"Crooks said, “I didn’t mean to scare you. He’ll come back I was talkin’ about myself. A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he couldtell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know”" (Steinbeck 36).
Although Lennie may not realize it, but Crooks was referring to his situation when he had talked about George not returning. Crooks is very lonely and expresses how it feels without anyone to confirm something with or ask about something common.