Of Mice and Men: A Conversation
After and exhausting day George takes a seat on a bench in a local park. The man next to him (Willy) looks exhausted as well and puts down his newspaper.
Willy: Long day?
George: It's been a long few years.
Willy: I hear ya.
George: I'm George, by the way.
Willy: Willy. (Shakes George's hand.)
George: So what's up with you?
Willy: I'm just tired. I've been doing this job for years. I'm the best salesman there is! Everyone knows me wherever I go, and then one day they called me into the office and fired me!
George: At least you can find work! Everywhere I go I get fired, too. It's always Lennie's fault! He doesn't appreciate me. He doesn't appreciate the dreams I sacrifice for him.
Willy: Well where is this Lennie kid?
George: Umm..nowhere, nowhere. Nevermind.
Willy: Well I hear ya on being unappreciated. My family doesn't appreciate me. My son thinks I'm a fraud, my wife believes anything I tell her, and my other son doesn't even matter. Biff blew it i'm tellin' ya! He blew it. He could've been a star. He could've been a salesman like his father!
George: Well where's Biff now?
Willy: God knows where he is now.
George: Well God bless 'em both. Think of it this way Willy. Our problems are gone and we can do what we want! We have the world in our hands. I'm gunna go find a job somewhere now and keep it. And then I'm gunna save up enough money to buy my own land out there and farm what I want and live off my crops! And Lennie can have....(George drifts off, deep in thought)
Willy: Lennie can have..? Are you okay?
George: (snaps out of it) Yeah, yeah I'm fine. What about you, Willy? What do you want to do now?
Willy: I don't know where to go from here, George. I have nothing left. I have no job, my family hates me. Where am I supposed to go from here? I've got nothin' left. I made one mistake. I was lonely, George. Salesmen get lonely!
George: People get lonely, Willy. Everyone has a little bit of evil in them. Whether it be selfishness..(George drifts off again)..Anyways all I'm saying is that we all make mistakes. It's human nature to mess up.
Willy: Don't make excuses for me! I did a bad thing and I can't live with it anymore!
George: I'm not making excuses for what I did!
Willy: What you did? What are you talking about?
George: I killed him, Willy! I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't make a living with him. I couldn't survive anymore with both of us, only one of us could.
Willy: It’s a tough world out there, George. Survival of the fittest. He couldn’t have made it without you and soon enough, you get run down from always having to take care of him. I’m run down from this job, trying to keep my family happy. Nothin’ is ever good enough for them. I don’t know how to make it up to them…(Willy drifts off)
George: Nothin’ is ever good enough for anyone.
Willy: …I think I know what I need to do…
George: What’s that?
Willy: Nothin…nothing… I have to go..
George: Where are you going?
Willy: I have to make this up to my family…It was nice to meet you, uh, George.
George: It was nice to meet you, too, Willy. Good Luck with your job and family.
Willy: Yeah, thanks. You, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment