Probably at least once you
have come to the end of a good story and felt frustrated and
said, "That is NOT the way it is
supposed to end!" Indeed, this has happened to many
readers. It happened in the case of the first readers of
*Great
Expectations* by Charles Dickens. His close friends complained
so much about the novel's ending that he rewrote it. In the
20th Century, the book has been made into a movie at least 5
times, usually with a different ending.
On this page, 524Zone students
have written new endings to stories they have read. Let us
know what you think of the new
endings. Send us your evaluations, reflections, and your own
new endings to stories.
New Endings to *OF Mice and Men*
It was a hot sunny day. I was looking for Lennie so I went into the barn thinking he would be in there with his pup. As I walked in, I saw Candy with a puppy.
"Hey Candy!" I said "Have you seen Lennie around?"
"Sorry, George I haven’t."
I started looking around the barn for him. "Lennie, Lennie!" I called. Then I saw Lennie’s hat on the floor. As I picked it up I thought I saw a half-buried body in the hay. I got a little closer to the hay to get a better look. It was Curley’s wife, she was dead.
"Lennie!" I mumbled to myself.
Then I heard Candy say, "What are you looking at, George?" I didn’t answer. I could hear Candy’s foot steps getting closer, coming to see why I didn’t answer.
"Good Lord," he said. "Did Lennie do this?" I nodded a yes. He continued. "How could he do such a thing?"
"But nobody knows he killed her."
"What are you talking about?" He asked with a puzzled look.
I started to talk about a plan. "Nobody knows she's dead, they're all playing games outside."
"So." He said.
"Well... we could hide her body deeper in the hay, nobody should be coming in here the rest of the day. So, we could get rid of it tonight while all the others are sleeping."
"Where would we put it?" He questioned.
I answered, "There is a river nearby, we could throw it there."
"But what if someone finds it flowing down the river?"
"Well," I paused then I continued. "If somebody finds it will just say we don’t know a thing, and people would think she was murdered while she was leaving Curley."
"Well okay, lets do that." He agreed.
"Then help me bury her."
That night when everyone was asleep we took her body and threw it in the river. Walking back we heard somebody talking. "Were going to live there, and I get to tend the bunnies, George says so." It was Lennie.
"Lennie." I whispered to bushes.
"George!" He called, petting the dead pup.
"Lennie." Candy said.
Lennie started to talk. "I didn’t mean to hurt..."
"I know." I cut him off.
"Do I still get to tend the bunnies?" he asked hopefully.
"We’ll talked about it."
Curley’s wife’s body did get found 10 miles away. We all heard about it, but people just said it must have fallen in. Lennie, Candy and I did continue to work for Curley. We bought that place we've dreamed of for years, and Candy convinced me to let Lennie tend the bunnies.
By Consuelo Bernal
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I walked into the barn and over to the pups.
"Dang it,
Lenny" I said aloud, "He took his pup
and left his hat." I stooped to pick up the
brown hat but paused when I saw Curley's
wife's
magenta shoe partially buried in the hay. I
pushed straw aside; next to the shoe was Lenny's
small pup, motionless.
My mouth dropped
in amazement. The pup wasn't the only dead thing
in the barn. Curley's wife was there under the
straw, next
to her magenta shoe, her cheeks no
longer rose, but a light pale bluish color.
"Dang you,
Lenny!!" I was now crying. "I hate you!
I hate you!" But I really didn't hate Lenny;
he was always just messing things
up and making
my life miserable. There I kneeled, trying to
decide what to do. I acted quickly.
"Ouch!"
I said aloud. My teeth clenched in pain as the
bright scarlet blood seeped out of my finger. I
closed my pocket knife. The
pup's corpse was now
covered in blood and placed next to its mother in
the corner. "It's okay, Lulu," I said
as I smeared blood onto
her ivory teeth and
golden brown fur. The pup was now taken care of.
But what was I going to do with the lady's body?
What
about the lady? I hid her body underneath
the hay, praying that no one would find her
before I came back. Then I rejoined the
horseshoe
contest outside.
After everybody
else was asleep, I snuck out of the bunkhouse and
went to the place by the river. Lenny was no
where in sight.
The log. That's where he is. He
got in trouble, so he's at the log. Sure enough,
Lenny was hiding in the brush.
"You mad at me, George? Do I still get to tend the rabbits?"
"Lenny!" I shouted, "What did you do it for? Why did you kill Curley's wife?!" Then I punched him in the face.
"Don't hit me, George!" He took a hold of me by the neck and started choking me. "I didn't mean to kill 'em, George."
I gasped for air, trying to say, "Lenny! Let go! Len......."
By Michelle Childs
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Of Mice and Men
I walked into the
barn to see what Lennie was up to and to remind
him not to forget about his supper. Candy was
already
inside feeding Slim's dog and her pups.
"You seen Lennie 'round here?" I asked.
"No, but one of the pups is missing, so he must be somewhere around here playing with it. Don't get mad at him, George."
"I'm not. I
just am sort of worried, because I told him not
to go anywhere's else, he wouldn't have gone
anywhere unless something
bad has happened."
