September 7, 2001

"Hello, Juliet. So glad you could make it. I think you've met everyone already?"

Juliet looked around the room. Familiar faces looked back at her, some curious, some distrusting, a few welcoming. She was too embarrassed to admit she knew only a few names. The first round of introductions hadn't really taken—she had been a bit too overwhelmed with her surroundings and the details of her new job.

"Yes," she said.

His mouth quirked in a secretive smile, as if he knew she were lying.

"Good," he said. He passed her a tray of oatmeal cookies and picked up a book from the arm of the couch.

She took a cookie and passed the tray to the blond woman on her left.

"Thanks," said the blond woman. Colleen, was it? "I need comfort food after this book."

"Steinbeck always depresses me, too," said Ethan, one of the few whose names Juliet was confident about.

"But he writes so well," said another woman. "It's so fluent…just really easy to read."

"I feel the same way, Bea," said Ethan. "But I don't have to like him to be fascinated by him."

Ben glanced over at Juliet, and she realized she had been watching him for some time. She shook her head and turned back to the rest of the group.

"Speaking of people you like and don't like," said Bea, "what did you think of George?"

"I liked him," said the blond woman. "Not as much as I liked Lennie, but I liked him."

"You have to like Lennie," said Ethan. "Even with the things he does. He doesn't mean to hurt anything, he just doesn't know what he's doing. And I like George because he does his best to look out for both of them—he just can't keep an eye on Lennie every second."

"I feel like there's something he could have done better," Juliet volunteered. All eyes were on her, and she could feel her face flushing with nervousness, but she was determined to be a part of things here in this place. "Lennie does hurt things. He does hurt people. And sometimes George is there for him, but sometimes he doesn't seem to notice clear warning signs. Shouldn't they both have moved on as soon as they realized Curley's wife was trouble?"

"It wasn't so easy to leave," said Bea, at the same time the blond woman said, "Yeah, she sure was a tramp, wasn't she?"

The discussion broke off in two different directions, with half the group discussing the economic situation during the Great Depression and half discussing Curley and his wife. While trying to follow both threads, Juliet felt someone's eyes on her and looked up.

"Is it so easy to serve as somebody's conscience?" Ben asked quietly. "To look out for him all the time?"

"Not exactly," she said. "But I guess I want to believe it's possible."

"An admirable sentiment," he said.

"Or a hopeless one."

"There's always hope," he said, and grinned slightly. "Even in Steinbeck."

"Those poor rabbits!" someone exclaimed, and the branches of discussion flowed into each other again.

They talked about the book for the next half hour, and then Bea said, "Who chose this book, anyway?"

"Ben, isn't this your pick?" asked a man Juliet didn't know.

Ben nodded. "It's my favorite book."

"But you haven't said anything all meeting," the blond woman said. "Why do you like it so much?"

"'Books ain't no good,'" said Ben, his voice changing subtly as he began the quotation. "'A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.'"

Everyone sat in silence, waiting for him to continue.

"Lots of reasons," he said simply.

"You've always liked rabbits, haven't you Ben?" laughed the blonde.

The discussion ended, and everyone turned to chatting over the rest of the coffee in their mugs. The blond woman, whose name turned out to be Colleen after all, asked Juliet what sort of books she liked to read.

"All kinds," said Juliet. "I really like Stephen King."

"Don't let Ben hear you say that," said Colleen. "He's a classics guy all the way."

"Carrie is a classic," protested Juliet, half-jokingly. She caught Ben's eye across the room. The wry smile he gave her before turning back to his conversation with Ethan told her there wasn't much in this place Ben didn't hear sooner or later.

Colleen laughed. "Trust me," she said. "We won't be reading any Stephen King as long as Ben's in this book club. Sorry."

"That's okay," said Juliet. "To be honest, I don't have a lot of experience with the classics. It will be nice to read some of those for a change."

"Yeah," said Colleen, with an unreadable glance towards Ben. "For a change."

Juliet nodded her goodbyes and made her way to the door. Ben met her there and held it for her as she walked out. She shaded her eyes against the bright sunlight and turned back into the shade of the porch.

"Thanks for inviting me," she said.

"You're welcome," he said. "I'm glad you came."

Halfway down the path to her bungalow, she stopped and looked up at the mountains. The sun was warm against her skin, and the breeze brought a smell of fresh greenery.

"Me, too," she said.