"This is a story about a man named Eddie... and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun." "You might think it strange... to start a story with an ending." "But all endings are also beginnings..." "We just don't know it at the time." "You lose this?" "I suppose I should come down there... and give it back to you, huh?" "That's what I thought." "You love this balloon?" "Then hold tight to it." " Thanks, Eddie Maintenance." " Just Eddie." "But your shirt says, 'Eddie Main-te-nance.'" "Well, Eddie is my name." "Maintenance is my job." "And this is just a shirt." "Well... go catch up with your father." "Years ago, people thought of Ruby Pier... as a magical and mysterious place." "Once, even Eddie felt that way." "What are we gonna fix today, pop?" "I don't know, Eddie." "Whatever's broke." "Where ya been?" "Hey, Gracie." "How's tricks?" "Okay." "Hiya, Eddie." "Watch the kid for me, will ya?" "Sure..." "How long you gonna be?" "Not long." "C'mon, Eddie." "You want to fix something for me?" "Is it fixed yet?" "It's good, Pop." "Where's your brother?" "I don't know." "Well, find him." "What is it with you two?" "He was supposed to be here by now." "What the hell happened to you?" "These guys..." "they took my jacket..." "What are you waitin' for?" "What are you waiting for?" "Take care of it!" "Hey, pretty sharp!" "Not again!" "Look at you!" "Look at ya... you're bleeding." "You get 'em, then?" "What are you talking about?" "Did you put him up to this?" "I asked you... did you get 'em?" "Good boy." "Honestly." "This fighting has to stop!" "You wanna grow up to be an engineer?" "Do you?" "How you gonna be an engineer... if your hands are all busted up, huh?" "Eddie's too dumb to be an engineer." " Hey, careful!" " Knock it off!" "You, too." "This war in Europe keeps up... you'll be lucky to get a crappy job like mine..." "Eddie..." "Eddie, are you there?" "Yeah, Dom." "Hey, Eddie, we need the keys to gate 16..." "I'm on my way." "The last hour of Eddie's life was spent like all the others." "Had Eddie known he was gonna die, he might have done something different." "But how many of us ever know?" "Eddie Maintenance?" "Just Eddie." "Eddie... can you..." "Come on, kiddo." "I ain't got all day." "Can you make me an animal?" " Where's your mother?" " She's over there eating." " Without you?" " With her boyfriend." "That's the piece that makes it work... watch... here... there, like that..." " and then..." " It's a rabbit!" "Yeah, rabbit." "Thank you!" "Go show your mother what you got." "Eddie rode every ride at Ruby Pier... once a week to be certain they were safe." "He'd done it for so long... he could almost 'hear' trouble coming... in the spits and sputters of the engines and the brakes." "Children liked Eddie." "Teenagers gave him headaches." "Often he thought this was no way for a man to grow old." "But this was his life, 'Eddie Maintenance' they called him... and a maintenance man he was." "Can I go now, Pop?" " Is it fixed?" " It's fixed." "Take that!" "You're dead." "Practicing to kill, are ya, lad?" "Hello, Mr. Shea." "You got any spare change you ain't put in that toy gun there?" "That was my last nickel." "Have you seen your father, then?" "We were in the war together." "Here's the thing about the war." "You don't think." "You just shoot and you shoot... and then you pray you come home." "It's the thinking that gets you killed." "Eddie!" "Eddie!" "The skeeball's broken." "Come on, Eddie, come on, come on!" "It's just the lever here." "There ya go, boys." "Juggle." "Yeah!" "Juggle, Eddie!" "Come on!" "Alright, alright..." "you got the magic ball." "How does he do it, folks?" "Greatest show on earth... watch him, buddy boys, and you will be amazed..." "Excuse me..." "Excuse me." "What?" "My friends and I were looking for some of those lemon fizzes." "Yeah, right over there by the carousel." "But that stand's closed already." "But I can fix that..." "So, do you have a key for all the food stands?" "I got a key for everything." "Well, to be honest, they're my Pop's keys..." "He's the maintenance..." "he fixes stuff here." "I'm just helping him out... to save up enough money for engineering school." "After the army, of course." " You enlisted?" " Last