"Hello. My name's Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate? I could eat about a million and a half of these. My momma  always said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never  know what you're gonna get." …

Momma always says there's an awful lot you could tell about a person by their shoes. Where they're going. Where they've been.  I've worn lots of shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard I could remember my first pair of shoes. Momma said they'd take my anywhere. When I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest... She said we was related to him in some way. And, what he did was, he started up this club called the  Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their  bed sheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bed sheets on their horses and  ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name. Forrest Gump.  Momma said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.  Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.  We lived about a quarter mile of Route 17,  about a half mile from the town of Greenbow, Alabama.  That's in the county of Greenbow. Our house had been in  Momma's family since her grandpa's grandpa's grandpa had come across the ocean about a thousand years ago. Something like that... Since it was just me and Momma and we had all   these empty rooms, Momma decided to let those rooms out. Mostly to people passing through. Like from, oh, Mobile, Montgomery, place like that. That's how me and Mommy got  money. Mommy was a real smart lady.  She wanted me to have the finest education,  so she took me to the Greenbow County Central School. I met the principal and all...  

Our house was never empty. There was always folks comin' and goin'. Sometimes we had so many people stayin' with us that every room was filled with travelers. You know, folks livin' out of their suitcases, and hat cases, and  sample cases.  One time a young man was staying with us, and he had him a guitar case. I liked that guitar. It sounded good. I started moving around to the music, swinging my hips. This one night we and Momma... was out shoppin', and we walked right by Benson's Furniture and Appliance store, and guess what, some years later, that handsome young man who they called "The King," well, he sung too many songs, had himself a heart attack or something. Must be hard being a king. You know, it's funny how you  remember some things, but some things you can't. I remember the bus ride on the first day of  school very well… 

You know, it's funny what a young man recollects. 'Cause I don't remember being born. I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and  I don't know when I went on my first out door picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetiest voice... in the wide world. “You can sit here if you want.” I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel. I just sat next to her on that bus and had conversation all the way to school. And next to Momma, no one ever talked to me or asked me questions. From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots. She taught me how to climb... I showed her how to dangle. She helped me to learn how to read. And I showed her to swing. Sometimes we'd just sit out and wait for the stars. For some reason, Jenny didn't never want to  go home. She was my most special friend.  My only friend. My Momma always told me that miracles happen every day. Some people don't think so, but they do.You wouldn't believe it if I told you. But I can run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running! 

Now remember how I told you that Jenny never seemed to want to go home? Well, she lived in a house that was as old as Alabama. Her Momma had gone up to heaven  when she was five and her daddy was some kind of a farmer.  He was a very loving' man. He was always  kissing and touching' her and her sisters. And then this  one time, Jenny wasn't on the bus to go to school.  Momma always said that God is mysterious.  He didn't turn Jenny into a bird that day. 

Instead ... he had the police say Jenny didn't have to stay in that house no more. She went to live with her grandma just over on Creekmore Avenue, which made me happy 'cause she was so close.  Some nights, Jenny'd sneak out and come over  to my house, just 'cause she said she was scared. Scared  of what, I don't know...but I think it was her grandma's dog. He  was a mean dog. Anyway, Jenny and me was best friends...all the way to high school.  Now, it used to be, I ran to get where I was goin'. I never thought it would take me anywhere.  And can you believe it? I got to go to college, too. 

Maybe it was just me but college was very confusing times. College ran by real fast 'cause I played so  much football. They even put me on a thing called the  All-America Team where you get to meet the President of  the United States. President Kennedy met with the Collegiate  All-American Football Team at the Oval Office today. The real good thing about meeting the President of the United States is the food.  They put you in this little room with just  about anything you'd want to eat or drink. And since  number one, I wasn't hungry, but thirsty... and number two, they was free, I musta drank me about fifteen Dr. Peppers.  Sometime later, for no particular reason, somebody shot that nice young President when he was riding'  in his car. And a few years after that... somebody shot his little brother, too, only he was in a hotel kitchen.  It must be hard being brothers. I wouldn't know. Now can you believe it? After only five years of playing football, I got a college degree. Congratulations, son! Have you given any thought to your Recruiter  future?  Thought?  Hello, I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump. Nobody gives a bunk of shit who you are, fuzzball! You're  not even a low-life scum sucking maggot! Get your faggoty  ass on the bus. You're in the Army now! “

At first, it seemed like I made a mistake. ... seeing how it was my induction day and I was already gettin' yelled at.  I didn't know who I might meet or what they  might ask.

