|
205 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- DAY (1966) 205
Red finds Andy sitting in the shadow of the high stone wall,
poking listlessly through the dust for small pebbles. Red waits
for some acknowledgment. Andy doesn't even look up. Red hunkers
down and joins him. Nothing is said for the longest time. And
then, softly:
ANDY
My wife used to say I'm a hard man to know. Like a closed book.
Complained about it all the time.
(pause)
She was beautiful. I loved her. But I guess I couldn't show it
enough.
(softly)
I killed her, Red.
Andy finally glances to Red, seeking a reaction. Silence.
ANDY
I didn't pull the trigger. But I drove her away. That's why she
died. Because of me, the way I am.
RED
That don't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe.
Andy smiles faintly in spite of himself. Red gives hisshoulder
a squeeze.
RED
Feel bad about it if you want. But you didn't pull the trigger.
ANDY
No. I didn't. Someone else did, and I wound up here. Bad luck,
I guess.
RED
Bad luck? Jesus.
ANDY
It floats around. Has to land on somebody. Say a storm comes through.
Some folks sit in their living rooms and enjoy the rain. The house
next door gets torn out of the ground and smashed flat. It was
my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado.
(softly)
I just had no idea the storm would go on as long as it has.
(glances to him)
Think you'll ever get out of here?
RED
Sure. When I got a long white beard and about three marbles left
rolling around upstairs.
ANDY
Tell you where I'd go. Zihuatanejo.
RED
Zihuatanejo?
ANDY
Mexico. Little place right on the Pacific. You know what the exicans
say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where
I'd
like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no memory.
Open a
little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and
fix it up like new. Take my guests out charter fishing.
(beat)
You know, a place like that, I'd need a man who can get things.
Red stares at Andy, laughs.
RED
Jesus, Andy. I couldn't hack it on the outside. Been in here too
long.
I'm an institutional man now. Like old Brooks Hatlen was.
ANDY
You underestimate yourself.
RED
Bullshit. In here I'm the guy who can get it for you. Out there,
all you need are Yellow Pages. I wouldn't know where to begin.
(derisive snort)
Pacific Ocean? Hell. Like to scare me to death, somethin' that
big.
ANDY
Not me. I didn't shoot my wife and I didn't shoot her lover, and
whatever mistakes I made I've paid for and then some. That hotel
and
that boat...I don't think it's too much to want. To look at the
stars
just after sunset. Touch the sand. Wade in the water. Feel free.
RED
Goddamn it, Andy, stop! Don't do that to yourself! Talking shitty
pipedreams! Mexico's down there, and you're in here, and that's
the
way it is!
ANDY
You're right. It's down there, and I'm in here. I guess it comes
down
to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.
Red snaps a look. What the hell does that mean? Andy rises and
walks away. Red lunges to his feet.
RED
Andy?
ANDY
(turns back)
Red, if you ever get out of here, do me a favor. There's this
big
hayfield up near Buxton. You know where Buxton is?
RED
(nods)
Lots of hayfields there.
ANDY
One in particular. Got a long rock wall with a big oak at the
north end. Like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where
I asked my
(MORE)
ANDY (cont.)
wife to marry me. We'd gone for a picnic. We made love under that
tree. I asked and she said yes.
(beat)
Promise me, Red. If you ever get out, find that spot. In the base
of
that wall you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a
Maine
hayfield. A piece of black volcanic glass. You'll find something
buried under it I want you to have.
RED
What? What's buried there?
ANDY
You'll just have to pry up that rock and see.
Andy turns and walks away.
206 INT -- MESS HALL -- DAY (1966)
RED
I tell you, the man was talkin' crazy. I'm worried, I truly am.
SKEET
We ought to keep an eye on him.
ZIGGER
That's fine, during the day. But at night he's got that cell all
to
himself.
HEYWOOD
Oh Lord. Andy come down to the loading dock today. Asked me for
a length of rope. Six foot long.
SNOOZE
Shit! You gave it to him?
HEYWOOD
Sure I did. I mean why wouldn't I?
FLOYD
Christ! Remember Brooks Hatlen?
HEYWOOD
How the hell was I s'pose to know?
