Annie Proulx
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
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Act I
[Prelude]
Scene 1
1963
[Exterior Aguirre’s trailer. Two .30-.30s lean against the wall. Brokeback Mountain dominates this and other scenes. Emanating from the mountain we sense an almost sub-sonic slow powerful breathing, feel a disturbing shudder, something primal and eerie with a profound antiquity that makes gnats of humans.]
[Helpful if Jack and Ennis wear different but distinctive shirts throughout the mountain scenes.]
AGUIRRE
[pronounced by Jack and Ennis as AG-wire]
Goddamn ranch kids! Late!
I said ‘be here ten-thirty sharp. Monday morning.’ Ten minutes late. If they ain’t here by eleven...
[Reflectively] God knows where I’ll find men to take their place.
[Spins around, looks at the mountain. He knows this piece of the earth too well. Turns away.]
Maybe they heard something about that mountain.
Maybe they won’t show.
Brokeback mountain, old and hard,
Knife blade rising from the earth.
Dark power.
[Turning to face the mountain]
Lightning, blizzard,
avalanche and flood,
storm and falling rock,
stones like skulls,
jet stream, lion’s claw,
An evil place
That kills men.
JACK
[Enters carrying his rodeo warbag. Hesitates to approach Aguirre who looks menacing.]
AGUIRRE [ostentatiously checking his watch]
You! Never keep me waiting! Are you Jack Twist, or— [he consults a paper from his shirt pocket] Ennis Del Mar?
JACK
[good natured, smiling]
I’m Jack. All-around hand, rodeo bull-rider [he shows his belt buckle], and now a sheep herder, I guess. [Aside] Just for the summer.
AGUIRRE
Where’s the other one, this Del Mar?
JACK
[Pointing] Somebody’s comin. Maybe it’s him.
[Enter Ennis carrying a feed-sack packed with his necessaries. He looks at Jack, at Aguirre.]
AGUIRRE
[consults his notes]
You Del Mar?
[Ennis nods.]
AGUIRRE
Didn’t you hear me? You deaf? Speak up!
ENNIS
(combative]
Yeah! ENNIS DEL MAR!
AGUIRRE
[Threateningly]
You watch your step, mister. [He stares each of them down, then, mollified, continues.] This here is Jack. Jack’s the herder. Del Mar, you are the camp tender.
Here’s my rules. Break them and you’re fired.
[He tick off the rules on his fingers.]
Two camps. The main camp where the Forest Service says.
Keep the fire small.
Herder in the high camp with the sheep. Watch out for coyotes. Watch out for Forest Service. Every night. No fire up there!
[He picks up the .30-.30s, one at a time, throws one to Jack, the other to Ennis.]
Kill every coyote.
Kill every mountain lion.
Kill every fox.
Kill every eagle.
Kill everything that kills a sheep.
No whiskey.
No women.
No fights.
No goin to town.
No butcherin sheep.
Got it?
JACK
[Smiles brilliantly]
Yeah, got it, Mr. Aguirre. A to Z.
[Ennis nods]
AGUIRRE
[dangerously]
Speak up!
ENNIS
[Shouts]
Yeah! Got it!
AGUIRRE
Come back here at one o’clock. You go to the mountain.
[He gestures at Brokeback. All look at the mountain which shows a sky black with cloud and a flicker of lightning along the broken ridge. There is a rumble of thunder. Aguirre goes into his trailer and shuts the door.]
[Jack and Ennis look at each other expressionlessly.]
JACK
How about a beer? We got time to kill.
[They head down the street to the nearest bar.]
[Interlude]