“People call me Bubba... My name's Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump.”  So Bubba was from Bayou La Batre, Alabama,  and his momma cooked shrimp. And her momma before her cooked shrimp. And her momma before her momma cooked shrimp, too. Bubba's family knew everything... there was to know about the shrimpin' business.

 For some reason, I fit in the Army like one of them round pegs. It's not really hard. You just make your bed real neat and remember to stand up straight." Private Gump!. You are gonna be a General some day, Gump!"        

Nighttime in the Army is a lovely time. We'd lay there in our bunks, and I'd miss my momma. And I'd miss Jenny.  Turns out, Jenny had gotten into some trouble  over... some photos of her in her college sweater. And she  was thrown out of school.  But that wasn't a bad thing. Because a man  who owns a theater in Memphis, Tennessee, saw those photo and offered Jenny a job singing in a show. The first chance I got, I took the bus up to Memphis to see her  perform in that show.  Her dream had come true. She was a folk  singer.  And just like that...   

"They told us that Vietnam was gonna be  very different from the United Sates of America.  Except for all the beer cans and the  barbecue, it was. You know, after we  win this war, and we take over everything we can get  American shrimpers to come on here and shrimp these  waters. We'll just shrimp all the time, man. So much shrimp, why, you wouldn't believe it.” 

I felt real lucky Lt. Dan was my lieutenant. He was from a long, great military tradition. Somebody in his family had fought and died in every single American war. A distant relative of Lt. Dan's, wearing a revolutionary war uniform,  falls dead in the snow.  Another relative, wearing a civil war uniform and bearing a striking  resemblance to Lt. Dan, falls down dead.  Another relative, wearing a World War II, falls down dead on the beach at  Normandy. I guess you could say he had a lot to live up  to.  I got to see a lot of countryside. We would  take these real long walks.  It wasn't always fun. Lt. Dan always gettin'  these funny feelings about a rock or a trail, or the road,  so he'd tell u to get down, shut up! So we did. I don't know much about anything, but I think some of American's best young men served in this war. There was Dallas, from Phoenix. Cleveland, he was  Detroit. And Tex was, well, I don't remember where Tex come from. The good thing about Vietnam is there was always someplace to go. And there was always something to do. One day it started raining, and it didn't  quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain.  Rain that flew in sideways.  And sometimes rain even seemed to come  staright up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night. I even wrote Jenny and told her all about it. I sent her letters. Not every day, but almost. I told her  what I was doin' and asked her what she was doing, and I  told her how I thought about her always. And how I was looking forward to getting a letter from her just as soon as she had the time I'd always let her know that I was okay. Then I'd sign each letter, "Love, Forrest  Gump."  This one day, we was out walking, like always, and then, just like that, somebody turned off the  rain and the sun come out.  I ran and ran, just like Jenny told me to.  I ran so far and so fast that pretty soon I was all by myself, which was a bad thing. Bubba was my best good friend. I had to make sure he was okay. And on my way back to find Bubba, well, there  was this boy laying on the ground. I couldn't just let him lay there all alone, scared the way he was, so I grabbed him up and run him out of there. And every time I went back looking for Bubba, somebody else was saying, "Help me, Forrest. Help me."  I started to get scared that I might never  find Bubba. I gotta find Bubba! “ I'm okay, Forrest. I'm all right…”  If I'd a known this was gonna be the last time me and Bubba was gonna talk, I'd a thought of something better to say.  Then Bubba said something I won't even  forget. ‘I wanna go home.’ Bubba was my best good friend. And even I know that ain't something you can find just around the corner. Bubba was gonna be a shrimpin' boat captain, but instead he died right there by that river in Vietnam. That's all I have to say about that. 

 It was a bullet that jumped up and bit  me directly in the buttocks. They said it was a million-dollar wound, but the Army must keep that  money, 'cause I still ain't seen a nickel of that million dollars. The only good thing about being wounded in the  buttocks...is the ice cream. They gave me all the ice cream I could eat.

For some reason, ping pong came very natural  to me. So I started playing it all the time. I played ping-pong even when I didn't have anyone to play ping-pong with. The hospital's people said it made me look  like a duck in water, whatever that means. Even Lieutenant Dan would come and watch me play.  

