it was very bitter. she said she was glad i knew, that she hated all the sneaking around. she said she wanted a divorce in reno.
i told her i would not grant one.
if they say so. i really don't remember. i was upset.
she packed a bag and went to stay with mr. quentin.
i went to a few bars first. later, i decided to drive to mr. quentin's home and confront them. they weren't there. so i parked my car in the turnout. and waited.
i'm not sure. i was confused. drunk. i think mostly i wanted to scare them.
yes. i did.
no. i was sobering up. i realized she wasn't worth it. i decided to let her have her quickie divorce.
i did not. i got back in the car and drove home to sleep it off. along the way, i stopped and threw my gun into the royal river. i feel i've been very clear on this point.
yes. it does.
yes. it does.
strike me as a fantastic coincidence.
it's the truth.
since i am innocent of this crime, sir, i find it decidedly inconvenient the gun was never found.
hadn't planned on it.
what was his name?
i was wondering if anyone knew his name.
hello. i'm andy dufresne.
how do you know that?
i didn't, since you ask.
what else have you heard?
what do you think?
i understand you're a man who knows how to get things.
i wonder if you could get me a rock-hammer?
you make your customers' motives a part of your business?
fair enough. a rock-hammer is about eight or nine inches long. looks like a miniature pickaxe, with a small sharp pick on one end, and a blunt hammerhead on the other. it's for rocks.
quartz, sure. and look. mica. shale. silted granite. there's some graded limestone, from when they cut this place out of the hill.
i'm a rockhound. at least i was, in my old life. i'd like to be again, on a limited scale.
i have no enemies here.
tell me something. would it help if i explained to them i'm not homosexual?
thanks for the advice.
if there's trouble, i doubt a rock- hammer will do me any good.
you'll know when you see the rock- hammer.
seven dollars in any rock and gem shop.
ten it is.
oh?
i understand. thank you, mr?
red. i'm andy. pleasure doing business with you.
you get this in your eyes, it blinds you.
mr. hadley. do you trust your wife?
what i mean is, do you think she'd go behind your back? try to hamstring you?
because if you do trust her, there's no reason in the world you can't keep every cent of that money.
if you want to keep that money, all of it, just give it to your wife. see, the irs allows you a one-time- only gift to your spouse. it's good up to sixty thousand dollars.
tax free. irs can't touch one cent.
it's perfectly legal. go ask the irs, they'll say the same thing. actually, i feel silly telling you all this. i'm sure you would have investigated the matter yourself.
of course not. but you will need somebody to set up the tax-free gift, and that'll cost you. a lawyer, for example.
or come to think of it, i suppose i could set it up for you. that would save you some money. i'll write down the forms you need, you can pick them up, and i'll prepare them for your signature.  nearly free of charge. i'd only ask three beers apiece for my co-workers, if that seems fair.
i think a nan working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. that's only my opinion.
no thanks. i gave up drinking.
chess. now there's a game of kings. civilized. strategic.
maybe you'll let me teach you someday. i've been thinking of getting a board together.
we might do business on a board. but the pieces, i'd like to carve those myself. one side done in quartz.  the opposing side in limestone.
years i've got. what i don't have are the rocks. pickings here in the exercise yard are pretty slim.
not yet. i suppose i should.
i suppose we are.
i'm innocent, remember? just like everybody else here.
what are you in for, red?
innocent?
i know. i've seen it three times this month already.
can we talk business?
rita hayworth. can you get her?
weeks?
i know. i've seen it three times this month already.
can we talk business?
rita hayworth. can you get her?
weeks?
they'd never hear me over that. let's get this over with.
okay.
anything you put in my mouth, you're going to lose.
okay. but you should know that sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to bite down. hard. in fact, i understand the bite-reflex is so strong the victim's jaws have to be pried open with a crowbar.
good evening.
watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.
john. chapter 8, verse 12.
it's called a rock blanket. it's for shaping and polishing rocks. little hobby of mine.
it's very pretty, sir.
no, sir. not especially.
hey, jake. where's brooks?
i've been reassigned to you.
brooks? how long have you been librarian?
in all that time, have you ever had an assistant?
so why now? why me?
i see. well. why don't we have a seat and talk it over?
what did you have in mind? a weekly draw on your pay?
he was right. you don't want your money in a bank.
what's that gonna earn you? two and a half, three percent a year? we can do a lot better than that. so tell me, mr. dekins. where do you want to send your kids? harvard? yale?
i wouldn't say "friends." i'm a convicted murderer who provides sound financial planning. that's a wonderful pet to have.
maybe it can do more than that. how about expanding the library? get some new books in there.
ask the warden for funds.
i see. perhaps i could write to the state senate and request funds directly from them.
still, i'd like to try, with your permission. i'll send a letter a week. they can't ignore me forever.
moresby prison issued you that gun, but you actually had to pay for it?
see, that's all deductible. you get to write that off.
say red, could you hand me a stack of those 1040s?
brooks, you're not going to hurt heywood, we all know that. even heywood knows it, right heywood?
