"Shit." "You pair of deuces looking for work, I suggest you get your scrawny asses in here pronto." "U p on Brokeback, the Forest Service has got designated campsites on the allotments." "Them camps can be 3, 4 miles from where we pasture the woollies." "Bad predator loss if there's nobody looking after them at night." "Now, what I want is a camp tender to stay in the main camp, where the Forest Service says." "But the herder, he's gonna pitch a pup tent on the QT with the sheep and he's gonna sleep there." "You eat your supper and breakfast in camp, but you sleep with the sheep 100 %." "No fire, don't leave no sign." "You roll up that tent every morning in case Forest Service snoops around." "Yeah?" "No." "No!" "Not on your fucking life." "You got your dogs, your . 30-30, you sleep there." "Last summer I had goddamn near 25 % loss." "I don't want that again." "You." "Fridays at noon, be down at the bridge with your grocery list and mules, and somebody with supplies will be there at the pick-up." "Tomorrow morning we'll truck you up to the jump-off." "Jack Twist." "Ennis." "Your folks just stop at Ennis?" "Del Mar." "Well, nice to know you, Ennis Del Mar." "My second year up here." "Last year, one storm, the lightning killed 42 sheep." "Thought I'd asphyxiate from the smell." "Aguirre got all over my ass, like I was supposed to control the weather." "But beats working for my old man." "Can't please my old man, no way." "That's why I took to rodeoing." "You ever rodeo?" "You know, I mean, once in a while." "When I got the entry fee in my pocket." "Yeah." "Are you from ranch people?" "Yeah, I was." "Your folks run you off?" "No, they run themselves off." "There was one curve in the road in 43 miles, and they miss it." "So the bank took the ranch and my brother and sister, they raised me, mostly." "Shit, that's hard." "Can I?" "Thank you." "Don't let them stray." "Joe will have your ass if you do." "Only thing, don't never order soup." "Them soup boxes are hard to pack." "Well, I don't eat soup." "You wanna watch it there." "That horse has a low startle point." "Doubt there's a filly that could throw me." "Let's git, unless you wanna sit around tying knots all day." "Oh, shit." "Can't wait till I get my own spread and I won't have to put up with Joe Aguirre's crap no more." "I'm saving for a place myself." "Alma and me, we're gonna get married when I come down off this mountain." "Shit, that stay with the sheep, no fire bullshit." "Aguirre got no right making us do something against the rules." "No more beans." "Damn." "Shit!" "I don't know." "Something wrong?" "Yeah, so what..." "Why didn't we get the powdered milk and the spuds?" "That's all we got." "Well..." "Here's next week's." "Thought you didn't eat soup." "Yeah, well, I'm sick of beans." "Too early in the summer to be sick of beans." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Hold on." "Whoa, whoa." "Shit." "Whoa." "Come back here!" "Whoa there, whoa." "All right." "Fuck it." "Okay, you bastard." "Where the hell you been?" "Been up with the sheep all day, I get down here hungry as hell and all I find is beans." "What in the hell happened, Ennis?" "I come on a bear is what happened." "Goddamn horse spooked and the mules took off and scattered food everywhere." "Beans is about all we got left." "Got whiskey or something?" "Dumb-ass mule." "I can't believe that." "God damn." "Let me see." "Shit." "Well, we gotta do something about this food situation." "Maybe I'll shoot one of the sheep." "Yeah, what if Aguirre finds out, huh?" "We're supposed to guard the sheep, not eat them." "What's the matter with you?" "There are a thousand of them." "I'll stick with beans." "Well, I won't." "Yeah!" "Getting tired of your dumb-ass missing." "Let's get a move on." "Don't want the Game and Fish to catch us with no elk." "Come on." "Shit." "Yeah, I'm commuting four hours a day." "I come in for breakfast, I go back to the sheep." "Evening, get them bedded down." "Come in for supper, go back to the sheep." "Spend half the night checking for damn coyotes." "Aguirre got no right to make me do this." "You wanna switch?" "I wouldn't mind sleeping out there." "That ain't the point." "The point is, we both ought to be in this camp." "Goddamn pup tent smells like cat piss or worse." "I wouldn't mind being out there." "Well, I'm happy to switch with you, but I warn you, I can't cook worth a damn." "I am pretty good with a can opener, though." "You can't be no worse than me, then." "Here you go." "You won't get much sleep, I'll tell you that." "Yup." "Come on." "Shot a coyote up there." "It's a big son of a bitch." "He had balls on him the size of apples." "He looked like he could eat himself a camel." "You want some of this hot water?" "It's all yours." "Mmm." "I don't rodeo much myself." "I mean, what's the point of riding some piece of stock for eight seconds?" "Money's a good point." "True enough." "If you don't get stomped winning it, huh?" "Yeah." "Well, my old man, he was a bull rider." "Thank you." "Pretty well-known in his day." "Though he kept his secrets to himself." "Never taught me a thing, never once come to see me ride." "Your brother and sister do right by you?" "They did the best they could after my folks was gone." "Considering they didn't