The Ballad of the Salad

1. Lennie held his closed hand away from George’s direction. “It’s on’y a mouse, George.”“A mouse? A live mouse?”“Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’ kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.” (pg. 5)2. George said “Ya know, Lennie, I’m scared I’m gonna tangle with that bastard myself. I hate his guts. Jesus Christ! Come on. They won’t be a damn thing to eat.” (pg. 37)3. “Gotta bad gut ache,” said Candy. “Them God damn turnips give it to me. I knowed they was going to before I ever eat ‘em.” (pg. 44)4. “I don’t want no fights,” said Lennie. He got up from his bunk and sat down at the table, across from George. Almost automatically George shuffled the cards and laid out his solitaire hand. He used a deliberate, thoughtful slowness. (pg. 55)5. His voice grew soft and persuasive. “S’pose George don’t come back. S’pose he took a powder and just ain’t coming back. What’ll you do then?” (pg. 71)6. “A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know.” (pg. 73)7. Crooks sat on his bunk and looked at the door for a moment, and then reached for the liniment bottle. He pulled out his shirt, poured a little liniment in his pink palm and, reaching around, he fell slowly to rubbing his back. (pg. 83)8. And Lennie said softly to the puppy, “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard.” He bent the pup’s head up and looked in its face, and he said to it, “Now maybe George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits, if he fin’s out you got killed.” (pg. 85)9. She was