Sequel To Brokeback Mountain (10 Years After)

A beautiful sequel written by a person named Steven on another board for lovers of the movie. It was so moving that I just had to share it with all of you - a most fitting end to a classic:

JACK TWIST

Driving north was proving to be long and lonely.

Bobby had never really understood why his father, Jack Twist, was willing to make this 1400 mile trip two or three times a year. He knew that the attraction was not his grandparents up in Lightening Flat.

His daddy wasn't all that fond of going home, and had never once taken Bobby to meet them. Oddly enough, they never came to Texas either.

So much of his daddy's life had seemed mysterious to Bobby.

He knew one thing though; his daddy loved him, although he never said so--western men don't--, and he had loved his daddy. He still thought of him and missed him even though it was now ten years since his death.

Wyoming seemed to Bobby an awesome place. He was used to Texas where everything and everyone was bigger than life. Here in Wyoming everything really was big but seemed so tight, so claustrophobic. He felt the sense of something coming, but he didn't know what.

His mother, Lureen Newsome Twist, had died just three months earlier. Thankfully, the cancer had taken her quickly and she didn't suffer much. He always felt like she was so unhappy beneath it all. She was so successful with the company that they had become quite wealthy. She knew her way around a business—it was people she didn't seem to get, especially one Jack Twist.

Bobby remembered all the times with his daddy—riding in the tractors, riding horses, tutoring him for school (although Bobby realized he knew more about math than his daddy). Jack had a sense of life about him Bobby could not forget.

That was part of the reason he was making this trip. He needed to know his daddy better and now was finally the time.

When his mama was ill she had opened up more and told him many things. She told how she and Jack met at the rodeo and how part of the attraction had been that she knew her own daddy would hate him. She talked of her regret about doing that to Jack but also it was clear there was more to the story—she did love him and still did.

She proceeded to prove her love and her forgiveness for Jack in ways Bobby was yet to understand. After all, that was the unspoken purpose of this trip.

One day Lureen had instructed Bobby that he should go to meet his grandma, if she was still alive. She added, "You need to go to Riverton and look up Ennis Del Mar. He was your daddy's only real friend."

Riverton came first on the road so he decided to try to find Mr. Del Mar before going to Lightening Flat.

Riverton was a true "one horse" town. It was small, dusty and seemed lonesome sitting between the surrounding mountains. One small post office, one hotel and one grocery store.

He decided to ask at the grocery store if they knew of Mr. Del Mar. The store wasn't very busy but it was clean and neat, looked like it was lovingly cared for. He asked the cashier if she knew of Ennis. The cashier said she thought the manager just might.

She summoned over a beautiful woman in her mid twenties, blonde hair and deep brown eyes, who looked at the stranger and found herself immediately struck by him. He was tall, had deep brown hair and piercing blue eyes that both seemed to dance and be full of loneliness.

"Bobby Twist, ma'am. Pleased to meet you"

Jennifer hesitated, still a little stunned by the eyes of this Man, and "I'm Jennifer Del Mar. How can I help you?"

"Did you say Del Mar?" Bobby said, not believing his luck on both counts. "Do you know an Ennis Del Mar?"

"That's my daddy".

Jen felt her body fill with a kind of excitement but she didn't know why.

"Well, that's the man I'm looking for. I'm Jack Twist's son."

Jen suddenly felt a rush of feelings as she remembered thoughts of Jack Twist. It was a name she heard infrequently but often enough to remember. It had an odd energy attached to it. She knew her mama, Alma, didn't like to talk about him. He was a fishing buddy of daddy's.

“I remember meeting your daddy once—just for a few minutes—seemed like he just drove up and drove off again" said Jen, thinking of that time when Jack came up just after the divorce. She thought about how sad her daddy was after he saw Jack that day—she remembered he paced all night that night and didn't sleep. She had never seen him so unhappy.

"I would like to meet your daddy if I can", asked Bobby.

"Sure. Let me see if he is at the house. He is out visiting my sister and her kids. Your timing is good. He lives up in Lightening Flat. Usually up there."

***

When Ennis put down the phone, he looked as is he had seen a ghost. Alma Jr. asked, "Daddy what's wrong—was that Jen? Is everything O.K.?"

