Encounter - Chapter Twenty-Four
Ennis slumped in one of the flimsy metal chairs in Joe Aguirre’s office Monday afternoon. His left leg twitched nervously as he waited to learn his fate. He was scheduled to work with Jimbo that evening, but when he had entered the bar, he saw Frank was present also. With a sinking heart, Ennis managed a slight smile as he nodded his head in their direction. They returned weak smiles, and as he walked toward Joe’s office, he heard them quietly speaking to each other. Ennis wasn’t sure how much they knew, but he had a feeling they knew this was probably the last time they’d see him.
Joe had been seated behind his desk, finishing up a phone call. Upon seeing Ennis in his doorway, Joe had waved him inside and motioned for him to sit. With the intensity of Joe’s conversation, Ennis felt he probably shouldn’t be overhearing it. He did as Aguirre expected, though, and sat in one of the chairs opposite Joe.
“I don’t give a good rat’s ass,” Joe snapped into the phone. “What’s done is done. I expect I won’t be seeing you later.” With that he slammed down the cordless phone. Ennis couldn’t help but jump when the phone clanged onto the metal desktop. As Aguirre fumbled in his desk drawer, swearing under his breath, Ennis swallowed against the lump in his throat.
Joe finally found what he was looking for; a box of toothpicks. After he fished one out and stuck it between his teeth, he finally looked up at Ennis. While using his tongue to flick the toothpick from side to side, his eyes narrowed, and he sat back in his squeaky, vinyl desk chair. Ennis felt the bile rising in his throat. Aguirre looked like he wanted to slug Ennis.
“Norm will not be buying this establishment,” Joe finally said. Ennis released his breath; his relief palpable. However, Aguirre continued to glare at him, and Ennis wondered if he was waiting for some type of reply. The hell can I say? Ennis asked himself. He dumbly nodded.
Joe pushed back his chair, the squealing wheels begging for oil. He stood, turned his back on Ennis and poured a mug of coffee. “I’m still renovating this place,” Joe said, stirring sugar into his cup. “I plan to use that time to contact the other interested parties.”
“Okay,” Ennis said, his throat dry. Where does that leave me? he wanted to ask, but he kept quiet.
“You’re probably wondering where your employment stands,” said Joe. He turned toward Ennis and took a sip from his mug. Ennis nodded again. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Del Mar. I spoke to some of the regulars that were here Friday; the ones you mentioned. Not one said Norm was acting up.” Ennis’s heart sank. Of course not; Norm had been on his best behavior.
“Well, you see, Joe,” started Ennis, leaning forward in his chair, “Norm went out of his way…”
“Hold up,” Joe interrupted. “They say he acted fine -- better than fine -- on Friday. But Carl and Cassie, well, they corroborated your story about his first night in the bar.” Ennis exhaled again and nodded.
“Good,” Ennis quietly said. For the first time since he entered Aguirre’s that day, he felt good. Joe would probably keep him on now, which would buy Ennis some time to find another job while still earning his paycheck.
“Here’s my quandary,” Joe said, plunking his mug onto the desk. He stood with his palms flat on the desktop, staring at Ennis through squinted eyes. “Not one customer had a bad thing to say about you Del Mar. You may not be the most talkative guy, but the customers like you. My problem is, you obviously have a temper; a hot switch. I can’t risk that switch being thrown, Del Mar.” Ennis’s heart sank.
“That was a one-shot thing, Joe,” Ennis said. “There have been other times people have acted up, maybe from drinking too much or something, and everything’s stayed cool.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said Joe. “What will you do, though, when word about you and your,” he spun his right hand around as he searched for a good word, “boyfriend gets out? What if someone gives you shit?” Ennis’s face burned. He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs.
“How would anybody handle somebody starting shit about something that’s personal; something that ain’t nobody’s business?” Ennis began to feel a burning and churning in the pit of his stomach. He clenched and unclenched his fists, resolving not to get angry. He was determined to prove to Joe he was able to handle anything that was thrown at him.
“I hear you,” Joe said, settling back into his chair. “I would expect any fellow to defend his girl.”
