How does George distract Lennie's attention in order to carry out his grim task

Lennie then requests the coup-de-grace: the story of how they're different from other workers and of how they'll have a farm together. George repeats these monologues woodenly.

He then tells Lennie to take off his hat as he continues to recount "how it will be" for them. He orders Lennie to kneel and pulls out Carlson's Luger. As the voices of the other men in the search party near their location, George tells Lennie one more time "about the rabbits," tells Lennie that they're going to get the farm right away, and shoots his companion in the back of the head.