Josiah Elliott
Ms. Pierceall
Mod. Lit. 1
15 April 2011
I Am the Messenger Summary
Part One: The First Message
Chapters A-7
The book begins with a bank robbery. Ed Kennedy, the protagonist, and Marv, his very
stingy friend, are in the bank at the time. Neither of them take the gunman seriously, Ed just
wishes he would hurry up, and Marv just wants to get out of the bank so that he can move his car
and avoid a parking ticket. The gunman, realizing that his original getaway car is missing,
demands Marv’s keys. Running to Marv’s car, he drops his gun, and due to the general poor
quality of Marv’s car, cannot manage to start it. Ed, for some reason that not even he
understands, runs out, grabs the gun, and pins the gunman in the car until the police arrive. He
also takes a couple shots at the car, and breaks a window. Afterwards, the police question Marv
and Ed. Marv claims that he cannot buy a new car because he has other priorities, and refuses
Ed’s offer to replace his window. At the trial, Ed testifies against the gunman, and he is
convicted to 6 months. Before Ed is able to leave though, the gunman tells him that “every time
[Ed looks] in the mirror, [he should] remember [he is] looking at a dead man.”
Ed plays cards. He drives cabs. He has no real respect for himself. He wishes he could be
something greater, feels that he has any now way to accomplish this. He lives with his dog in a
house that is owned by his boss (founder and director of Vacant Taxis). He comes from one of
the less developed sections of town, with practically worthless parents. After graduating from
high school, he went straight into the work force, having not applied himself enough to get into
university. His mother still lives in the house where Ed grew up, and has developed a strong
swearing habit and a bit of a tempter. Ed’s father died about six months ago and passed on his
dog, the Doorman, to him. The Dog smells like death. Ed is a normal looking guy, but he is
totally in love with his good friend, Audrey. Audrey, a fellow cab driver, plays cards with Ed,
Marv, and their other friend, Ritchie, a couple times a week.
It is at this point that Ed first receives his first playing card, the Ace of Diamonds. The
card has three addresses written on it: 45 Edgar Street, midnight; 13 Harrison Avenue, 6pm; 6
Macedoni Street, 5:30am. For some reason, Ed decides to go to the three addresses to see what is
happening. He is convinced, even before visiting the locations, that he has to do something about
whatever is going on there. The first, 45 Edgar Street, is a rundown house in a rundown
neighborhood. Every night, a man walks home, drunk, and rapes his wife. Every night, their
daughter comes out of the house, sits on the front porch, and cries. An old woman lives alone in
the second. When Ed goes up and knocks on the door, she identifies him as “Jimmy” who has
finally come back. Ed finds out that “Jimmy” is Milla Johnson’s husband, who died in World
War II. Ed brings her a cake, and reads to her out of Wuthering Heights, and she is happy.
Chapters 8-K
The third house, 6 Macedoni Street, is in one of the nicer areas of town, in the “Hills.”
Every day at 5:30, rain or shine, a girl comes out of the house barefoot and goes runs for several
miles. A couple weeks after Ed first sees her, he goes to one of her track meets and sees her run
there. When he sees her there, he knows that when she runs with shoes on, she neither performs
nor feels as well as she does barefoot. So, Ed gets a shoebox, takes it to Sophie’s house, and
gives it to her father, claiming that he had a package for her. Her father takes it, confused,
because the box is empty. Sophie understands, and runs barefoot in her next meet. She still loses,
but she looks and feels better about the race. Now Ed has to deal with Edgar Street, which he has
been avoiding. Ed has an encounter at the house with the daughter, who asks if Ed is going to
save them. He says that he is. Later that night, when Ed is in bed, he receives a phone call telling
him to check his mailbox. In it is a gun. The next day, Ed borrows a cab from work, pulls out of
a game of cards with Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey, and heads over to Edgar Street with a gun and
doped vodka. He fines the rapist coming out of a pub, and offers him a free ride home. In the
cab, he offers the drunkard vodka, which he greedily absorbs. After a couple minutes, he is out
and Ed is driving out of town. They arrive at their destination, a place about an hour outside of
town called the Cathedral. Ed beats him into consciousness and walks him over to the edge of a
ravine. The man falls asleep, and Ed waits for a few hours, from 1:30a until dawn. At dawn, Ed
wakes him up and calls him out for what he has done. The man promises to stop, but that is not
good enough for Ed. The man is completely scared out of his mind. Ed carefully takes aim and
fires.
Part Two: The Stones of Home
Chapters A-6
Ed shot at the sun.