The statement hung in the air between them. Ennis matched Aguirre’s glare, refusing to look away. So that’s what it really amounted to. Any fellow could defend his girl, but if Ennis wanted to defend Jack, well, that was going too far.
To Ennis’s surprise Joe averted his eyes, suddenly busying himself with the papers and envelopes on his desk. Ennis gritted his teeth as the silence stretched between them. The more he waited, the angrier he became. When it became apparent Joe wasn’t going to speak, Ennis stood up.
“So,” he said, desperately trying to keep calm even as his posture betrayed his agitation, “I suppose if somebody came into the bar and started making rude comments about Frank’s wife, and then that someone got physical with Frank, slugged him in the face even, and Frank defended himself, I suppose Frank would get fired, too?”
Joe finally raised his eyes to meet Ennis’s, and for the first time that day, Joe didn’t glare at him. “Truth is, Del Mar, I can’t have my employees fighting with anyone. Anyone. You understand?” Ennis searched Aguirre’s face, stared deeply into his eyes and tried to determine if what Joe said was, in fact, the truth. Would he really fire Frank for hitting somebody if the same thing happened to him? He couldn’t tell, and he was tired of trying.
“Sure enough,” said Ennis. He took a deep breath and started to move toward the door. Aguirre’s voice stopped him.
“Ennis.” The sound of his first name coming from Joe’s mouth stopped Ennis in his tracks. He turned to face Joe. “I hate to lose a good employee, but I have no choice.” To Ennis’s surprise, Joe rose and joined him near the closed office door. In his hands was a business-sized, brown envelope, which he handed to Ennis. “It’s just a little something to get you through the next few weeks; ‘til unemployment kicks in.”
Ennis stared at the envelope, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Joe had just fired him and was now giving him charity? Ennis’s initial reaction was to hand it back. He’d figure out a way to get by, even if it meant spending his scanty savings.
“And if you need somebody to vouch for you when you’re looking for work, you give them my number.”
Ennis finally looked away from the envelope. His eyes met Aguirre’s, and for the first time, he saw genuine kindness reflected there. Ennis swallowed against the lump that had returned to his throat.
“I sure appreciate it, Joe.” He extended his right hand toward his former boss, who shook it quickly, but firmly. With a final nod, Ennis turned on his heel, left Joe’s office, walked past the concerned stares of Jimbo and Frank, and left Aguirre’s for the final time.
~*~*~*~*~*
“So, looks like I’m a free agent,” Ennis said, as he cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder. He hung the last of the tiny Christmas ornaments on the three-foot pine tree he had purchased for his girls. In just one day, his holiday celebration would officially be over, and he would spend Christmas Day going through the newest Help Wanted ads.
“I can’t believe he fucking fired you,” said Jack. Ennis could hear the cold wind blowing from the other end of the phone and the distant sound of dogs barking as Jack walked the perimeter of his parents’ back yard. It was 4:00 p.m. and soon the sun would be setting. Ennis had called Jack on his cell phone while Jack was trying to take advantage of the fading sunlight to assess the damage to his folks’ split-rail fence.
“It was time for me to get out of there anyway. High time.” Ennis took the phone in his left hand and lifted a beer bottle to his mouth with his right.
“Yeah, but he could have let you work up to the renovations,” said Jack. “Since Meatball Norm isn’t buying the bar any more, Aguirre sure as hell could have brought you back when the place is fixed up.”
“No use worrying about it now,” said Ennis.
“Well, I’m going to talk to Neil and Brad,” said Jack. “They might be able to hook you up.”
“Aw, Jack, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to bug your…”
“It’s no problem, Ennis. Hell, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“Thanks, Jack,” said Ennis. He was trying not to stress about being unemployed. He planned to head to the unemployment office the day after Christmas, and he had already perused the Help Wanted ads in today’s paper. The prospects were slim, but he was doing his best to be positive. Tired of discussing his woes, he asked, “How does the fence look?” Jack groaned.
