As he began walking, he heard the sound of running and leaves moving. Then came a shout. “Lennie!”, shouted an almost out of breath George. “Lennie, where you going?”
Lennie stopped walking but did not turn around. George had stopped walking now too, but the sound of running could still be heard as Candy approached the scene. From the distance came the sound of men shouting to one another.
“I done a bad thing George” said Lennie, continuing to avoid facing George by staring at the distant mountains.
“I know you did, Lennie. But listen, we haven’t got time. Curley’s real mad, if he sees you, he’ll kill you. An’ he’s not a million miles away neither. We can still get outta here but we gotta go now. We gotta go quick.”
“And where we gonna go George, where we gonna go?” said Lennie, pretending to be interested.
“Anywhere but here. Then maybe we can go get another job on another ranch. If we do that then we could still get the little place and you get to tend the rabbits.” said George urgently.
“An’ I get to tend the rabbits” said a despondent Lennie.
“Yeah but only if we go now. Like I said, Curley and the rest of the guys won’t be too far from here.” There was a fairly long silence. “Jesus Christ Lennie, say something”.
Lennie turned to face George and looked him right in the eye. “George, I done too many bad things. I gone and got us canned, jus’ like I done in weed when we hid in that ditch. I’m gonna go up to them mountains up there and find myself a cave. Then you can go meet some purdy girl or go to some cathouse or even go set up a lil place with Candy or whatever it is you wanna do. Then I won’t be bothering you no more an’ I won’t lose you ever’ damn job you get.”
The shouts of men sounded again, this time much closer than before. And then, crashing footsteps could be heard in the brush.
“Lennie, there ain’t nothing I can do to help you no more. None of us got a gun. If that’s Curley he’ll kill you. An’ if it’s not, he won’t be too far away.” Lennie turned himself the other way towards the mountains. “You ain’t got enough time to get away so there’s no point even thinking about it. It’s all fate now.”
The footsteps were getting louder and louder until all of a sudden they stopped. Candy and George were too scared too turn around. They knew they had to but they feared for Lennie.
“There you are you big son-of-a-bitch. First you bust my hand, then you kill my wife. Who the hell you think you are anyway?” Curley’s tone had got louder with every word.
Quiet footsteps could be heard nearby. Curley was too worked up to hear them, but George and Candy looked at each other. Lennie still did not turn around.
“I di’nt mean to” he said, sounding like he was all about to burst into tears. Now he no longer knew what he was doing, the confusion had set in. His idea of going into the mountains was history. He didn’t know where to go, what to do or what to say.
“Well, that’s just too bad but you ain’t gonna be pulling of no more of these stunts again. So what’s it to be big guy, back of the head or front of the head?”
Lennie was confused, and he now began to panic. He wasn’t sure what to do and so he did nothing at all. George and Candy covered their eyes. Curley began to aim with his shot gun. He was in no rush, he wanted to enjoy every second and look back on this moment with pride. It was time for his revenge. The trigger was pulled.
There was silence. George still could not bare to look. Candy, however, looked up to see Lennie standing tall but scared. Confused, he turned around to see Curley.
Curley’s body lay lying on the ground, blood pouring out from the head.
“Never did like him anyway” said Slim, as he moved away from distant trees towards George, Candy and Lennie.
George thought his mind was playing with him. Confused, he looked up to see Lennie scared, Curley dead and Slim advancing.
“Hi, George” said Slim, whilst looking down towards Curley. “Like I said when Lennie hurt his arm, he had it coming to him.” Slim turned to look at Lennie. “Lennie, turn around. You alright?”
Lennie turned around instantly. “I’m no hurt. Jus’ confused” he said.
“Well you ain’t done nothin’ wrong Lennie. You and Candy stay here. Me and George have got to talk.”
George looked up at Slim and then followed him past the river.
“Thanks for what you done back there Slim. But, what we gonna do now? Lennie can’t go back to the ranch, they’ll think he done it.” Said George.
“I know, I was thinking that. Listen I think we got one of two choices. Either me an’ Candy go back to the ranch and make out that you two got clean away after one of you killed George…”
“An’ what good’s that gonna do? We go to some other ranch and Lennie’ll jus’ get us canned again like he always does.” said George.
“…or we kill Lennie, and make out that he killed Curley before that. I gotta confess I don’t like it. But let’s face it, it’s best for the both of us.”
George looked down at the ground and sighed. “Well this is a right mess we’re in.” He looked down at the ground again. “Give me the gun.”
“You sure you can do it George? I’ll do it if you want, I don’t mind.”
“I can do it. Candy regretted not shooting his own dog. I know I’d only regret not shooting Lennie.” said George. His tone was not as depressive as the words. Deep down inside, he felt satisfaction that he’d be able to look after just himself rather than Lennie.
Slim passed him the gun. The two began walking back towards the brush where Candy and Lennie remained. Neither had moved an inch.
The distant sound of men shouting had stopped now. The wind had stopped completely. The trees were still, the leaves were still, but the atmosphere was tense.
George and Slim walked up to Candy. Slim briefed Candy about what was about to happen, while George looked at Lennie. He continued to look, not sure what to do. He wanted to go and talk to Lennie but he didn’t know what to say. As quickly as he could, he aimed with Slim’s gun and pulled the trigger. Lennie fell crashing down to the ground, almost causing the ground to slightly move.
“You had to do it George, you had to.” Said Slim reassuringly. “Let’s go back to the ranch now and tell what really happened. The three walked off back to the ranch as quickly as they could. They were all in shock.
About half an hour later, they entered the bunkhouse. They saw the boss, anxious to know what was going on.
“Well” he said.
Slim took control of the situation. “We just come back and I’m afraid we ain’t got good news. As we were searching, we heard a gunshot. Lennie had shot Curley. I shot Lennie before he got away. We’re so sad about what happened to your son.”
The boss was now in shock too. “Thanks for tellin’ me,” he said. “I’m gonna go an’ sleep an’ try forget this ever happened.”
George, Slim and Candy continued to work at the ranch. George and Slim went and blew their fifty bucks at the cathouse each month. Candy wished he had persuaded George not to do it. Slim had to live with the fact he had shot Curley and then lied about it. George had to live with the fact he had shot his best friend. He never met a pretty girl and he also never had a swell time, like he said he was going to do if he lived by himself. He needed Lennie more than he had thought, and had to look himself in the mirror everyday and live with the guilt.