week." "I gotta do my part." "Well..." "I better get back." "My friend's will think I swam off into the ocean or something." "A souvenir." "I don't know your name." "Marguerite." "I'm Eddie." "Thanks for the fizz, Eddie." "It's the birthday boy!" "Happy birthday, boss!" "C'mon, Eddie." "Live it up." "You only get a birthday, what?" "Once a year?" "Sounds about right." "How old are you now?" "Old." "Man, I hope I live to be as old as you." "Why?" "Dom... put the tools in the right spot." "Them labels are there for a reason." "Hey, don't forget, I'm off next week." "Me and Maria going to Miami for our anniversary." " You ever been to Miami?" " Me?" "I never been anywhere I wasn't shipped to with a rifle." "Here..." "Naw..." "I can't." "Buy your wife something nice." "You sure?" "Thanks, man." "Marguerite you want to do the honors?" " Who's this from?" " I don't know..." "You made me love you" "All the time you knew it I guess you always knew it" "You made happy" "You look swell tonight." "Thank you." "Eddie." "Are you afraid?" " I'd be afraid." " You ain't the fightin' type." "Look at it this way." "I get to see some faraway places, right?" "I always wanted to do that." "I've never been more than five miles from here." "Me, neither..." "But that's gonna change." "Really?" "I ain't spending the rest of my life at Ruby Pier." "Marguerite..." "You don't have to ask me." "I don't?" " Ask you what?" " To wait." "Just don't die, ok?" "I ain't gonna die." "Eddie!" "Eddie!" "I see it!" "I see it!" "Get up there!" "Alright everybody, stay calm..." "stay calm!" "Who's up there with ya?" "Willie!" "Okay, tell Willie to release the safety bars... green button, rear panel..." "you got it?" "Then send down that cart!" "Everybody just stay calm..." "Hydraulics, gears..." " cables..." " Rear panel, safety box..." "It's the cable..." "This will all be over in a few minutes..." "Don't release the cart..." "it's gonna fall... it's gonna fall!" "Get back, all of ya's!" "Get back!" "Back!" "It's gonna fall!" "Get back!" "Back!" "Move!" "All of ya's, get back... move!" "Get back, it's gonna fall!" "This is a story about a man named Eddie." "But the end of his life was only the beginning." "Eddie saw nothing of his final moment on earth..." "He felt no pain from his death." "All he felt was lightness, and calm... as if every hurt he had ever suffered... had been washed away." "And then he woke up." "How about him, ladies and gentlemen?" "Have you ever seen a more horrible sight?" "Look well upon this savage!" "He is not of the human race!" "From the farthest corners of the earth... we bring you this tragic soul for your examination..." "Hello, Edward." "I have been waiting for you." "Eddie had seen this man before in his life." "He didn't know why he was seeing him again." "Your body feels like a child's, no?" "You were a child when you knew me... that's why." "You start here with the same feelings you had on earth." "You can't talk when you first arrive." "God's little lesson, I suppose." "Helps you listen." "Tell me something." "The 'Bullwhip'." "Is it still the fastest roller coaster on earth?" "I figured as much." "Nothing changes here." "And there is no peering down from the clouds, I'm afraid." "Yes." "You died." "An accident." "How long ago?" "A minute." "An hour." "A thousand years." "Where are you?" "Where do you think?" "Heaven." "There are five people you meet in heaven, Edward." "Each one of us was in your life for a reason." "People think of heaven as a Garden Of Eden... mountains, rivers." "But what is scenery without solace?" "When I died, my life is lluminated by five others." "And then I came here to wait for you." "To tell you my story." "Which becomes part of yours." "Did you ever dance here?" "I never danced with a woman." "I was a nervous boy, and a nervous man." "Everything scared me." "What the hell's wrong with you?" "You were born with two left feet!" "A chemist, for my problem, gave me silver nitrate." "You know this?" "Yes." "A poison, today." "But we were not so smart back then." "I drank it and when it didn't work, I drank more." "It turned my skin this color." "A side effect." "Permanent, I'm afraid." "My life as a man was over." "My life