Later that day, Paul and Bobbie-Jo had finished their story to Elaine about their days on the Green Mile with John Coffey's execution. "It was the last execution I ever took part in," Paul said with regret in his voice, "Brutus couldn't do anymore, either, after that. Brutal and me, we both took transfers out and took jobs at the boys' correctional. It was alright. Catching the young, began my motto."
Bobbie-Jo looked at Elaine and added, "As for myself, I've been against the death penalty ever since. But that didn't stop me from going to school to study law, and believe or not, I was one of the first female police officers in the state of Louisiana. Eventually, after the Second World War, I got married, had children of my own, and never lost touch with Daddy, here." She smiled at her father before continuing, "But during all those years, I never spoke about John Coffey ever again until today. I never told my husband about him, and I've never told any of my children or grandchildren. Hell, my oldest son is named after John Coffey, but I never told him – yet."
Elaine looked at the father and daughter with disbelief, and then Paul asked her, "You don't believe us?"
"I don't imagine you or Bobbie-Jo lying, Paul," Elaine answered, "It's just that…"
"It's quite a story," Paul said.
"Quite a story," Elaine repeated before asking, "One thing I don't understand – you said you and Jan had a grown son, and that Bobbie-Jo was a teenager in 1935 – is that right?"
Bobbie-Jo smiled and nodded, "Yes. I had just turned seventeen that summer when John Coffey walked the Green Mile."
"The myth doesn't work, does it?" Paul asked Elaine with a grin. Then he asked her, "Do you feel fit enough to be takin' a walk?"
"I know I'd love to walk with you, Daddy," Bobbie-Jo smiled.

We then go to a scene in the forest, in which Paul, Bobbie-Jo, and Elaine were wearing raincoats as they walked down a trail. They went up a hill that led to an old shack, and BJ asked her father, "Dad, what is this place?"
"You'll find out soon, dear," Paul smiled to her.
Soon, the three of them opened a door very slowly and carefully walked inside, looking around at all the gardening tools and old junk. "Watch your step, ladies," Paul coaxed Elaine and Bobbie-Jo, "And let your eyes adjust."
Eventually, the old man led the two women over to a cleared up part of the floor, where there stood a familiar old cigar box. "Oh my God!" Bobbie-Jo gasped with amazement, "Daddy, is the same…"
"Yes," Paul answered softly. He motioned for Elaine to look down and said, "There!" Then, he called for someone else very softly, "Hey, wake up, old fella! Wake up!"
Peeking out of the box was a little mouse with aged and matted fur. Bobbie-Jo gasped with disbelief, "It couldn't be…"
"Oh, it… it can't be," Elaine whispered with disbelief.
Paul just knelt down towards the mouse and gently coaxed it, "Come over here, boy. Remember my daughter from all those years ago?" The mouse tiredly made its way out of the box as Paul coaxed it, "Come over here and see these ladies."
Paul then took Elaine's hand and let her join him as she said with amazement, "It can't be… Mr. Jingles!"
"I… I think it is… Mr. Jingles… isn't it, Dad?" Bobbie-Jo asked her father as she knelt beside him.

Paul reached his hand over for an old sewing spool, showed it to the mouse, and said something to it in Cajun French – just like Eduard Delacroix did. The old man then gently placed the spool a few inches away from the old mouse, and sure enough, Mr. Jingles – despite his old age and lack of strength – managed to push the spool towards the humans with a little encouragement.
"I know, Mr. Jingles," Bobbie-Jo said to the mouse, "It sucks getting old, doesn't it?" She turned to the other humans and said, "No offense to y'all."
Elaine smiled as Paul took a piece of toast out from his pocket and said to the mouse, "This isn't exactly the Mouseville we had in mind, is it?" He slowly stuck a piece of toast out to the mouse as he continued, "But we make do, don't we, old fella?"
Mr. Jingles took the piece of food and began eating it as Paul turned to the ladies. "I think Mr. Jingles happened by accident," he said to Elaine, "I think when we electrocuted Del, and it all went so badly – ol' John could feel that, you know – and I think… a part of whatever magic was inside him just slipped into my tiny friend, here. As for me and Bobbie-Jo… John had to give us each a part of himself. A gift, the way he saw it – so that my daughter and I could see what Wild Billy done."
"It was awful," Bobbie-Jo said with moist eyes and a broken voice. She remembered the night when John gave her and her father each a part of himself to see what really happened to the Detterick girls.
"When John did that," Paul continued to Elaine, "When he took our hands, a part of the power that worked through him spilled into me. How about you, Bobbie-Jo?"
Paul's daughter thought for a moment before nodding, "I think so. I… I rarely got any diseases after that, if I fell down or got hurt in the line of duty, I was alright."
"He what?" Elaine softly asked with disbelief, "He infected you two with life?"
"That's as good a word as any," Paul replied with a small chuckle, "He infected all three of us, didn't he, Mr. Jingles? With life." His expression turned more serious as he continued to Elaine, "I'm a hundred and eight years old, Elaine. I was forty-four the year that John Coffey walked the Green Mile. As BJ said earlier, she was only seventeen."
"Yes," Bobbie-Jo nodded, "I am eighty-one now."

