It's from my missus. She wanted to… thank you.
Thank me for what?
Well, you know. [looks around, then whispers] For helping me.
Helpin' you with what?
You know.
Several times.
2nd most-quoted character in The Green Mile (1999): in 12 of its 25 quotes
Most scenes with: Paul Edgecomb (7), John Coffey (4), Percy Wetmore (3)
Bar-be-QUE! Me and you! Stinky-pinky, fue-fue-fue! Wen't Billy, Jilly, Hilly or Pa! It was a french-fried cajon named Delacroix! WOO!
It's from my missus. She wanted to… thank you.
Thank me for what?
Well, you know. [looks around, then whispers] For helping me.
Helpin' you with what?
You know.
Several times.
What did you do?
I helped Del's mouse. He a circus mouse. Gonna live in a mouse city, down in… [struggles with a word]
Florida?
You switched 'em. You switched 'em somehow, you bastards.
I always keep a spare mouse in my wallet for occasions such as this.
What in the blue **** was that?!? Jesus Christ! There's puke all over the floor up there… And the smell! I got Van Hay to open both doors, but that smell won't go out for five damn years, that's what I'm bettin'. And that asshole, Wharton, is singing about it! You can hear him up there!
Okay, boys, okay. Now, what in the hell happened?
An execution. A successful one.
How in the name of Christ can you call that a success?
Eduard Delacroix is dead.
Percy? Something to say?
How many years you spend pissing on a toilet seat before someone told you to put it up?
That your official position?
Don't you think it should be? He's puttin' in for a transfer request to Briar Ridge tomorrow. Movin' on to bigger and better things. Isn't that right, Percy?
Yeah. Yeah.
Bar-be-QUE!
You all saw what he did to the mouse.
I coulda gone the rest o' the day without you bringin' that up.
I coulda gone the rest o' the year.
He did the same thing to me. He put his hands on me… he took my bladder infection away.
'S true. When he came home that day, he was…
… all better.
Aw, wait. You're talkin' about a… authentic healin', a… "praise Jesus" miracle?
I am.
Ohh, yeah.
Now, w-what if he escapes? I'd hate to lose my job or go to… prison… but I'd hate worse to have a dead child on my conscience.
I don't think that's gonna happen. In fact… I don't think he did it at all. I do not see… God putting a… a gift like that in the hands of a man that'd kill a child.
Men under strain can snap. Hurt themselves and hurt others. That's why our job is talking, not yelling. You'd do better to think of this place like as an intensive care ward of a hospital.
I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in. That's all. Anybody doesn't like it… you can kiss my ass.
Son, can ya hear me?
Speak up if you can hear us.
I think this boy's cheese slid off his cracker
What did you just do to me?
I helped it. Didn't I help it? I just took it back, is all. Awful tired now, boss. Dog tired.
John… tell me what you want me to do. You want me to take you out o' here? Just let you run away? See how far you could get?
Why would you do such a foolish thing?
On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I… did I kill one of his true… miracles… what am I gonna say? That it was my job? [muttering] It was my job.
You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done.
I know you hurtin' and worryin'. I can feel it on you. But you oughta quit on it now. I want it over and done with. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to, or coming from, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?
Yes, John, I think I can.
He infected you with life?
That's as good a word as any.