I played ping-pong so much, I even played it in my sleep.  Two weeks later, I left Vietnam. After that, Momma went to the hotel to lay  down, so I went out for a walk to see our national capital. It's a good thing Momma was resting, 'cause the street was awful crowded with people looking at all  the statues and monuments. And some of them people were loud and pushy. Everywhere I went, I had to stand in line.  There was this man, giving a little talk. And for some reason, he was wearing an American flag for a  shirt...  and he liked to say the "F" word. A lot.  "F" this and "F" that. And every time... he said "F" word, people, for some  reason, well, they'd cheer. That's it. 

Jenny…It was the happiest moment of my life. Jenny and me were just peas and carrots again. She showed me around, and even introduced me... to some of her new friends.  We waled around all night, Jenny and me, just talkin'. She told me about all the travellin' she's done. And how she'd discovered ways to expand her mind and learn how to live in harmony... which must be out west somewhere, 'cause she made it all the way to California.  I was a very special night for the two of us. I didn't want it to end. And just like that, she was gone out of my life again. I thought I was going back to Vietnam, but   instead, they decided the best way for me to fight communists was to play ping-pong. So I was in the Special   Services, traveling around the country cheering up all   them wounded veterans and showing them how to play... the Army decided I should be on the All-American Ping-Pong Team. We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in like a million years or something like that, and somebody said that world peace  was in our hands. But all I did was play ping-pong. When I  got home...  I was national celebrity.  

Lieutenant Dan was living in a hotel. And because he didn't have no legs, he spent most of his time exercising his arms. I stayed with Lieutenant Dan and celebrated  the holidays.   

“I gotta buy me one of them shrimpin' boats as soon as I have some money. I make me a promise to Bubba in Vietnam, that as soon as the war was over, we'd go in partners. He'd be the captain of the shrimpin' boat and I'd be his first mate. But now that he's dead, that means that I gotta be the captain. A shrimp boat captain.”       

A  few months later they invited me and the ping-pong team to visit the White House. So I went again. And I met the President of the United States again...

My service in the United  States Army was over. So I went home. When I got home, I had no idea that  Momma had had all sorts of visitors.  That Momma, she sure was right. It's funny how things work out. I didn't stay home for long, because I'd made a promise to Bubba. And I always try to keep my promise. So I went on down to Bayou La Batre to meet Bubba's family and make their introduction. And of course, I paid my respect to Bubba himself.' Hey, Bubba, it's me, Forrest Gump. I remember everything  you said, and I got it all figured out.  I'm taking the twenty-four thousand, five hundred and six-two dollars and forty-seven cents that I got... well, that's left after a new hair cut and a new suit and I took Momma out to real fancy dinner and I bought a bus ticket and three Doctor Peppers.  So,  I'm putting all that on gas, ropes and new nets and a   brand-new shrimpin' boat...

Bubba had told me everything he knows  about shrimpin', but you know what I found out? Shrimpin' is tough.  I'd never named a boat before, but there was  only one I could think of. Jenny…  The most beautiful name in the wide world.  hadn't heard from Jenny in a long  while. But... I thought about her a lot. And I hoped  that whatever she was doing made her happy.  I thought about Jenny all the time.

So I went to church every Sunday... Sometimes Lieutenant Dan came, too. Though I   think he left the praying up to me. It's funny Lieutenant Dan said that, 'cause  right then, God showed up.  Now me, I was scared. But Lieutenant Dan, he was mad. After that, shrimpin' was easy. And since people still needed them shrimps  for shrimp cocktails and barbecues and all... and we were the only boat left standing "Bubba-Gump" shrimp's what they got. We got a whole bunch of boats.  Twelve Jenny's, a big ol' warehouse, we even have hats   that says "Bubba-Gump" on 'em. "Bubba-Gump Shrimp." It's a household name.          

“ What's the matter, Momma?”

“I'm dyin', Forrest. Come on in, sit down over here.”

“ Why are you dyin', Momma?”

“ It's my time. It's just my time. Oh, now, don't you be  afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. It's  something we're all destined to do. I didn't know it, but  I was destined to be your momma. I did the best I could.”

“You did good, Momma.”

“ Well, I happened to believe you make your own destiny. You   have to do the best with what God gave you.”

“ What's my destiny, Momma?”

“ You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is  a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're  gonna get.”

Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them. She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that's all I have to say about that.      

