OMAM A1:S1 Flashcards

0
Q

That’s good. You drink some, George. You drink some too.

A

I ain’t sure it’s good water. Looks kinda scummy to me.

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1
Q

Act 1 Scene 1

A

Lennie for God’s sake don’t drink so much. Lennie ya hear me! You gonna be sick like you was last night.

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2
Q

Look at them wrinkles in the water, George. Look what I done.

A

Tastes all right. Don’t seem to be running much though. Lennie you oughtn’ to drink water when it ain’t runnin’. You’d drink water out of the gutter if you was thirsty.

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3
Q

Bus Sound

A

Go damn it, we could just as well of rode clear to the ranch. That bus driver didn’t know what he was talkin’ about. “Just a little stretch down the highway he says.” “Just a little stretch” - damn near four miles! I bet he didn’t want to stop at the ranch gate. . . . I bet he’s too damn lazy to pull up. Wonder he ain’t too lazy to stop at Soledad at all! Just a little stretch down the road.

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4
Q

George

A

Yeah . . . . What you want?

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5
Q

Where we goin’ George?

A

So you forgot that already did you? So I got to tell you again! Jeez, you’re crazy!

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6
Q

I forgot. I tried not to forget, honest to God, I did.

A

Okay, okay, I’ll tell you again. . . . I ain’t got nothin’ to do. Might just as well spen’ all my time tellin’ you things. You forgit ‘em and I tell you again.

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7
Q

I tried and tried but it didn’t do no good. I remember about the rabbit’s, George!

A

The hell with the rabbits! You can’t remember nothing but them rabbits. You remember settin’ in that gutter on Howard Street and watchin’ that blackboard?

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8
Q

Oh, sure! I remember that . . . but . . . wha’d we do then? I remember some girls come by and you says-

A

The hell with what I says! You remember about us goin’ in Murray and Ready’s and they give us work cards and bus tickets?

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9
Q

Oh, sure, George . . . I remember that now. . . . George?

A

Huh?

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10
Q

I ain’t got mine. I musta lost it.

A

You never had none. I got both of ‘em here. Think I’d let you carry your own work card?

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11
Q

I thought I put it in my side pocket.

A

Wha’d you take out of that pocket?

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12
Q

Ain’t a thing in my pocket.

A

I know there ain’t. You got it in your hand now. What you got in your hand?

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13
Q

I ain’t got nothing George! Honest!

A

Come on, give it here!

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14
Q

It’s only a mouse!

A

A mouse? A live mouse?

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15
Q

No . . . just a dead mouse. I didn’t kill it. Honest. I found it. I found it dead.

A

Give it here!

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16
Q

Leave me have it George.

A

Give it here! What do you want of a dead mouse anyway?

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17
Q

I was petting it with my thumb while we walked along.

A

Well, you ain’t petting no mice while you walk with me. Now let’s see if you can remember where we’re going.

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18
Q

I forgot again.

A

Jesus Christ! Well, look, we are gonna work on a ranch like the one we come from up north.

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19
Q

Up north?

A

In Weed!

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20
Q

Oh, sure I remember - in Weed.

A

That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a quarter mile. We’re gonna go in and see the boss.

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21
Q

And see the boss!

A

Now, look! I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You’re just gonna stand there and not say nothing.

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22
Q

Not say nothing!

A

If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job. But if he sees you work before he hears you talk, we’re set. You got that?

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23
Q

Sure George . . . sure. I got that.

A

Okay. Now when we go in to see the boss, what you gonna do?

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24
Q

I . . . I . . . I ain’t gonna say nothing . . . jus’ gonna stand there.

A

Good boy, that’s swell! Now say that over two or three times so you sure won’t forget it.

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25
Q

I ain’t gonna say nothing . . . I ain’t gonna say nothing. . . .

A

And you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed neither.

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26
Q

Like I done in Weed?

A

So you forgot that too, did you?

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27
Q

They run us out of Weed!

A

Run us out, he’ll! We run! They was lookin’ for us but they didn’t catch us.

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28
Q

I didn’t forget that, you bet.

A

God, you’re a lot of trouble! I could get along so easy and nice, if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy!

