“It ain’t so funny, him an’ me goin’ aroun’ together,” George said at last. “Him and me was both born in Auburn. I knowed his Aunt Clara. She took him when he was a baby and raised him up. When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin’. Got kinda used to each other after a little while.”
– John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men, Chapter 3. Many at the ranch where George and Lennie work think it odd the two travel together. But George explains how they were both born in Auburn, Alabama, and when Lennie’s aunt passed he now takes care of Lennie.