"Is it true that Percy's got a wife already out east?" asked Jack.
"He say he has. But he wrote to find out if she was dead. At first he said he wasn't to blame. Then he said he was, but he couldn't marry her. An' Monica like a wild cat at us all. She would let nobody write an' tell you. She went over to Reds, but Easu had just got married, an' Sarah Ann threatened to lay her out. Then she turned on Percy. I tell you, she skeered me. The phosphorus came out of her eyes like a wildcat's. She's bewitched or something. Or else possessed of a devil. That's what I think she is. Though I needn't talk, for maybe I am myself. Oh, mates, leave me alone, I'm sick of it all. Lemme go to sleep."
"What did she go over to Easu's for?"
"God knows. She'd been nosing round with Easu, till Ma got mad and put a stop to it. But that's a good while since. A good while afore Easu married the lovely Sarah Ann, with her rows o' cartridges on her forehead. Oh Cripes, marriage! Leave m'alone, I tell you."
"Funny she should go to Easu's, if she was struck on Percy," said Jack.
"Don't make me think of it, sonny!" came Len's voice. "She went round like a cat who's goin' t' have kittens, an' nobody knew what was amiss with her. Oh Jehosaphat! Talk about bein' born in sin. I should think we are. But say, Jack! Do you suppose the Lord gets awful upset, whether Monica has a baby or not? I don't believe He does. An' I don't believe Jesus either turns a hair. I don't believe. He turns half a hair. Yet we get into all this stew. Tell you what, makes a chap sick of bein' a humain bein'. Wish I grew feathers, an' was an emu."
"Don't you bother," said Jack.
"Not me," said Len. "I don't bother! Anyhow I know all about the parsley bed, 'n I don't care, I'd rather know an' have done with it. 'S got to come some time. I'm a collar-horse, I am, like ol' Rackett said. All right, let me be one. Let me be one, an' pull me guts out. Might just as well do that, as be a sick outlaw like Rackett, or a softy like Percy. Leave m'alone! I've got the collar on, an' the load behind, an' I'll pull it out if I pulls me guts out. That's the past, present an' future of Lennie."
"Where is Rackett?"
"Hanged if I know. Don't matter where he is. He wanted to educate me an' make a gentleman of me. Else I'd be nothing but a cart-'oss, he said. Well, I am nothing but a cart-'oss. But if I enjoys pullin' me guts out, let me. I enjoys it all right."