leave us nothing but $24 in a coffee can." "I got me a year of high school." "That was before the transmission went on the pickup." "And then my sis left." "She married a roughneck, moved to Casper." "And me and my brother, we went and got ourselves some work on a ranch up near Worland." "Till I was 19." "Then he got married." "And no more room for me." "That's how come me end up here." "What?" "Man, that's more words than you've spoke in the past two weeks." "Hell, that's the most I've spoke in a year." "But my dad, he was a fine roper." "Didn't rodeo much, though." "He thought rodeo cowboys was all fuck-ups." "The hell they are." "Well..." "There you go." "I'm spurring his guts out!" "Waving to the girls in the stands!" "He's kicking me to high heaven, but he don't jack board me!" "No!" "I think my dad was right." "Tent don't look right." "Well, it ain't going nowhere." "Let it be." "That harmonica don't sound quite right either." "That's 'cause it got kind of flattened when that mare threw me." "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah." "I thought you said that mare couldn't throw you." "She got lucky." "Yeah, well, if I got lucky, that harmonica would've broke in two." "I know I shall meet you on that final day" "Water-walking Jesus, take me away!" "Very good." "Oh, yeah." "My mama, she believes in the Pentecost." "Oh, yeah?" "What exactly is the Pentecost?" "I mean, my folks, they was Methodist." "The Pentecost." "I don't know, I don't know what the Pentecost is." "Mom never explained it to me." "I guess it's when the world ends and fellas like you and me, we march off to hell." "Speak for yourself." "You may be a sinner, but I ain't yet had the opportunity." "Thank you." "Shit!" "I'm gonna go up to the sheep now." "Give them hell." "No, I'm..." "You can hardly stand." "It's too late to go to them sheep." "Well, you got an extra blanket?" "I'll just roll up out here, grab 40 winks and I'll ride out at first light." "You'll freeze your ass off when that fire dies down." "Oh, that's good." "You're better off sleeping in the tent." "Yeah." "All right." "Ennis!" "What?" "Just quit your yammering and get in here!" "Come on, come on." "What are you doing?" "See you for supper." "Yeah." "Come on." "Come on." "This is a one-shot thing we got going on here." "It's nobody's business but ours." "You know I ain't queer." "Me, neither." "I'm sorry." "It's all right." "Lie back." "Come on." "Twist." "Your Uncle Harold's in the hospital with pneumonia." "Docs don't expect he'll make it." "Your ma sent me to tell you, so here I am." "Bad news." "There ain't nothing I can do about it up here, I guess." "There's not much you can do about it down there, neither." "Not unless you can cure pneumonia." "God damn!" "Jesus!" "Them sheep will drift if I don't get back up there tonight!" "You'll get pitched off your mount in a storm like this." "You'll wish you hadn't tried it!" "It's too cold!" "Close it up!" "What are we supposed to do now, huh?" "Get on in there and untangle them" "Chilean sheep out of ours, I guess." "Oh, where is it?" "Shit!" "God, half the goddamn paint brands have wore off!" "We gotta try." "The least we can do is get the count right for Aguirre." "Fuck Aguirre!" "Oh, yeah, fuck Aguirre." "What if we need to work for him again?" "You think of that?" "We gotta stick this out, Jack." "You'll run them sheep off again if you don't quiet down." "What are you doing?" "Aguirre came by again." "Says my uncle didn't die after all." "Says bring them down." "Bring them down, why?" "It's the middle of August." "Says there's a storm coming, moving in from the Pacific." "Worse than this one." "That snow barely stuck an hour." "H uh?" "Besides, that son of a bitch, he's cutting us out a whole month's pay." "It ain't right." "Well, I can spare you a loan, bud, if you're short on cash." "Give it to you when we get to Signal." "I don't need your money, huh?" "You know, I ain't in the poorhouse." "Shit!" "All right." "Time to get going, cowboy." "Come here!" "This ain't no rodeo, cowboy!" "Oh, shit!" "Ennis." "Ennis." "Come here." "You okay?" "You okay?" "Yeah." "Some of these never went up there with you." "Count ain't what I'd hoped for, neither." "You ranch stiffs, you ain't never no good." "Wanna give it some gas?" "I can't believe I left my damn shirt up there." "Yeah." "You gonna do this again next summer?" "Well, maybe not." "Like I said, me and Alma is getting married in November." "So, I'll try to get something on a ranch, I guess." "And you?" "Might go up to my daddy's place and give him a hand through the winter." "I might be back." "If the Army don't get me." "Well, I guess I'll see you around, huh?" "Right." "What the fuck are you looking at?" "H uh?" ""And forgive us our trespasses" ""as we forgive those who trespass against us." ""Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." ""For thine is the kingdom, the power" ""and the glory, forever." "Amen."" "Under the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife." "You may kiss the bride." "And if you don't, I will." "You all right?" "No." "Stop!" "No, please don't!" "My old lady's trying to get me to quit this job." "She says I'm getting too old to be breaking my back shoveling asphalt." "I told her strong backs