Ed agrees to play in the “Annual Sledge Game,” a big game of barefoot soccer played
every year. Ed, Marv, and Ritchie have all played the last few years, because Marv wants it to be
a tradition. Ed runs into Sophie at an ice cream shop, and they talk for a few minutes. One night
Ed returns from a card game to find two men sitting in his kitchen wearing balaclavas and eating
meat pies from Ed’s freezer. They beat him up a bit, talk a bit, and leave him an envelope with a
letter and his next ace, clubs. The letter applauds him for his work on the first ace, especially on
Edgar Street. The ace simply reads, “say a prayer at the stones of home.” Ed is in bad shape, and
sleeps for a while. Ed talks to Audrey about the ace, but neither she nor anyone else has any idea
what the stones of home are. About a week later, Ed is still clueless about the stones of home. He
picks up a young man, who demands that he be driven home. When asked where home is, he
replies, “where you live.” When they get near his house, the man gives him further instructions,
and they drive towards the river. The man jumps out of the cab and starts running, and Ed jumps
out after him. Ed cannot catch him, and collapses after about a kilometer. Ed looks up, and sees
rocks: the stones of home. On them are written three names: Thomas O’Reilly, Angie Carusso,
and Gavin Rose.
Chapters 7-K
There are two T. O’Reilly’s in town, and, on an unlucky guess, Ed visits the wrong one,
Tony, Thomas’s brother, first. Tony lives in the better part of town, and Thomas is in the
slummy area. Ed has a phone conversation with his brother in which he asks him if he is the one
sending him the cards, because Ed thinks that Tommy is the only one that knows that he has
been to the “stones of home” before. Ed heads over towards Thomas O’Reilly’s places, but is
held up by some bums, so he decides to come back later. Thomas O’Reilly is a priest, who lives
in the middle of one of the worst parts of town. His house is a wreck, but he seems not to mind.
The father and Ed strike up an excellent conversation and the father tells the bums to leave Ed
alone if he comes by again. The next Sunday, Ritchie, Audrey, and Marv agree to attend the
church with Ed. They are not usually church-attending folk, but go, even just for a laugh. The
four go, and make up an entire fourth of the congregation that morning. Afterwards, Ed decides
that he knows what he has to do for Father O’Reilly: he has to fill up his church. One day as he is
driving around, Ed is inspired by one of his passengers. He realizes that the best way to attract a
crowd, the one thing that will draw hundreds of people to some place without doubt is beer. Free
beer. Ed offers to put $500 into the effort. Marv and Ed spray paint some signs on the ends of
Main Street, and, come Sunday, the church is absolutely packed for the service. Ed invited
Sophie, Milla, and Tony O’Reilly, and they all come. The party afterwards is a complete success.
Thomas and Tony O’Reilly get together and talk, which is good, since it has been a while since
they have seen each other. That night, after the party, Father O’Reilly shows up and Edi’s house
to thank him, though he is unable to speak out of pure joy for what happened that day. Then the
police show up with some scrub brushes for the road.
Ed finds Angie Carusso, and is pleased to find that this “mission” is easier (and cheaper
than the last one). Every Thursday, after Angie is paid, she takes her three kids to the park and
buys them ice cream. He also finds Gavin Rose, who is a shoplifter, smoker, and generally just a
bad kid. Every once in a while, his brother, Daniel, beats him. For Angie, Ed buys her an ice
cream cone, and she is happy. For Gavin, Ed chooses a different route. When Gavin comes out
of the house after being beaten by his brother, Ed comes over, grabs him by the collar, and beats
the living daylights out of him. Then he calls Gavin’s house and lets his brother know where he
is, and then hangs up. He goes over to see Daniel helping Gavin back into the house. Ed goes
back to the stones of home, and, when he gets there, sees that he is not as done as he thought he
was. The first two names have checks next to them. Gavin’s does not. Soon after, Gavin, Daniel,
a few other kids find Ed somewhere and beat the living daylights out of him. Now, Gavin’s part
is done.
Part Three: Trying Times for Ed Kennedy
Chapters A-7
Ed is waiting for the next ace, anxious. He wants it to come quickly, he just wants to get
the card, get the addresses, show up, and get it done. Nevertheless, he knows better. Today is the
day of the Annual Sledge Game, and Marv, stingy as he is, takes Ed out to breakfast, admitting
that if Ed were not playing, he would not be doing so. Ed gets to the game, and, is strangely not
too overly concerned to see that the player he is marking weighs over 150 kilos. Ed is not a big
guy, so this may be a challenge for him. Ed gives the Doorman into the careful watch of a small
child named Jay. For the first part of the game, everything is about even, both sides scoring some
and everyone getting slightly injured and throwing swears around like ping pong balls. During an
injury break in the second half, Ed decides that he needs to end his getting pounded by his mark
every time one of them gets the ball. Soon after, Ed somehow manages to clobber the guy, with
people wondering if his mark is even still alive.
