Imagine You Are Slim Looking Back Over The Time George And Lennie Spent At The Ranch. (Of Mice And Men.)

It was a hot Friday mornin' an' I was standin' in the doorway, my crushed Stetson hat under my arm. I'd been out leadin' eight, maybe ten goddam mules an' a hard days work it had been too. I looked in an' I saw a coupla new fella's setting on the burlap ticking. After bein' introduced, I noticed the big guy, Lennie, weren't all there. Seemed like a nice enough fella, jus' not all there. Some may 'ave said he belonged in a booby hatch. Not me...Hell, i wouldn' wish that on no poor fella. They didn' look like they'd been out buckin' barley or grain either, an' the old swamper seemed to get along well enough with the smaller guy, George. I mused over them travellin' together, i had often set an' thought that maybe ever'body in the whole damn world was scared of each other. Maybe these hadda prove me wrong. That was the night that guy William Tenner got in the magazine...he always said he was gonna do it, whether it killed him. he should 'ave been goddam pleased, not a bad achievement that ain't.

I guess the next big thing was that poor mutt being shot, Candy's bitch. I knew it weren't right for Carlson to shoot the thing, but hell, Candy should 'ave done it. I wish somebody'd shoot me when I get old an' a cripple. Can't say I felt good...No guy should 'ave felt good watching Candy in that state. He couldn' 'ave talked for hours that Friday night in the bunkhouse. I had to make my excuses an' leave, said I had some tar to put on a mule. I thought to myself, sometimes a guy jus' gotta do these things. Hell, it ain't half a pity though. I might even miss that stinkin' mutt now things have calmed down a bit.

Jesus, I tell you what else, Lennie didn' half throw a scare into Curley, it was right after that punk had accussed me of sleepin' aorund with that wife of his, dirty rat. I know better than sleepin' round with other guy's girls. I was gonna give it to 'im myself when he started on Lenni, threw a good few punches Curley did before George got Lennie to fight back.

"get 'im Lennie" he was yellin'. poor bastard. There was blood runnin' down his big face, but hell, Curley didn' have a bone not bust in his han' after Lennie had finally got him. I told him after, I told him that he got his han' caught in a machine. I wasn't havin' no George an' Lennie gettin' canned 'cause of some son of a bitch. We sent Carlson to get the candy wagon hitched up, he ended up takin' Curley into Soledad to get his han' fixed. Curley should 'ave seen it comin', but I s'ppose that son of a bitch couldn' see no further than his glove fulla