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. Lennie grabbed the lady by her shoulders and started shaking her violently and brusquely back and forth. She didn’t move or react. She stood there pale and still lying on a pile of hay, in the cold, dark and silent barn.
"Now George isn’t gonna let me tend the rabbits, sof’ an fluffy rabbits.  I wanted to pet ‘em an’ tend ‘em, an hug ‘em, and I wanted to feed ‘em all day long jus’ like they were my babies."  Lennie figured in his mind the scene of him with rabbits around him. That was his dream.
"If you wouldn’t have moved none of us would have been in any trouble. I would have tended the rabbits an’ you would have still been alive!"
 
     Lennie’s eyes reflected fear like the one of a baby when he does something his mom is not going to like. The only thing that was in his mind was that George wouldn’t have let him tend the rabbits, but in the deepest part of his heart he knew that wasn’t the real problem. He stood there in the yellow hay near Curley’s wife, looking at her and whispering as if no one should hear.
"I didn’t mean to kill you or the pup but the fact is that ...I am a strong man, really strong, I can lift anything an’ only by petting something I can kill it. You know, once I found a mouse. He was white as snow so you could see him even in the middle of the green grass even though he was really small. I found him in the place where me an’ George used to work. He was cute an’ lonely so I got him an’ petted him so he would have felt less lonely but ...but then I petted him so much an’ so hard that he died in my hands. George was really mad at me an’ from that time he didn’t let me get little mice from the street to bring with me an’ him. Another time I was in Weed and there was a girl in a beautiful velvet dress. I couldn’t resist the beauty of that red dress which was so soft on her body. I touched that damn dress and ...like always I got in trouble and got George in trouble too. We were forced to run away and create a new life for ourselves an’ find a new job an’ a new ranch in which we coulda slept."
Lennie felt guiltier and guiltier,
"It is always my fault, always! Why am I so dumb, why do I have to put people in trouble? Why do I always end up killing living things? Why?"
 
Now in Lennie’s mind there came an inspiration.  A memory came into his head.
"George told me to hide in the brush if I got in trouble. Yes he said to hide in the brush so I can go and hide there now, right now! I will pack my bag and go there right where we slept that night before we came here. Then he will come and search for me and we will go somewhere else like every other time."
Lennie thought this was the solution to all of his problems. He quickly covered the body with hay for a second time and closed the creaking door of the barn. When he suddenly turned, an undefined figure loomed in front of him. He didn’t really understand who it was. He had never seen this person before even though it had a familiar look. This figure started talking to Lennie and said,
"Lennie what are you doing! As soon as they realize that you are the person who killed that poor woman and they don’t see you around they will come and search for you and they will incriminate George. They will oblige him to tell them where you are and because he will not confess they will kill him. You prefer the killing of George instead of yours? Well if this is what you want you are not the man I know!"
Lennie was perplexed and said,
"Do I know you? I never saw you before so how do you know who I am? Why do you know so much about me?"
"Lennie I am your Aunt Clara! I know you thought I was dead, and I am sorry for all the lies I told you and George but I couldn’t keep you! You were a baby and I had other things to look after like my family and house! You were such a big responsibility for me and I had no money to maintain you so I preferred to leave your destiny to fate. You had the fortune to find George before I left you alone. I followed all your steps thanks to George who sent me letters telling me what you were doing and where you were. I’ve travelled here to visit you and see what a beautiful man you’ve become but I came at the wrong moment. I saw what you just did. It wasn’t a good thing to do. Why did you do it, why?"
 
     Lennie felt lost and did not know what to say. He knew perfectly that in these troubled times no one cared very much about others except for him and George, so it was possible that what his aunt Clara said was true. How did she know so many things about poor Lennie? Yes, he knew George used to send letters to someone at least once every month but why so many lies? He couldn’t understand why George had done this. He thought they were a family. He thought it was George and him, him and George. How could this be possible?
"Aunt Clara! I remember you. You were the person who gave me that piece of velvet. You know I loved that piece of velvet because every time I imagined about tending the rabbits I gently touched that piece of cloth and thought it was a rabbit. But once . .".
And Lennie started explaining that he lost that cloth and from that moment he didn’t touch any more pieces of cloth because he didn’t have one any more but he touched real things like in the past events and like in this event. Every time he touched soft things he got into trouble because he couldn’t control his touching and he got into big trouble every time.
 
