The narrator describes the lush Salinas Valley south of nearby Soledad, California. The idyllic landscape boasts “golden foothill slopes” and “sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs” (1). George Milton and Lennie Small walk neatly down a worn path and approach an algae-covered pool in a clearing. The men are dressed in identical farmhand attire: floppy black hats and head-to-foot denim adorned with brass buttons. George is small in stature, lean and sharp-featured, while his burly companion “walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” (2). Contrary to his name, Lennie is big and lumbering. He rushes to drink heartily from the pool, “snorting into the water like a horse” (3). George grabs Lennie, warning him of the dangers of drinking stagnant water.

George then rubs his face with water to cool down, prompting Lennie to imitate his actions and other habitual gestures. Lennie looks to George for approval, but George is preoccupied, cursing the laziness of the bus driver who dropped them miles from their destination on a hot day. George loses his patience when Lennie again asks, “Where we goin’, George?” (4). George reminds him they are going to a different ranch to find work.