Ennis Del Mar peered into the glass case in the pawn shop on the seedy end of Main Street in Sage, Wyoming. He was thirteen years old and staring adulthood in the face. He hadn't gotten but twenty dollars for his dad's chipped and battered old pocket watch; K.E. and Maggie had already run up a fifteen dollar credit account at Emerson's Grocery, trying a keep them all fed. As if it knew why he was selling the watch, the boy's stomach gurgled and clenched in hunger. He hurried out of the store toward a hot meal of fried mush and bacon. He hoped there was some raw maple syrup left in the bottom of the can. That would make it somewhat of a celebration.
These days, no one in Lincoln County had two extra dimes to rub together; but the ladies auxiliary of the Sage Redeemer Methodist Church tried their best, they surely did. Problem was, K.E., Maggie and Ennis insisted they had to stay together cause momma and daddy woulda wanted it that way. There was not one soul around, nor family either, able to take in three more mouths to feed.
They knew it was coming, had smelled starvation from the moment the sheriff pulled his cruiser up in the weedy yard without no siren or flashing lights. They were orphans now, alone in the world, on their own, and needed to get paying jobs somewheres. As hard as they worked, they couldn't keep up the ranch and pay off the mortgage too; it was useless to try to get even one more year of high school. As it was, they were on foot; that old traitor of a truck having given out between home and the undertaker's.
The watch was to have given each of them a grub stake; some cash to have on hand till they found work, but it wasn't enough. The boys were strong and though lean, were good workers. They found little bits of work here and there, but nothing permanent. Maggie was taken in on a trial basis to cook and clean for a widower with three children. He worked in the oil fields and had left his children unattended on days when his sister couldn't take them. She was hungry, and he was lonely. They eventually married.
Thirty years later, Ennis Del Mar stared through the glass case in the pawn shop on the seedy end of Main Street in Sage, Wyoming. Knowing it was useless to hope that the only thing his daddy had treasured, might still be waiting there, he looked anyway. When he slumped in disappointment, Jack rubbed his shoulders hard, and said "Sorry, Cowboy, it was a longshot, but I wish it coulda worked out for you just this once."
Mr. Hartson removed the cigarette from his mouth with fingers permanently stained with nicotine. "Can I help you gentlemen find something in particular today?" he asked. He replaced the cigarette to the side of his mouth and squinted up as Ennis described the gold plated watch, no chain, and the scratched crystal. "Nope, don't recall nothing like that. Probly had a hunnerd or more just like that over the years. Was there any thing special about it?"
"Well, it was my daddy's" said Ennis.
"Any marks or design that would make it stand out from all the others?" he asked.
"Uh, I think it said something on the inside of the case, from my grandpa to my dad, Ray Del Mar, but I'm not sure what it was."
"Yep, yep, that name might ring a bell or two, lemme see." said the shop keeper, beginning to thumb through his old register. "I was right! Says right here, was claimed by another man a couple years ago this spring."
"Who was it?" inquired Ennis.
"Hm, not a name, just some initials . . . K. E. Del Mar claimed it. Yep. Is that a relative a yours?
"Yeah, that's ma brother."
"Well, seems like a brother with any salt woulda let ya know he done redeemed yer daddy's watch."
"Yeah, well that's a long story, but he's the elder brother, so it's rightfully his. Just didn't want to see it languishing in this case forever, if I had anything to say about it."
Jack saw the slump return to Ennis' shoulders, and gave him a pat on the back, maybe lingering an extra second or two to let him feel his man's long fingers on him in this no longer familiar town. "Come on Friend, I'll buy you a beer. It'll cut some a the everlastin dust outa yer throat and maybe help ya swaller some a that lump a disappointment yer bound ta be feelin."
"Yeah, alright."
As they stepped out of the dimness of the pawn shop into the blinding autumn sunshine, the little bell above the door tinkled their departure. Ennis jerked his head back towards the store, spun around on his heel and went back inside. He approached the proprietor one more time. "Is there anything else on that card, anything else about that watch, Mister?"
Sure 'nuff. Tells when you brung it in, how much you was give for it, all kinds a things. What'd you want to know?
"Does it say what was on the inside? Does it say the words?"
"Here son, see for yourself."
Ennis squinted in the low light, but he had no trouble making out the words the original shop owner had written in the space set aside for "Special Marks, if any". It said
"Engraved inside the back:
To my beloved son, Raymond.
Never Enough Time; Never Enough
Ennis Del Mar"