Bewildered

A Short Story by Logan T. Hoffman

They liked him.

I don't know why, but there was something about Andy that made people respect him. It wasn't like he was intimidating. He had an odd composure about him, though. He was so…calm. Too calm for someone who'd been in prison as long as he had.

I'll be honest, I don't know much about Andy Dufresne. I only talked to him once. Maybe twice, I can't remember. Somehow he managed to escape Shawshank when I was on my third week of prison. But this one time I had spoke with him has always stayed with me.

It was my second day at Shawshank. I had been sent there for armed robbery. I suppose I deserved it. I wasn't in any great need for money.

Anyway, I was having a tough time. I'd heard stories of rape going on in the prison, so I constantly had my guard up.

I was in the showers when a couple of the inmates started to come on to me. That is, until Andy showed up.

Heh. Funny thing. All he said was, "Soap and water are a useful thing. They get dirt off quick." That's all it took. They had never bothered me again.

Later on in the day, I sat across from him in the cafeteria. As my eyes moved across the table, looking at the inmates who were talking, cracking jokes, and making the best of what they knew was all they'd ever have, I stopped at Andy. He was keeping to himself, quietly eating his lunch. That's not to say he was unhappy, he was just calm. There's that word again. But it seems like that's the only word that can properly describe him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

I hadn't even realized that he'd seen me staring at him until he spoke.

"Sorry?" I asked him.

"Its just you had a rather bewildered look on your face."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bewildered? That's not a word you hear everyday."

Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever heard the word spoken before.

"I read a lot in my spare time," he explained.

I decided to change the subject. "You're not like the others here," I told him. A rather direct statement, but it didn't seem to bother him any.

He gave a sort of chuckle as a response. "I suppose I am. A lot of these guys have given up on the future."

"But you haven't?"

"No. Not when I can still hope."

And that's all he said. I can't remember ever speaking to him again after that. But what he said to me made real sense. As long you're alive, why bother waiting to die?

I guess it paid off for Andy in the end. It had been my third week at Shawshank when Red and his boys started talking about Andy Dufresne's escape. Not soon after, the warden killed himself. It seemed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel after all.

When I really think about it I realize I finally understand why we all respected him. Because he allowed himself to hope. We had all forgotten what that was. Maybe that's why seeing him made us…bewildered. When it comes down to it, there are only two types of people in this world. Those that are bewildered about the future, and those who are calm about it.