Prequel to Of Mice and Men
Prequel to Of Mice and Men
A beautiful Californian morning, the sun shone across the dry plains and mountains like a sheet of gold beaming down on the crop of weed. Miles into the distance lie the misty desert like mountains of Klamath and Siskyou to the west and north-west , the sun behind them casting a shadow over the southern landscape.
Slightly east of a ranch located in weed where their were hard labourers at work was a magical looking pool, and a king of crystal reflection, a gleaming whiteness shining on the shrubs that lay across it. There was a calming breeze against the dry old trees brushing the crisp feather like leaves flying like tumbleweed in the wind.
A winding road lead of the lush colour of orchards, orange trees, vineyards, peaches and apricots. To the right of the road stood tall a giant orange tree with wild rabbits springing up and down around it, a truly beautiful sight, the vibrant colour in the distance waking you up making you want to run out and meet it.
A local ranch in northern California, north of San Francisco called Weed was the next monotonous stop for George Milton and Lennie Small, these companions were very much the most unlikely pair of characters you could ever come across, George wore simple jeans a dirty old short sleeved shirt and a jacket unbuttoned as always, he was a prominent character, a strong willed and confident man who took control of any situation and never got in trouble, although his size never reflected his social ability and prowess only being a short guy, he was a strong minded individual with a positive attitude to life but was stuck at square one in life working as a ranch worker.
Lennie is the quite opposite of George , Lennie is a slow character who travelled with George and was his working buddy, he relied on George for almost everything, it takes a long time before you can get things into Lennies head, he's a large man as strong as a bull, much bigger than the average man and 5 times as strong, most of the time Lennie didn't realise how strong he really is. Lennie was as gentle as a butterfly and a kind man who never means any harm to anybody, Lennie loves animals, especially rabbits, he often asks George to tell him about his favourite dream about living off the 'fatta lan' with Lennie tending the rabbits and making a living with their own crops and enjoying life, Lennie loved this story and saw it as his dream and George always told him it because it gave Lennie a buzz and a kick.
Lennie and George were born in Auborn, George knew Lennie from his Aunt Clara, who took Lennie when he was a baby and raised him, but unfortunately she died and George took him under his wing and took him to work the ranches with him, they got used to each other and after a while they grew good friends.
Lennie and George work at the desert countryside ranch of weed, working as skinners, grain bag rustlers, cultivator drivers and crop scithers. They both ended up in Weed because it was their next working stop, they had just come from the Shasta ranch which lay east about 30 miles away from Weed, they couldn't wait to get out of Shasta, they had been miserable there because the weather had been grey and dismal for their whole two week stay and people didn't find a liking to them well. Lennie and George were both eager to work at Weed ...
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Lennie and George work at the desert countryside ranch of weed, working as skinners, grain bag rustlers, cultivator drivers and crop scithers. They both ended up in Weed because it was their next working stop, they had just come from the Shasta ranch which lay east about 30 miles away from Weed, they couldn't wait to get out of Shasta, they had been miserable there because the weather had been grey and dismal for their whole two week stay and people didn't find a liking to them well. Lennie and George were both eager to work at Weed because Lennie had gotten George in trouble with the boss back at Shasta for the simple reason that Lennie was too shy to talk to the man because he didn't look nice and had a mean look on his face.
They arrived in Weed and they stayed in a very old ranch house filled with rugged wooden furniture and simple one cover beds. George dropped his bags down off his shoulders and turned and looked at Lennie and said,
''Well Lennie here we are again''.
Lennie glared at George,
'Wha what do you mean George'
''I mean were back at another stupid ranch doing the same old stupid job''. George said with a sigh.
Lennie and George were arranging their things when a man walked in, he was a tall standing Negro with broad shoulders and cut arms, he came in to see 'the new boys', he said his name was Jackson , he was explaining the life on the ranch to Lennie and George, mostly about how unhappy life is for him at the ranch because no one speaks to him, Jackson took a liking in these two straight away, he talked to them for a while mostly bragging about how hard he works, George was quick to jump in and say,
'lennie sure is a hard worker too, jus' give 'im a pack o' sacks and he move them all day''.
Jackson looked at Lennie up and down and didn't feel intimidated, he stared at Lennie in the eyes longingly, Lennie caught contact with Jackson and immediately Lennie looked to the floor, Jackson laughed and made his way to the door, the sun pierced into the room like a red carpet, Jackson stopped holding the door open and said,
''There she is''.
''There's who? Said George..
''The must beautiful woman ive ever seen in my sad and lonely life'', answered Jackson.
Jackson paused for a moment and stared,
''Quick come 'ere'', said Jackson as he waved Lennie and George towards the door,.
''Set your eyes on that boys''.
Lennie and George rushed to the door and peered out, they could see a perfectly figured woman with slick brown hair wearing a rosy red dress down to her knees with her crafted legs shining in the Californian sun, she seemed like a fairy tale walking with a red wild orchid in her hand.
George said, ''Who is she? What's a beautiful gal like that doing in a hell hole of a place with a ranch?''.
''She's the boss's daughter I believe, she doesn't come here often, she just comes to visit her father once in a while, she loves it here, all peaceful and all o' men, the hell I do for a gal like her'', Jackson replied with a sigh.
''then why don't you go out there and talk to her?'' asked Lennie still staring at the beautifully coloured girl.
''Hell no, if the boss finds out I been talking to his daughter he'd kick me out of the ranch without any pay! it's a fools game to go playing around with any boss's daughter''.
