Looks that way. You gonna open it or stick your thumb up your butt?
TOMMY:
Thumb up my butt sounds better.
He gets hemmed in by the older men. Red snatches the letter.
TOMMY:
C'mon, just throw it away. Will you please? Just throw it away?
Red rips it open, scans the letter. Expressionless.
RED:
Well, sh*t.
194INT -- VISITOR'S ROOM -- DAY (1966) 194 Tommy makes his way through the chaos, finds Beth and the baby waiting behind the thick plexi shield. He sits, doesn't pick up the phone. Just stares at Beth. She doesn't know what to make of it.
He presses a piece of paper against the glass. A high school diploma. Her face lights up, blinking back tears.
195INT -- SOLITARY WING -- NIGHT (1966) 195 LOW ANGLE on steel door. Somewhere behind it, unseen, is Andy, A rat scurries along the wall. FOOTSTEPS approach slowly.
196INT -- SOLITARY -- NIGHT (1966) 196 Andy listens in darkness. The FOOTSTEPS pause outside his door. The slot opens. An ELDERLY GUARD peers in.
ELDERLY GUARD:
Kid passed. C-plus average. Thought you'd like to know.
The slot closes. The FOOTSTEPS recede. Andy smiles.
197INT -- PRISON CORRIDOR -- NIGHT (1966) 197 We find Tommy on evening work detail, mopping the floors with bucket and pail. Mert Entwhistle comes into view.
MERT:
Warden wants to talk.
198EXT -- PRISON -- NIGHT (1966) 198 A steel door rattles open. Mert leads Tommy outside to a gate, unlocks it. Tommy looks around.
TOMMY:
Out here?
MERT:
That's what the man said.
Mert swings the gate open, sends Tommy through, turns and heads back inside. Tommy proceeds out across a loading-dock access for the shops and mills. Some vehicles parked. The place is deserted. He stops, sensing a presence.
TOMMY:
Warden?
Norton steps into the light.
NORTON:
Tommy, we've got a situation here.
I think you can appreciate that.
TOMMY:
Yes sir, I sure can.
NORTON:
I tell you, son, this really came along and knocked my wind out. It's got me up nights, that's the truth.