Crooks paused and Lennie remained silent. Crooks spoke again, softly this time 'Suppose George doesn't come back from town tonight,' he said, "and you never see him again." He won't do that," Lennie cried. "George wouldn't d anything like that. I've been with George for a long time. He'll come back tonight.' "You've got George," said Crooks softly. "You know he's going to come back. But look at me. I've got nobody. I can't go into the bunk house and play cards because I'm black. How would you like to be me? have to sit here and read books. Oh yes, I can play horseshoes until it's dark, but then l have to read books in here. Books are no good. A man needs somebody to be with him and near him. Lennie was not listening to Crooks' sad story. He was thinking about George. "George is going to come back, he said to himself. Perhaps George has come back already. Maybe l should go and see if he's in the bunk house.' Crooks continued quietly. "I remember when l was a child on my father's chicken ranch. had two brothers. They were always near me, always there. We used to sleep in the same room, in the same bed. We had strawberries in the garden and an alfalfa field. I used to take the chickens out to the alfalfa field on sunny mornings Crook was now talking about something that Lennie could understand. George says that we're going to have alfalfa for the rabbits," he said "Which rabbits? We're going to have rabbits and strawberries,' said Lennie You're mad," said Crooks. true. You can ask George You're repeated sharply. "I've seen hundreds of men arriving at this ranch with their rolled-up blankets on their backs, hundreds of them. They all think about owning a ranch