and weak minds runs in the family." "She didn't think that was too funny." "I told her it keeps me fit." "Morning." "Pulled in last night." "Didn't want to wake you up." "Oh, no, I was just... I thought I'd tell you before the Sergeant showed up." "Parking this trailer on the beach is illegal." "Yeah!" "Well, look what the wind blew in." "H i, Mr. Aguirre." "I was wondering if you was needing any help this summer." "You're wasting your time here." "What, you ain't got nothing?" "Nothing up on Brokeback?" "I ain't got no work for you." "Ennis Del Mar ain't been around, has he?" "You boys sure found a way to make the time pass up there." "Twist, you guys wasn't getting paid to leave the dogs baby-sit the sheep while you stemmed the rose." "Now get the hell out of my trailer." "How my girls doing?" "All right." "Jenny's still got a runny nose." "Ennis, could you wipe Alma J r." "'s nose?" "If I had three hands, I could." "Girls all right?" "Yeah." "Jenny stopped her coughing." "I think I should take the girls into town this weekend." "Get them an ice cream." "Something." "Can't we move to town?" "I'm tired of these lonesome old ranches." "No one's around for Junior to play with." "Besides, I'm scared for Jenny, scared if she has another one of them bad asthma spells." "No, rent in town is too high." "There's a cheap place in Riverton, over the Laundromat." "I bet I could fix it up real nice." "I bet you could fix this place up real nice if you wanted to." "Ennis." "H mm?" "I know you'd like it, too." "Real home, other kids for the girls to play with." "Not so lonely like you were raised." "You don't want them to be so lonely, do you?" "Yeah." "Come here." "It ain't so lonely now, is it?" "Are you sure the girls are asleep?" "Yeah." "Come here." "Ennis." "Let her rip and snort, boys!" "Jack Twist, hanging on for dear life!" "And down he goes!" "Watch out there, fella!" "He's coming for you." "Send in the clowns!" "Okay, a fine ride by Mr. Twist." "Shit!" "Four seconds for him." "Give them a hand, folks, our very own rodeo clowns!" "Give us a beer, Doug." "I'd like to buy J imbo here a beer." "Best damn rodeo clown I've ever worked with." "No thanks, cowboy." "If I was to let every rodeo hand I pulled a bull off of buy me liquor, I'd have been a alcoholic long ago." "Pulling bulls off of you buckaroos is just my job." "So save your money for your next entry fee, cowboy." "You ever try calf roping?" "Do I look like I can afford a fucking roping horse?" "Shouldn't we move a little closer?" "No." "Come on, let's don't." "Jenny'll get scared." "Look at this crowd!" "Bound to be a lot of pussy on the hoof in a crowd like this." "All swelled up with patriotic feeling and ready to be humped like a frog." "So, where do you figure the most pussy is at?" "Las Vegas or California?" "Hell, I don't know, but if you make it between Montana and Wyoming, I'd take Wyoming..." "Hey!" "You might want to keep it down, I got two little girls here." "Fuck you." "Asshole." "Probably quit giving it to his wife after his kids was born." "You know what that's like." "Yeah." "Ennis, let's move." "Let's just move, okay?" "Now, I don't want any trouble from you." "You need to shut your slop-bucket mouths, you hear me?" "You ought to listen to your old lady, then." "is that right?" "Yeah." "Move somewhere else." "What about it?" "You wanna lose about half your fucking teeth, huh?" "Not tonight, bud." "I'd sure rather not." "Here she comes, ladies and gentlemen!" "Oh, boy, look at her fly!" "This is Lureen Newsome from right here in Childress, Texas!" "Come on, folks, she's gotta hear it, Iet's give her a big hand!" "She's turning on two!" "She's around three!" "Come on, folks!" "help her home!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "And the time is 16 and 9!" "Here's Cheyenne Hodson from Cody, Wyoming!" "Come on, girl!" "She's headed around two!" "Is there anybody here from Wyoming?" "Ma'am." "How about it, folks?" "Come on, Cheyenne!" "And her time is 17 and 2!" "Here comes Scotty Griffiths, out of Lubbock, Texas." "Come on, Scotty!" "Damn it!" "Let's give Scotty Griffiths a big hand, folks." "Better luck next time, cowboy." "Boy, I tell you, folks, what a heck of a way to make a living!" "Next up is an up-and-comer!" "Jack Twist from all the way up in Lightning flat, Wyoming." "He's on board Sleepy today!" "Let's hope he's not!" "Okay!" "There they go, folks!" "And look at Sleepy go, boy!" "He's broke free today, folks!" "Come on, spin and spin and spin!" "Oh, boy!" "Good ride, cowboy!" "Well, let's see what the judges say!" "I tell you, folks, that sure looked like the winning ride to me!" "You know that girl?" "I sure do." "Lureen Newsome." "Her dad sells farm equipment." "I mean, big farm equipment." "$100, 000 tractors, shit like that." "What are you waiting for, cowboy?" "A mating call?" "No one's gonna love you Iike me" "No one else, can't you see?" "No one's gonna love you Iike me" "No one, no one" "No one else, can't you see?" "No one's gonna love you Iike me" "No one, no one" "I know sometimes you felt" "So lonely" "I know" "You felt so sad and blue" "Oh, wait, hold on." "You don't think I'm too fast, do you?" "Maybe we should put the brakes on?" "Fast or slow, I just like the direction you're going." "You