Ennis couldn't quite answer. He sat down and felt a rush of memories flood his awareness. He saw Jack standing before him like he looked on that first day they met. He saw the vision of what he believed happened to Jack in the end. He thought of the bloodstained shirts hanging in his house.

"Daddy?" asked Alma again.

She put her arm around him sensing something very upsetting. "Tell me what is going on".

Ennis' eyes filled with tears, but he refused to let them flow down his face.

"Jen is coming over and bringing someone, name of Bobby, Bobby Twist"

That was all he needed to say to Alma.

A long time ago she had put the carefully camouflaged pieces together and knew that Jack Twist was the love of her father's life, although she never told her daddy she knew.

"Oh daddy, are you OK?"

He could neither look at his daughter nor accept her compassion. It would be too much, even though he suspected that she knew and understood in some way—he had thought so for years, ever since she came up to Lightening Flat when Jack's mother passed.

Jack's son.

Ennis had wondered if he would ever know him. He longed to know how he was, to let him know that he was not alone in grieving his father.

Nevertheless, Ennis never could take the chance of intruding on Lureen's life. In addition, he was sure he wouldn't be welcome. For so long he had wanted to have this day come.

When Jen pulled up in Bobby's truck, Ennis's heart raced so hard he thought he was having some kind of attack, but he knew what his feelings were on this day, not like so many years before with Jack standing before him.

"Mr. Del Mar, I'm Bobby, Bobby Twist".

Ennis couldn't believe what he saw. It was like Jack standing before him. Bobby was so close to Jack physically that it stunned Ennis. He shook his hand and Bobby could feel Ennis shaking as he grasped his hand.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you. My mama told me you were my daddy's only true friend. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance."

Ennis knew Jack was somewhere, looking down, sending out a big "yeehaw!!”

"So you're that boy of Jack's". Ennis felt like he sounded stupid but he could barely talk.

They all went into the house, Alma got them some coffee, and they talked all together for a while, Alma taking the lead and Jenny catching on that they needed to help their daddy out.

Finally, Bobby asked about Ennis' life in Lightening Flat.

Ennis took a deep breath, "I live on what used to be your grandparent's ranch. Your grandmother gave it to me before she died".

"You know I never knew them, my grandparents".

“I know. Your grandma just hated that, but that was how it had to be", replied Ennis. He realized now that Jack was somewhere out there, behind all of this, bringing them together. He heard Jack's voice - “Be a daddy to my boy Ennis—you need each other".

***

They went to Lightening Flat together that next day.

Ennis had worked hard to pull the place together. He had done this in Jack's memory and to honor what he came to know was his deep, consuming love for Jack. That feeling was as strong now as it had ever been. If only he had realized that would be true when he had Jack alive and with him—"Jack, I swear…"

Somehow, Bobby came to understand all he needed to know about his father through Ennis. He also came to understand the truth about Ennis and Jack. He had no judgments and no recriminations to offer for he saw how true the love remained in Ennis' heart. And Bobby grew to love Ennis as he would a father.

Ennis put his heart and soul into being a father to Bobby and to taking care of the ranch. Bobby made sure Ennis had all he needed to make the ranch the best place it could be. For Bobby, this was to honor his grandparents, his daddy, and the man he came to understand loved his daddy more than life itself.

As the years passed, Bobby also found himself in love with Jenny. They married and had a boy named Jack Jr.—just as Ennis insisted, for they had tried to name him Ennis. The ranch ran well under their love and care. It became the showplace of how a ranch ought to be run in these parts. They were all proud.

Ennis died just after Jack Jr. turned ten.

He and Bobby took Ennis' ashes and the silver urn from the mantle that held Jack's remaining ashes and left for Brokeback Mountain. Ennis's will left them very specific directions to a spot that overlooked a campsite by a stream, long since unused.

Together they took the ashes, lovingly mixed them together for eternity and spread them just as Ennis directed.

As they did, Bobby and Jack Jr. saw two young cowboys on a hill in the distance ride away together, in a slow peaceful gait, with the sound of an off-key harmonica in the wind.