Elaine blinked a few tears back, and BJ comforted her by gently putting her arm onto her friend's shoulder. Paul continued to Elaine, "You mustn't blame John. He couldn't help what happened to him… he was just a force of nature. Oh, my daughter and I have both lived to see some amazing things, Ellie. Another century come to past, but I've… I've had to see my friends and loved ones die off over the years – with the exception of my little girl, of course. Hal and Melinda… Brutus Howell… my wife… my boy."
"I've lost my husband, and my childhood friends, Marion and Yvonne," Bobbie-Jo added with sadness, "But I've never seen quite so many deaths as my father has. No offense, Daddy."
"None taken, sweetheart," Paul sadly smiled to her daughter before he continued to Elaine with a broken voice, "And you, Elaine. You'll die, too. And my curse is knowing that I'll be there to see it."
The scene cut away to many months later, in which Elaine had now died, and her body was at rest in a coffin at her funeral. "It's my atonement that you see," Paul's voice narrated over the scene, "It's my punishment for letting John Coffey ride the lightning, for killing a miracle of God."
At Elaine's funeral, Paul and his daughter glanced over their friend's body, and each placed a flower in the coffin for Elaine. "You'll be gone like all the others," Paul's voice continued narrating, "Bobbie-Jo and I will have to stay. Oh, we'll both die eventually, I'm sure. I have no illusions of immortality, I will wish for death… long before death finds me or my daughter. In truth, I wish for it already."

The elderly father and daughter witnessed Elaine being laid to rest in the local cemetery, before they both walked away with tears in their eyes. "I'm a very strong woman," Bobbie-Jo's voice narrated, "I've lived so many years, and I've done so many great things. But to be honest, I don't really care when I die – I don't care if I die tomorrow, or if I have to wait till I'm a hundred and eight like my father – maybe I might have to wait longer. All I know is that John Coffey has given the gift of hope, so I could help make the world a better place. If I ever get the chance, I will seize the opportunity to tell my children and grandchildren all about John. I might even write a book about it, and hope that it becomes a bestseller."
We then go to a scene at Bobbie-Jo's family's home, and the old woman was writing a story on some pieces of paper. Her voice finished narrating, "All in all, miracles are funny things. You never know when they're going to happen. You never know IF they'll happen, and you never know where. But miracles do happen, and when they happen in a place like the Green Mile, that is the most unbelievable miracle of all."

At the nursing home, Paul was walking upon the green tiled floor, which was just as green as his mile from the Great Depression. "I lie awake in bed most nights thinking about it," he narrated, "And I wait. I think about all the people I've loved – now long gone. I think about my beautiful Jan, how I lost her so many years ago…" The scene changed to Paul in his bed, looking over old pictures as he continued narrating, "And I think about all of us, walking our own Green Mile – each in our own time. But one thought, more than any other, keeps me awake most nights – if he could make a mouse live so long, how much longer do I have? How much does my Bobbie-Jo have? We each owe a death – there are no exceptions – but oh, God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long."
The scene then changed to Mr. Jingles sleeping soundly in his cigar box, and then we cut away to Bobbie-Jo asleep in her own bed. Sitting on her tables and drawers were old pictures of her in different parts of her life – graduating from law school, becoming a police officer, marrying her husband, pictures of the couple with all their children, and pictures of her with grandchildren.
The old woman then started to dream about being seventeen years old again; she was dressed in her prison guard uniform as she stood upon some barren ground and looked around. All around her was fog, but there was a faint light peeking through some of the fog. BJ looked towards the light and began to follow it through the fog; as she walked, the ground slowly began to turn green, and the girl sang:

Death is not freedom
Over my shoulder
I see a clearer view
All for my family
Reason I'm breathing
Everything to lose

She stopped before a small puddle of water on the ground, and looked down at her reflection, asking herself what to do next.

Should I ask myself in the water
What an officer'd do?
Tell me, underneath my uniform
Am I loyal, brave, and true?
Am I loyal, brave and true?

Bobbie-Jo hopped over the puddle of water, and then began running through the fog to find the light.

Losing is easy
Winning takes bravery
I am no tiger's fool
Out in the open
No one to save me
The kindest of whispers are cruel

As the fog slowly lifted, Bobbie-Jo saw that the grass was green below her, and there was a mirror lying down on the ground; she stopped to look at her reflection again.

Should I ask myself in the water
What an officer'd do?
Tell me, underneath my uniform
Am I loyal, brave, and true?
Am I loyal, brave and true?

Bobbie-Jo ran over the mirror, and then she saw the light growing bigger and bigger. Soon, all the fog was gone, and the light transformed into John Coffey's spirit.

Cold is the morning
Warm is the dream
Chasing the answers
'Til I can't sleep
Will I be stronger
Or will I be weak
When you're not with me?

John smiled down at Bobbie-Jo and gently stroked his fingers through her hair before he burst into several fireflies; then, all the fireflies flew away into the sky. Bobbie-Jo watched with amazement as she looked up at the sky and finished singing:

Who am I without my uniform
Standing in my father's shoes?
All I know is that it's harder
To be loyal, brave, and true.

In reality, Bobbie-Jo opened her eyes, turned over, and stared at the full moon outside her window. Fireflies danced in the sky outside, and the old woman thought to herself, I have always been loyal, brave, and true. I just hope I'm not alone.

THE END

Author's Note: I borrowed some elements from Titanic ((c) James Cameron), and the song "Loyal, Brave, True" ((c) Disney)