EPILOQUE
Oh, shit, oh,
Shit,
He jerked it shut again as he saw Ennis and Jack doing something in an empty stall, Jack's back toward him. Did they talk about 'fishing' back at the pear orchard this morning?
"What?"
Luke startled as Ennis yanked open the door from inside the stable. He looked…well…it was difficult to analyze the look on Ennis's face 'cause the man always looked either grumpy or...well…more grumpy. He scratched his cheek, trying to smile as he read Ennis's facial expression. It wasn't angry. And that was good for now.
"You…" He cleared his throat, Ennis brows arching, "Are you guys…fis…"
"No."
Now he was pissed.
Clearing his throat again, Luke called for his life saver, "Jack? Ya in here?"
"Yeah!" As if summoned, Jack poked his face out of the stable's door as Ennis walked back in to where Shooting Stars was tied. "What? Ya want something? Oh, ya want some advice for yer next date?"
"Aww, shut up," he growled. Jack still loved to tease him about the dinner he had with Norma Jean, the girl at the grocery store, several night ago, the dinner that turned into a little disaster when he spilled the wine on her dress and she screamed her head off. "I ain't talking 'bout that no more, look at this," Luke showed Jack a postcard, with a picture of a mountain and a big cactus in the desert somewhere, "He answered my letter."
"No kidding."
Jack grabbed the postcard and turned to see the white area on the back. Ennis walked up to them now, jamming his head in to read what was written on there.
"What the hell do I do now? Shit, I never thought he would reply."
Luke shook his leg in frustration as he saw Ennis mouth the words while Jack read it in silence. He could remember every word on the postcard, hell, there were only two lines anyway.
"Friend, if you visit your folks this Christmas, let's have a drink together and remember the old days, Cody."
After getting Cody's recent address in California from his parents two months ago, he had been trying to pull himself together, gathering all the courage in the world to grab a pen and write to him. But he hadn't succeeded so far.
After the first harvest of the hay field last month, he told Ennis and Jack about this while they were nursing their whiskey and beers on the back lawn of the bunkhouse. Joel had joined them but had left early 'cause he had to meet with the owner of the pear orchard in Denver, the one he had met and befriended last month. Figured they would exchange some serious pear talk the next day.
Ennis and Jack practically pushed him to write and Luke had been trying to think of things to say in the letter, but ended up with just "Friend, how's California? What are you going to do for Christmas?, Luke"
He didn't think Cody would reply, let alone this soon, so it was a total shock to see this postcard in the farm's mailbox this morning.
What the hell would he do now?
Luke looked at his two friends, Jack and Ennis were still reading the postcard. Jack and Ennis, Ennis and Jack, the reason why he decided to ask Cody's parents for his address in the first place, the reason why he looked at the mirror, saw the scar on his eyelid and didn't feel the sharp pain in his stomach, just the dull pain – one that would be healed in time. Ennis and Jack whose courage put him to shame, but at the same time, whose friendship lifted him up from the pool of guilt, making him see the light of the possibility to fix things, that this Luke Martin could be a good friend, being there when friends were needed.
Maybe he could really stop blaming himself for what he had done to Cody.
Maybe they could be friends again.
What the hell would he do now? Yeah, he knew exactly what he would do.
"Give me that." Luke snatched the postcard back.
"The hell…" Ennis snorted as Jack just looked at him in bewilderment.
"I'm going ta the post office, ya can go back to…whatever ya were doing."
He walked away from the stable, waving the postcard without looking back. He heard Ennis growling something about kicking his ass as Jack laughed. Luke smiled. He could see the image of Ennis shoving Jack and walking away, grumping some more.
Luke looked down at the postcard again. This was easy, all he had to do was tell Cody he would be in New Mexico for Christmas, and yes, they would have a drink and remember the old days and re-build the trust to start the new days. Yeah, he could do this.
Luke opened the door to his truck and turned back in time to see Ennis and Jack, riding Shooting Stars and Black Shadows out to the hay field, side by side. It was the most natural scene ever, so natural like the scene of the mountain and the sky, the stars and the moon, the rocks and the river, the flowers and the trees.
So natural like something that was meant to be.
THE END
Thanks so much and have a nice Jack&Ennis day xxx :)