6بخش

Turn around and face the Warden

Pleased to see you reading this

Any favorite passages

“Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh”

Mark 13:35

I always liked that one

But I prefer

“I’m the light of the world

He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”

John, Chapter 8, Verse 12

I hear you’re good with numbers

How nice

A man should have a skill

Wanna explain this

It’s called a rock blanket It’s for shaping and polishing rocks

A little hobby of mine

It’s pretty clean

Some contraband here, but nothing to get in a twist over

Lock ‘em up

I almost forgot

I’d hate to deprive you of this

Salvation lies within

Yes, sir

Tossing cells was just an excuse

The truth is, Norton wanted to size Andy up

My wife made that in church group

Very nice, sir

Do you enjoy working in the laundry

No, sir, not especially

Perhaps we can find something more

befitting a man of your education

Hey, Jake Where’s Brooks

Andy

I thought I heard you out here

I’ve been reassigned to you

I know They told me

Ain’t that a kick in the head

Well, I’ll give you the dime tour

Come on

Well, here she is

Shawshank Prison library

National Geographics

Reader’s Digest condensed books

Louis L’Amour

Look Magazine

Erle Stanley Gardners

Every evening, I load up the cart and make my round

I enter the names on this clipboard here

Easy-peasy, Japanesey

Any questions

Brooks, how long have you been librarian

Oh I come here in ‘05, and they made me librarian in 1912

And in all that time, have you ever had an assistant

No No, not much to it, really

Well, why me

Why now

I don’t know,

but it’ll be nice to have some company down here for a change

Dufresne

That’s him

That’s the one

I’m Dekins

I was er

thinking about maybe setting up some kind of trust fund for my kids’ educations

Oh

I see

why don’t we have a seat, and talk it over

Brooks, do you have a piece of paper and a pencil

Thanks

So

Mr Dekins

And then Andy says to Mr Dekins, “Do you want your sons to go to Harvard, or Yale”

He didn’t say that

As God is my witness, he did

Dekins just blinked for a second

Then he laughed himself silly

And afterwards he shook Andy’s hand

My ass

Shook his hand

Hell, II near soiled myself

All Andy needed was a suit and a tie and a little jiggly hula girl on his desk, and he would have been: “Mr Dufresne, if you please”

Making a few friends, Andy

I wouldn’t say “friends”

I’m a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning

It’s a wonderful pet to have

Got you out of the laundry, though

Well, it might do more than that

How about expanding the library Get some new books in there

If you’re gonna ask for something, ask for a pool table

Right How do you expect to do that

I mean, get new books in here, Mr Dufresne, if you please

Ask the Warden for funds

Son, son Six wardens have been through here in my tenure,

and I’ve learned one immutable, universal truth

Not one of them born

whose asshole wouldn’t pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you asked them for funds

The budget’s stretched thin, as it is

I see

Perhaps I could write to the State Senate and request funds from them

As far as they’re concerned, there’s only three ways to spend money when it comes to prisons: more walls, more bars and more guards

Still, I’d like to try, with your permission

A letter a week

They can’t ignore me forever

Sure can

But you write your letters, if it makes you happy

I’ll even mail them for you

How’s that

So, Andy started writing a letter a week,

just like he said

And, just like Norton said, Andy got no answers

The following April, Andy did tax returns for half the guards at Shawshank

The year after that, he did them all

including the Warden’s

The year after that, they rescheduled the start of the intramural season

to coincide with tax season

The guards on the opposing teams all remembered to bring their W-2s

So, Moresby Prison issued you your gun, but you had to pay for it

Damn right The holster, too

That’s tax-deductible

You can write that off

Yes, sir Andy was a regular cottage industry

In fact, it got so busy at tax time

he was allowed a staff

Hey, Red, can you hand me a stack of 1040s

It got me out of the wood shop a month out of the year,

and that was fine by me

And stillhe kept sending those letters

Red, Andy

It’s Brooks

Watch the door

Please, Brooks

Just calm the ** down Stay back

Stay back What the hell’s going on

You tell me One second he’s fine Then out comes the knife

Brooks, we can talk about this Right

Nothing to talk about, goddamn it

I’m gonna cut his **ing throat

Heywood Wait, what’s he done to you

It’s what they done

II got no choice

You’re not gonna hurt him Even Heywood knows that

Right, Heywood II know that, sure

You won’t hurt him, because he’s a friend, and you’re a reasonable man

That’s right Right, guys

Yes So, put the knife down Brooks, look at me

Put the knife down

Brooks

Look at his neck, for God’s sake

Brooks, look at his neck It’s bleeding

It’s the only

It’s the only way they’d let me stay

Come on This is crazy You don’t want to do this

Put it down

Come on Take it easy

You’re going to be all right

Him

Hell, what about me

Crazy old fool damn near cut my throat

Shit, Heywood, you’ve had worse from shaving

What the hell did you do to set him off, anyway

Nothing I come in here to say fare-thee-well

Ain’t you heard His parole’s come through

I just don’t understand what happened in there

That’s all

The old man’s as crazy as a rat in a tin shithouse

Oh, Heywood, that’s enough out of you

I heard he had you shitting in your pants Fuck you

Would you knock it off

Brooks ain’t no bug

He’s just

He’s just institutionalized

Institutionalized, my ass

The man’s been in here 50 years, Heywood 50 years

This is all he knows

In here, he’s an important man

He’s an educated man

Outside, he’s nothing

Just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands

Probably couldn’t get a library card if he tried

You know what I’m trying to say

Red, I do believe you’re talking out of your ass

You believe whatever you want, Floyd

But I’m telling you, these walls are funny

First you hate ‘em

then you get used to ‘em

Enough time passes

you get so you depend on ‘em

That’s institutionalized

Shit

You can never get like that

Oh, yeah

Say that when you’ve been here as long as Brooks has

Goddamn right

They send you here for life

That’s exactly what they take

The part that counts, anyway

I can’t take care of you no more, Jake

You go on, now

You’re free

You’re free