Script 9

SHAWSHANK PRISON -- DAY
TWO SHORT SIREN BLASTS herald the opening of the main gate. It swings hugely open, revealing Red standing in his cheap suit, carrying a cheap bag, wearing a cheap hat. He walks out, still looking stunned.
BUS
Red rides the bus, clutching the seat before him, gripped by terror of speed and motion.
BREWSTER HOTEL -- LATE AFTERNOON
Red arrives at the Brewster, three stories high and even less to look at than it used to be.
RED'S ROOM -- LATE DAY
Small, old, dingy. An arched window with a view of Congress Street. Traffic noise floats up. Red enters and pauses, staring up at the ceiling beam. Carved into the wood are the words: "Brooks Hatlen was here."
FOODWAY MARKET
Loud. Jangling with PEOPLE and NOISE. We find Red bagging groceries. Registers are humming, kids are shrieking. Red calls to the STORE MANAGER:
RED: Restroom break sir?
MANAGER: (motions him over) You don't need to ask me every time you go take a piss. Just go. Understand?
EMPLOYEE RESTROOM
(Red steps to the urinal, stares at himself in the wall mirror).
(V.O.) RED: Thirty years I've been asking permission to piss. I can't squeeze a drop without say-so.
STREET -- DUSK
(Red is walking home).
(V.O.) RED: There is a harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside.
(He pauses at a pawnshop window. His eyes look at an array of handguns, but lead to a compass.
(V.O.) RED: All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole.
RED'S ROOM -- NIGHT
(Red lies smoking in bed. Unable to sleep).
(V.O.) RED: Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.
COUNTRY ROAD -- MORNING
A pickup truck rattles up the road trailing dust and pulls to a stop. Red hops off the back, waves his thanks. The truck drives on. Red starts walking. We see a roadside sign: BUXTON.
MAINE COUNTRYSIDE
High white clouds in a blazing blue sky. The trees fiery with autumn color. Red walks the fields and back-roads, cheap compass in hand. Looking for a certain hayfield.
COUNTRYSIDEWalking. Searching. The day turning late. Red finds himself staring at a distant field. There's a long rock wall, like something out o f a Robert Frost poem. Big oak tree. Red checks his compass. North end. He crosses a dirt road into the field.HAYFIELD

Red walks the long rock wall, nearing the tree. Something catches his eye. He walks back, squats, peering closer. He sees Volcanic glass. Gleaming black. Red leans down and solves the mystery at last, staring at the object buried under the rock. Stunned. It's a lunchbox, he opens it and see's an envelope wrapped in plastic. Written on it is a single word: "Red."
He opens the other envelope and fans out a stack of new fifty dollar bills. Twenty of them. A thousand dollars.
Red pulls the envelope out and rises. He just stares at it for a while, almost afraid to open it. But open it he does. Inside is a smaller envelope and a letter. Red begins to read:
(V.O.) ANDY: 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.
RED'S ROOM -- DAY
Red is dressed in his suit. He finishes knotting his tie, puts his hat on. His bag is by the door. He takes one last look around. Only one thing left to do. He pulls a wooden chair to the center of the room and gazes up at the ceiling beam.
(V.O.) RED: Get busy living or get busy dying. That is g-ddamn right.
He steps up on the chair. It wobbles under his weight.
BREWSTER -- RED'S DOOR
The door opens. Red exits with his bag and heads down the stairs, leaving the door open. CAMERA PUSHES through, BOOMING UP to the ceiling beam which reads: "Brooks Hatlen was here."
A new message has been carved alongside the old: "So was Red."
BUS STATION -- DAY
Long line of people at the counter with Red.
(V.O.) RED: Get busy living or get busy dying. Thats G-ddamn right. For the second time in my life, I am guilty of committing a crime... Parole violation. I doubt they'll toss up any roadblocks for that. Not for an old crook like me.
RED: (steps up) Fort Handcox, Texas please.
TRAVELING SHOT -- DAY
A gorgeous New England landscape whizzes by, fields and trees a blur of motion. Red is in his bus barreling up the road, pulling abreast of us. We see window to window, passing faces. We finally come to Red gazing out at the passing landscape.
(V.O.) RED: I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain... I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams... I hope.
BEACH -- WIDE PANORAMIC SHOTWe see Red walking on the beach wearing his cheap suit and his cheap hat. The wind blows it off towards the water.

THE BOAT: There is a man on the boat. He stands up and we see that it's Andy. He jumps off to boat and walks towards Red. They hug. They are both finally free.

The End.