are in a hurry." "My daddy's the hurry." "He expects me home with the car by midnight." "Come here, come here." "H i, Monroe." "Hey, Ennis." "is Alma here?" "Yeah, she's in the condiments aisle." "The what?" "Ketchup." "Thanks." "Your boy gonna play again this year?" "Excuse us!" "Yeah, excuse me." "Hey, honey." "Honey, what are y'all doing here?" "Big hurry." "My boss called and, well, he wants me to go up to the ranch." "Mama." "I guess all the heifers must've decided to calve at the same time." "I figured I could drop the girls off with you." "Ennis, well l got a million things I gotta do here before I can leave." "I don't get off for another three hours." "Mama, I need crayons." "Not now, Alma." "Ennis, please, you promised you'd take them tonight." "Alma, I can't afford not to be there when the heifers calve." "Right, it'd be my job if I lose any of them." "What about my job?" "Okay, all right, I'll call my sister." "I'll see if she can take them." "All right." "All right." "You be a good girl for your mama, all right?" "I'll be half the night." "Bring home some ground steaks if you think of it." "Come here." "Oh, Alma, please!" "Oh, boy." "Okay." "Monroe, I'm so sorry." "It's okay." "It's okay, Alma." "I'll clean this up just as soon as I call my sister to come get the girls." "Really, Alma, it's okay." "I'll get it." "Alma, come with me." "Watch your feet." "Alma." "It's just like my hand." "Honey, got a surprise for you." "Hey." "I got two whole boxes of formula for you." "You did?" "120 cans." "120?" "L. D., where did you put them?" "Oh, hell, back seat of the car, where l left them." "Rodeo can get them." "L. D., I can already see who little Bobby looks like." "Good job, little girl." "He's the spitting image of his grandpa." "Isn't he just the spitting image of his grandpa?" "Yeah." "Look at those eyes." "Hey." "Hey, honey." "Hey, Ennis, you know somebody, name of Jack?" "Maybe." "Why?" "'Cause you got a postcard." "It come general delivery." "is he somebody you cowboy ed with, or what?" "No, Jack, he rodeos, mostly." "We was fishing buddies." "You can color that one, too." "I'll color the beach." "Maybe we could get a baby-sitter." "H uh?" "Take your friend to the Knife and Fork?" "No, Jack ain't the restaurant type." "We'll more likely just go out and get drunk." "That's if he shows." "Okay, we take one more bite, and then you're finished with dinner." "There, that's a good bite." "All right, you're excused." "Please." "Thank you." "Jack fucking Twist." "Son of a bitch." "Come here." "Alma, this is Jack Twist." "And, Jack, this is my wife, Alma." "Howdy." "Hello." "You got a kid." "Yeah, I got two little girls." "Alma J r. and Jenny." "I got a boy." "Yeah?" "Eight months old." "Smiles a lot." "I married the prettiest little gal in Childress, Texas." "Yeah?" "Lureen." "So me and Jack, we're gonna head out and get ourselves a drink." "Yeah?" "Sure enough." "Pleased to meet you, ma'am." "We might not get back tonight when we get to drinking and talking and all." "Ennis?" "Would you get me a pack of smokes?" "If you need smokes, Alma, they're in the top pocket of my blue shirt." "There in the bedroom." "Four years." "Damn!" "Yeah, four years." "Didn't think I'd hear from you again." "I figured you were sore from that punch." "Right next summer, I drove back up to Brokeback." "Talked to Aguirre about a job, and..." "He told me you hadn't been back, so I left." "Went down to Texas for rodeoing." "That's how I met Lureen." "Made $2, 000 that year, bull riding." "Nearly starved." "Lureen's old man makes serious money, farm machine business." "Of course, he hates my guts." "And the Army didn't get you?" "No, too busted up." "And rodeoing ain't what it was in my daddy's day." "Got out while I could still walk." "Swear to God, I didn't know we was going to get into this again." "Yes I did." "I red-lined it all the way." "I couldn't get here fast enough." "What about you?" "Me?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "Old Brokeback got us good, don't it?" "What are we gonna do now?" "I doubt there's nothing we can do." "So now I'm stuck with what I got here." "Making a living is about all I got time for now." "Hey." "Well, me and Jack is headed up the mountain for a day or two." "Do ourselves a little fishing." "You know, your friend could come inside, have a cup of coffee." "Well, he's from Texas." "Texans don't drink coffee?" "You sure that foreman won't fire you for taking off?" "You know, that foreman, he owes me." "I worked through a blizzard last Christmas." "You remember that?" "Besides, I'll only be a couple of days." "Bring fish, Daddy." "A big, big one!" "Come here." "Come here." "Come here." "See you Sunday, latest." "I'm starving." "Want to get something to eat?" "Yup." "Last one in!" "is there anything interesting up there in heaven?" "Well, I was just sending up a prayer of thanks." "For what?" "For you forgetting to bring that harmonica." "I'm enjoying the peace and quiet." "You know it could be like this, just like this, always." "Yeah?" "How do you figure that?" "What if you and me had a little ranch somewhere, a little cow-and-calf operation?" "It'd be a sweet life." "I mean, hell, Lureen's old man, you bet he'd give me a down payment to get lost." "I mean, he