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29
Q

We gonna work on a ranch, George.

A

All right, you got that. But we’re gonna sleep here tonight because . . . I want to. I want to sleep out.

30
Q

Why we ain’t goin’ on to the ranch to get some supper? They got supper at the ranch.

A

No reason at all. I just like it here. Tomorrow we’ll be goin’ to work. I seen thrashing machines on the way down; that means we’ll be buckin’ grain bags. Bust in’ a gut liftin’ up them bags. Tonight I’m gonna lay right here an’ look up! Tonight there ain’t a grain bag or a boss in the world. Tonight, the drinks is on the . . . house. Nice house we got here, Lennie.

31
Q

Ain’t we gonna have no supper?

A

Sure we are. You gather up some dead willow sticks. I got three cans of beans in my bindle. I’ll open ‘me up while you get a fire ready. We’ll eat ‘Em cold.

32
Q

I like beans with ketchup.

A

Well, we ain’t got no ketchup. You go get wood, and don’t you fool around none. Be dark before long.

33
Q

Lennie comes back in with sticks.

A

All right, give me that mouse.

34
Q

What, George? I ain’t got no mouse.

A

Come on! Give it to me! You ain’t puttin’ nothing over. . . You gonna give me that mouse or do I have to take a sick at you?

35
Q

Give you what, George?

A

You know goddamn well what! I want that mouse!

36
Q

I don’t know why I can’t keep it. I ain’t nobody’s mouse. I didn’t steal it! I found it Latin’ right beside the road. I wasn’t doin nothing bad with it. Just stroking it. That ain’t bad.

A

You crazy fool! Thought you could get away with it, didn’t you? Don’t you think I could see your feet was wet where you went in the water to get it? Blubbering like a baby. Jesus Christ! A big guy like you! Aw, Lennie, I ain’t takin’ it away just for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh. Besides, you broke it pettin’ it. You get a mouse that’s fresh an I’ll let you keep it a little while.

37
Q

I don’t know where there is no other mouse. I remember a lady use to give ‘me to me. Ever’ one she got she used to give it to me, but that lady ain’t here no more.

A

Lady, huh! . . . Give me them sticks there. . . . Don’t even remember who that lady was. That was your own aunt Clara. She stopped hi in’ ‘em to you. You always killed ‘em.

38
Q

. . . because they was so little. I wish we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little.

A

The hell with the rabbits! Come on, let’s eat! There’s snout beans for four men.

39
Q

I like ‘em with ketchup.

A

Well, we ain’t got any. Whatever we ain’t got that’s what you want. God Almighty, if I was alone, I could live so easy. I could get a job of work and no trouble. No mess . . . And when the end I the month come, I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat-house all night. I could eat any place I want. Order any damn thing.

40
Q

I didn’t want no ketchup.

A

I could do that every damn month. Get a gallon of whiskey or set in a pool room and play cards or shoot pool. And what have I got? I got you. You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get.

41
Q

I don’t mean nothing, George.

A

Just keep me shibin’ all over the country all the time. And that ain’t the worst-you get in trouble. You do bad things and I gotta get you out. I ain’t bad people that raises hell. It’s dumb one. You crazy son of a bitch you keep me in hot water all the time. You just wanta feel that girl’a dress. Just wanna pet it like it was a mouse. Well, how the hell’d she know you just wanna feel her dress? How’d she know you’d just hold onto it like it was a mouse?

42
Q

I didn’t mean to, George!

A

Sure you didn’t mean to. You didn’t mean for her to tell bloody hell, either. You didn’t mean for us to hide in the irrigation ditch all day with guys out lookin’ for us with guns. All a time it’s something you didn’t mean. God damn it, I wish I could put you in a cage with a million mice and let them pet you.

43
Q

George! George?

A

What do you want?

44
Q

I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat it if it was right here beside me.

A

If they was some here you could have it. And if I had a thousand bucks I’d buy you a bunch of flowers.

45
Q

I wouldn’t eat no ketchup, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans so deep with it, and I wouldn’t touch none I it.

A

When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never got no peace!

46
Q

You want I should go away and leave you alone?

A

Where the hell could you go?

