Rewrite of Of Mice and Men ending
Avoidance of the Inevitable
The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices.
Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now."
"Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta."
And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and is hand steadied. His finger tightened against the trigger, and his hand began to shake once more. George dropped his hand to the ground, and threw the gun from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes.
"I can't do it." he sighed.
"Can't do what George? We gonna buy that place, and I getta tend the rabbits!"
Suddenly, the brush was filled with shouts and the sound of running feet. Slim's voice shouted, "George. Where you at, George? 'Av you got Lennie?"
Lennie looked back at George, "George. I done a bad thing. You ain't gonna let them give me hell, will you George?"
George looked at the ground, unable to meet Lennie's eyes. "No, I ain't gonna let them give you hell. You just stay here."
George got up and ran to where the men were crashing through the brush. Curley pushed his way to the front of the group of men. "Where is he? I'm gonna shoot a bullet right through that bastard's head!"
Slim made his way up to Curley and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Curley, why don't we bring Lennie back to the ranch and the Boss can figure this all out. Otherwise, your daddy's gonna wonder what happened to his strongest worker, then we'd all have to explain what happened."
Curley looked into Slim's threatening face and let his gun drop to his side. "Alright, but don't you go thinkin I'm gonna let that big bastard get off with killin my wife!"
Curley and the other men were sent back while George and Slim lead Lennie back to the ranch.
Lennie was placed in the stables for Candy to watch over, while the Curley, George, and Slim explained to the Boss what happened.
Once they had all finished their versions of what had happened, the Boss sighed, "Well, it seems that killing the poor bastard is not our decision now. We'll have to send this to court, and let the system decide."
Curley nodded in agreement, and George tried to protest, "Sir, are you sure sending Lennie to court is best? He'd be awful confused and the judge might not understand his condition. And what lawyer would want to defend a guy like Lennie?"
The Boss dismissed George's objection and called the courthouse within the hour. The trial was arranged for within a week's time, so Curley's wife could be buried and so Lennie could be prepared for court. The Boss and the judge agreed to omit lawyers from the trial, and the judge would decide Lennie's fate.
The following week all of the men were sitting solemnly in a small local courtroom. The room was about half the size of the stables, and the ivory paint was chipping off the walls, revealing the dark brick underneath. To the left of the judge's cushioned chair, stood a short wooden podium, and to the right of the judge sat a court reporter and the town sheriff, ready to execute whatever punishment the judge decided fit Lennie's crime. At the back of the room sat several plain wooden chairs, placed into neat rows facing the judge.
Once the judge arrived, the trial quickly began. Curley was the first to testify.
"Just a week ago, Lennie Small murdered my wife. I don't know why he done it, but he ran away so he must've done it. Yeah, I know I didn't see it happen but I can imagine. My poor wife probably trying to go to the barn to get something and that big bastard grabs her, seeing how pretty she is, he wants to touch her all over. He squeezes and squeezes till' finally she ain't got no breath, and she suffocates. Then that bastard runs, too stupid to know he can't get away."
George stood "Objection! He can't give an assumed version of the story, that ain't what happened, your honor. If you let me tell you what actually happened I'm sure we can clear this up."
The judge stared blankly at George. "What's your name son?"
George stood straighter. "My name is George Milton. I've looked after Lennie since his aunt passed a while back."
The judge nodded and Curley stepped down from the podium to let George speak. George stepped onto the small podium, smoothed his shirt, and cleared his throat.
"Now I know I didn't see it happen but Lennie told me what happened. You see, Lennie isn't what we call bright. Most of the time your honor, he don't know what the hell is going on. You see, he likes to touch soft things, like velvet and animal fur. Well Curley's wife had some pretty soft hair, and she let him pet it. But you see Lennie doesn't know when to stop, so he keeps on pettin her and pettin her, so she starts yellin at him to stop. Now Lennie get's real scared and just grabs on to her hair. Then she starts screaming and hollering and Lennie don't wanna get in no trouble, so he tries to quiet her. See, Lennie ain't aware of how strong he is, so she keeps thrashing, and he's holding on, so he accidently breaks her neck. Poor Lennie doesn't even know he killed her, all he knows is that he's done a bad thing. He's scared of what we'll do to him so he runs off, lookin for a safe place. See, your honor Lennie didn't do it outta meanness, he's just too dumb to know what's goin on."