I walked to the dark end of the barn and started
back, when something laying in the hay caught my
eye. I
walked over to the large object, as Candy
followed me. I knelt down and brushed straw
aside--the body of Curley's wife and a
dead pup.
"Who done it,
George! Who done it?" Candy started crying.
But I knelt there frozen; then I saw Lennie's hat
on the other side of
the body. I picked it up and
held it close to me. That same moment I knew what
had happened. What was I to do? Where was Lennie?
Curly would surely kill him. Then I remembered
what I had told Lennie to do if he got into any
trouble. Candy stood silent, still crying.
What
we gonna do, George?"
I knew that if the
others saw her there along with Lennie's hat,
Lennie would be a dead man, on doubt about that.
At that same
moment Candy and I turned to each
other, and we both knew what would have to be
done. Candy found a rope and I made a noose
out
of it, then slipped it over Curley's wife's head.
Once we had her hung from a barn beam, I told
Candy, "Now, you just wait a few
minutes
while I go to the bunkhouse; and they you go out
there and let them know that Curley's wife's hung
herself in the barn. I'll
come and act as if I
never seen it."
Curly was of all the men, the least surprised. "Crazy woman," he said, "Didn't know that she cared that much 'bout me."
"What do you mean?" Slim asked in an accusing tone. "What happened between you two?"
"I told her it was over between us, we were through."
Carlson stepped in. "So this is all your fault. You're the reason why she done this."
Curly looked at Carlson and spit. "You want to take this outside!?"
"I'll be
havin' none of that," Curley's father said.
"Your wife has just hung herself and you're
in here startin' fights?! If you gonna
keep
making trouble 'round here, the kind that gets
people killed, then you jus better leave!"
Outraged at his
father's comment, Curley looked with steaming
eyes, first at he father, then around at the
others, and then he walked
off. We covered the
body, called the sheriff; then I snuck off to
find Lennie down by the river. Sure enough he was
there. But he had already forgotten exactly what
he had done. We walked back to the ranch and that
whole week everyone was pretty quiet.
On Saturday we got
paid, put our money together, and Lennie, Candy,
and me were gone. Along with us came old Crooks
and Slim
too. We went to our new ranch, and
between us, we all had enough money. We had a new
life, our own life, ruled by no one but
ourselves. We had each other and Lennie even had
his rabbits.
|By Kayti Garrott
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A Different Ending
"George, can I go play with my pup? I'll be good, George. Ain't nothin' bad gonna happen. I jus' wanna play with my pup, said Lennie.
You know how
little kids have a cute smile that you can't say
no to? Well, Lennie is one of those kids. I
nodded. So Lennie crossed
over to the barn
entrance. He was walking as if he were in a
marching band (knees going up high). The rest of
us continued playing horseshoes until we heard
loud yelling.
Curley's wife came
stomping out of the house, yelling who knows
what. All the men looked in her direction. Then
she looked at us
and yelled, "What are you
guys looking at? Go milk some cows!!" But
then I guess she lost her strong will, because
she ran toward
the barn door carrying a small
suitcase. Nobody dared to go an comfort her or to
ask her what was wrong. We knew better. If we
did, Curley would find out and probably kill the
son of ... who got close to his wife.
We went back to
horseshoes. My team was losing; I never was any
good at horseshoes, but I was doing better than
the ones
drinking too much. Then I remembered
that Curley's wife was in the barn and that
Lennie was in there, also. I excused myself and
said I was going to the outhouse. They didn't
seem at all suspicious, because earlier men had
drunk a lot and had gotten the effects
of
drinking.
In the barn, there
was Lennie and Curley's wife sitting on a stack
of hay. They seemed to be in conservation about
their futures.
Curley's wife seemed to be
relieved in talking to Lenny. Talking to Lenny
had helped her empty herself out--helped her feel
good,
normal, and safe. But then I noticed Lenny
had his eyes fixed to closely on her; I walked in
and interrupted.
"Lennie, get away from her! Curley will soon be comin' and this time he'll can us for sure."
Instantly she said, "I ain't afraid of Curley no more! We ain't committed. I"m free!"
At first I didn't
believe her. But then Curley did come in,
yelling, "Get out! Didn't I tell you
already? Get out!" And he yelled at us
too,
saying we were fired and would not be paid for
half the month that we had worked. He accused me
of having an affair with his
wife. I had had
enough and punched him in the face and then
walked out of the barn. Lennie followed after me
and so did Curley's
wife. I told her to leave us
alone, but she insisted on joining us. She said
she didn't mind where we went as long as it was
far from the
'house in hell' she'd been living
in.
We left the ranch
as soon as we got our stuff from the bunkhouse.
We did a lot of talking and we did a lot of
walking. She told us
these amazing stories about
Hollywood and how one day she was going to go
there. She was determined to be a movie star. We
told her about our little house with a kitchen
and some rabbits. The little house we'll always
long for, but never get. I didn't have
any hopes
and surely didn't have any dreams. I've learned
that the good life is not meant for me to live
it. Who knows where we
are going, who we will
meet and where we'll end up, but like she says,
"We're free!"
By Vanessa Carrillo