“Shitty,” said Jack. “I swear, I don’t know what the old man has been doing the past few years, but this place is in pretty bad shape. I’ve found about five rails that need to be replaced in addition to ten posts. The wire fencing that’s supposed to keep the dogs in is shot to hell. The dogs have to be hooked to leads whenever they come outside, or they’ll end up god knows where. My dad’s workshop has a window that’s jammed open, and with all the rain they’ve had lately, and the snowfall that’s sure to be coming, he’s really stressing because of the antiques and tools and whatever other shit he’s got in there. The inside of the house needs work; plumbing in the downstairs bathroom needs repaired, plaster on the walls needs patched. It’s a fucking disaster.”
“Wow, sounds like you got your work cut out for you.”
“Well, I can do a little bit myself, but I need to call some contractors for the more difficult stuff, like the plumbing. Figure I’ll hit the internet and see who’s reliable, available and affordable. Then after Christmas, I’ll start making calls.”
“You going to try to tackle everything while you’re there?”
“As much as I can. Not sure where all the money will come from, though. I can help them with some of it, but I suppose Dad’s going to have to come up off some of the money I won’t be inheriting.” Jack laughed after his last comment, and picturing his beautiful smile and eyes crinkled at the corners, Ennis grinned as well.
“I sure wish your folks lived closer,” said Ennis. “I’d come right over and help you knock it out. Then you wouldn’t have to pay contractors.”
“That would be awesome,” said Jack.
Ennis thought about how wonderful it would be to spend a week or two with Jack, helping him during the day, making love to him at night, escaping the every-day doldrums by immersing themselves in some manual labor and then chilling out together later. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was exactly what he wanted. Of course, Jack’s parents would be there, so they wouldn’t be able to tear each other up, at least not loudly. But there was nothing more Ennis would like than to be far away from his shitty apartment for a while and be in Jack’s vicinity 24/7.
“I could come up there,” he blurted out.
“You’d come all the way up here?” Jack sounded breathless. “Ennis, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Why not?” Ennis asked. With each passing second, Ennis was becoming more excited at the prospect of spending some real time with Jack.
“Ennis, it’s like an eight hour drive for you. I mean, fuck yeah, I want your sexy ass up here, but it’s too much to ask.”
“You didn’t ask. I invited myself.”
“I’m glad you did,” said Jack. After a short pause, he asked, “How long can you stay?”
“Probably a week or two,” said Ennis.
“You can be away from your girls that long?” asked Jack.
“I don’t like to go too long without seeing them,” said Ennis, “but I’ll have them Christmas Eve. Christmas Day they’ll be with Alma and her sisters, and I know, while they’re off from school, Alma will want to take them around to visit her other relatives. I probably wouldn’t see them too much if I stayed here, anyway. If I can call them a few times from up there…”
“Of course,” said Jack. “I can’t wait to see you. How soon can you come?”
“I need to do a few things the day after Christmas; want to apply for unemployment and some other stuff. I can come up on Friday.” He paused. “You think you should run it by your mom first, though?” Jack laughed.
“Yeah, I guess that would be appropriate,” he said. “I’ll talk to my mom as soon as I go back inside. I’ve told her about you.”
Ennis was a little surprised Jack had mentioned him to Mrs. Twist. Then again Jack seemed to live his life openly, so his parents already knew he was attracted to men. Knowing Jack had mentioned Ennis to his mother, though, made Ennis flush with happiness and excitement. “What’d she say about us?”
“Well, I didn’t go into details, of course,” said Jack. “I told her you were my good friend; my special friend. She gets it. She knows you make me happy.”
Ennis didn’t want to ruin a beautiful moment, but he had to ask, “And your dad? What will he think?” He was admittedly worried about facing Jack’s father, even in his weakened state. He wanted neither Jack nor himself to be subjected to the elder Twist’s homophobic rants.
“He’ll just know you’re my friend who’s coming to help while you have time off. That’s all he needs to know.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Ennis. “Now go talk to your mom.”
“Will do. I know she’ll be cool with it,” said Jack. “I’ll give you a call as soon as we’ve talked.”
“Sounds good,” said Ennis.
