Topic: What's your favorite line/quotation from the Short Story??

[guyinjax]

Here's mine:

They had stood that way for a long time in front of the fire, its burning tossing ruddy chunks of light, the shadow of their bodies a single column against the rock.
OMG!

... it's on page 43 of my version (the one with the movie photo on the cover)..

Please share yours ...

[aimi15]

They seized each other by the shoulders ,hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then. and easily as the right ket turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together,and hard, Jack's big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis's straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other's toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, little darlin.

IMHO, THE best description of a kiss ever committed to paper.

[guyinjax]

They seized each other by the shoulders ,hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then. and easily as the right ket turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together,and hard, Jack's big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis's straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other's toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and daughters, little darlin.

IMHO, THE best description of a kiss ever committed to paper.

FABULOUS quotation!  Thanks!

[NoReins]

Love the two that have been quoted so far. My favourite other bit, though, would be the following passage from the motel, where Ennis opens up to Jack and talks about his feelings. I think I like this mostly because "movie Ennis" doesn't say any of it, it's all just done with looks and touches instead.

Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. "Sure as hell seem in one piece to me. You know, I was sittin up here all that time tryin to figure out if I was - ? I know I ain't. I mean here we both got wives and kids, right? I like doin it with women, yeah. but Jesus H., ain't nothin like this. I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hunderd times thinkin about you. You do it with other guys? Jack?"

"Shit no" said Jack, who had been riding more than bulls, not rolling his own. "You know that. Old Brokeback got us good and it sure ain't over. We got a work out what the f*ck we're goin a do now."

"That summer" said Ennis. "When we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out a my sights. Too late then by a long, long while."

[tpe]

Let be.  Let be.

[pierralex]

"And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release, the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets"

 :\'(

[guyinjax]

"And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release, the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets"

 :\'(

 :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :-[ :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(

[ethan]

Great quotes, everyone.

Let be.  Let be.

Thanks, tpe. I do like this line a lot. Simple words and yet symbolizes the vulnerability of a such love.

[greenfrog]

This one tugs at my heart strings ...

"That summer" said Ennis. "When we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois. Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out a my sights. Too late then by a long, long while."

[LuvJackNasty]

What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor
understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come
up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some
shared and sexless hunger.

[chameau]

"That summer, " said Ennis.  "When we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I hate somethin bad at that place in Dubois.  Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out of my sight.  Too late then by a long, long while"

(too bad it wasn't in the movie  )

[hpv]

What could he say? "Alma, this is Jack Twist, Jack, my wife Alma." His chest
was heaving. He could smell Jack ~the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes,
musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of
the mountain. "Alma," he said, "Jack and me ain't seen each other in four
years." As if it were a reason. He was glad the light was dim on the landing
but did not turn away from her.
"Sure enough," said Alma in a low voice. She had seen what she had seen.
Behind her in the room lightning lit the window like a white sheet waving and
the baby cried.
"You got a kid?" said Jack. His shaking hand grazed Ennis's hand, electrical
current snapped between them.
"Two little girls," Ennis said. "Alma Jr. and Francine. Love them to pieces."
Alma's mouth twitched.
"I got a boy," said Jack. "Eight months old. Tell you what, I married a cute
little old Texas girl down in Childress -- Lureen." From the vibration of the
floorboard on which they both stood Ennis could feel how hard Jack was
shaking.


I'm  sorry -I could not leave any word out, so I paste it all

[frances]

Two words :

little darlin

[pierralex]

Two words :

little darlin

Very good one, thanks frances  :\'(

[welshwitch]

"See you tomorrow"  ( in Jack's memory of the dozy embrace) - heart-breaking.

[tpe]

"See you tomorrow"  ( in Jack's memory of the dozy embrace) - heart-breaking.

That tomorrow became forever.

[LuvJackNasty]

I also like these lines:

Even when the numbers were right Ennis knew the sheep were mixed. In a
disquieting way everything seemed mixed.
***********************************

The mountain boiled with demonic energy,
glazed with flickering broken cloud light; the wind combed the grass and
drew from the damaged krummholz and slit rock a bestial drone. As they
descended the slope Ennis felt he was in a slow motion, but headlong,
irreversible fall.

[Diana]

I find "gun's goin off" quite interesting 

[welshwitch]

Yes, LJN, beautiful sentences and I also find that section close to Milton's writing when he describes the fall and the expulsion from the garden in "Paradise Lost". When they leave the mountain it's the beginning of the consequences of what's happened betweeen them, and Ennis knows all about consequences.

[keren_b]

And he would wake sometimes in grief, sometimes with the old sense of joy and release, the pillow sometimes wet, sometimes the sheets

There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.

 :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'( :\'(

[tpe]

Another favorite of mine.  I find the imagery very moving.

Bumping down the washboard road Ennis passed the country cemetery fenced with sagging sheep wire, a tiny fenced square on the welling prairie, a few graves bright with plastic flowers, and didn’t want to know Jack was going in there, to be buried on the grieving plain.

[Rønnaug]

What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor
understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come
up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some
shared and sexless hunger.

I like this one... it is love... happy memories and love

And I am also a bit weak about Little darlin'

[hpv]

After the FNT:

"Without saying anything about it, both knew how it would go for the rest of  the summer, sheep be damned." 

well...what can I say       to Jack and Ennis

[hpv]

And another one- after the sheep were mixed:

In a disquieting way everything seemed mixed.    sigh..

[hpv]

 
Felt he could paw the white out of the moon.

[frances]

Another one


What could he say? "Alma, this is Jack Twist, Jack, my wife Alma." His chest
was heaving. He could smell Jack, the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes,
musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of
the mountain

[chameau]

Another one


What could he say? "Alma, this is Jack Twist, Jack, my wife Alma." His chest
was heaving. He could smell Jack, the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes,
musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of
the mountain

And... From the vibration of the floorboard on which they stood Ennis could feel how hard Jack was shaking.

This scene was very well acted and shot in the movie BTW.

[tpe]

Another one

What could he say? "Alma, this is Jack Twist, Jack, my wife Alma." His chest
was heaving. He could smell Jack, the intensely familiar odor of cigarettes,
musky sweat and a faint sweetness like grass, and with it the rushing cold of
the mountain

And... From the vibration of the floorboard on which they stood Ennis could feel how hard Jack was shaking.

This scene was very well acted and shot in the movie BTW.

Indeed.  A beautiful scene.  A matchless realization.

[hpv]

He is suffused with a sense of pleasure because Jack Twist was in his dream. ...........     Sigh


That's  all that Ennis  got left of Jack   -  to dream ..

[guyinjax]

And another one- after the sheep were mixed:

In a disquieting way everything seemed mixed.    sigh..

Beautiful quotation!  Thanks...