The Doorman is gone. No one knows where he ran off to. Eventually, Ed finds him, and
the kid. The kid is being handed something by a woman, who soon after turns tail and runs. Ed
loses her in the crowd, and heads back over to the Doorman. The kid, Jay, does not intend to give
Ed the card or the dog, for that manner. Ed eventually has to pay him $20 for both. It ends up
being the ace of spades, as if in spite of Ed’s guess that the suit would be hearts. Ed makes a
brief appearance at the victory party for his team. There are three names on the card: Graham
Greene, Morris West, and Sylvia Plath. One morning when Ed and Audrey are hanging out, he
does one of the most foolish things he could have done: he kisses Audrey. She takes it well, and
he lives with the fact that she simply does not want to be in that kind of a relationship with him.
Through a dream, Ed determines that these are the names of authors, and goes to the library. He
checks out all of the books by the three authors, and begins to read. Ed finds a napkin on his
floor by the front door, which reads “don’t worry, it’s simpler than you think.” Somewhat
heartened by this note, Ed goes realizes that the secret is in the book titles, not in the actual text
of the book. He finds three roads that match up to book titles: Glory Road, Clown Street, and
Bell Street. Reading the books, he finds the symbol for spades on pages 114, 23, and 39,
respectively. This means that he must go to 114 Glory Road, 23 Clown Street, and 39 Bell Street.
On Glory Road, he finds a large Polynesian family, and they are very nice. They invite him into
the house and to dinner, which he cordially accepts. He learns from one of the children that they
are going to put up the Christmas lights soon. Ed, going back a couple of days later, sees the
pathetic excuse for the lights. Less than half of them even light up. Ed fulfills his mission by
buying them a new set of lights. Everyone in the family is overjoyed, and very thankful.
Chapters 8-K
The second address is a restaurant. Ed stakes it out for a few nights. He and Audrey patch
up their friendship. Then the same guy who ran from Ed’s cab shows up to give Ed a new piece
of information: be at the restaurant at 8p the next night. So, Ed obliges, choosing a dark booth in
the back. He is in utter shock when Beverly Anne Kennedy, his mother, walks in and sits down
at a table with a man Ed has never seen before. Later, Ed confronts his mother at her house. He
asks her why she hates him so much, and she tells him that he reminds her of his father, and that
it takes a lot of love to hate him like that. Ed figures out that his mom was cheating on his father,
back when he was still alive, and she tells him that she just wants him to accomplish something
with his life. Ed calls her later to see if she is OK, and she is, and they will be OK. The Bell
Street address is an old, rundown theater showing Casablanca and Some Like It Hot. Ed decides
to see Casablanca. Halfway through the movie, it cuts out, and Ed goes back to the booth to find
the owner sleeping, having forgotten to changer reels. Ed introduces himself, and the man says
that he knows, because (as Ed finds out through interrogation) Daryl and Keith had been to see
him. The owner insists that Ed come back for a free movie because of his error, and invites him
to bring his girlfriend along, if he has one. Ed brings Audrey the next day for a showing of Cool
Hand Luke, and they invite the owner, Bernie, to watch with them. He argues for a bit, and then
agrees. He falls asleep again, and so he is unable to change the reel until he is woken. He runs up
to the projection room, but there is already someone there. Ernie sees that there is a reel that does
not belong to him in the room. They finish their movie, and then watch the new reel. It is a video
of Ed going about various things. Getting beaten up by the Rose boys. The Polynesian family
with the lights. And Ed confronting his mother. At the end, Ed finds the Ace of hearts.
Part Four: The Music of Hearts
Chapters A-9
On the ace of hearts are written three things: The Suitcase, Cat Ballau, and Roman
Holiday. Ed is quite confident that they are movie titles, but delays going and talking to Bernie
(who knows quite a bit about movies) for a couple days. Ed makes Christmas cards out of
playing cards and gives one to each of the people that he has “messaged.” Ed throws a Christmas
party, which was supposed to be at Marv’s place. Marv, being stingy, did not want to have it at
his place, so Ed told him that he would throw it at his place if Marv will kiss the Doorman. Marv
agrees. He shows up as late as possible to the party, and tries (unsuccessfully) to get out of the
kiss. Marv and Ritchie stay the night at Ed’s place. Audrey goes off to do something with her
boyfriend, Simon. The next day, Ed visit his family and sees his brother, sisters, and their
children. He has to leave soon afterwards because he promised that he would spend part of the
day with Milla. He goes over there and takes her back to his place (she is 82, remember). She
gives him a casual black suit and a blue shirt, which Ed wears for the remainder of the night.
