The Time Traveler's Lover : Jack at 39 (2)
Inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
The characters belong to Annie Proulx.
Jack travels back and forth in time throughout the course of his life and encounters Ennis and himself - visits that change everything and almost nothing.
August 15, 1983
The sky was lightening rapidly as his truck bumped along the dirt track leading from the lake to the main road. Jack had returned to the present lying across Randall the way he had been with Ennis, and had fought the impulse to recoil. Instead he'd drawn away carefully and slipped out of bed without waking the man, pulled on his clothes and padded out of the cabin carrying his boots. He knew he was a coward as he let his truck roll away from Randall's and down the incline in neutral, only starting the engine when he was well away from the place. But as he drove off, he felt a euphoria he'd experienced only twice before in the last twenty years, when he was heading north. He had only to wait two years, when Ennis would be free of child support payments. Junior would know about and accept them. He would return to Childress, end it with Randall, stop drinking, stay away from Mexico and those other places, put his nose to the grindstone and save money. Come November he would meet Ennis again and shore him up, laying the foundation for the sweet life.
As the track left the woods he saw the plain spread out to the east, the sky meeting the edge of it stained with pink. Suddenly, the truck jolted and swerved left. Jack stopped the vehicle and swung down. The left front tire was shredded; he had rolled over a jumble of ragged, twisted metal. Feeling strangely serene about the flat, he looked east and decided to wait until after the sun rose to change the tire because this was a sight he was rarely awake for. He stood with his hands in his pockets, thinking of Ennis and feeling sanguine about the future as he gazed at the horizon. He heard Ennis' footfall behind him. His heart lifted, he heaved a breath and smiled, counting the seconds until his lover slipped his arm around him and rested his chin on his shoulder.
Molten gold flowed across the horizon; the edge of the sun lifted, flashing brilliant white in his eyes. Glistening, crimson joy blazed across the sky and splashed upon the earth.
<< Jack at 39 (1) | Jack's First Year (Ennis' POV) ..
The characters belong to Annie Proulx.
Jack travels back and forth in time throughout the course of his life and encounters Ennis and himself - visits that change everything and almost nothing.
August 15, 1983
The sky was lightening rapidly as his truck bumped along the dirt track leading from the lake to the main road. Jack had returned to the present lying across Randall the way he had been with Ennis, and had fought the impulse to recoil. Instead he'd drawn away carefully and slipped out of bed without waking the man, pulled on his clothes and padded out of the cabin carrying his boots. He knew he was a coward as he let his truck roll away from Randall's and down the incline in neutral, only starting the engine when he was well away from the place. But as he drove off, he felt a euphoria he'd experienced only twice before in the last twenty years, when he was heading north. He had only to wait two years, when Ennis would be free of child support payments. Junior would know about and accept them. He would return to Childress, end it with Randall, stop drinking, stay away from Mexico and those other places, put his nose to the grindstone and save money. Come November he would meet Ennis again and shore him up, laying the foundation for the sweet life.
As the track left the woods he saw the plain spread out to the east, the sky meeting the edge of it stained with pink. Suddenly, the truck jolted and swerved left. Jack stopped the vehicle and swung down. The left front tire was shredded; he had rolled over a jumble of ragged, twisted metal. Feeling strangely serene about the flat, he looked east and decided to wait until after the sun rose to change the tire because this was a sight he was rarely awake for. He stood with his hands in his pockets, thinking of Ennis and feeling sanguine about the future as he gazed at the horizon. He heard Ennis' footfall behind him. His heart lifted, he heaved a breath and smiled, counting the seconds until his lover slipped his arm around him and rested his chin on his shoulder.
Molten gold flowed across the horizon; the edge of the sun lifted, flashing brilliant white in his eyes. Glistening, crimson joy blazed across the sky and splashed upon the earth.
<< Jack at 39 (1) | Jack's First Year (Ennis' POV) ..