more or less already said it." "No, I... I told you it ain't gonna be that way." "You know, you got your wife and baby in Texas." "You know, I got my life in Riverton." "is that so?" "You and Alma, that's a life?" "Now you shut up about Alma." "This ain't her fault." "The bottom line is, we're around each other and this thing grabs hold of us again in the wrong place, in the wrong time, and we're dead." "I tell you, there were these two old guys ranched up together down home." "Ear I and Rich." "And they was a joke in town, even though they were pretty tough old birds." "Anyway, they found Ear I dead in an irrigation ditch." "They took a tire iron to him, spurred him up and drug him around by his dick till it pulled off." "You seen this?" "Yeah, I was what?" "9 years old." "My daddy, he made sure me and my brother seen it." "Hell, for all I know, he done the job." "Two guys living together?" "No way." "Now, we can get together once in a while, way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, but..." ""Once in a while."" "Every four fucking years?" "Well, if you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it." "For how long?" "As long as we can ride it." "There ain't no reins on this one." "It's nearly supper time." "Where the hell do you think you're going?" "To work!" "I thought you had the day off!" "Well, you thought wrong!" "The girls need to be fed." "Well, you take care of it!" "Alma!" "Alma!" "Supper's on the stove!" "No one's eating unless you're serving it!" "I already promised I'd take the extra shift!" "Fucking tell them you made a mistake, then!" "God damn it, Alma!" "Alma!" "You girls need a push or something?" "No." "Listen to her purr, gentlemen!" "You ain't gonna get that with your Caddy!" "I told you what she could do, and now let me show you." "Say, didn't that pissant used to ride the bulls?" "He used to try." "Honey, have you seen my blue parka?" "Last time I seen it, you was in it, day we had that big ice storm." "Well, could have sworn I seen it in here." "You know, you've been going up to Wyoming all these years." "Why can't your buddy come down here to Texas and fish?" "Because the Bighorn Mountains ain't in Texas." "And I don't think that his pickup could make it down here, anyway." "New model coming in this week, remember?" "You're the best combine salesman we got." "You're the only combine salesman, in fact." "Yeah, I'll be back in a week." "That is, unless I freeze to death, and I'll freeze if I don't find that parka." "Well, I don't have your goddamn parka." "You know, you're worse than Bobby when it comes to losing stuff." "Well, speaking of Bobby, did you call his school about getting him a tutor?" "I thought you were gonna call." "I complain too much." "That teacher don't like me." "Now it's your turn." "Okay, fine, so I'll call later." "Right." "Fine." "Goodbye." "Got 14 hours of driving ahead of me." "See now, it don't seem fair, you going up there two, three times a year with him never coming down here." "Ennis, they got an opening over at the power company." "Might be good pay." "Well, as clumsy as I am, I'd probably get electrocuted." "Daddy, the church picnic's next weekend." "Will you be back from fishing by next weekend?" "Please, Daddy?" "Please!" "Well, all right, as long as I don't have to sing." "Daddy." "Thank you." "You forgetting something?" "You're late." "Look what I brought." "This way." "There you go!" "No hands!" "It's all yours, buddy!" "It's all yours." "Come on, come on." "Come on in, Alvin." "I've been trying to call you for hours." "It's Saturday night, you know, we could still smarten up and head on over to the church social." "That fire and brimstone crowd?" "I think it'd be nice." "Ennis." "As far behind as we are on the bills, it makes me nervous not to take no precaution." "If you don't want no more of my kids, I'll be happy to leave you alone." "I'd have them, if you'd support them." "Custody of the two minor children," "Alma Del Mar J r. and Jennifer Del Mar, is awarded to plaintiff." "Defendant is ordered to pay child support to plaintiff in the sum of $125 per month for each of the minor children until they reach the age of 18 years." "Del Mar divorce granted, this sixth day of November, 1975." "King of the road!" "In you go." "What are you doing here, huh?" "I got your message about the divorce." "Come here." "Well, this here's Jack." "Jack, these are my little girls." "There's Alma J r. and Jenny." "H i." "Say hi, girls." " H i." "I got your card that the divorce came through." "Yeah." "So here I am." "I had to ask about 10 different people in Riverton where you had moved to." "I guess, I thought that this means you..." "No, Jack, I don't know what to say." "See, I got the girls this weekend and..." "Jeez, I... I'm sure as hell sorry." "You know I am." "See, I only get them once a month, and I missed last month." "So I just..." "Because of the roundup." "So..." "Well..." "Yeah, all right." "Jack." "I'll see you next month, then." "Coming up." "Here we go." "Here we are!" "Whoa there, Rodeo." "The stud duck do the carving around here." "You bet, L. D." "I was just saving you the trouble." "Bobby, if you don't eat your dinner, I'm gonna have to turn off that television." "Why, Mama?" "I'm gonna be eating this