[inner] Chapter 24: "The Absurdity of Magnetism”

Mrs. Casini? I encountered this feline friend on an early morning run through Pacific Grove (a series of trails run along the curvature of the bay...) where I snapped this picture of a kitty squaring off with a rodent... While I refrained from hurling rocks at Mrs. Casini ala Steinbeck, I did manage to scare the cat away. 

The house that John Steinbeck and his first wife Carol Henning shared in Pacific Grove, CA (just up the street from where I took the picture of Mrs. Casini!). Steinbeck buffs seem to unanimously agree that this inner chapter is highly autobiographical. 

A portrait of John Steinbeck that hangs (this is a picture of a picture... yes, I'm that lame!) inside the Steinbeck house in Salinas, CA (which has been converted into a restaurant / gift shop / tourist attraction adjacent to the National Steinbeck Center - www.steinbeck.org).

“Mary Talbot gave a pregnancy party that year. And everyone said, ‘God! A kid of hers is going to have fun’” (Steinbeck 141).