A Lunch Stop by Ashley G

In the novel “The Bean Trees”, there is a girl named Missy who witnessed a very tragic accident. One of her friends father was killed by a chevron sign after his tractor tire exploded. She wanted to get away from the small town that she lived in, so she got a job, saved up money bought herself a car and left. She decided to just drive and drive until her car ran out of gas. She wanted to start a new life, and have a new name based off of where her car stops. Her car stops in Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma she renamed herself Taylor.
A very similar problem happened with this man named George from the novel “Of Mice and Men”. He was always traveling around with his best friend Lennie. But life with Lennie was not working out well for George there were to many problems. Lennie was going to get in big trouble so George new what he had to do and that was to end Lennie’s life. George needed a new start to his life and Lennie was holding him back from that.
One day Missy and George were both on the road and they decided to stop for lunch. They both ended up at the same diner, George was sitting down on a bar stole, and Missy came in a little after him. She sat right next to George, and they started a conversation over lunch. They started talking about how there out on the road searching for a new life to start and what got them feeling like they needed a new one.


George starts off “I have traveled a lot and I have worked at many different ranches and got fired or had to run away from all.”

“I didn’t really enjoy my life back at home so I got a job saved up money and left,” Missy said.

George Responds, “That’s too bad what happened that made you not enjoy your life there?”

Missy answered after a pause, “well I watched my friend’s father get killed.
- “How?”
“Well he was on a tractor and the tractor tire exploded and he got killed by a chevron sign.”

- “That’s to bad so you took off because off because of that”

“Yes I was very stressed out because of this.”

- “That’s very understandable”

“So what is going on with you, why are you out on the road?” Asked Missy.

- “I felt like I needed to start a new life also, I was traveling with my friend Lennie and we got a job at this ranch. Lennie ended up killing the boss’s son’s wife. They were going to torture him if they found him so I had to kill him myself. After that I am on my own doing my own thing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, you must be very upset”

- “Yea very much, so where you off to now.”

“Well I filled up my gas tank before I left and my plan is to just drive and drive until I run out of gas. When I do I am going to start a new life in the town I end up in and I’m going to change my name.”


- “Wow, you are a brave girl doing this all on your own.”

“Yea it’s a challenge but I have been saving up for a long time to leave that town, and I did. Well I am going to take off get back on the road. It was very nice to meet you George.”

- “Nice to meet you to Missy, be safe and good luck.”