THEIR FRIENDSHIP BEGAN as a transaction. Red was the “guy who could get you things” at Shawshank State Penitentiary. Andy Dufresne’s currency was intelligence, guile, and unrelenting hope. Stuck together in the most unnatural setting, these men were surrounded by despair, one man falsely imprisoned, the other filled with remorse but unable to see the light at the end of his long, dark sentence. They used prison yard rocks, library books, a Rita Hayworth poster, and the luxury of three bottles of beer to solidify their trust. What started as snippets of mess hall talks led to the sharing of secrets, one-man-to-another conversations—the kind real people have, but that people on the outside take for granted.
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Words that Andy whispered to Red as he slipped away to freedom. Words that led Red to follow Andy to his ultimate dream. Friendship forever.