food for the next two weeks." "Hey, you heard your mama." "You finish your meal, and then you can watch the game." "Daddy?" "Daddy." "Hell, we don't eat with our eyes." "You want your boy to grow up to be a man, don't you, Daughter?" "Boys should watch football." "Not until he finishes eating the meal that his mama took three hours to fix." "Now you sit down, you old son of a bitch!" "This is my house, this is my child and you are my guest." "Now you sit down before I knock your ignorant ass into next week." "Daddy, tell about when you rode broncs in the rodeo." "Well, that's a short story, honey." "It was only about three seconds I was on that bronc." "The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, only I was no angel like you and Jenny here." "I didn't have no wings." "And that's the story of my saddle bronc career." "There you go." "You ought to get married again, Ennis." "Me and the girls worry about you being alone so much." "Well, once burned..." "You still go fishing with Jack Twist?" "Not often." "You know, I used to wonder how come you never brought any trouts home." "You always said you caught plenty and you know how me and the girls like fish." "So, one night, I got your creel case open night before you went on one of your little trips." "Price tag still on it after five years." "And I tied a note to the end of the line." "It said, "Hello, Ennis, bring some fish home." "Love, Alma."" "And then you come back looking all perky and said you caught a bunch of brownies and you ate them up." "Do you remember?" "I looked in that case first chance I got and there was my note still tied there." "That line hadn't touched water in its life." "That don't mean nothing, Alma." "Don't try and fool me no more, Ennis." "I know what that means." "Jack Twist." "Alma." "Jack "Nasty"!" "You didn't go up there to fish." "You and him..." "Now you listen to me, you don't know nothing about it." "I'm going to yell for Monroe." "You do it and I'll make you eat the fucking floor." "Get out!" "And you, too!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Get out of my house, Ennis Del Mar!" "You hear me?" "You get out!" "Daddy?" "Alma?" "Bye, Daddy!" "Bye." "Hey, asshole, watch where you're going!" "Jesus." "What..." "Jesus..." "You stupid fuck!" "God damn!" "God." "God damn." "Oh, fuck!" "Damn it!" "All I'm saying is, what's the point of making it?" "If the taxes don't get it, the inflation will eat it all up." "You should see Lureen punching numbers in her adding machine." "Hunting for extra zeros, her eyes getting smaller and smaller." "It's like watching a rabbit trying to squeeze into a snake hole with a coyote on its tail." "That's some high class entertainment, if you ask me." "For what it's worth." "You and Lureen, it's normal and all?" "Sure." "She don't ever suspect?" "You ever get the feeling, I don't know, when you're in town and someone looks at you suspicious, like he knows." "Then you go out on the pavement and everyone's looking at you like they all know, too?" "Well, maybe you ought to get out of there, you know?" "Find yourself someplace different, maybe Texas." "Texas?" "Sure, and maybe you can convince Alma to let you and Lureen adopt the girls." "Then we could just live together, herding sheep." "And it'll rain money from L. D. Newsome and whiskey will flow in the streams." "Jack, that's real smart." "Go to hell, Ennis Del Mar." "You wanna live your miserable fucking life?" "Then go right ahead." "Fine." "I was just thinking out loud." "Yup, you're a real thinker there." "God damn..." "Jack fucking Twist." "Got it all figured out, ain't he?" "All right, hon." "Just finished my shift." "Wanna dance?" "I was on my way to the... I'm Cassie." "Cassie Cartwright." "Ennis." "Del Mar." "No more dancing for me, I hope." "You're safe." "Yeah?" "My feet hurt." "Hard work, is it?" "Yeah, drunks like you demanding beer after beer, smoking." "Gets tiresome." "What do you do, Ennis Del Mar?" "Well, earlier today, I was castrating calves." "What are you doing?" "Trying to get a foot rub, dummy." "All right." "That good?" "And then I pledged Tri Delt at SMU." "And I sure never thought I'd end up in a poky little place like Childress." "Then I met old Randall here at an Aggie game and he was an animal husbandry major." "So we've been here for a month and he got the foreman job over at Roy Taylor's ranch." "Like it or not, here I am!" "Was you Tri Delt?" "I was Kappa Phi myself." "Well, even though we ain't quite sorority sisters, we just may have to dance with ourselves, Lureen." "Our husbands ain't the least bit interested in dancing." "They ain't got a smidgen of rhythm between them." "It's funny, isn't it?" "Husbands don't never seem to wanna dance with their wives." "Why do you think that is, Jack?" "I don't know, I never give it any thought." "Wanna dance?" "Yes, thank you." "Do you mind?" "No, it's all right." "Go ahead." "All right." "Pardon us." "Thank you for asking me to dance with you." "I really appreciate that." "Randall never does." "Last time I did, I think it was our wedding." "It's a good thing you and Lureen happened along when you did or else we'd still be stuck on the side of the road in that darn pickup." "I told Randall we ought to take the car." "Of course, he'd never