This chapter takes place in the text’s narrative present. Paul is at a nursing home called Georgia Pines. He reveals he is writing his recollections of the events that transpired in 1932, when John Coffey came to the prison. There is a worker at the home called Brad Dolan who reminds Paul of Percy Wetmore, due to his crass personality. Brad tells an offensive joke that implies that Paul has Alzheimer’s, referring to it as “AIDS for old people” (80). Paul insists he is just suffering the typical memory issues often associated with old age. He looks over what he has written about the events in 1932 so far, recapping Part One’s major plot points. 

Three days after Percy chases the mouse into the restraint room, the mouse comes back, much to everyone’s amusement but Percy’s. Upon seeing the mouse, prison guard Bill Dodge proceeds to feed the animal a piece of Ritz cracker. The mouse eats the bit of cracker the first time but does not eat the second time. Dean observes that it is because the mouse recognizes that Bill is a floater, someone who has spent less time in E block.