Now, because I had been a football star, and a war hero, and a national celebrity, and a shrimpin' boat captain, and a college graduate, the city of fathers of Greenbow, Alabama, decided to get together and offered me a fine  job. So, I never went back to work for Lieutenant  Dan. Though he did take care of my Bubba-Gump money. He got me invested in some kind of fruit company.  And so then I got a call from him saying we don't have to worry about money no more.  And I said, "That's good. One less thing." Now, Momma said there's only so much fortune a man really needs... and the rest is just for showing off. So, I gave a whole bunch of it to the Four Square Gospel Church. And I gave a whole bunch to the Bayou La Batre Fishing Hospital. And even though Bubba was dead, and Lieutenant Dan said I was nuts. I gave Bubba's mommy Bubba's share. And you know what... She didn't have to work in nobody's kitchen no more. And 'cause I was godzillionaire and I liked doing it so much. I cut that grass for free. 

But at nighttime, when there was nothing to do and the house was all empty, I'd always think of Jenny. And then, she was there. Jenny came back and stayed with me. Maybe it was because she had nowhere else to  go. Or maybe it was because she was so tired, because she  went to bed and slept and slept like she hadn't slept in years. It was wonderful having her home. Every day we'd take a walk, and I'd jabber on  like a monkey in a tree. And she'd listen about ping-pong  and shrimpin' boat and Momma makin' a trip to heaven. I did all the talkin'. Jenny most of the time was real quiet. I never really knew why she came back, but I didn't care. It was like olden times. We was like peas and carrots again.  Every day I'd pick pretty flowers and put them in her room for her.  And she gave me the best gift anyone could  ever get in the wide world. New shoes. They make them just for running.And she even showed me how to dance. And,  well, we was like family... Jenny and me. And it was the happiest time of my life.      

That day, for no particular reason, I decided  to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road, and when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town.  And when I got there... I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great... state of Alabama. And that's what I did I    ran clear across Alabama.  For no particular reason, I just kept on going. I ran  clear to the ocean.  And when I got there, I figured since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on  going.   When I got to another ocean, I figured since I've gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep   right on going.  When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate.  I'd think a lot about Momma and Bubba, and  Lieutenant Dan, but most of all, I thought about Jenny. I  thought about her a lot.  Now, for some reason what I was doing seemed to make sense to people.”  I mean, it was like an alarm went off in my head, you   know. I said, here's a guy that's got his act together. Here's somebody who's got it, all figured out. Here's  somebody who has the answer. I'll follow you anywhere, Mr. Gump.”

So, I got company. And after that I got more company. And then...even more people joined in. Somebody later told me...  it gave people hope. Now... Now, I don't know anything  about that, but... Some of those people asked me if I could help  them out. And some years later I heard that fella did come up with a bumper sticker slogan... and he make a lot of money off of it. Another time I was running along, somebody who had lost all his money in the T-shirt business, and he wanted to put my face on a T-shirt, but he couldn't draw that well and he didn't have a camera. And some years later I found out that that man did come up with a idea for a T-shirt and he made a lot of money off of it. Anyway, like I was saying, I had a lot of company. My Momma always said you got to put the past   behind you before you can move on. And I think that's what my running was all about. I had run for three years, two  months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours.  And just like that, my running days was over. So, I went home to Alabama.

One day, out of the blue clear sky, I got a letter from Jenny...wondering if I could come down to Savannah to see her, and that's what I'm doing here. She saw me on TV, running, I'm supposed to go on the Number Nine bus to Richmond   Street and get off and go one block left to 1-9-4-7 Henry Street, Apartment 4…

“Hey, I kept, I kept a scrapbook of your, of your clippings and everything. There you are. This, I got your running. Listen, Forrest. I don't know how to say this. Um,I just... I want to apologize for anything that I ever did to you, 'cause I was messed up for a long time, and...

“Hello, Mr. Gump.”

“Hello.”

“His name is Forrest.”

“Like me.”

“I named him after his Daddy.”

“He got a daddy named Forrest, too?”

“You're his daddy, Forrest,” and “ I'm sick.I have some kind virus. And the doctors don't, they don't  know what it is. And there isn't anything they can do  about it.”

“I'll take care of you if you're sick.

“Would you marry me, Forrest?”      

“Okay” 

Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out. And then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou...there was over a million sparkles on the  water. Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny. It looks like there  were two skies, one on top of the other. And then in the  desert, when the sun comes up...I couldn't tell where heavens stopped and the earth began. It was so beautiful… You died on a Saturday morning…And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma... always said dyin' was a part of life.

Little Forrest...About to start school again soon. I make his  breakfast, lunch, and dinner... every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. Okay... He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He wrote a latter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is  happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there'sanything you need, I won't be far away…”