The judge acknowledged George's speech with a small nod, and spoke in a dreary, monotonous tone, "May the accused please step forward?"
Lennie nervously shuffled from his seat to the podium, and stood there, his hands griping the edges of the stand so tightly, his hands began to turn deep purple.
"I done a bad thing, but I ain't mean nothing by it. I just wanna tend the rabbits! I didn't do it to be mean or nothing. I just wanna pet the soft hair. It was so soft and pretty. She yelled, and George wouldn't let me tend the rabbits if I did a bad thing. So I tried and keep her quiet, but then all a sudden she stops moving. I just wanna tend the rabbits. George said it was an ack-see-dent. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."
When Lennie finished, his whole body began to shake viciously, and he sat on the floor, shaking and sobbing slightly. George went to Lennie, whispered to him, and brought Lennie to his seat.
Once several of the other men gave their accounts on the murder, the judge stood and spent several minutes in his back room with the sheriff, deciding Lennie's fate.
Finally, the judge walked out with the sheriff and banged his gavel on the table. "I have decided Lennie's sentence. Lennie shall receive execution from the Sheriff following this trial.
Several of the men, including Curley, clapped and shouted in agreement, while George, Candy and Slim remained somber. Lennie began to clap and shout as well, "We won! Yeah!" And he began to laugh gleefully.
George charged up to Curley, who was laughing and clapping.
"You did this! You paid the judge didn't you! You little son of a bitch! You bastard!"
George continued to shout at Curley who was gloating and denying Georges accusations. George was so focused on Curley, he didn't even notice when the sheriff grabbed the still giggling Lennie, and dragged him outside to a wall where he would be shot.
Curley continued to laugh at George. "If you're so protective of Lennie, where's he gone to? See you don't even notice when he's gone to git shot."
George frantically looked around the room, and saw outside a dirtied window, the silhouettes of Lennie and of the sheriff, loading his gun. George's eyes shot open and he ran to Lennie, standing between him and the sheriff's gun.
"Stop! Stop! I won't allow this. It was an unfair trial! If you're going to shoot him, you'll have to go through me first."
"Move out of the way, sir." The sheriff growled. He pushed George into the crowd of men behind him, where George was restrained by Curley and Carlson.
The sheriff lifted up his gun, and pointed it straight at Lennie's terrified face. Lennie began to whimper. "Stop. What are you doin. George. Help me George!"
Just as the man fired his gun, George wrenched free from the men's grasps and pushed himself in front of Lennie.
George fell to the ground with a heavy thud, unmoving. Lennie crawled to George's lifeless body and turned him over. George's face resembled pure terror, his last thoughts clearly written across his face. George's eyes were bloodshot and wide open, his face damp from silent tears. His mouth was still forming the word he had been unable to shout before the bullet had ruptured his skull. Lennie felt the warm blood trickling from the wound, and he began to shake George's body.
"Wake up George. Get up! Give me all the hell you want! I don't care 'bout tendin no rabbits, George. You can tend them all, and you can 'av all the ketchup you want on your beans. Comon George, get up! Get up!"
Lennie began to weep, yelling at George to awaken. The sheriff let him cry for a short while, until he finally grabbed Lennie's shoulder.
Lennie turned, revealing the tears streaming down his face. He began to scream at the man. "You stay away from George! You hurt George!"
Lennie once again began to shake and whimper like a frightened dog. The sheriff pulled Lennie to the wall, and for the last time, he raised his gun. With barely a hesitation, his finger tightened against the trigger and the shot rang throughout the entire assembly.
The bullet hurtled through the air in slow motion, and Lennie saw his entire life flash before him. He saw himself as a child with his Aunt, petting and holding the mice. He saw his jumping into the river and George heroically saving him. He saw his time on the ranch, playing with the pup, speaking of the better life they were going to have, fighting Curley, and the death of Curley's wife.
Just before the bullet struck his head, he saw George run in front of the first bullet, sacrificing his own life Lennie's. Then the bullet rattled through Lennie's skull and he fell to the ground without a single quiver. Lennie's motionless corpse lay peacefully next to his closest and only friend, George Milton.