Of Mice and Men

        For a moment Lennie seemed bewildered. And then he whispered in fright,
‘I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing.’ He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her. He slowly crawled up, and gently dropped the last piece of hay that was in his hand and it fell leisurely on the body. His eyes were as a wide as an owl’s, sparkling like stars in the night sky. He turned around and murmured,
 ‘Now George ain’t going to let me tend no rabbits an’ it’s all the girl’s fault. I told her not to come near me, but she did, that girl, oh she ain’t careful, she just wants trouble.’
Lennie turned around and gave another glance at the dead body and the puppy that lay beside it. A clang came from outside that shook Lennie. He peeked from a crack through the wall, and there he could see George, playing. A warm tear gradually came down from Lennie’s icy cheek, slowly melting as it formed a line. He opened the door to the outside world, and then disappeared into the thick vegetation.

      The sun’s rays  progressively weakened, and the barn grew dark. An eagle soared through the sky, creating echoes that bounced off the mountains and back, while a flock of birds partly covered the sky creating curious images. A soft voice came from inside the barn. It was George.
 ‘Lennie, hey Lennie . . . .  Come on, got no time for hide and seek . . . . Lennie?’
George slowly crept across the floor. Time stood still. George roamed around.
‘Lennie! Oh gosh if I find you I’m gonna…’. George was silent. His eyes were fixed on something, and he couldn’t shut them. He crouched down slowly, and lifted the hay. Suddenly Candy joined him in the barn and as soon as he saw George, he immediately headed towards him.
‘Don’t tell me she’s dead?’ said Candy.
‘It can’t be, a guy so nice and careful, it can’t be.’
George did not reply. He turned his head around and dropped it. Candy lifted his head up and said,
‘You must do something. Who knows what he’s going to do now. It’s your turn now, you must take action on this’.
The barn was soon filled with ranch men, and the barn was not silent anymore. Candy lay on a pile of hay while all the others were discussing what lay in front of their eyes.
‘That crazy man must die . . .  he must get hanged. He’s going to pay for it, that mad man. Carlson, get your gun, we’re off.’
Curley was furious. His rage had reached a level of absolute anger that made him behave with complete contempt. Carlson looked puzzled.
‘I ain’t got my gun . . .  that guy must have stole it. It has to be. I’m gonna get him.’ 
Slim walked over to George and paused in front of him. He also had a sad look and said, ‘A man’s got to do what he’s gotta do. He’s your pal, your mate. You can’t let them do this.’
George lifted up his head and stared into Slim’s eyes. From the background Curley shouted, ‘Come on, what you doing there, let’s go.  I’ll kill that idiot my self, leave him to me, I’m gonna make him taste me old flesh!’
Slim answered Curley and looked at George. They both nodded at the same time and went out of the barn.
   
    The evening was quiet and the sky was ancient. Lennie stood still in front of the great silver falls where the crystalline drops flowed into a big pool that lay just a hundred feet beneath Lennie’s big paws. He turned around and headed back.
‘Um, now where is…’, Lennie stopped.
Something caught his attention. He saw a cave just across the waterfall and then remembered. ‘Hide in the brush till he come, hide in the brush.’
He finally recalled what George had told him. He  rushed to the brush.
‘I gotta stay here as George said . . . I gotta remain here . . . I done a bad thing, a really bad thing. George won’t let me tend the rabbits, oh he won’t! All that stupid puppy who was small, and the stupid girl who was so soft . . all their fault, I ain’t gonna tend em’ rabbits now. Let me pick some of ‘em flowers I see. George be happy’, and he moved towards the colorful flowers.  
           
Curley sat on the saddle, with his shot gun in one hand and in the other the glove full of Vaseline.
‘Come on we ain’t gonna let him escape, let’s ride.’
George stared at the group of ranch men, riding on the horses one by one, lifting the soil from the ground until it covered them with dust. George bent down, grasped a handful of earth and then let it drop from his hand.
‘I gotta go, they have gone and I must go, let me’, and he suddenly started running through the forest. Slim was standing, looking across at George from the ranch.  As he watched he could see George gradually becoming tinier as he moved swiftly through the trees, until he disappeared.
    
      The night walked in the sky with the moon in her hand. When day was done, and clouds were low, the flowers were honey-dew, and the lamp began to glow along the western blue, a homeward flock of turtle-doves filled the sky. Silence accompanied beast and bird, and eve's silent footfall stole along the eastern sky.
 ‘Lennie, Lennie’, George whispered as he came out of the bushes. Lennie stood still in front of him, his hands filled with flowers.
‘I got some flowers for you George so I can tend ’em rabbits, oh and I remember the place, I remember it alright’, said Lennie shaking with excitement. George stared at him, his face was motionless and expressionless, his eyes were sparkling,
‘Oh, that’s nice’, he said as he  grabbed the flowers and hugged Lennie, letting the flowers fall on the ground with their petals cascading into millions of colours, like pieces of glass.
‘Are you angry, George?’ asked Lennie, waiting impatiently for an answer.   
‘Well let me think …  of course I am, you just done something really bad.  Do you know what trouble you put us in, you are a mad man, I tell you, killing’s  not fun.’
Lennie was still, his hands against his hips, his legs aligned. His face then shook a little. ‘Lennie?’ murmured George. But there was no reply.
‘Oh, come on Lennie be serious, you just …’, but before George could finish, loud noises came from behind Lennie.
‘There you are you crazy killer . . . George get him, I’ll finish him off once and for all. I always knew he was worthless’. George stood still and suddenly he grabbed Lennie by the hand and dragged him along and stopped.
‘George if you don’t want me I can just go in the cave, see right over there’, said Lennie.
‘Oh, shut up an' run,"  uttered George.  But Lennie didn't run.  George slapped him in the face.
‘You run, you hear me, run!’ and George slapped him again. This time Lennie was unable to stop himself and he began pounding George while Aunt Clara's voice filled his head, telling him he didn't deserve George. When Lennie stopped he touched George’s face and realized what he had done and he stood, looking stunned. Just then Curley dived into where Lennie was crouched next to George and Curley flew into a rage of his own.
"Ya killed him, I'm gonna shoot ya in the gut". Lennie looked at the barrel of Curley’s shotgun and then at George and said,
"See ya George".
A loud shot sounded up the hills and down again. Slim had arrived and he looked down at Lennie and then at George.
"Ya hadda Curl, ya hadda".

     A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River  looked toward the hillside bank. The water was warm too. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curved up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, and the willows were fresh and green with the spring. The bodies of two men, one short and dark haired, the other, huge and muscular, lay motionless by the pool in the clearing. A water snake slipped along the pool, it’s head held up like a little periscope. The reeds jerked slightly in the current. Far off toward the highway a man shouted something, and another man shouted back. The sycamore limbs rustled under a little wind that died immediately and seemed to echo a sound.
‘Only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the struggle to survive on the ranch.  In death we become heroes.’


Andrea C.  8T



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