Of mice and men Alternate Ending

As promised Candy waited for George to settle in the bunkhouse. Candy precariously walked towards the men, who unknowingly, were about to become part of a life-changing event.

Laughter turned into shrieks and stamping feet, making their way to the barn.
The first to enter was Curley.
He fell to his knees and clutched his wife’s hand. Silently he began to morn her, she was irreplaceable.
‘Who would want to marry a man his size?’ He thought. He was positive his wife had spread rumors about his gloved hands and his temper. How he beat her and didn’t treat her with respect, not as if she had respected him either.
‘How had this happened to him?’ ‘WHO had done this?’ ‘He didn’t deserve this punishment!’ He didn’t want to be forever alone.’

Something snapped in his tiny brain. A rush of adrenaline coursed through his small clenched veins and all was clear.
Lennie.
Lennie was the one who had done this to him. That big fool.
“That big darn fool!” he yelled.
“What’s goin’ on?” answered George in a panicked voice.
“Ya know exactly what’s goin’ on. You and your big damn fool, all his pettin’ and all that love for furry crap. It’s all a sham fella’s. I knew from the start he was a no good son-of-a-bitch, look what he done do to my wife!”
“Now y’all, les not jump t’er conclusions, we don’t have any hard facts jus’ yet.” Slim answered in a controlled voice.
“Shut up, I make the decisions here Slim… Men gather y’er weapons, we’re goin’ on a man hunt.”
George in a hurried slur tried to get Curley out of going “Oh please, ya don’t understand! He’s just a big dummy. He didn’ mean nothin’! I swears…”
“I MADE UP MY MIND. We’re leavin’ now, if y’er all not out in five minutes y’all can y’erselfses some new jobs..”
The men rushed into formation.
“YOU! Yes you, George, where did your senseless beet go to?”
“Somewhere in the south I would expect.” Whispered George “We came from the north see.”
“LETS GO THEN MEN.” Screamed Curley.
Everyone bustled out the barn, through all the chaos George managed to sneak out, armed with a gun and one clear target in mind.

The men wandered aimlessly around the Soledad
“That bastard! He led us the wrong way! DAMN IT.” Said Curley.
He was growing impatient; he wanted blood on his hands, the cold body pressing against his beating heart.
Again he had a moment of pure ingenious.
“I think I knows where they went. Le’s bring them bitches home.”
Curley led them through a brush heading back for the barn.

Animals followed them along the trail, past green trees clutching the wind passing by and slopping paths grasping at the mens feet. As if they knew what was to come.
Flowers of almost any colour and grasses of almost any length, seemed to part for the men as they rampaged through the endless forests.

A loud yelp could be heard not to far from where the men were standing, they had to take a break from their long hike.
The men had stopped at an enclosure of tall wilting grasses, which if you parted showed a glistening lake.
Curly called them to a halt and beckoned for them to slowly walk forward.
“We found those dirty bastards. We’ll wait till theys find it fit to come closer.”
“Waddya mean? I, I can’t see ‘em?” replied Whit in a whisper, unsure of his voice.
“Down there, by the water ya fool! Can’t ya see? LIKE I said ya darn imbecilic, we’ll wait till they’re come closer or till one of ‘em tries to run.”
“But what does George have to do with it?” Candy exclaimed.
“EVERYTHING, he was the brains of the operation, don’t ya ever read d’em magazines?”

Down by a wandering river surrounded by rocks and debrhy, stood George and Lennie, George had made the hardest decision of his life.
Should he kill Lennie for his deed or let him live.
“DO you know what ya done?” cried George.
“I’ms real sorry George, I really is. This don’ mean I don’ get to tend no rabbits, righ? I reallies am sorries George, I only wan’ dem rabbits”
Lennie began to sob in desperation.
“Now look Lennie, I ain’ mad, you’ll still get to tend the rabbits, don’t you worry. Now do me a favour Lennie, you looks on across the water and ya jus’ imagine our dream” George, under his breath added “Oh damn, goodbye Lennie”
“But George, I, I don’ts remember everything as good as you.. Ya gotta help me!”
"O.K. Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—"


"An’ live off the fatta the lan’," Lennie shouted. “Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that George."


"Why’n’t you do it yourself? You know all of it."

Said George in an exasperated voice
"No…you tell it. It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on…George."


"Well," said George, "we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and sit around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof"
George slowly raised his gun to Lennie’s turned head. He pulled the trigger and fell down, a pool of blood sliding down his chest.
“GEORGE. George? Hello is anybody there? Don’t leave me George, I has to tend the rabbits and live off the fatta the lan’! Oh just think of those rabbits, all them rabbits.. All them carrots.”
Another shot was fired.
Lennie fell to the ground.
“Rabbits” he whispered.

Curley let out a cackle, a high pitched merciless screech that could be heard through out the whole of Soledad.
Candy, in a heap by Whit’s feet, was weeping; a crescendo of wails escaped his mouth.
“Enough of that screeching.” Said Curley, Candy couldn’t stop. “ I SAID ENOUGH. Shut up! Shut up!”
BANG. The third silencer was shot. Silence rang out through the riverbed.
“Don’t ya think ya shot enough today? Are you sorry for killin’ George and poor ole Candy? They done NOTHING.” Said Slim in a strong voice.
“Are ya sorry for killin’ of ole Candy?” Curley mimicked in a high-pitched patronizing voice. “ NO I don’t feel bad. Why should I? Both of them mislead monkeys got in my way, so I shots them. Ya have anything to say to that?”
“I do actually, I think you should stop and go home to think about what happened.”
“DO you now? Well who put YOU in charge?”
Slim slowly fell to the ground, reaching for the sky, as if to say goodbye.
“Do any of you other suckers have anything to say to that? Wadda bout you Carlson? You all big an’ mighty now?”
BANG. A fourth shot was executed. Carlson clutched at a pool of blood falling from his shoulder. BANG. Another pool of blood escaped his chest leaving him lifeless.
“THAT’S ENOUGH CURLEY, I’ve had enough of you bossin’ us all around. Well me.” Whit raised his hidden gun to Curley’s head, ready to shoot.
Curley himself had known this was to come and had his gun raised as well.

“Le’s not be stupid, now le’s put that a gun back were it belongs, me included.”
Both men didn’t lower their weapons, both closed there eyes and pulled their triggers.
Both gunshots could be heard slithering through the reeds lining the illuminated pool of moving water.

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas river drop(ed) close to the hillside(s) bank. It had an unforgettable story to tell.