listen to me." "He wouldn't listen to me if he was going deaf tomorrow." "I told him it'd take more than chewing gum and baling wire to fix that pickup." "Well, he's never been very mechanical, though." "Come over here and ask..." "You ever notice how a woman will powder her nose before she goes to a party?" "And then she'll powder it again once the party's over." "I mean, why powder your nose just to go home and go to bed?" "Don't know." "Even if I wanted to know, I couldn't get a word in with Lashawn long enough to ask." "Woman talks a blue streak." "Lively little gal." "You'll like working for Roy Taylor." "He's solid, Roy." "Yeah, Roy." "He's a good old boy." "He's got a little cabin down on Lake Kemp." "Got a crappie house, little boat." "Said I could use it whenever I want." "We ought to go down there some weekend." "Drink a little whiskey, fish some." "Get away, you know?" "That was right out of SMU." "I could've had my pick of pretty much any job in North Dallas." "So my pick was Neiman Marcus, which was a disaster because, honey, where clothes is concerned, I got no resistance." "I was spending more than I made." "More than Randall ever will make." "We come out here thinking that ranching was still big hats and Marlboros." "Boy, were we behind the times." "Hey there, Junior." "You ready?" "What do you think?" "Your daddy ever gonna see fit to settle down again?" "Don't know." "Maybe he's not the marrying kind." "You don't think so?" "Or you don't think I'm the one for him?" "You're good enough." "You don't say much, but you get your point across." "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude." "All right." "You're staying on your feet, cowboy." "Excuse me, darling." "So I'll pick you and Jenny up next weekend, after church." "Fine." "You all right?" "Yes." "Are you sure?" "Daddy, I was thinking, what with the new baby and all," "Ma and Monroe have been awful strict on me." "More on me than Jenny even." "I was thinking, maybe I could..." "Maybe I could come stay with you." "I'd be an awful good help, I know I would." "Now, you know I ain't set up for that." "With the roundup coming, I won't ever be home." "It's all right, Daddy." "I'm not saying that I wouldn't... lt's all right, I understand." "Well, see you on Sunday, then." "Bye." "Bye, sweetheart." "Going to snow tonight for sure." "Yup." "All this time and you ain't found nobody else to marry?" "I been putting the blocks to a good-looking little gal over in Riverton." "She's a waitress." "Wants to go to nursing school or something." "I don't know." "What about you and Lureen?" "Lureen's good at making hard deals in the machinery business but as far as our marriage goes, we could do it over the phone." "I kind of got this thing going with a ranch foreman's wife over in Rutters." "What?" "I'm bound to get shot by Lureen or her husband each time I slip off to see her." "You probably deserve it." "Tell you what." "The truth is," "sometimes I miss you so much, I can hardly stand it." "I guess I'll head up on to Lightning Flat." "See the folks for a day or two." "There's something I been meaning to tell you, bud." "Well, it's likely November before I can come out here again." "After we ship stock and before winter feeding starts again." "November." "What in the hell ever happened to August?" "Well..." "Christ, Ennis." "You know, you had a fucking week to say some little word about this." "Why is it we're always in the frigging cold?" "We ought to go south where it's warm, you know!" "We ought to go to Mexico." "Mexico?" "Hell, Jack, you know me." "About all the traveling I ever done is around a coffee pot, looking for the handle." "Come on, Jack." "Lighten up on me." "We can hunt in November." "Kill us a nice elk." "I'll try if I can get Don Wroe's cabin again." "We had a good time that year, didn't we?" "There's never enough time, never enough." "You know, friend, this is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation." "You used to come away easy." "Now it's like seeing the Pope." "Jack, I got to work." "In them earlier days, I'd just quit the job." "You..." "You forget what it's like being broke all the time." "You ever hear of child support?" "I'll tell you this, I can't quit this one and I can't get the time off." "It was hard enough getting this time." "The trade-off was August." "Well, you got a better idea?" "I did, once." "You did, once." "Well, have you been to Mexico, Jack Twist?" "'Cause I hear what they got in Mexico for boys like you." "Hell, yes, I've been to Mexico." "is that a fucking problem?" "I'm going to tell you this one time, Jack fucking Twist." "And I ain't fooling." "What I don't know, all them things that I don't know could get you killed if I come to know them." "I ain't joking." "Yeah, well try this one, and I'll say it just once." "Go ahead!" "I'll tell you what." "We could have had a good life together." "Fucking real good life." "Had us a place of our own!" "But you didn't want it, Ennis." "So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain!" "Everything's built on that!" "That's all we got, boy." "Fucking all." "So I hope you know that, if you don't never know the rest!" "God damn it." "You count the damn few times that we have been together in nearly 20 