why? ask anyone, they'll tell you. brooks hatlen is a reasonable man.
you're not fooling anybody, so just put the damn knife down and stop scaring the shit out of people.
take it easy. you'll be all right.
i just don't understand what happened in there, that's all.
p.s. tell heywood i'm sorry i put a knife to his throat. no hard feelings.
red!
that's real pretty, red. nice work.
what is all this?
dear mr. dufresne. in response to your repeated inquiries, the state senate has allocated the enclosed funds for your library project.  " this is two hundred dollars.
in addition, the library district has generously responded with a charitable donation of used books and sundries. we trust this will fill your needs. we now consider the matter closed. please stop sending us letters. yours truly, the state comptroller's office.
only took six years. from now on, i send two letters a week instead of one.
they broke the door down before i could take requests.
easiest time i ever did.
i had mr. mozart to keep me company. hardly felt the time at all.
the music was here. and here. that's the one thing they can't confiscate, not ever. that's the beauty of it. haven't you ever felt that way about music, red?
here's where it makes most sense. we need it so we don't forget.
that there are things in this world not carved out of gray stone. that there's a small place inside of us they can never lock away, and that place is called hope.
like brooks did?
you wonder where it went. i wonder where ten years went.
anniversary gift. open it.
had to go through one of your competitors. hope you don't mind. wanted it to be a surprise.
you gonna play something?
stevenson. next?
trade skills and hobbies, those go under educational. stack right behind you.
dumas. you boys'll like that one. it's about a prison break.
two deposits, casco bank and new england first. night drop, like always.
very nice.
what you hear isn't half of it. he's got scams you haven't dreamed of. kickbacks on his kickbacks. there's a river of dirty money flowing through this place.
that's where i come in. i channel it, funnel it, filter it. stocks, securities, tax free municipals.  i send that money out into the big world. and when it comes back.
cleaner. by the time norton retires, i will have made him a millionaire.
i thought you had more faith in me than that.
sure it will. but not to me, and certainly not to the warden.
peter stevens.
the silent, silent partner. he's the guilty one, your honor. the man with the bank accounts. that's where the filtering process starts. they trace it back, all they're gonna find is him.
a phantom. an apparition. second cousin to harvey the rabbit. i conjured him out of thin air. he doesn't exist. except on paper.
sure you can, if you know how the system works, and where the cracks are. it's amazing what you can accomplish by mail. mr. stevens has a birth certificate, social security card, driver's license. they ever track those accounts, they'll wind up chasing a figment of my imagination.
it's funny. on the outside, i was an honest man. straight as an arrow. i had to come to prison to be a crook.
i don't run the scams, red, i just process the profits. that's a fine line, maybe. but i've also built that library, and used it to help a dozen guys get their high school diplomas. why do you think the warden lets me do all that?
i work cheap. that's the trade-off.
perhaps it's time you considered a new profession. what i mean is, you don't seem to be a very good thief. maybe you should try something else.
everyone's innocent in here. don't you know that?
i don't waste time on losers, tommy.
that's a good start. if we do this, we do it all the way. one hundred percent. nothing half-assed.
well. you've come to the right place then.
and the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor. and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted nevermore! "
that's right.
well?
may not be as bad as you think.
we'll see how the score comes out.
sir?
i think he's telling the truth.
it wouldn't matter. with tommy's testimony, i can get a new trial.
they'd have his last known address. names of relatives.  well it's a chance. isn't it? how can you be so obtuse?
obtuse! is it deliberate? the country club will have his old time cards! w-2s with his name on them!
look, if it's the squeeze, don't worry. i'd never say what goes on in here. i'd be just as indictable as you for laundering the money!
i was just trying to rest your mind at ease, that's all.
what's the matter with you? it's my chance to get out, don't you see that? it's my life! don't you understand it's my life?
i'm done. it stops right now. get h&r block to declare your income.
my wife used to say i'm a hard man to know. like a closed book. complained about it all the time. she was beautiful. i loved her. but i guess i couldn't show it enough. i killed her, red.
i didn't pull the trigger. but i drove her away. that's why she died. because of me, the way i am.
no. i didn't. someone else did, and i wound up here. bad luck, i guess.
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. i just had no idea the storm would go on as long as it has. think you'll ever get out of here?
tell you where i'd go. zihuatanejo.
mexico. little place right on the pacific. you know what the mexicans 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. you know, a place like that, i'd need a man who can get things.
you underestimate yourself.
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.
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, if you ever get out of here, do me a favor. there's this big hayfield up near buxton. you know where buxton is?
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
you'll just have to pry up that rock and see.
just about done, sir.
three deposits tonight.
just about done, sir.
my name is peter stevens. i've come to close out some accounts.
thank you. i'm sure i will.
please. would you add this to your outgoing mail?
dear red. if you're reading this, you've gotten out. and if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. you remember the name of the town, don't you? i could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. i'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. remember, red. hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. i will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. your friend. andy.
you look like a man who knows how to get things.