ZIGGER
Andy'd never do that. Never.
They all look to Red.
RED
Every man's got a breaking point.
207 EXT -- PRISON YARD -- ANGLE ON P.A. -- DUSK (1966) 207
VOICE (over P.A.)
Report to your cellblocks for evening count.
BOOM DOWN to Red and the boys. Convicts drift past them.
FLOYD
Where the hell is he?
HEYWOOD
Probably still up in the warden's.
TOWER GUARD
(via bullhorn)
YOU MEN! YOU HEAR THAT ANNOUNCEMENT
OR ZUST TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND?
SKEET
Christ. What do we do?
FLOYD
Nothing we can do. Not tonight.
HEYWOOD
Let's pull him aside tomorrow, all of us. Have a word with him.
Ain't
that right, Red?
RED
(unconvinced)
Yeah. Sure. That's right.
20B INT -- NORTON'S OFFICE -- NIGHT (1966) 208
Andy's working away. Norton pokes his head in.
NORTON
Lickety-split. I wanna get home.
ANDY
Just about done, sir.
We follow Norton to his wife's sampler. He swings it aside, works
the combination dial, opens the wall safe. Andy moves up, shoves
in the black ledger and files. Norton shuts the safe.
ANDY
Three deposits tonight.
Andy hands him the envelopes. Norton heads for the door.
NORTON
Get my stuff down t'laundry. And shine my shoes. I want 'em lookin'
like mirrors.
(pauses at door)
Nice havin' you back, Andy. Place just wasn't the same without
you.
Norton exits. Andy turns to the laundry. He opens the shoebox.
Nice pair of dress shoes inside. He sighs, glances down at the
old ragged pair of work shoes on his own feet.
209 INT -- NORTON'S OFFICE -- NIGHT (1966) 209
Andy is diligently shining Norton's shoes.
210 INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1966) 210
Andy trudges down the hallway, laundry slung over his shoulder,
211 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- NIGHT (1966) 211
Andy nods to the GUARD. The guard BUZZES him through.
212 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1966) 212
Red hears Andy coming, moves to the bars. He watches Andy come
up to the second tier and pause before his cell.
GUARD (O.S.)
Open number twelve!
Andy gazes directly at Red. A beat of eye contact. Red shakes
his head. Don't do it. Andy smiles, eerily calm...and enters his
cell. The door closes. KA-THUMP! We hold on Red's face.
213 INT -- ANDY'S CELL -- NIGHT (1966) 213
Andy is polishing a chess piece.
VOICE (O.S.)
Lights out!
The lights bump off. He finishes polishing, holds up the piece
to admire. A pawn. He sets it down with the others -- and we realize
it's the final glance for the board. A full set.
He gazes up at Racquel and smiles. Pulls a six foot length of
rope from under his pillow. Lets it uncoil to the floor.
214 INT -- RED'S CELL -- NIGHT (1966) 214
Red sits in the dark, a bundle of nerves, trying to hold himself
still. He feels like he might scream or shake to pieces. The seconds
tick by, each an eternity.
RED (V.O.)
I have had some long nights in stir. Alone in the dark with nothing
but your thoughts, time can draw out like a blade...
A FLASH OF LIGHTNING outside his window sends harsh barred
shadows jittering across the cell. A storm breaking.
RED (V.O.)
That was the longest night of my life...
215 INT -- CELLBLOCK FIVE -- MORNING (1966) 215
KA-THUMP! The master lock is thrown. The cons emerge from
their cells and the headcount begins. Red looks back to see if
Andy's in line. He's not. Suddenly the count stalls:
GUARD
Man missing on tier two! Cell 12!
The head bull, HAIG, checks his list:
HAIG
Dufresne? Get your ass out here, boy! You're holding up the show!
(no answer)
Don't make me come down there now! I'll thump your skull for you!
Still no answer. Glaring, Haig stalks down the tier, clipboard
in hand. His men fall in behind.
HAIG
Dufresne, dammit, you're putting me behind! You better be sick
or dead in there, I shit you not!
They arrive at bars. Their faces go slack. Stunned. Softly:
HAIG
Oh my Holy God.
|
