Gift of Exile - Part 3

[talkstocoyotes]

Source: Fanfiction based on Brokeback Mountain, slightly more influenced by the film than the short story.
Rating: mostly NC 17, some slash; a metaphysical subplot.
Summary: Faced with several unattractive choices, Ennis chooses self-imposed exile and discovers that exile can sometimes lead you to the people you belong to.
Disclaimer: Ennis, Jack, all

Comments

[ky77ccl]

I have been enjoying these sort of "in between" chapters. At least that is how I think of them - they seem time inbetween - time inbetween Ennis mourning, and time inbetween whatever that elusive thing is that seems to be lying just around the corner...

Are we going to get to hear about David's holiday?

[under_wyo_skies]

Well, I guess I didn't stop reading.

I felt a real sense of peace in this chapter, of acceptance of life slowly moving onwards bringing whatever it will bring and Ennis not shutting himself away from it.

It's interesting and good that his thoughts of sharing a life with Jack at Lightning Flat are being interrupted by the time of their wedding night because it could be so easy for Ennis to slip into his fantasy world and try and live there permanently. Whereas he is jolted out of that possibility by what Jack has "told" him, and Ennis is one way or another not being allowed just to let go and sink into whatever sad and lonely life he would otherwise have done.

Also in this chapter other people's lives are moving on, but unlike what could have happened it looks like Ennis is moving too, working a way forward, not being left behind to waste his life away.

How wonderful that is.

H :)

[skinheadbrian]

"As he left the house that night, Ennis broke off a few tiny sprigs at the back of the wreath and put them in a small jar of water on the windowsill of his tiny kitchen. He wasn’t sure why, but he liked looking at it."

even though "he liked looking at it", that image is breaking my heart.

[talkstocoyotes]

Sometimes it just takes a little thing to keep hope alive, such as a bit of greenery on the window sill in the middle of winter. But it's true, Ennis and Jack never spent enough uninterrupted time together to mark the cycles of years by holidays. That was one reason I picked "Song For a Winter's Night" as the theme music for this chapter.

BTW, I looked at your profile and love the long poem you posted. It addresses some of the issues I'm working on in the upcoming two chapters.

Thanks for reading! I hope you continue.

[skinheadbrian]

re: my poem: thanks, very much

re: continuing to read: you bet