- Gloria: Listen... Opal... you cannot hold onto anything that wants to go. Do you understand what I'm sayin'? You just got to love it while you got it, and that's that.
- Opal: [narrating] I swept the floor real slow that day. I wanted to keep Otis company. I didn't want him to be lonely. Sometimes it seemed to me like everybody in the whole world was lonely.
- Sweetie Pie Thomas: [she sucks on a lozenge, then spits it out] Yuck. That tastes bad. That tastes like not having a dog.
- Opal: I wondered if my mama - wherever she was - was lonely for me. Thinking about her was the same as the hole you keep feeling with your tongue after you lose a tooth. Time after time, my mind kept on going to that empty spot. The spot where I felt like she should be.
- Policeman: [to a goat head-butting the police car] You are in violation of ordinance 29, the ramming with horny head of a police vehicle!
- [first lines]
- Opal: Safe!
- [she hears a church bell and rushes to get to church on her bike]
- Opal: [narrating] In the beginning, when we moved to Naomi, it was just the preacher and me. Only sometimes - most of the time, really - it seemed like it was me alone. And then, one morning, the preacher sent me to the store for a box of macaroni and cheese, some white rice and two tomatoes. And after that, everything changed. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's a good story. Let me tell it right.
- Otis: [sucking on a lozenge] Tastes like music. Reminds me of... being in jail.
- Opal: Otis... what were you in jail for?
- [he grunts uncomfortably]
- Opal: You don't have to tell me. I was just wondering.
- Otis: I never hurt anybody. Never meant to. But I've been locked up. I remember the day very well. I was sitting in a park playing a little music. And there were people walking their dogs and children were laughing. It was a perfect day so I felt like playing music. I put my... I put my hat out there... but I wasn't really playing for money I just thought that if maybe someone was enjoying it then they'd throw a little change in there... not much but just...
- Opal: Well music is better if somebody's listening.
- Otis: Anyways... this police man came up to me... he said I was disturbing the peace and then he tried to take my guitar away from me and I guess I got real angry at him. But I'm not a bad man. I'm just not
- [sung]
- Otis: a lucky man.
- [spoken]
- Otis: Anyway they told me that I broke that policeman's nose, and they charged me with assault on a police officer, and no matter what I said they wouldn't listen... no matter what I said they wouldn't... they gave me three years... I said I'm not a bad man I'm just not
- [sung]
- Otis: a lucky man.
- [spoken]
- Otis: but you, when I, when I look at you
- [sung]
- Otis: you are like a butterfly... a caterpillar's dream to fly. You bust out of this old cocoon and dry your wings off. Butterfly... go ahead and fly.
- Preacher: [Trying to control his temper after seeing the mess Winn-Dixie has made of the trailer where he and Opal live] God... bless it!
- [last lines]
- Opal: My heart doesn't feel so empty anymore. It's full... all the way up. I've got Winn-Dixie. I've got Gloria Dump, and Miss Franny Block, and Otis, and even the Dewberry boys. And I also have the preacher back as my daddy. It was a good story, right? And it's all because of... well, you know.
- Miss Franny: Now, one hot Thursday, way back then, I was sittin' here in the library, and all the doors and windows were wide open. And I had my nose in a book until I noticed a very peculiar smell. A very strong smell. And I raised my eyes up slowly and standing right in front of me was a bear.
- [flashback shows a bear roaring]
- Miss Franny: A very large bear.
- Opal: How large was it?
- Miss Franny: At least four times the size of your dog.
- Opal: That big? Wow. Then what happened?
- Miss Franny: I very slowly
- [grabs a book]
- Miss Franny: and very carefully raised up the book I was reading.
- Opal: What book was that?
- Miss Franny: War and Peace. And I carefully aimed it, and I threw it right at him! Be gone!
- [the book was thrown towards the bear. Winn-Dixie barks]
- Miss Franny: [she laughs] Good dog. Thank you.
- [Winn-Dixie barks happily]
- Miss Franny: And do you know what?
- Opal: No, ma'am. What?
- Miss Franny: This is why I will never forget. He took the book with him.
- Opal: Nuh uh.
- Miss Franny: Yes, ma'am, he snatched it up and ran off.
- [the bear grabs the book and leaves the library]
- Opal: Did he ever come back?
- Miss Franny: No. I never saw him again. Well, the men in town, they used to tease me about it. They used to say "Miss Franny, we saw that bear of yours out in the woods today." "He was reading War and Peace and said it sure was good, and he'd like to check it out again."
- [the bear was raising his left paw while reading War and Peace]
- Miss Franny: Ah, I imagine I'm the only one who even recalls that bear.
- Opal: You know, Winn-Dixie, if my mama were around, I bet she'd let me keep you. Ever since we moved here, I've been thinking about my mama extra hard.
- Preacher: Opal, I hope that dog's not in your bed.
- Opal: [to the preacher] Yes, sir. I-I mean, no, sir, he's not.
- [back to Winn-Dixie]
- Opal: I really don't know where she is. She left when I was only three years old. I can't hardly remember her.
- Preacher: And make sure you got your window shut tight. Don't want that rain gettin' in.
- Opal: [to the preacher] Okay.
- [back to Winn-Dixie]
- Opal: The preacher? It's no use. He won't talk to me at all about her. I bet you don't remember your mama much, either. So we're really alike, you and me. Think I should make the preacher tell me about her? Mm, I'll think about it.
- Preacher: You're supposed to be in bed.
- Opal: [narrating] The preacher took a loan out from church and paid off our rent, but he had to promise Mr. Alfred that he would find Winn-Dixie a home before the end of summer. I would have promised anybody anything. I was just so happy to have Winn-Dixie with me. And I was happy to have a job at Gertrude's pets.
- Mr. Alfred: I made an exception for the kid. But there is no exception for that mongrel. You see that sign on the front of my trailer? Does anybody read my signs?
- Preacher: We're-we're not keeping him. We're trying to find him a good home.
- Mr. Alfred: Well, hurry it up or I'm calling the pound.
- Sweetie Pie Thomas: [amazed at the fact Otis calmed the animals down] I'm gonna go tell my ma about what I seen. That man's magic. He's a magic man. Bye, Magic Man. Bye, Opal.
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