years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on and then you ask me about Mexico and you tell me you'll kill me" "for needing something I don't hardly never get!" "You have no idea how bad it gets!" "And I'm not you!" "I can't make it on a couple of high-altitude fucks once or twice a year!" "You are too much for me, Ennis." "You son of a whoreson bitch!" "I wish I knew how to quit you!" "Then why don't you?" "Why don't you just let me be, huh?" "It's because of you, Jack, that I'm like this." "I'm nothing." "I'm nowhere." "It's okay." "Get the fuck off me!" "It's all right." "It's all right." "Damn you, Ennis." "I just can't stand this anymore, Jack." "Come on now, you're sleeping on your feet like a horse." "My mama used to say that to me when I was little." "And sing to me." "I got to go." "See you in the morning." "Excuse me." "Hey." "Ennis Del Mar." "Where you been?" "Here and there." "I left word for you with Steve at the ranch." "And you must've got those notes I left at your place." "Looks like I got the message, in any case." "Carl?" "Yeah, Carl's nice." "He even talks." "Good for you." "Yeah." "Good for me." "I don't get you, Ennis Del Mar." "I'm sorry." "I was probably no fun anyways, was I?" "Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun." "Hello." "Hello, this is Ennis De I Mar." "Who?" "Who is this?" "Ennis Del Mar. l'm an old buddy of Jack's." "Jack used to mention you." "You're the fishing buddy or the hunting buddy, I know that." "Would have let you know what happened but I wasn't sure about your name or address." "Jack kept his friends' addresses in his head." "That's why I'm calling, to see what happened." "Oh, yeah." "Jack was pumping up a flat on the truck out on a back road, when the tire blew up." "The rim of the tire slammed into his face, broke his nose and jaw and knocked him unconscious on his back." "By the time somebody come along, he'd drowned in his own blood." "He was only 39 years old." "hello?" "hello?" "hello." "Was he buried down there?" "We put a stone up." "He was cremated, like he wanted." "Half his ashes was interred here, the rest was sent up with his folks." "He use to say he wanted his ashes scattered on Brokeback Mountain, but I wasn't sure where that was." "I thought Brokeback Mountain might be around where he grew up." "Knowing Jack, it might be some pretend place where bluebirds sing and there's a whiskey spring." "No, ma'am, we was herding sheep on Brokeback one summer back in '63." "Well, he said it was his favorite place." "I thought he meant to get drunk." "He drank a lot." "is his folks still up in Lightning Flat?" "They'II be there till the day they die." "Thank you for your time." "I sure am sorry." "We was good friends." "Get in touch with his folks." "I suppose they'd appreciate it if his wishes was carried out." "About the ashes, I mean." "Want a cup of coffee, don't you?" "Piece of cherry cake?" "Yes, ma'am, I'll have a cup of coffee but I can't eat no cake just now." "Thank you." "I feel awful bad about Jack." "Thank you." "I can't begin to tell you how bad I feel." "I knew him a long time." "I come by to say that if you want me to take his ashes up there on Brokeback like his wife said he wanted to, then I'll be happy to." "I'll tell you what." "I know where Brokeback Mountain is." "Thought he was too goddamn special to be buried in the family plot." "Jack used to say..." ""Ennis Del Mar," he used to say." ""l'm gonna bring him up here one of these days" ""and we'll lick this damn ranch into shape."" "He had some half-baked notion the two of you was gonna move up here, build a cabin, help run the place." "Then, this spring, he got another fella gonna come up here with him," "build the place, help run the ranch." "Some ranch neighbor of his from down in Texas." "Gonna split up with his wife and come back here, so he says." "But, like most of Jack's ideas, never come to pass." "I kept his room like it was when he was a boy." "I think he appreciated that." "You are welcome to go up to his room, if you want." "Yeah, I'd like that." "Thank you." "Tell you what." "We got a family plot." "He's going in it." "Yes, sir." "You come back and see us again." "Thank you, ma'am." "Hey there, Junior." "Hey, Daddy." "Come here." "Like the car?" "Yeah. ls it yours?" "It's Kurt's." "I thought you were seeing Troy." "Troy?" "Daddy, that was two years ago." "Troy still playing baseball?" "I don't know what he's doing." "I'm seeing Kurt now." "Well, what does Kurt do?" "Works out in the oil fields." "So he's a roughneck, huh?" "Yeah." "I guess you're 19, you can do whatever you want. lsn't that right?" "Sure." "Daddy, you need more furniture." "Yeah, well, if you got nothing, you don't need nothing." "So, what's the occasion?" "Me and Kurt, we're getting married." "Well..." "So how long have you known this guy for?" "About a year." "Our wedding will be June 5, at the Methodist church." "Jenny will be singing and Monroe is gonna cater the reception." "Now this Kurt fella, he loves you?" "Yeah, Daddy." "He loves me." "Was hoping you'd be there." "Yeah." "I think I'm supposed to be on a roundup down near the Tetons." "You know what?" "I reckon they can find themselves a new cowboy." "My little girl, getting married." "To Alma and Kurt." "Jack, I swear..."