The Time Traveler's Lover : Jack at 33 (BEST WESTERN 7)
Inspired by The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The characters belong to Annie Proulx
Jack travels back and forth in time during the course of his life and encounters Ennis and himself - visits that change everything and almost nothing.
November 24, 1977
Jack breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut behind LD and Fayette, and he saw Lureen's shoulders slump as she turned back to him. She raised her eyebrows and gave him a wry half-smile.
"Worst Thanksgivin ever," she sighed as she began to root through her handbag for her Virginia Slims. "Hope yer gonna survive Christmas next month." After she'd tapped out a cigarette and flicked her lighter she squinted at him through the smoke. "Well, least you n' Daddy manage t'agree on one thing-"
"'Lectric carving knives are for wimps," Jack finished. He sank onto the sofa and tipped his head back, closing his eyes. Lureen had no idea of the real reason he'd freaked out when she'd displayed to him the brand new electric knife in the kitchen that morning. During a sales trip in Denver in October he'd been drinking in the hotel bar when a girl (woman, she'd corrected him) had started flirting with him. Though his mind was on other things, he'd gamely returned the banter. After a few minutes she'd made a strange proposition. Would he come with her to see a French movie playing a few blocks away? He'd replied that he didn't know French and she said it didn't matter, it was subtitled. When she'd told him what it was called he looked at her blankly; it meant "the last woman" she'd explained. That sure fit his mood just then so he'd agreed to go with her, what the hell. The theater was a tiny place, didn't even sell popcorn. Soon he learned that "subtitled" meant he had to read the damn movie but it hardly mattered. The guy's life was fucked up alright but to do that... Shit. And the gal'd had the nerve to laugh out loud. While stalking back to the hotel alone he'd told himself that at least he knew the source of his own unhappiness lay in a different organ.
He heard the newspaper rustling and then Lureen said "Hey Jack, guess what's on TV tonight. That western you've always wanted to see, The Magnificent Seven. You been goin on about that one for years."
Jack's eyelids snapped up and he stared at the ceiling for several seconds while he tried to adjust to the adrenalin suddenly surging through his body. His heart was hammering and he didn't dare look at Lureen. He closed his eyes again.
"What time? I'm so beat not sure I could stay awake even fer that," he croaked out.
"Ten. You got a few hours, why dontcha take a nap, then," she said as she refolded the paper. "I'm gonna take Bobby to Matt's house, he's been invited for a sleepover."
Jack sat up. "Lemme do that. I feel like gettin out, not sleepin," he said.
After he dropped Bobby, Jack headed out to 268 to make his second ever visit to the Best Western there. He pulled into the parking lot even though the sign was flashing NO VACANCIES. The desk clerk confirmed the motel was fully booked.
"Lotsa people in town to spend Thanksgiving with their relatives and the overflow folks stay here. There's a Holiday Inn two miles further on, you could check there."
"Ain't there any other Best Westerns round here?" Jack persisted.
The man smiled. "Always nice to meet a loyal customer. Well, there's a couple but they're both about twenty miles from Childress, both on Route sixty two, one north and one south. I can call 'em if you want."
Jack nodded and leaned against the counter while the man was on the phone. A laminated map of the US was hanging on the wall next to him and he traced the route to Wyoming with the tip of his key, counting the little crowns along the way. They just kept springing up, more and more to check every year. But he needed it bad tonight.
The man hung up and looked at Jack apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir, they're both full."
Jack scanned the map and began calculating how long it would take to drive to the one near Amarillo but then shook his head. He wasn’t feeling the way he'd looked in the firelight that night ten years ago. That man's eyes had been like a ray of light from years away finally reaching its destination but right now he felt just... felt like a shooting star, lost and going nowhere.
When he arrived home, night had fallen and he could see Lureen through the kitchen window, cutting up the turkey carcass with the electric knife. He slipped around the side of the house, stood in the wet grass and watched the full moon rising. Then he stared at the stars in the black sky until every single one wore a halo.
<< Jack at 33 | Jack at 35 >>
The film Jack saw was called La Dernière Femme. The comments on imdb.com indicate it was banned in the US but it certainly did have a limited release there initially because I saw it in the fall of 1977 in Cambridge, Mass. So it’s not inconceivable for Jack to have seen it in Denver when he did.