After saying good-bye, Ennis immediately began extracting his warmest clothes from the closets and drawers in his apartment. Since they were going to be spending quite a bit of time outdoors, he dug out a few sets of thermal underwear, his snow boots, his favorite blue knit hat and his waterproof, insulated jacket and gloves. He placed all the items in a large duffel bag, which he set beside his bed. He knew he was jumping the gun a bit considering Jack’s mom hadn’t given her approval, but he was too excited at the prospect of being with Jack to worry about it.
Not knowing what types of tools Jack’s parents had, he decided to pack several of his own. By working so long at the hardware store, Ennis had accumulated quite a nice collection, and he was glad he would finally get a chance to put them to good use. As he was placing various screw drivers, different-sized hammers, side cutters, etc., into his large toolbox, the phone rang again. Glancing at the clock, Ennis was surprised to see over an hour had passed since he spoke with Jack.
“Ennis,” came Jack’s excited voice on the other end, “we’re all set. Mom is really happy to have you come up. She really appreciates your offer to help.”
“That’s great, Jack! I’ve already started packing some clothes and tools,” said Ennis. Jack laughed.
“Hey, look, you don’t have to bring a lot of tools. The old man’s got a ton of shit up here,” said Jack. “And, look, you’re doing us a favor, so I don’t want you putting miles on your truck.” Ennis furrowed his brow.
“I can drive my truck, Jack,” he said. “Don’t worry about that. Plus we might need it for supplies.”
“No, sir,” said Jack. “Dad’s got a heavy duty pick up here. And besides, I already made other arrangements.”
“Really?” asked Ennis. “What arrangements?”
“Can you be at the train station by 7 a.m. on Friday?” asked Jack. Ennis’s heart skipped a beat. Jack bought him a train ticket?
“Jack, you didn’t buy me no ticket, did you?”
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, concerned. “You’re okay riding on trains, aren’t you?”
“Well, sure, but they’re so expensive...”
“Don’t worry about the cost, Ennis. You’re doing me a huge favor. Plus the train’ll get you up to Marion in about five hours, so that will save you some travel time. Marion is only 45 minutes from my folks’ house, so I’ll be waiting for you when you arrive.”
“Jack, I don’t know what to say.”
“The ticket will be waiting for you at the window,” Jack said, his voice husky. “Just say you’ll be on that train, Ennis.”
“Nothing will keep me from it.”
Joe had been seated behind his desk, finishing up a phone call. Upon seeing Ennis in his doorway, Joe had waved him inside and motioned for him to sit. With the intensity of Joe’s conversation, Ennis felt he probably shouldn’t be overhearing it. He did as Aguirre expected, though, and sat in one of the chairs opposite Joe.
“I don’t give a good rat’s ass,” Joe snapped into the phone. “What’s done is done. I expect I won’t be seeing you later.” With that he slammed down the cordless phone. Ennis couldn’t help but jump when the phone clanged onto the metal desktop. As Aguirre fumbled in his desk drawer, swearing under his breath, Ennis swallowed against the lump in his throat.
Joe finally found what he was looking for; a box of toothpicks. After he fished one out and stuck it between his teeth, he finally looked up at Ennis. While using his tongue to flick the toothpick from side to side, his eyes narrowed, and he sat back in his squeaky, vinyl desk chair. Ennis felt the bile rising in his throat. Aguirre looked like he wanted to slug Ennis.
“Norm will not be buying this establishment,” Joe finally said. Ennis released his breath; his relief palpable. However, Aguirre continued to glare at him, and Ennis wondered if he was waiting for some type of reply. The hell can I say? Ennis asked himself. He dumbly nodded.
Joe pushed back his chair, the squealing wheels begging for oil. He stood, turned his back on Ennis and poured a mug of coffee. “I’m still renovating this place,” Joe said, stirring sugar into his cup. “I plan to use that time to contact the other interested parties.”
“Okay,” Ennis said, his throat dry. Where does that leave me? he wanted to ask, but he kept quiet.
