"Lennie, wake up. Get up Lennie!" a man was shouting. Lennie laid on the floor of a dimly lit elongated room, not much larger than a bus. A thin smog in the air highlighted the beams of light gently glistening from a bulkhead wall light, high up on the wall. The man provoked Lennie again,
"Lennie, you gotta wake up!" Slowly, Lennie opened his eyes and saw his friend, George, looking back at him. "Oh, Lennie, what've you done gettin' yourself stuck 'ere?"
Lennie looked blankly back at him. He slowly lifted himself off the grimy floor, the decaying building seemed foreign to him, "Where're we, George?" Lennie said. George didn't respond, he looked at the glowing light, and then scanned the corners of the room, the thick concrete walls seemed to seal in the filth. The room was still warm from heat retained in the walls. Lennie, annoyed by George's ignorance of his question, got up and wandered to the other side of the room, he looked around, then turned to George and demanded again, "George, where are we?" This time, George responded, annoyed,
"Do I really gotta spell it out for you?" George paused, "'Course. You was runnin' away again, hidin' from me. Thought I was angry w'you. Y'know what makes me angrier though, is when ya go runnin' off like this. And now the sun's gone, we got no camp, no fire."
Lennie looked at the floor and mumbled, "I'm sorry, George, I jus' thought you'd be happier,"
George rubbed his forehead, disgruntled, "I'd be happier knowin' you're with me, and you ain't out assaultin' no girl again, that's the whole reason we're out lookin' for another job right now, remember?"
"I'm sorry, George," Lennie repeated, but it only annoyed George,
"You're a crazy bastard. I'm getting' outta here." George turned to the door he entered in, a large timber panel that perfectly kept the outside world and the inside separated. He heaved it open and the silvery glow of the moon rushed in. George stepped outside, and looked around the empty tracks. Dark silhouettes of telegraph poles filled the scene, a small light flickered from the window of a large shed across the tracks from George. The night breeze was refreshment from the musty confines of the storage room.
George looked back at Lennie, "You comin'?"
"Yes George," Lennie lumbered through the door behind him.
"We gotta get out of here, Lennie, they're prob'ly still out tryin' to find us. If you hadn't run away we woulda had a campsite ready." George scanned the mostly abandoned rail yard for any dangers, he gestured to Lennie to follow. George quickly made his way behind the building, Lennie followed. They situated themselves between the building and the great forests of the Cascade Mountains, the moon hung in the sky directly above.
"George, whatta we doin' here?" Lennie asked,
"First we need a camp for the night, then in the mornin' we gonna catch a train. And if you ain't up early to catch the first one through, then you ain't comin', so you'd best get a camp an' some rest now." George waited, expectantly, Lennie did nothing,
"Dun' jus' stand there, go get some wood now to start a fire," George snapped, "I got a can a' beans in my bindle, you an' I can split it if you get some wood."
Lennie looked along the ground looking for twigs, he picked up a few sticks, but then stopped, "George, there ain't no dry wood here." Upon realizing Lennie was right—the ground was still soaked from a recent storm—George said, "Well, I guess we can save them beans for breakfast then." George thought, "There're some wood planks 'round the side a'that storage building, I figure if we slide 'em down nex' to each other we can sleep off the ground." They walked over to the planks, George grabbed a plank off the pile and made his way to the other side of the building, Lennie heaved three behind him.
"Careful you don't get no splinters, Lennie, and watch out for nails." George warned. George dropped his plank near the side of the wall, and went back for a couple more planks. Lennie helped George place the planks in rows over the muddy ground. Once they were finished, they laid on their makeshift beds, watching the cloudless night. The air was not cold, but the southerly winds that blew through the valley chilled their clothes, still damp from hiding in the irrigation ditch for most of the day. The night was silent, and George and Lennie, tired from the day escaping Weed, slept easy.
The twilight sparkled in from the horizon through the clouds, as the break of dawn made its way through the Cascade Mountains. The faint glimmer of starlight began fading, and the sky lit up in shades of purple and red. George was up early; the warmth of the sun had only just peaked over the mountains when he awoke. Lennie snored peacefully while George went looking for water in the forest. He found a small stream from which he took a drink and filled up his small metal water bottle. The ground was no drier than it was the previous night, so George abandoned his plans of having a fire started for breakfast. George laid a few of the planks used as bedding up against the wall of the storage building, where he found them. He spotted a trains worker entering the large shed opposite the tracks, quickly, he hurried to wake up Lennie.
"Get up Lennie, wake up!" George shook Lennie; he twisted, and then opened his eyes and grumbled, "George, why're ya waking me for, George."
"A train's comin' through soon, I saw one of them workers getting' ready for the switch over." Lennie rolled over, and then pushed himself upright.
"I'm hungry, George," Lennie whimpered,
"I am too, but the ground's still all damp so we ain't got no dry wood to start a fire,"
"I don't mind havin' cold beans George,"
George thought, and then admitted, "Well, I guess if it's all we got, cold beans are good enough for me too. An' we won't have no chance to start a fire until we get off the train neither."
He opened his bindle and grabbed the can, he then took his pocket knife out and placed the can on one of the wood planks. He jabbed through the top of the can, sawed through and pulled the top off. He then took a pair of spoons from his bindle and handed one to Lennie. George took the first spoonful and then handed the can over.
"And before you ask, we ain't got no ketchup Lennie, so don't even think about it,"
Lennie remained silent as he ate his spoonful of beans. With no complaints, he handed the can back to George. They quickly ate through the can of beans, and by the time they had finished, a train had just started making its way into the rail yard. Its brakes engaged and it slowly came to a halt.
"This is our chance," George whispered to Lennie, "ya sure you have ever'thing? Nothin' left behind?"
"I think so, George,"
"Okay, follow me,"
George headed for the end carriage of the train, he ran, and Lennie ran behind him. Upon reaching the train, they remained close to it. George attempted to pull one of the carriage doors open.
"Come on Lennie, help me. This door's a bitch to get open."
Lennie grabbed the door, he pulled a narrow opening before he was spooked by the train's wheels moving again.
"Quick, hurry!"
Lennie heaved the door, and in a sharp movement the door slid open. George pushed Lennie into the carriage first, who climbed in among the boxes. George kept moving with the train, almost running, he found a foothold on the carriage and quickly hauled himself up, he pushed himself through the door and fell in.
"We did it!" George laughed, "We did it."
"We did it," Lennie repeated.
George looked out the carriage at the great mountains. The fresh mountain air was warm but crisp. The great open expanse left George with a feeling of serenity, a relief washed over him, although he was not quite sure for what. The sturdy train carriage rattled on the tracks, almost seeming to harmonize with itself. The blue skies were dotted sparsely with clouds, high up in the sky,
"Where are we going now, George?"
"I don't know, Lennie."