George with his hands on his hips turned away and said,
''Yeah well that's just another thing guys like us cant have in this world''.
Jackson looked at George and sighed once more and walked out past Lennie who was still stood at the door.
''What you doin' Lennie?''.
Lennie looked straight to the floor and replied,
N..n...nothing George I was, I was jus' looking at that pretty lady out on the....the'', before Lennie could finish George interrupted and walked up to Lennie and said in a unwelcoming manor,
''Listen Lennie, you stay away from her you hear me?''
''Yes George'', said Lennie in an apologetic sense.
''I mean it Lennie, stay away from her and stay out o' trouble''.
''Ye ye yes George I promise'', stuttered Lennie.
'' Lets get some sleep, gone be a hard day tomorrow'', George said assertively.
Lennie walked towards his bed with his hand in his pocket, he turned to face the wall, George looked at his back and could see his arms twitching as if he was moving his fingers,
''What you doing Lennie?'' George said sternly.
Lennie jumped and put something in his pocket and quickly stood up,
''What's that you just put in your pocket Lennie?''
''Nothing George''.
''I said what's that in your pocket Lennie!'', repeated George raising his voice.
''Empty your pocket!'', George exclaimed.
Lennie slowly put his hand in his pocket and picked out a little mouse that seemed to be dead,
''Lennie what have I told you about those damn mice, you killed the poor little thing by petting it too damn hard, you got to be careful, you cant go round killin' little animals all the time'',.
''I didn't mean to George it was just in my pocket and I...'', Lennie said in a stutter
George grabbed the mouse from Lennies strong hands and threw it out the window, when George turned round he saw that Lennie had moved onto his bed all curled up and facing the wall. George sighed and tucked himself into bed.
The next morning the men were woken up by a bell and the sun was shooting through the tattered window of the ranch house, birds were singing and there was a gentle breeze in the air to comfort the stabbing rays of sunlight bearing down on the vast brown crop filled landscape5/10/2007.
Lennie and George got up for breakfast and were happy to finally have a nice warm day.
George was getting ready putting his gloves on to start carrying grain bags when he noticed that his partner Lennie was with him, George carried on working because he knew that the boss wouldn't be happy if he stopped working.
Soon the lunch break came and George was worried about if Lennie got lost of in trouble of some sort, George went searching for him all over the ranch and he came to the barns where they keep important machinery and stacks of hay weighing tonnes 20 feet high, George could hear talking in one of them, he stopped outside and listened and he could hear that it was Lennie talking inside with also a soft womans voice aswell.
''Whats a big boy like you doing in this barn?'', asked the girl.
''I was just looking for , for a mouse I saw run in here'', replied Lennie with his eyes gazing at the floor not even looking at the girl.
''A mouse? Why you looking for a mouse? Aren't you supposed to be working?'', asked the girl, Lennie looked up and could see it was the girl he saw last night and she was wearing that same rosy red dress that he couldn't keep his eyes off,
''I like your dress'', said Lennie smiling with a huge smile on his face,
''Why thank you young man'', the girl said starting to blush, the girl moved closer to Lennie and Lennie shot his head facing the floor again.
''What's the matter big guy?'', asked the beautiful girl, Lennie looked up again and stared at the girls dress for a moment, he reached out his hand and touched the bottom cloth of the dress and he has a smile of his face that could have been seen miles away, suddenly the girl cried out squawking is disarray as if she had been attacked, George rushed in and could see Lennie holding onto this girls dress and his face all confused and scared, as the girl was fighting Lennie just gripped on tighter because he didn't know what to do, George shouted at Lennie,
''Let go Lennie! Leg go!''.
Lennie wouldn't let go, he was all messed up about the whole thing, in the end George had to sock him over the head to make him let go, the girl ran off shouting to the top of her voice, George drabbed Lennie and told him,
''We gotta get out o' here now Lennie you stupid son of a bitch!''.
George could hear more shouting coming from the fields and dogs barking, George shouted at Lennie,
''You always have to touch things don't ya Lennie, anything you like you just have to touch!''.
George and Lennie ran towards the empty ranch house and grabbed what they needed quickly, the barking dogs were getting louder and closer and they knew that they had to leave Weed fast. They made their way behind the ranch house into a long but narrow barley field that hadn't been harvested yet, there were small irrigation ditches either side of the field filled with murky stagnant water which had been boiling in the baking heat of the midday. Lennie and George sprinted as fast as they could running down the left edge of the field, the dogs and the angry mob were just popping over the view of George and Lennie,
''Quick down here'', George shouted as he grabbed Lennie's arm and tugged him into the warm unpleasant water, there was a big splash as Lennie entered the water,
''Come to the edge Lennie quick!'', ordered George, Lennie scuttled moving great forces of water to reach George. They both cooped themselves tight against the bank hiding among reeds hoping not to be seen by a passing patrol,
''Now keep quiet Lennie, we don't want to get into any more trouble'', Said George,
''Ok George im sorry I didn't mean to get in no trouble I didn't'', Lennie answered while covering his head with wild grass. The day went on longingly, with them still hiding from the men back in the ranch who still pursued their search. To the south west there was a great wood filled with pine trees standing tall, the sun was setting casting a reddened shadow across them.
''When it gets dark enough Lennie were going to make our way over in them trees'', George said sternly,
''Ok George ok''.
The sun set still leaving a glow over the vast landscape, George and Lennie made their way into the woods.
A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas river drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green..........................................