“You’re probably wondering where your employment stands,” said Joe. He turned toward Ennis and took a sip from his mug. Ennis nodded again. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Del Mar. I spoke to some of the regulars that were here Friday; the ones you mentioned. Not one said Norm was acting up.” Ennis’s heart sank. Of course not; Norm had been on his best behavior.
“Well, you see, Joe,” started Ennis, leaning forward in his chair, “Norm went out of his way…”
“Hold up,” Joe interrupted. “They say he acted fine -- better than fine -- on Friday. But Carl and Cassie, well, they corroborated your story about his first night in the bar.” Ennis exhaled again and nodded.
“Good,” Ennis quietly said. For the first time since he entered Aguirre’s that day, he felt good. Joe would probably keep him on now, which would buy Ennis some time to find another job while still earning his paycheck.
“Here’s my quandary,” Joe said, plunking his mug onto the desk. He stood with his palms flat on the desktop, staring at Ennis through squinted eyes. “Not one customer had a bad thing to say about you Del Mar. You may not be the most talkative guy, but the customers like you. My problem is, you obviously have a temper; a hot switch. I can’t risk that switch being thrown, Del Mar.” Ennis’s heart sank.
“That was a one-shot thing, Joe,” Ennis said. “There have been other times people have acted up, maybe from drinking too much or something, and everything’s stayed cool.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said Joe. “What will you do, though, when word about you and your,” he spun his right hand around as he searched for a good word, “boyfriend gets out? What if someone gives you shit?” Ennis’s face burned. He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs.
“How would anybody handle somebody starting shit about something that’s personal; something that ain’t nobody’s business?” Ennis began to feel a burning and churning in the pit of his stomach. He clenched and unclenched his fists, resolving not to get angry. He was determined to prove to Joe he was able to handle anything that was thrown at him.
“I hear you,” Joe said, settling back into his chair. “I would expect any fellow to defend his girl.”
The statement hung in the air between them. Ennis matched Aguirre’s glare, refusing to look away. So that’s what it really amounted to. Any fellow could defend his girl, but if Ennis wanted to defend Jack, well, that was going too far.
To Ennis’s surprise Joe averted his eyes, suddenly busying himself with the papers and envelopes on his desk. Ennis gritted his teeth as the silence stretched between them. The more he waited, the angrier he became. When it became apparent Joe wasn’t going to speak, Ennis stood up.
“So,” he said, desperately trying to keep calm even as his posture betrayed his agitation, “I suppose if somebody came into the bar and started making rude comments about Frank’s wife, and then that someone got physical with Frank, slugged him in the face even, and Frank defended himself, I suppose Frank would get fired, too?”
Joe finally raised his eyes to meet Ennis’s, and for the first time that day, Joe didn’t glare at him. “Truth is, Del Mar, I can’t have my employees fighting with anyone. Anyone. You understand?” Ennis searched Aguirre’s face, stared deeply into his eyes and tried to determine if what Joe said was, in fact, the truth. Would he really fire Frank for hitting somebody if the same thing happened to him? He couldn’t tell, and he was tired of trying.
“Sure enough,” said Ennis. He took a deep breath and started to move toward the door. Aguirre’s voice stopped him.
“Ennis.” The sound of his first name coming from Joe’s mouth stopped Ennis in his tracks. He turned to face Joe. “I hate to lose a good employee, but I have no choice.” To Ennis’s surprise, Joe rose and joined him near the closed office door. In his hands was a business-sized, brown envelope, which he handed to Ennis. “It’s just a little something to get you through the next few weeks; ‘til unemployment kicks in.”
Ennis stared at the envelope, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Joe had just fired him and was now giving him charity? Ennis’s initial reaction was to hand it back. He’d figure out a way to get by, even if it meant spending his scanty savings.
“And if you need somebody to vouch for you when you’re looking for work, you give them my number.”
Ennis finally looked away from the envelope. His eyes met Aguirre’s, and for the first time, he saw genuine kindness reflected there. Ennis swallowed against the lump that had returned to his throat.
“I sure appreciate it, Joe.” He extended his right hand toward his former boss, who shook it quickly, but firmly. With a final nod, Ennis turned on his heel, left Joe’s office, walked past the concerned stares of Jimbo and Frank, and left Aguirre’s for the final time.
