OMAM A1:S2 Flashcards
I don’t know.
Says “positively kills lice roaches and other scourges.” What the hell kinda beds you givin’ us anyway? We don’t want no pants rabbits.
The boss was expecting you last night. He was sore as hell when you wasn’t here to go out this morning. You can have them two beds there.
I’ll take the top one . . . I don’t want you Fallon down on me. Say, what the Hell’s this?
Tell you what . . . Last guy that had this bed was a blacksmith. Helluva nice fellow. Clean a guy as you’d want to meet. Used to wash his hands even after he ‘et.
Then how come he got pillow-pigeons?
Finally quit about the food. That’s the kind if guy Whitey was. Clean. Used to dress up Sundays even when he wasn’t goin’ no place. Put on a necktie even, and then set in the bunkhouse.
I ain’t so sure. What da’ ya say he quit for?
Why . . . he just quit the way a guy will. Says it was the food. Didn’t give no other reason. Just says “give me my time” one night, the way a guy would.
Well, if there’s any grey-backs in this bed you’re gonna hear it from me!
I guess the boss’ll be out here in a minute to write your name in. He sure was burned when you wasn’t here this morning. Come right in when we was eatin’ breakfast and says, “Where the hell them new men?” He give the sable buck hell, too. Stable buck’s a nigger.
Nigger, huh?
Yeah. Nice fellow, too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. Boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that.
What kind of guy is the boss?
Well, he’s a pretty nice fella for a boss. Gets mad sometimes. But he’s pretty nice. Tell you what. Know what he done Christmas? Brung in a whole gallon of whiskey right in here and says, “Drink hearty, boys, Christmas comes but once a year!”
The hell he did! A whole gallon?
Yes, sir. Jesus, we had fun! They let the nigger come in that night. Well, sir, a little skinner name Smitty took after the nigger. Done pretty good too. The guys wouldn’t let him use his feet so the nigger got him. If he could a used his feet Smitty says he would have killed the nigger. The guys says on account the nigger got a crooked back Smitty can’t use his feet.
Boss the owner?
I wrote Murray and Ready I wanted two men this morning. You got your work slips?
Here they are.
Well, I see it wasn’t Murray and Ready’s fault. It says right here on the slip, you was to be here for work thi morning.
Bus driver give us a bum steer. We had to walk ten miles. That bus driver says we was here when we wasn’t. We couldn’t thumb no rides.
Well, I had to send out the grain teams short two buckers. It won’t do any good to go out now until after dinner. You’d get lost. What’s your name?
George Milton.
George Milton. And what’s yours?
His name’s Lennie Small.
Lennie Small. Le’s see, this is the twentieth. Noon the twentieth. . . . Where you boys been workin’?
Up around weed.
You too?
Yeah. Him too.
Say, you a big fellow, ain’t you?
Yeah, he can work like hell, too.
He ain’t much of a talker, though, is he?
No, he ain’t. But he’s a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull.
You are, huh? What can you do?
Anything you tell him. He’s a good skinner. He can wrestle grain bags, drive a cultivator. He can do anything. Just give him a try.
Then why don’t you let him answer? What’s he laughing about?
H laughs when he gets excited.
Yeah?
But he’s a goddamn good worker. I ain’t saying he’s bright, because he ain’t. But he can put up a four hundred pound bail.
Say, what you sellin’?
Huh?
I said what stake you got I this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?
No, of course I ain’t!
Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your percentage is.
He’s my . . . cousin. I told his old lady I’d take care of him. He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid. He’s alright. . . . Just ain’t bright. But he can do anything you tell him.
Well, God knows he don’t need no brains to buck barley bags. But don’t you try to put nothing over, Milton. I got my eye on you. Why’d you quit in Weed?
Job was done.
What kind of job?
Why . . . we was diggin’ a cesspool.
All right. But dot try to put nothing over ‘cause you can’t get away with nothing. I seen wise guys before. Go out with the grain teams after dinner. They’re out pick in’ up barley with the thrashin’ machines. Go out with Slim’s team.
Slim?
Yeah. Big, tall skinner. You’ll see him at dinner. Been on the road long?
We was three days in ‘Frisco looking at the boards.
Didn’t go to no night clubs, I s’pose?
We was lookin’ for a job.
That’s a great town if you got a little jack, ‘Frisco.
We didn’t have no jack for nothing like that.
Go out with the grain teams after dinner. When my hands work hard they get pie and when they loaf they bounce down the road on their can. You ask anybody about me.
So you wasn’t gonna word! You was gonna leave your big flapper shut. I was gonna do the talkin. . . . You goddamn near lost us the job.
I forgot.
You forgot. You always forg,et. Now, he’s got his eye on us. Now, we gotta be careful and no slips. You keep your big flapper shut after this.
He talked like a kinda nice guy towards the last.
He’s the boss ain’t he? Well he’s the boss first am’ a nice guy afterwards. Don’t you have nothing to do with no boss, except do your work and draw your pay. You can’t never tell whether you’re talkin’ to the nice guy or the boss. Just keep your goddamn mouth shut. Then you’re all right.
George?
What you want now?
I wasn’t kicked in the head with no horse, was I, George?
Be a damn good thing if you was. Save everybody a hell of a lot of trouble!
You says I was your cousin.
Well, that was a goddamn lie. And I’m glad it was. Why if I was a relative of yours - Say, what the hell you doin’ listenin’?
Naw . . . I wasn’t listenin’. . . . I was just standin’ in the shade a minute scratchin’ my dog. I just now finished swamping out the washhouse.
You was pokin’ your big nose into our business. I don’t like nosey guys.
I jest come there . . . I didn’t hear nothing you guys was sayin’. A guy on a ranch don’t never listen. Nor he don’t ast no questions.
Damn right he don’t! Not if the guy wants to stay workin’ long. That’s a helluva old dog.
Yeah. I had him ever since he was a pup. God, he was a good sheep dog, when he was young. How’d you like the boss?
Pretty good! Seemed all right.
He’s a nice fella. You got ta take him right, of course. He’s runnin’ this ranch. He don’t take no nonsense.
What time do we eat? Eleven-thirty?
I’ll try to catch him. You the new guys my old man was waitin’ for?
Yeah. We just come in.