Staying In Signal, 9
May. 20th, 2012 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrobay1990Title: Staying In Signal, 9
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
morrobay1990
Genre: au
Warning: none
Word count: 1000
Disclaimer: Jack & Ennis are AP's
♥ Jack
...Jack seemed fair enough with his curly hair and quick laugh, but for a small man he carried some weight in the haunch and his smile disclosed buckteeth...
Ennis, high-arched nose and narrow face, was scruffy and a little cave-chested...
Previously, on Staying In Signal
Jack was muttering to himself...sweat was pouring off him...he was hot, tired and hungry, and obviously alone to do all the work. And what wouldn't he give for a drink of cool water!
~~~~~
What he saw made him stop in his tracks: at Ennis's feet stood the well bucket full to the brim...something they hadn't seen before.
~~~~~
As if in slow motion, he tilted the bucket…felt the water droplets drench his hair, his skin...they fell and splashed open, releasing their chill...Jack looked at Ennis and said, “So where'd it come from?”
Staying In Signal, 9
“For the tenth time, Jack, I don't fuckin know. I told you...I put the bucket down, I don't even know why...I knew there was nothin down there...and it came up full... I don't know where it came from.”
They were sitting in Sal’s, the only diner in town, untouched sandwiches on plates in front of them, as they tried to figure out how water had suddenly appeared in their dry well.
Jack said, “Maybe it just seeped in from the closest underground spring. That’s what I think happened. We need to get somebody out there to look at it, then we can put a new pump in…that’s gotta be first, can’t keep haulin water.”
Ennis took a bite of his sandwich, “Don’t need nobody out there to look at it, we can install a damn pump. Pick one up on the way back.”
Turns out it wasn’t quite as easy as Ennis thought, but he wouldn’t let Jack call in anybody for help, and they struggled with it for two days, fought about it day and night…they fought until they turned in for the night…when harsh words turned tender, angry silences turned to whispered pleas and promises…no matter what had happened, when they drew close to each other, they would always put their differences aside…and it was them against the world.
Four weeks in and they had made considerable progress on the cabin. The inside had been cleared of debris and scrubbed clean, the well had the new pump so they had running water. There was a dilapidated cooktop that Ennis took apart, cleaned and rewired, so they could cook. Since the place was miles from town, Ray had thought to put in a septic tank, so even the toilet worked.
They had invested some of their money in a used generator, but they continued to cook outside and use the generator for lights, but even that was only on occasion. The work was backbreaking and so when night fell they wanted only to crawl into the sleeping bags on the floor in front of the clean but empty fireplace, and sleep.
They went into town once a week for staples, stretching a meager food budget too far for two men doing the work of four. The food on the shelf above the stove consisted of eggs, bacon, bread, flour and salt for biscuits eaten with the stew that Ennis made, which was mostly vegetables with a side of ham, and the dreaded beans.
Jack had discovered a sagging ice house under a big grove of trees. They could build it up and stock it from a lake once winter came, but they hadn’t had time to find out exactly how far they were from a lake. But every time he went to town, he came back with a truckload of sawdust in which to pack the ice when winter came.
Now money was running low and most of their conversations centered on how best to spend the remaining few dollars to begin a livelihood.
Jack wanted to go with the original plan and start cattle, Ennis had a wild idea to get a stallion and a few mares, and start a horse breeding place. Jack listened to his idea, didn’t want to shoot it down as not making the least bit of sense…in the end, Ennis had to agree that cattle was the best idea for now, but maybe one day…
The two of them took a couple days and drove around the perimeter of the land, and they caught a huge break when it turned out the whole thing was fenced. It was in falling-down shape and more than half of it would have to be repaired, but it was a fence. Next thing to do was get their herd started.
The evening after inspecting the fenceline, Jack sat cross-legged outside near the firepit, supper finished, fire doused as it was still warm for late September, bent over a piece of paper in his lap, adding up potential expenses.
“Well, it don’t look too good right now…gettin this place livable and buyin food took a lot of the stake I won from ole Ray.” He looked over at Ennis who sitting on a flat rock, smoking and waiting for the bad news.
“Ennis, looks like we’re gonna hafta get jobs on a ranch through the winter, save up some money and start the herd in the spring.” He saw the muscles in Ennis’s jaw tighten…knew he didn’t want to be hired out again…thought those days were over, just like Jack did.
Jack tried to make the best of the situation, “Look, it ain’t so bad, still ahead a the game with this place…just hafta save some for a couple months. We don’t wanna start in winter, anyway. Give us a chance to get the fence fixed, maybe clean up the ice house…plenty to do around here.”
“Yeah, we ain’t gonna have too much free time to work on our own place if we’re bustin our asses for somebody else.”
“We can do it, we’ll have a couple days off a week… make a list of what to do first and go at it that way…be done time spring rolls around.”
Ennis was still pissed that they were going to be hired hands again…Jack got up and walked over to him, sat down, looked him in the eye and said, “Ennis, we got our own place. We gotta do whatever it takes to get this thing up and runnin, and if it means workin for somebody else for a while, ridin fence, or brandin cattle, or herdin…whatever they throw at us, we can do it…we gotta do it…or we’ll never have nothin of our own, ever. This is our chance. You’re in, ain’t ya?”
There was no way Ennis could give up when the stubborn, immovable force that was Jack Twist sat there and said they could do it.
“Yeah. I’m in.”
Author:
morrobay1990Genre: au
Warning: none
Word count: 1000
Disclaimer: Jack & Ennis are AP's
♥ Jack
...Jack seemed fair enough with his curly hair and quick laugh, but for a small man he carried some weight in the haunch and his smile disclosed buckteeth...
Ennis, high-arched nose and narrow face, was scruffy and a little cave-chested...
Previously, on Staying In Signal
Jack was muttering to himself...sweat was pouring off him...he was hot, tired and hungry, and obviously alone to do all the work. And what wouldn't he give for a drink of cool water!
~~~~~
What he saw made him stop in his tracks: at Ennis's feet stood the well bucket full to the brim...something they hadn't seen before.
~~~~~
As if in slow motion, he tilted the bucket…felt the water droplets drench his hair, his skin...they fell and splashed open, releasing their chill...Jack looked at Ennis and said, “So where'd it come from?”
Staying In Signal, 9
“For the tenth time, Jack, I don't fuckin know. I told you...I put the bucket down, I don't even know why...I knew there was nothin down there...and it came up full... I don't know where it came from.”
They were sitting in Sal’s, the only diner in town, untouched sandwiches on plates in front of them, as they tried to figure out how water had suddenly appeared in their dry well.
Jack said, “Maybe it just seeped in from the closest underground spring. That’s what I think happened. We need to get somebody out there to look at it, then we can put a new pump in…that’s gotta be first, can’t keep haulin water.”
Ennis took a bite of his sandwich, “Don’t need nobody out there to look at it, we can install a damn pump. Pick one up on the way back.”
Turns out it wasn’t quite as easy as Ennis thought, but he wouldn’t let Jack call in anybody for help, and they struggled with it for two days, fought about it day and night…they fought until they turned in for the night…when harsh words turned tender, angry silences turned to whispered pleas and promises…no matter what had happened, when they drew close to each other, they would always put their differences aside…and it was them against the world.
Four weeks in and they had made considerable progress on the cabin. The inside had been cleared of debris and scrubbed clean, the well had the new pump so they had running water. There was a dilapidated cooktop that Ennis took apart, cleaned and rewired, so they could cook. Since the place was miles from town, Ray had thought to put in a septic tank, so even the toilet worked.
They had invested some of their money in a used generator, but they continued to cook outside and use the generator for lights, but even that was only on occasion. The work was backbreaking and so when night fell they wanted only to crawl into the sleeping bags on the floor in front of the clean but empty fireplace, and sleep.
They went into town once a week for staples, stretching a meager food budget too far for two men doing the work of four. The food on the shelf above the stove consisted of eggs, bacon, bread, flour and salt for biscuits eaten with the stew that Ennis made, which was mostly vegetables with a side of ham, and the dreaded beans.
Jack had discovered a sagging ice house under a big grove of trees. They could build it up and stock it from a lake once winter came, but they hadn’t had time to find out exactly how far they were from a lake. But every time he went to town, he came back with a truckload of sawdust in which to pack the ice when winter came.
Now money was running low and most of their conversations centered on how best to spend the remaining few dollars to begin a livelihood.
Jack wanted to go with the original plan and start cattle, Ennis had a wild idea to get a stallion and a few mares, and start a horse breeding place. Jack listened to his idea, didn’t want to shoot it down as not making the least bit of sense…in the end, Ennis had to agree that cattle was the best idea for now, but maybe one day…
The two of them took a couple days and drove around the perimeter of the land, and they caught a huge break when it turned out the whole thing was fenced. It was in falling-down shape and more than half of it would have to be repaired, but it was a fence. Next thing to do was get their herd started.
The evening after inspecting the fenceline, Jack sat cross-legged outside near the firepit, supper finished, fire doused as it was still warm for late September, bent over a piece of paper in his lap, adding up potential expenses.
“Well, it don’t look too good right now…gettin this place livable and buyin food took a lot of the stake I won from ole Ray.” He looked over at Ennis who sitting on a flat rock, smoking and waiting for the bad news.
“Ennis, looks like we’re gonna hafta get jobs on a ranch through the winter, save up some money and start the herd in the spring.” He saw the muscles in Ennis’s jaw tighten…knew he didn’t want to be hired out again…thought those days were over, just like Jack did.
Jack tried to make the best of the situation, “Look, it ain’t so bad, still ahead a the game with this place…just hafta save some for a couple months. We don’t wanna start in winter, anyway. Give us a chance to get the fence fixed, maybe clean up the ice house…plenty to do around here.”
“Yeah, we ain’t gonna have too much free time to work on our own place if we’re bustin our asses for somebody else.”
“We can do it, we’ll have a couple days off a week… make a list of what to do first and go at it that way…be done time spring rolls around.”
Ennis was still pissed that they were going to be hired hands again…Jack got up and walked over to him, sat down, looked him in the eye and said, “Ennis, we got our own place. We gotta do whatever it takes to get this thing up and runnin, and if it means workin for somebody else for a while, ridin fence, or brandin cattle, or herdin…whatever they throw at us, we can do it…we gotta do it…or we’ll never have nothin of our own, ever. This is our chance. You’re in, ain’t ya?”
There was no way Ennis could give up when the stubborn, immovable force that was Jack Twist sat there and said they could do it.
“Yeah. I’m in.”