47
Q

Well, I could . . . I could go off in the hills there some place I could find a cave.

A

Yeah, how’d ya eat? You ain’t got sense enough to find nothing to eat.

48
Q

I’d find things. I don’t need no fancy food with ketchup. I’d lay out in the sun and nobody would hurt me. And if I found a mouse-why, I could keep it. Wouldn’t nobody take it away from me.

A

I been mean, ain’t I?

49
Q

If you don’t want me, I can go right in them hills, and find a cave. I can go away anytime.

A

No. Look! I was just foolin’ ya. Course I want you to stay with me. Trouble with mice is you always kill ‘em. Tell you what I’ll do Lennie. First chance I get I’ll find you a pup. Maybe you wouldn’t kill it. That would be better than mice. You could pet it harder.

50
Q

If you don’t want me, you only gotta say so. I’ll go right up on them hills and live by myself. And I won’t get no mice stole from me.

A

I want you to stay with me. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote you was by yourself. Stay with me. Your abut Clara wouldn’t like your runnin’ off by yourself, even if she is dead.

51
Q

George?

A

Huh?

52
Q

Tell me-like you done before.

A

Tell you what?

53
Q

About the rabbits.

A

You ain’t gonna put nothing over on me!

54
Q

Come on, George . . . Tell me! Please! Like you done before.

A

You get a kick out of that, don’t you? All right, I’ll tell you. And then we’ll lay out our beds and eat our dinner.

55
Q

Go on , George.

A

Guys like us that live on ranches is the loneliest guys in the world. They ain’t got no family, they don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch and work up a stake and then they go in to town and blow their stake. The then the first thin you know they’re pound in’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothin to look ahead to.

56
Q

That’s it, that’s it! Now tell how it is with us.

A

With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no barroom blowin’ in our jack, just because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail, they can rot for all anybody gives a damn.

57
Q

But not us! And why? Because . . . Because I got you to look after me . . . . and you got me to look after you . . . And that’s why! Go on, George!

A

You got it by heart. You can do it yourself.

58
Q

No, no. I forget some of the stuff. Tell about how it’s gonna be!

A

Some other time.

59
Q

No, tell how it’s gonna be!

A

Okay. Some day we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house, and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and . . .

60
Q

. . . And about the stove and how thick the cream is on the milk, you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George!

A

Why don’t you do it yourself-you know all of it!

61
Q

It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on now. How I get to tend the rabbits.

A

Well, we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter we’ll just say to hell with goin’ to work. We’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it and listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof-Nuts! I ain’t got time for no more. What you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions?

62
Q

I . . . I ain’t gonna say a word.

A

Good boy. That’s fine. Say, maybe you’re got tin’ better. I bet I can let you tend the rabbits . . . specially if you remember as good as that.

63
Q

I can remember, by God!

A

Lennie, I want you to look around here. Think you can remember this place? That ranch we’re going to is ‘bout a quarter mile up that way. Just follow the river and you can get here.

64
Q

Sure, I can remember here. Didn’t I remember ‘bout not gonna say a word?

A

Course you did. Well, look, Lennie, if you just happen to get in trouble, I want you to come right here and hide in the brush.

65
Q

Hide in the brush.

A

Hide in the brush until I come for you. Think you can remember that?

66
Q

Sure I can George. Hide in the brush until you come for me!

A

But you ain’t gonna get in no trouble because if you do I won’t let you tend the rabbits.

67
Q

I won’t get in no trouble. I ain’t gonna say a word.

A

You got it. Anyways, I hope so. It’s gonna be nice sleeping here. Lookin’ up . . . and the leaves . . . Don’t build up no more fire. We’ll let her die. Jesus, you feel free when you ain’t got a job-if you ain’t hungry.

68
Q

George?

A

What do you want?

69
Q

Let’s have different color rabbits, George.

A

Sure, red rabbits and blue rabbits and green rabbits. Millions of ‘em.

70
Q

Furry ones, George. Like I seen at the fair in Sacramento.

A

Sure. Furry ones.

71
Q

‘Cause I can just as we’ll go away, George, and live in a cave.

A

Aw, shut up.

72
Q

George?

A

What is it?