Jack got to work loosening the tire on VW combie van. As soon as he arrived with the puncture kit, the hippies left him to get on with the job, like a repair man that had turned up in the middle of nowhere. He could hear them talking and laughing around the campfire, about what else they were going to do before starting college. One of them had a friend up in San Francisco who they could stay with and after that go and after that they might see the Grand Canyon. As they talked the fragment smell of weed wafted in the twilight summer heat. As Jack worked, and he listened to them talking, he thought about how different their lives were from his when he was the same age. Growing up poor, on the desolate plain's, realizing that he was different. He hoped that Bobby more opportunities that he did, and that his reading and writing would come right. He wanted Bobby to go on the college, like Lureen. He glanced up and saw Lucy, the girl that may have followed him and Ennis up the mountain, staring over at him. She noticed him staring back and her, and cast her eyes downwards

Kneeling down, hunched over the wheel, he heard her voice behind him. "Thought you might be hungry," she said offering him a plate of food.

Jack didn't look up , "No thankyou, Miss. I got supper waiting for me when I get back to camp." He continued what he was doing, wanting get the job done and get back to Ennis.

He finished off sealing the tire but was aware that she was still standing staring at him.

She said, "Sorry, if I gave you and your friend a fright earlier on today."

He froze from what he was doing. So it was her that had seen them. He said, "You shouldn't go snooping around on people like that."

"I wasn't snooping on you," she said indignantly. "I followed you to get assistance. I wasn't even there that long." She paused, and her voice quavered, "I thought your friend was going to shoot me ."

Jack stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. He could see that she was shaken over what happened, which seemed to be less about seeing him and Ennis together, and more about having a gun pulled on her. His tone softened and to reassure her he said, "Well, he didn't know who it was. You scared him just as much he scared you. We thought it could a been a bear. You're out in the mountains. Shouldn't a have gone wandering off by yourself, not out this way."

Her eyebrows knitted together, and she crossed her arms. "The way he was pointing that rifle, it looked like he wouldn't have waited to see if it were a bear. He was going to shoot anyway. I wasn't spying on you," she repeated. "I wasn't there long but, I could tell you and your friend wanted to be alone."

So she had been there long enough to know what was going on. He narrowed his eyes and noticing the intensity of his gaze; she stared back anxiously and continued. "I mean, whatever you and your friend were getting up to, it's your business. I just don't understand why your friend wanted to shoot me over it."

Since she had already seen, there didn't seem any point trying to hide it. Jack said, "Well round here people don't like the idea of two guys getting together. That's why we come all the way out here to meet up with one another. A lot of folks round here might want to do harm to us if they found out about us."

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it. You should be able to be with who you want, you're not hurting anyone else?"

"That's the way I look at it, but my friend and a lot of other people round these parts think differently."

"That sounds sad, coming out all this way just so you can spend time together. It's not like that in LA. My parents are friends with these two men that live together. They just treat them like any other couple. Have them over dinner. It's like they're married, they both wear wedding rings."

"A guy married to another guy. Who ever heard of that?" Jack said, now listening attentively.

"Things are changing. It's more accepted nowadays."

"Maybe other places, but not in Wyoming."

"You shouldn't put up with it. It's unfair. You should try and change the way things are."

Growing impatient with her, Jack said, "Look Miss, I don't want to go out and change the goddamn world . I just want the same things everyone else does, to settle down, work for a living, get by. Only difference is, who I want to settle down with happens to be a guy."

"I didn't mean to …."

"It ain't that simple. There's more to it than that. A hell of a lot more." Jack said, thinking that they both had wives and kids. Not to mention that Ennis still struggled to accept that he liked men.

As Jack finished putting on the tire, he heard the rhythmic thud of horse's hooves and heard Ennis's voice call out, "You seen my buddy? He come up here to help you with your van."

Jack called out, "It's alright, I'm just about finished."

The girl said to him, "Hope you sort something out with your boyfriend."

Jack said, "Thanks. I hope so too."

The man strumming guitar said, "Why don't you stay. Join us for a while."

Ennis still sitting astride his horse said, "Thanks for your offer, but we got to go."

As they rode back towards camp, Ennis said smiling, "I didn't think you'd been there that long. Thought you might a been kidnaped by them hippies."

"They were just a bunch of kids."

"They should stay away from the towns, walking around looking like that."

"Tomorrow they'll be going to San Francisco, and I'll be in Lightning Flat."

"I ain't like you or them hippies. I got a job I got to get back to."

"I understand, I just wish we could get together more often. I mean, six months. The times that we get to see one another are getting longer and longer apart."

"Jack, it ain't as easy as it was before to get away."

"I don't know why it needs to be so fucking hard."

"Come on Jack, we been through this before?"

I was talking to this hippy girl. She comes from LA. There's a lot of changes going on. Guys living together. Nobody bothering them."

"Jack, that ain't never going to happen here."

"Well, why not?"

"Whoa you're talking about a bunch of hippies. They live in some kind a dream world, and we ain't out in L.A."

"What if it's not just them? What if they're just the start, that the world really is changing and someday, maybe someday soon, that a guy settling down with a guy, isn't going to turn heads, even round here."

"Jack, that's just crazy talk," Ennis said sounding a little wistful. His tone hardened, and he added, "What you listening to someone coming all the way out here with no proper gear, just heaps of drugs to get high on, and then get themselves stuck?"

"Maybe so." Jack said, thinking to himself that getting together every six months, hiding a way, was even crazier.

Ennis got up from his chair and went over to Jack, he sat next to him and leant against him. Jack took a swig of whiskey out of the bottle and passed to Ennis. Relenting, wanting to make the most of the time they had left together, Jack kissed Ennis's hair and said, "September's not that long away and if we can make for a couple of weeks next time."

"I mean you got Lureen. Don't she mind about you coming up to Wyoming all the time?"

"Lureen? Her daddies got her helping him run the business, and he's putting her in charge more, being real demanding. Lureen don't mind what I do just so long as I keep my side of the job up. She wants me to get back before the new models come in. The sales figures are holding up, and I'm just about to do another round of trade shows …"

"So she don't suspect nothing?"

"She ain't mentioned nothing. How about you and Alma?"

"Alma? She don't seem happy with nothing these days. She's doing extra shifts at the grocery store. We don't see that much of one another. When I'm not working, I'm looking after the girls and she's working at the grocery store. Just before I came here, she said that she'd had enough of me going fishing and leaving her and the girls at home. She said if I left, she might not be there when I got back."

"Well, you and her have been married for a long time now. She wouldn't do that."

"Things have been going downhill between us for a while. Alma could walk out on me and take the girls with her. I've got to get back, start toeing the line."

Jack clasped his arms tighter round Ennis and whispered in his ear, "Shh It'll be alright."

"If I show her I can hold down a job, maybe she'd be happier."

And maybe that ain't the only reason she ain't happy Jack thought, remembering the note she had written which was hidden away in his pocket.