One morning, in 1999, the elderly Bobbie-Jo Edgecomb-King woke up and slowly climbed out of bed. After a yawn, Bobbie-Jo put on her glasses, walked over to her bedroom window and looked outside; there were clouds in the sky, and it looked as if it might rain. But she didn't mind, for today she was going to make another trip to the nursing home with her son to see her father. Little did she know that this would be a trip she would never forget.
After washing herself, brushing her teeth, and tying her now grayish-white hair back in a low bun, Bobbie-Jo had her daughter-in-law help her with putting on a white blouse, a pink dress, pantyhose, black shoes, and a familiar gold necklace that BJ kept ever since she was a teenager.

Later that morning, BJ's family dropped her off at the nursing home, and the elderly but spry woman walked up the steps to the front door before opening it. As she walked inside, she looked around and saw people either getting around in wheelchairs or walking with canes and walkers upon a shiny green floor. The color of the floor started to take the elderly woman back to some memories of a familiar place until her thoughts were interrupted by someone's voice.
"Excuse me, ma'am," a female receptionist behind a desk asked Bobbie-Jo, "May I help you?"
Bobbie-Jo turned to the woman and smiled, "Oh, well, I'm Mrs. Bobbie-Jo King, here to see my father, Paul Edgecomb."
"Mr. Edgecomb, huh?" the receptionist said before reaching for some papers on recent reports of the activity in the home, "Let me check here." She looked at a piece of paper and then looked at Bobbie-Jo with disappointment. "I'm sorry, Mrs. King, I think your father's gone for a walk outside. You know, I've been hearing rumors about your father wandering away from the home for long periods of time. You might want to ask him about it when he comes back in a few minutes."
"Of course," Bobbie-Jo nodded with an understanding look, "I think he should be back soon to watch TV with some of the other old folks, so I'm going to go wait for him in that room."
"Okay, Mrs. King," the receptionist smiled as BJ left, "Take care now!"

Bobbie-Jo walked down a hallway, hoping to find her father so she could visit him. Eventually, she heard some familiar music from her youth… it sounded like Fred Astaire.
The old woman quietly and slowly walked over to where the music was coming from, and eventually, saw the living room. "Daddy?" she softly called as she slowly peeked her head in beside a doorway, "Daddy, are you…"
Her sentence was cut off when she noticed the television playing the 1935 movie Top Hat onscreen. Then, something else caught her ears – someone was softly crying. Bobbie-Jo turned and was surprised to see that the very person who was crying was her own father! "My God," BJ whispered softly, "Dad…"
Elaine also noticed Bobbie-Jo looking at Paul crying, and then turned to the father and asked him softly, "Paul, what is it?"
Paul just wiped some tears away and put his hand on his face. As the other elderly people wondered what was going on, Bobbie-Jo and Elaine tried comforting Paul. "I-I gotta get outta here," Paul softly sobbed as he got up, and Bobbie-Jo escorted him away.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Paul's daughter softly whispered to him, "I think I know what's wrong."
Elaine then got up from her own seat and followed the father and daughter.


A few minutes later, Paul, Bobbie-Jo, and Elaine were all seated together at a little table with some coffee. Paul looked at Elaine and said to her, "I guess sometimes the past… just catches up with you whether you want it to or not. It's silly."
"Was it the film?" Elaine asked Paul. The old man didn't respond as Bobbie-Jo looked at him. "It was, wasn't it?" Elaine asked.
"Part of it was definitely the movie," Bobbie-Jo said to Elaine. She then looked towards the window as rain fell outside and then she turned back to her father and friend. "The other parts… Dad, you think you could explain this to her?"
Paul looked at his daughter, and then at Elaine. "I haven't spoken of these things in a long time, Ellie. Over sixty years." He then gave a regretful and sad expression as his daughter gently put her hand on his shoulder.
Elaine also comforted her friend as she gently took his hand and said, "Paul… I'm your friend. And your daughter's friend, too."
"Yes," Paul said to her, "Yes, you are."
The father looked at his friend for quite some time until Bobbie-Jo decided to break the silence. "That movie was connected to me at one point in my life," Paul's daughter explained to Elaine, "And my father's. But this happened when I was transforming from a timid and worrisome young girl into the brave and determined woman I became during my life."
Elaine took a sip of her coffee and wondered, "Hmmm…. I thought you might've mentioned some exciting things here and there. Your father has told me a few things."
Paul gave a small smile to each of the women, and then he turned to Elaine. "Did I ever tell you that I was a prison guard during the depression?" he asked her.
"You've mentioned it," Elaine said.
"Did I mention I was in charge of death row?" Paul asked as Bobbie-Jo gave a small smile, "That I supervised all the executions?"
Elaine shook her head.
"Now, death row was usually called the 'last mile,'" Paul explained, "We called ours the Green Mile, because the floor was the color of faded limes."
"Or a peridot shining in the sunlight," added Bobbie-Jo.
Paul nodded to her before he continued to Elaine, "We had the electric chair, then. Old Sparky, we called it."
BJ shuddered at the mention of Old Sparky as Elaine looked at the old man, and Paul continued, "Bobbie-Jo and I have both lived a lot of years, Ellie. But 1935 takes the prize. That year, I had the worst urinary infection of my life… but I had my little girl to watch over and protect me." At that part, he looked at Bobbie-Jo with a smile before he finished, "That was also the year of John Coffey, and the two dead girls." With that, Paul and Bobbie-Jo took turns telling Elaine about the Green Mile.