For the Love of Rabbits - Of Mice and Men Fanfic

Chapter 3

FanFiction - Of Mice and Men - For the Love of Rabbits

Chapter 3

Anya woke the next morning in her usual position in her bunk. Her hand lay under her head, one leg outside the blanket and the other slightly bent just underneath. She smiled at the sound of Slim and Sweet snoring, as she did everyday. She lifted her head slightly and looked across the bunkhouse to see George already awake and sliding a shirt over his shoulders. They hadn't spoken at all since yesterday's supper and somehow she knew if she didn't start conversation, he never would. Anya dragged herself out of the bunk and and plonked herself on a chair next to the table. She had no intention of trying to be quiet for her fellow ranchers, they had work to do. She grabbed at the jug of water left on the table from yesterday and poured some in a nearby cup and looked up at George who was watching her as he did up the buttons on his shirt. When he noticed her looking at him, he turned away and pretended to be busy. He wasn't in the mood to chat with her.

Slim stirred from his deep sleep a way from where Anya was sat and as he sat up, she smiled at him sweetly. "Mornin' sunshine." He rolled his eyes at her and moved to sit on the chair opposite.

He turned to looked at George who was finished doing up his shirt and was now sliding his boots on. "Ready for ya first days work?"

"Of course." Once he had tied up both his boots, he moved to his friend's bunk and nudged him awake.

"Wha' is it, George?"

"It's time to get up, Com' on. We've got work to do."

"Oh sure, George." George allowed Lennie space to climb out of the bunk and passed him some clothes that lay in a bag by his own bunk. Anya then left the bunkhouse to do her usual morning routine of cooking breakfast for the men. It was amusing to her how she still ended up doing domestic jobs for them, even though that's what she was escaping from when she became a rancher. However, she knew if she didn't cook for them in the morning, they wouldn't have breakfast at all and would go the full working hours without any food in their belly.

Slim watched Anya leave and winked at her as she left. He then turned to George who had decided to occupy the chair beside him. "So, where did you two come from?"

George turned to him slightly and hesistated. "A long way away." Slim nodded at him and continued with his line of questioning. "So, what's a smart guy like you, doing with a guy like him." George tried not to take offence when he realized Slim hadn't meant it in a malicious way.

"I used to know his Aunt Clara. I promised her I'd take care of 'im before she died." He laughed despite himself. "Sometimes, he's so dumb he doesn't even remember who Aunt Clara is." Slim scoffed slightly and turned to Lennie who was sat on his bunk, half listening to the conversation and half distracted by what Carlson was doing now that he was awake too.

"I see. So, how'd you end up in Soledad?"

George scratched at the table as a short distraction while he decided whether to trust Slim with the full truth or not. "Back in Weed, there was this girl on the ranch and she was wearing this red dress... and Lennie liked it. When he sees something he likes, he just... pets it." Slim was listening with great interest as George tried to phrase the story the best way he could. "But he doesn't realize his own strength... the girl was screamin' for him to let go and this just panicked him more. So, he held on tighter because he's too dumb to do anythin' else... When she got loose, she ran for the hills... screaming. We ran in the opposite direction."

When George finished talking, it took Slim a few seconds to wrap the story around his head. "And that's why you don't like Anya, ain't it?" He looked at Slim in slight disbelief, before he briefly nodded. Sighing, Slim sat up from the table and so did Milton. "I wont tell her... but there ain't no point not talking to her. She hasn't done nothing wrong." He nodded in thanks at Slim. They both didn't realize that Candy had been listening in to the conversation the whole time.

Once Slim had got everyone up, Anya came in and let everyone know their breakfast was ready. This was greeted with cheers from some of the men and Carlson who rubbed his hands together in anticipation for the meal to come. They all left the bunkhouse in a hurry, except for Anya and George who she had stopped as he was about to join the others. "Hey look, I know we didn't exactly start off too well... I just wanted to apologize for whatever I've done to piss you off." He shifted slightly at the language she was using and she realized he probably wasn't used to a 'lady' saying things like that. "Look, you obviously don't want me around for a reason I haven't quite figured it out just yet, but I ain't goin' anywhere so... we might as well try and get along. Wouldn't you agree?" He fixed his eyes on hers for a few seconds before he simply he nodded. "Good. Now that that is settled... I'm going to go check on Milly."

He stopped and looked at her quizzically. "Milly?"

"Yeah, My rabbit."

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Anya was confused as to why George had insisted in joining her in the barn to take care of little Milly, but she didn't question it. The journey there however, was eerily silent between the two of them and she was restraining from trying to make conversation with the guy who had obviously taken a dislike to her for whatever reason. Anya pushed open the barn door and as soon as they entered, they heard the shuffling of little feet from her rabbit Milly and the slow hum from Slim's dog's litter. "Milly's right over there." She pointed to one of the stable compounds to the right of the barn. That's when she noticed Crooks who was right outside his room's door. She nodded to him sightly and he returned it with a slight smile. Crooks had become a sort of... aquintance. She felt bad for him because of the discrimination he suffered. As a female in this society, she suffered it too. Anya slightly jerked George towards Milly whilst she grabbed the feed that was on the other side of the barn. When she rejoined him she noticed he was staring intently. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. It's a nice rabbit." She didn't try and stop the grin that appeared on her face and this made George smile in return. "So, how'd you end up with it?"

"Well, a couple of weeks after I arrived, some guy came with a new litter of rabbits hoping to earn some cash selling them, but nobody was budging. I had a few bucks spare after my first pay so I bought one." He nodded intently and then took a moment to look around the barn and that's when he looked over the litter of puppies.

"Do you think Slim will let Lennie have a pup?"

"I don't see why not? I take it Lennie has a love of animals?"

This made George laugh slightly. "You could say that. You see, the thing with Lennie is..." He never got a chance to finish his sentence before a certain bastard stormed in to the barn.