Ennis Speaks
Ennis had been around Jack for a few weeks now and had found himself, surprisingly, getting to like him. Jack was boastful, complained about everything, and couldn't play a harmonica worth a damn but, Ennis had to agree, he was funny, eager to laugh, and talkative. Ennis actually liked listening to Jack ramble on and on about….well, anything…and nothing…because Jack didn't require him to answer or comment or nothing. Jack was his own audience. He had from the start included Ennis as if he had always been a part of Jack's existence and this was something almost unheard of in Ennis' short life. Ennis now looked forward to seeing Jack when it was time to come back to camp, mostly because Jack had shown him he just wanted Ennis around without wanting anything from him.
This particular day, they had been drinking…a lot. Jack felt that he had come to know Ennis well enough that he might ask him more personal questions. "Did your brother and sister do right by you?" Ennis replied, not in two or three words, but in a long string of them telling more about himself than he ever had. Jack was so stunned as Ennis' kept talkingthat he could only stare at him, the whiskey bottle forgotten in mid-rise to his mouth. Jack had never heard him speak so many words in a row.
Jack put his head down and stared straight ahead. He couldn't describe how he felt. Ennis had talked about himself! This was a truly special moment between the two of them and Jack knew this immediately. He looked sideways at Ennis. Ennis had finished talking and saw that Jack was just staring at him. "What?" said Ennis. "Friend, them's more words than you spoke in the last two weeks!" Jack said. Ennis replied, kinda proud of what he had done, "Them's more words than I spoke in a year." Ennis looked back at Jack, a little smile on his lips, and on his face was written "for you I did this."
And then because he was on a roll and was feeling frisky with this newfound ability to speak about his own life, he decided to screw with Jack. "My father was a pretty good roper in his day…(and here it came) but, my daddy, he always thought rodeo cowboys was fuck-ups." Well, Jack, still stunned by Ennis actually talking, was now at a complete loss for words. This was a new Ennis del Mar. Jack's eyes went kinda squinchy and he continued to stare at Ennis. The only thing he could get out was "The hell we are," kinda weak, but that's all he could come up with at the moment. Ennis saw Jack's response building but held back the laughter that came bubbling up inside.
Suddenly, Jack jumped up and yelled "Yeeeehaaawwww!" right in Ennis' face. He began to jump around like he was riding a bull, hollering at the top of his lungs about how long he could stay on, waving his hat at all the ladies in the stands, spilling whiskey at each jump. Ennis, for the first time in he couldn't remember when, smiled and began to chuckle at Jack's antics, watching him make a fool of himself…only to watch Jack make even a greater fool of himself when he fell, tripping over a stack of wood a short distance from the fire. By that time, Ennis was grinning from ear to ear, and enjoying himself so much over rilingt Jack that no one would have known that smiling and laughing was something he had not done for a very long time. Invisible observers would have commented on the joy he felt as he watched Jack jump around and then fall, how his heart had begun to thaw and open to let someone in, how the hard and tough exterior had begun to melt.
Jack lay on the ground laughing and trying to catch his breath. He had been watching Ennis…closely watching him for weeks…but really watching him now. He was thrilled beyond belief that his mission to make Ennis laugh had finally found success…and what success. He had seen the bait that Ennis had put out for him…you can't fool a fooler and Jack was far more experienced at this kind of mischief than Ennis would ever be. He saw his chance and grabbed it with both hands. Would he finally be able to get him to crack open this hard exterior of his and smile, even just once? When he threw in the fall for good measure, he saw Ennis not just smile but laugh…a wondeful thing to hear. Ennis had made contact with another person and had laughed. Jack lay there watching Ennis for a short time, reveling in this bit of manipulation that had helped to bring Ennis out of his shell and into the world.
Jack thought this was a great first step.