Rewrite of the last chapter Of Mice and Men

Lennie appeared out of the brush by the deep, green pool of the Salinas River. He had been running. He knelt down quietly by the pool’s edge and drank barely touching his lips to the water. He finished drinking and sat down embracing his knees on the bank, facing the trail entrance. He became very skittish and jumpy. Every little noise prodded for his attention. He knew he had made a huge mistake and George would be mad at him. He had remembered though, that George told him to hide here and wait for him.

Light climbed out of the valley, and the tops of the mountains seemed to blaze with brightness. Looking at those mountains Lennie felt like he should just go there. He knew that once George got there, he was gonna give him hell.

Lennie continued his thoughts aloud, “George gonna wish he was alone an’ not have me botherin’ him. I could just go up to them mountains and find a cave.” He continued, sadder now, “ -an’ never have no ketchup- but I won’t care. If George don’t want me... I’ll go away. I’ll go away.”

As dusk was abroad, pictures began to climb out of Lennie’s head. The first one was a little fat old woman, wearing bull’s-eye glasses and a huge gingham apron with pockets. She was starched and clean, standing in front of Lennie with her hands on her hips, and frowning disapprovingly at him.

She spoke in Lennie’s voice. “I tol’ you an’ tol’ you,” she said. “I tol’ you, ‘Min’ George because he’s such a nice fella an’ good to you.’ But you don’t never take no care. You do bad things. George ain’t gonna want you aroun’ no more.”

Lennie attempted to answer her, “I tried, Aunt Clara, ma’am. I really did try!”

She continued, mad, in Lennie’s voice, “Don’ say you tried. He been doin’ nice things for you alla time. You ain’t...

... middle of paper ...

...cket and brought out Carlson’s Luger. He snapped off the safety.

“Go on,” said Lennie. “How’s it gonna be. We gonna get a little place.”

George continued, “We’ll have a cow. An’ we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens.” He shakily raised the gun to the back of Lennie’s head “An’ down the flat we’ll have a little piece alfalfa.”

“For the rabbits,” Lennie shouted.

“For the rabbits,” George repeated.

From the brush came the huge crack of a gun being fired. George dropped his gun, and Lennie was frozen in time for a split second, then he fell over in front of George’s feet. He was gone.

Out from the brush stepped Curley, proud from his shot, “That should take care of him.”

The other men drawn to the sound of the gun came out into the clearing by the pool. Slim walked over and helped George up off his knees. They walked slowly away from Lennie back towards the ranch.