Milla does not even remember giving Ed the suit when she sees him in it. Finally, Ed goes back
and talks to Bernie, who is able to point him in the right direction on all three movies. The clues
fall into members of the casts or crews. Pablo Sanchez, Lee Marvin, and Audrey Hepburn. Ed
now knows who his next messages are meant for (Sanchez is Ritchie’s last name). Ritchie is
first. Ritchie is just about the laziest person on earth. Ed, realizing this, confronts Ritchie after a
game of cards one night and discovers that Ritchie’s deepest desire is to…want. Ritchie really
has no desires. After talking to Ed, Ritchie decides to go out and try to find a job. It is a bit
harder for Ed to decide what Marv wants. Marv has saved almost $50,000, but refuses to spend
any money. In order to find out what it is Marv needs, Ed asks to borrow money, and throws a
bit of a fit. Marv caves, and reveals to him that his old girlfriend, Suzanne Boyd, who left town
three years ago, was pregnant with his child when she left. Marv has been saving up money to
give to his child for three years now, and has (quite impressively for someone working in
construction) saved $50,000. Marv has never even seen his child, does not even know if it is a
boy or a girl. Ed offers to go with him, and they decide to go the next day. Marv is extremely
anxious about going. When they get there, it takes him 45 minutes to get out of the car, and at
least 10 to make it to the door. Once he gets there, it takes him another few minutes to knock.
Then he gets the living daylights beaten out of him by Mr. Boyd. Ed confronts Mr. Boyd, asking
him if his grandchild is a beautiful kid. Mr. Boyd breaks a little, on the inside, and, though he
still demands that Ed and Marv leave, it is more because of sorrow now than anger. About a
week later, Ed gets a call at work from Suzanne Boyd, requesting that he come pick her up. As
he is a taxi driver, he naturally complies. Suzanne, Ed, and Marv’s daughter, Melinda, drive back
to where Ed and Marv live. Marv meets his daughter for the first time, and is insanely happy.
Chapters 10-K
Ed has delivered his messages to Ritchie and Marv. Now only Audrey is left. For Audrey,
Ed feels that the message she needs it to love. He knows he loves her, and is confident that she
loves him. However, he knows that she is not willing to love. So, he gets a CD player and takes it
over to her place. Sometime after Simon has left in the morning, he goes up and knocks on her
door. With only a couple of words, he plays a song and dances with her for three minutes, and
they both feel the love they have for each other. Ed goes home afterwards, feeling extremely
successful: he has delivered 12 messages; completed four aces. But, when he hears a latch open
and shut from outside, all of his happiness and contentment vanishes. He walks outside, knowing
that something is awry. In his letterbox is another envelope. In the envelope is another playing
card. On the card is another address. 26 Shipping Street. Ed’s address.
Part Five: The Joker
Ed is very disgruntled he does not know what he is supposed to do now. He supposes that
he is supposed to wait for something to happen, but he is not sure what. After a long while,
something happens. A man knocks on his door, and gives him an envelope. In the envelope is a
note: “Dear Ed, The end is near. I think you’d best be getting to the cemetery.” On this day, it
has been 364 days since Ed’s father died. Because of this, and the mention of the cemetery, he is
convinced that his father is behind all of this, that he organized all of this before he died. Ed
sprints to the cemetery and finds to men standing over his father’s grave. The same two men that
stole his pies, Daryl and Keith. They reveal that they have been sent to been help him avoid
dying in the town, this pathetic town where he will never really aspire to be anything. But, they
were not sent by his father.
A few days later, Ed is waved down by a man, who turns out to be the gunman from the
bank robbery. He is told to drive to all 13 addresses, in order. He does so. Back at Ed’s house,
they get out of the car and the gunman pulls out a mirror. He shows it to Ed and Ed looks in it.
The gunman asks him if he is looking at a dead man. Ed replies that he is not. When Ed goes
inside, he meets the mastermind behind all this. He never learns his name, but he does learn that
everything that has happened to Ed since his father died has been planned and plotted out by this
man. The man says that he believes that since Ed was able to do all these things that a year ago
he would have said were impossible, then maybe anyone can do impossible things, maybe even
he (the man) could do impossible things. Ed is given a folder than contains all the information
about his life for the past year, even the conversation that is going on right now. Ed asks if he
(Ed) is real, and the man points him to one of the last things in the folder, a note that says “Of
course you’re real—like any thought or any story. It’s real when you’re in it.” The man then
leaves. Ed is frustrated, because he is unsure of what to do now.
Audrey shows up at Ed’s door and asks if she can stay for good. Ed naturally replies that
she can. They are happy. Ed concludes that he is not the messenger but rather, he is the message.