After finding the dead lifeless body of Curley’s wife lying on a stack of hay inside the barn, George rushed outside in a desperate attempt to find Lennie. He knew that the only likely possible person to have killed Curley’s wife was Lennie. Upon failing to find him he suddenly remembered what he had previously told Lennie to do if he ever found himself in trouble, he had told him to hide in the brush until he came to find him. As he stood there leaning against the barn door, staring at the ground as if in a daze, wondering what to do next, the rest of the workers raced into the barn having been alerted by Candy. Curley who was wondering what all the fuss was about jogged towards the crowd of men only to find to his horror the body of his dead wife. Curley, who was now heart broken at the loss of his wife screamed with fury and swore that if he ever found Lennie, he would kill him.
George knew that Curley and the others would never understand Lennie’s disabilities and if they found him would more than likely kill him on the spot. He decided the best thing to do was for him to find Lennie first and then they would both go into hiding. Before heading off in Lennie’s direction he pocketed all the money Candy had given to him as a contribution to his dream of buying a place of his own. He knew he wasn’t going to return and wished there was some way he could make it up to Candy but sadly there was no time. George and the workers, led by Curley, set off to find Lennie and to bring him to justice for what he had done.
When the party arrived at the suspected location of Lennie, they were all split up and a massive search had begun. George knew where Lennie was so he rushed towards the spot where he was hiding. As he had predicted in his mind, Lennie was sitting there like a little child, oblivious to what was going on around him. George grabbed Lennie’s shoulder and shook him up to attract his attention. Lennie looked up, happy to see George’s face. Having got his attention George immediately began to explain to Lennie what he had done and because of it, that they now had to flee.
Just as he was doing so he heard a disturbance in the bushes and immediately turned round to see what it was. There stood Slim, staring at the both of them shaking his head at pity for the both of them. George knew what had to be done but pleaded to Slim to let them both go. He explained to Slim about Lennie’s current position and that he would never be able to survive if they were to put him in prison. Slim being a very righteous man was also very sympathetic towards them. He reluctantly let them go and gave them his best wishes for the future and that they would be able to live out their dream in the not too distant future.
Encouraged by Slim’s words George grabbed hold of Lennie and they both rushed across the river over to the other side. As they were doing so they could hear the footsteps in the bushes of the other men as they rushed to where Slim was standing. Lennie turned his head to see what was happening but George told him not to do that but instead keep looking towards the future and to never look back. Lennie did just that and as they ran towards the sunset Lennie said something to George that brought a tear to his eye. He said in his child like voice, ‘George you are truly my best friend!’ George paused and replied in a soft voice, ‘You’re mine as well, I would never do anything to hurt you and just you remember that.’
No one knows for sure what happened after that. Some say they were eventually caught by the county Sheriff and sentenced to prison whilst others say they fled to another county. Still some folk say they gathered enough money to buy the plot of land from the old couple and are happily living on it as we speak. Whatever happened to them, everyone agrees that they were an example of a strong, unbreakable friendship that many of the pioneers of the American Dream lacked. It was because this lack of friendship and family love that would mean many of the these peoples’ hopes and dreams would be all in vain.