The characters belong to Annie Proulx
Jack travels back and forth in time during the course of his life and encounters Ennis and himself - visits that change everything and almost nothing.
November 24, 1977
Jack breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut behind LD and Fayette, and he saw Lureen's shoulders slump as she turned back to him. She raised her eyebrows and gave him a wry half-smile.
"Worst Thanksgivin ever," she sighed as she began to root through her handbag for her Virginia Slims. "Hope yer gonna survive Christmas next month." After she'd tapped out a cigarette and flicked her lighter she squinted at him through the smoke. "Well, least you n' Daddy manage t'agree on one thing-"
"'Lectric carving knives are for wimps," Jack finished. He sank onto the sofa and tipped his head back, closing his eyes. Lureen had no idea of the real reason he'd freaked out when she'd displayed to him the brand new electric knife in the kitchen that morning. During a sales trip in Denver in October he'd been drinking in the hotel bar when a girl (woman, she'd corrected him) had started flirting with him. Though his mind was on other things, he'd gamely returned the banter. After a few minutes she'd made a strange proposition. Would he come with her to see a French movie playing a few blocks away? He'd replied that he didn't know French and she said it didn't matter, it was subtitled. When she'd told him what it was called he looked at her blankly; it meant "the last woman" she'd explained. That sure fit his mood just then so he'd agreed to go with her, what the hell. The theater was a tiny place, didn't even sell popcorn. Soon he learned that "subtitled" meant he had to read the damn movie but it hardly mattered. The guy's life was fucked up alright but to do that... Shit. And the gal'd had the nerve to laugh out loud. While stalking back to the hotel alone he'd told himself that at least he knew the source of his own unhappiness lay in a different organ.
He heard the newspaper rustling and then Lureen said "Hey Jack, guess what's on TV tonight. That western you've always wanted to see, The Magnificent Seven. You been goin on about that one for years."
Jack's eyelids snapped up and he stared at the ceiling for several seconds while he tried to adjust to the adrenalin suddenly surging through his body. His heart was hammering and he didn't dare look at Lureen. He closed his eyes again.
"What time? I'm so beat not sure I could stay awake even fer that," he croaked out.
"Ten. You got a few hours, why dontcha take a nap, then," she said as she refolded the paper. "I'm gonna take Bobby to Matt's house, he's been invited for a sleepover."
Jack sat up. "Lemme do that. I feel like gettin out, not sleepin," he said.
After he dropped Bobby, Jack headed out to 268 to make his second ever visit to the Best Western there. He pulled into the parking lot even though the sign was flashing NO VACANCIES. The desk clerk confirmed the motel was fully booked.
"Lotsa people in town to spend Thanksgiving with their relatives and the overflow folks stay here. There's a Holiday Inn two miles further on, you could check there."
"Ain't there any other Best Westerns round here?" Jack persisted.
The man smiled. "Always nice to meet a loyal customer. Well, there's a couple but they're both about twenty miles from Childress, both on Route sixty two, one north and one south. I can call 'em if you want."
Jack nodded and leaned against the counter while the man was on the phone. A laminated map of the US was hanging on the wall next to him and he traced the route to Wyoming with the tip of his key, counting the little crowns along the way. They just kept springing up, more and more to check every year. But he needed it bad tonight.
The man hung up and looked at Jack apologetically. "I'm sorry, sir, they're both full."
Jack scanned the map and began calculating how long it would take to drive to the one near Amarillo but then shook his head. He wasn’t feeling the way he'd looked in the firelight that night ten years ago. That man's eyes had been like a ray of light from years away finally reaching its destination but right now he felt just... felt like a shooting star, lost and going nowhere.
When he arrived home, night had fallen and he could see Lureen through the kitchen window, cutting up the turkey carcass with the electric knife. He slipped around the side of the house, stood in the wet grass and watched the full moon rising. Then he stared at the stars in the black sky until every single one wore a halo.
<< Jack at 33 | Jack at 35 >>
The film Jack saw was called La Dernière Femme. The comments on imdb.com indicate it was banned in the US but it certainly did have a limited release there initially because I saw it in the fall of 1977 in Cambridge, Mass. So it’s not inconceivable for Jack to have seen it in Denver when he did.