~*~*~*~*~*
“So, looks like I’m a free agent,” Ennis said, as he cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder. He hung the last of the tiny Christmas ornaments on the three-foot pine tree he had purchased for his girls. In just one day, his holiday celebration would officially be over, and he would spend Christmas Day going through the newest Help Wanted ads.
“I can’t believe he fucking fired you,” said Jack. Ennis could hear the cold wind blowing from the other end of the phone and the distant sound of dogs barking as Jack walked the perimeter of his parents’ back yard. It was 4:00 p.m. and soon the sun would be setting. Ennis had called Jack on his cell phone while Jack was trying to take advantage of the fading sunlight to assess the damage to his folks’ split-rail fence.
“It was time for me to get out of there anyway. High time.” Ennis took the phone in his left hand and lifted a beer bottle to his mouth with his right.
“Yeah, but he could have let you work up to the renovations,” said Jack. “Since Meatball Norm isn’t buying the bar any more, Aguirre sure as hell could have brought you back when the place is fixed up.”
“No use worrying about it now,” said Ennis.
“Well, I’m going to talk to Neil and Brad,” said Jack. “They might be able to hook you up.”
“Aw, Jack, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to bug your…”
“It’s no problem, Ennis. Hell, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“Thanks, Jack,” said Ennis. He was trying not to stress about being unemployed. He planned to head to the unemployment office the day after Christmas, and he had already perused the Help Wanted ads in today’s paper. The prospects were slim, but he was doing his best to be positive. Tired of discussing his woes, he asked, “How does the fence look?” Jack groaned.
“Shitty,” said Jack. “I swear, I don’t know what the old man has been doing the past few years, but this place is in pretty bad shape. I’ve found about five rails that need to be replaced in addition to ten posts. The wire fencing that’s supposed to keep the dogs in is shot to hell. The dogs have to be hooked to leads whenever they come outside, or they’ll end up god knows where. My dad’s workshop has a window that’s jammed open, and with all the rain they’ve had lately, and the snowfall that’s sure to be coming, he’s really stressing because of the antiques and tools and whatever other shit he’s got in there. The inside of the house needs work; plumbing in the downstairs bathroom needs repaired, plaster on the walls needs patched. It’s a fucking disaster.”
“Wow, sounds like you got your work cut out for you.”
“Well, I can do a little bit myself, but I need to call some contractors for the more difficult stuff, like the plumbing. Figure I’ll hit the internet and see who’s reliable, available and affordable. Then after Christmas, I’ll start making calls.”
“You going to try to tackle everything while you’re there?”
“As much as I can. Not sure where all the money will come from, though. I can help them with some of it, but I suppose Dad’s going to have to come up off some of the money I won’t be inheriting.” Jack laughed after his last comment, and picturing his beautiful smile and eyes crinkled at the corners, Ennis grinned as well.
“I sure wish your folks lived closer,” said Ennis. “I’d come right over and help you knock it out. Then you wouldn’t have to pay contractors.”
“That would be awesome,” said Jack.
Ennis thought about how wonderful it would be to spend a week or two with Jack, helping him during the day, making love to him at night, escaping the every-day doldrums by immersing themselves in some manual labor and then chilling out together later. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was exactly what he wanted. Of course, Jack’s parents would be there, so they wouldn’t be able to tear each other up, at least not loudly. But there was nothing more Ennis would like than to be far away from his shitty apartment for a while and be in Jack’s vicinity 24/7.
“I could come up there,” he blurted out.
“You’d come all the way up here?” Jack sounded breathless. “Ennis, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Why not?” Ennis asked. With each passing second, Ennis was becoming more excited at the prospect of spending some real time with Jack.
“Ennis, it’s like an eight hour drive for you. I mean, fuck yeah, I want your sexy ass up here, but it’s too much to ask.”
“You didn’t ask. I invited myself.”
“I’m glad you did,” said Jack. After a short pause, he asked, “How long can you stay?”
“Probably a week or two,” said Ennis.
