. And got in his truck, stopped for gas and hightailed it

to Texas.

TBC

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