     After talking for a couple of minutes Lennie had completely forgotten that he had killed a woman and he realized the conversation had taken far too long even if in reality it hadn’t. Without hesitation Lennie pushed the old woman to the ground violently and went straight forward to his and George’s room. Before opening the door of the room, he turned back to Aunt Clara to see her for the last time before going away again. He didn’t see Aunt Clara, so he focused his sight better and saw his Aunt lying on the ground just like Curley’s wife had been left just a few minutes before.
 
     Lennie started running towards Aunt Clara in fright thinking of the worst thing that could happen. He sat on his knees next to her feeling whether she was still alive from her breathing.  She wasn’t breathing so Lennie’s mind saw in a flash, the scene he had just lived through with Aunt Clara to that moment. He saw that he pushed her ferociously to the ground when he headed to his room. Fear was overwhelming Lennie's heart but not only fear, even a sense of regret that he had never felt before.
"I just killed two women in less than one hour ...I am a criminal, I have no right to live”.  He got his backpack and crunched all his belongings inside without folding them. He saw an old shotgun Candy had left there the night before and stuffed that inside his bag too.
"I am sure I will need this."
 
     While Lennie followed the narrow path which led to the entrance, Candy saw him and said,
"Everything ok Lennie?" He sensed that something was wrong with him but Lennie didn’t answer and kept walking.
Candy almost knew Lennie perfectly and knew he was like a child. He couldn’t believe he was going away on his own without George.
"Lennie! Lennie! Where are you going? Damn Lennie do you hear me?"
Lennie was too concentrated on his thoughts to hear Candy talking to him so he kept going on his way. He walked until he found the brush where he and George had arranged to meet in case of trouble and he started drinking the water from the lake with big gulps. Even though he didn’t hear, Candy was following behind him to try to work out what Lennie’s intentions were. At the same time even George had noticed that Lennie was not around the ranch and assumed that something bad was in the air. He felt he smell of trouble around. He ran towards the barn to tell Candy that Lennie wasn’t there any more.
"Candy! Candy! You mad man where are you? Stop hiding! Candy!"
George ran across the barn to see where Candy was. He suddenly stopped.
"What the hell did he do?" He whispered in alarm. He already knew that Lennie had killed Curley’s wife and Aunt Clara.  Only Lennie could have killed them like that. He frantically got a horse and in the fastest way he could, started galloping towards the brush.
When George arrived in the brush a critical scene was going on there.
 
     "Stop Lennie, stop!" Candy cried. Lennie was slowly putting the cold gun near his head.  It was obvious that he didn’t have good intentions.
"Lennie!" George cried, "It’s me George!"
Lennie suddenly turned in fright towards George.
"George! Go away. Your presence will not make me change my mind, I have killed too many people an’ animals, I don’t deserve to live! It is me who always gets you in trouble. I always made you run away from everywhere because of my troubles. Every where I go I cause troubles! Troubles, troubles an’troubles. I don’t want to hear this word any more! You were a true friend George, thanks for everything."
Before George could speak, a shot rang out from Lennie's gun. It echoed through the landscape and gently faded away. It passed through his head making him fall on the ground without any more hope.
 
     Everyone stayed silent. No one had anything to say. George and Candy stayed there in a stiff position looking at Lennie’s white face similar to the one of Aunt Clara and of Curley’s wife. From George’s eye dropped a tear, which went down his cheek and fell on the ground beneath him. That tear was small and shiny. It seemed insignificant but foreshadowed the true brotherhood, friendship and love George had for Lennie.
 
Giulia T. 8C
 


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