The stable buck went on dreamily, “I remember when I was little kid on my old man’s chicken ranch. Had two brothers. They was always near me, always there. Used to sleep right in the same room, right in the same bed – all three. Had a strawberry patch. Had an alfalfa patch. Used to turn the chickens out in the alfalfa on a sunny morning. My brothers’d set on a fence rail an’ watch ’em – white chickens they was.”
– John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men, Chapter 4. Crooks dreams about his ideal world, when he was a child on his father’s chicken ranch. Companionship and plentiful food are both parts of Crooks’ dream.