“You can be away from your girls that long?” asked Jack.
“I don’t like to go too long without seeing them,” said Ennis, “but I’ll have them Christmas Eve. Christmas Day they’ll be with Alma and her sisters, and I know, while they’re off from school, Alma will want to take them around to visit her other relatives. I probably wouldn’t see them too much if I stayed here, anyway. If I can call them a few times from up there…”
“Of course,” said Jack. “I can’t wait to see you. How soon can you come?”
“I need to do a few things the day after Christmas; want to apply for unemployment and some other stuff. I can come up on Friday.” He paused. “You think you should run it by your mom first, though?” Jack laughed.
“Yeah, I guess that would be appropriate,” he said. “I’ll talk to my mom as soon as I go back inside. I’ve told her about you.”
Ennis was a little surprised Jack had mentioned him to Mrs. Twist. Then again Jack seemed to live his life openly, so his parents already knew he was attracted to men. Knowing Jack had mentioned Ennis to his mother, though, made Ennis flush with happiness and excitement. “What’d she say about us?”
“Well, I didn’t go into details, of course,” said Jack. “I told her you were my good friend; my special friend. She gets it. She knows you make me happy.”
Ennis didn’t want to ruin a beautiful moment, but he had to ask, “And your dad? What will he think?” He was admittedly worried about facing Jack’s father, even in his weakened state. He wanted neither Jack nor himself to be subjected to the elder Twist’s homophobic rants.
“He’ll just know you’re my friend who’s coming to help while you have time off. That’s all he needs to know.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Ennis. “Now go talk to your mom.”
“Will do. I know she’ll be cool with it,” said Jack. “I’ll give you a call as soon as we’ve talked.”
“Sounds good,” said Ennis.
After saying good-bye, Ennis immediately began extracting his warmest clothes from the closets and drawers in his apartment. Since they were going to be spending quite a bit of time outdoors, he dug out a few sets of thermal underwear, his snow boots, his favorite blue knit hat and his waterproof, insulated jacket and gloves. He placed all the items in a large duffel bag, which he set beside his bed. He knew he was jumping the gun a bit considering Jack’s mom hadn’t given her approval, but he was too excited at the prospect of being with Jack to worry about it.
Not knowing what types of tools Jack’s parents had, he decided to pack several of his own. By working so long at the hardware store, Ennis had accumulated quite a nice collection, and he was glad he would finally get a chance to put them to good use. As he was placing various screw drivers, different-sized hammers, side cutters, etc., into his large toolbox, the phone rang again. Glancing at the clock, Ennis was surprised to see over an hour had passed since he spoke with Jack.
“Ennis,” came Jack’s excited voice on the other end, “we’re all set. Mom is really happy to have you come up. She really appreciates your offer to help.”
“That’s great, Jack! I’ve already started packing some clothes and tools,” said Ennis. Jack laughed.
“Hey, look, you don’t have to bring a lot of tools. The old man’s got a ton of shit up here,” said Jack. “And, look, you’re doing us a favor, so I don’t want you putting miles on your truck.” Ennis furrowed his brow.
“I can drive my truck, Jack,” he said. “Don’t worry about that. Plus we might need it for supplies.”
“No, sir,” said Jack. “Dad’s got a heavy duty pick up here. And besides, I already made other arrangements.”
“Really?” asked Ennis. “What arrangements?”
“Can you be at the train station by 7 a.m. on Friday?” asked Jack. Ennis’s heart skipped a beat. Jack bought him a train ticket?
“Jack, you didn’t buy me no ticket, did you?”
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, concerned. “You’re okay riding on trains, aren’t you?”
“Well, sure, but they’re so expensive...”
“Don’t worry about the cost, Ennis. You’re doing me a huge favor. Plus the train’ll get you up to Marion in about five hours, so that will save you some travel time. Marion is only 45 minutes from my folks’ house, so I’ll be waiting for you when you arrive.”
“Jack, I don’t know what to say.”
“The ticket will be waiting for you at the window,” Jack said, his voice husky. “Just say you’ll be on that train, Ennis.”
“Nothing will keep me from it.”