This classic is set in 1930's California and tells of an unlikely pair of optimistic laborers who work the dusty vegetable fields of California. Their names are Lennie Small and George Milton... with George being the leader. Lennie is a man of tremendous size, but due to a mental shortcoming had the mind of a young child. George on the other hand was "small and quick and dark of face". The book joins our characters on their way to a new job on a ranch in the Salinas Valley. They are hot and tired and bothered after being duped by a bus driv ....