as a freak had begun." "I had many names." "Algeria." "Tanzania." "I had never been to any of those places." "It made me feel... exotic." "One summer, I came here." "Ruby Pier." "The ocean." "The sand." "I could walk in the mornings, before the customers arrived." "I can feel the sea breeze." "Like a normal man." "I was happy here until the day I died." "You see, Edward." "This is not your heaven." "It's mine." "What?" "What... killed... you?" "You did." "You see the boy?" "See the man in the car?" "It was only my second time." "I so loved it, behind the wheel of an automobile." "Like a normal man." "Watch it..." "look out!" "What I almost did." "That little boy." "My blood was rushing." "My heart was not strong." "And it surrendered." "The police wrote 'heart attack' on the official papers." "No one saw." "No one knew." "No one pays much notice to a freak, even when he dies." "People just..." "go on with their lives..." "You see now why you are here..." "little boy?" "God help me, Mister." "I didn't mean it..." "You dying..." "I didn't know!" "But how could you know?" "You were only a child." "So now I gotta pay, right?" " Pay?" " For my sin?" "That's what I'm here for, right?" "Justice?" "No, no, no, no." "You are here so I can teach you something." "Each one of your five people... has one such thing to show you, to illuminate." "By the end, what you did not understand in life, you will." "But why do I have to wear Joe's shoes?" " Quiet!" " Stop wiggling!" "But it's my birthday!" "I don't want to go." "Well, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do." "I remember this..." "we had to go to a funeral..." "But it's my birthday!" "What did I say?" "What did I say?" "I said be quiet!" "Ma?" "Come on, son." "I did not attract a big crowd that day." "But it's not fair!" "It was my own stupidity, running out there like that." "I should have been the one killed... not you!" "Fairness does not govern life and death." "If it did, no good man would ever die young." "During my time on earth... people died instead of me, too." "There are no random acts." "We are all connected." " Good comes from it." " Good?" "What good came from this?" "You died." "Well... you lived." "But I barely knew you." "We were strangers." "Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know." "I am leaving now, Edward." "Wait..." "The little girl at the pier?" "I tried to save her..." "I felt her hands..." "I musta pulled her..." "I can't remember after that..." "Did I save her?" "Was the last thing I did a failure, too?" "I cannot answer that." "Then... my life was a waste..." "No life is a waste." "There will be others." "Can I ask you... where are you going?" "I'm not." "Couldn't sleep." "Me, neither." "When you think they'll open us up again?" "I don't know." "Ask the police." "I still can't believe it, you know?" "I always thought he was too stubborn to die." "There was a second heaven for Eddie... although heaven was not the word he would have chosen." "His body felt older now, stronger." "And he ran with the hard, measured steps of a soldier." "Smallpox!" "Smallpox!" "Typhoid!" "Tetanus!" "Yellow Fever!" "You know, I never did find out what the hell Yellow Fever was." "All them shots, for all those diseases, and I still died here... anyhow, healthy as a horse." "Doesn't seem right, does it?" "Coulda saved my arm all them pokey needles." "Who are you?" "How do you like them apples?" "Come on." "That was funny." "Come on down!" "Come on up!" "Ah, you don't wanna look down." "It'll only make ya dizzy." "They explain the rules to you, soldier?" " I'm dead..." " You got that right." "You're my second person?" "Got that right, too." "Left you your helmet." "And your old rifle." "Not that they're much use to ya here." "Captain?" "Affirmative." "Betcha didn't expect me, huh?" "War changes men" "It fills them with fear, with courage, with a sense of adventure" "Hey Goldilocks... it'll take you a lot longer than that... to get as pretty as me, you know that!" "Eddie had wanted to see a world beyond Ruby Pier, and for a while he did." "Dog Zero Six, this is Able Zero Six, over." "Dog Zero Six, if you copy, break squelch, twice, over." "C'mon, Rabozzo, ya stickpin." "Pick it up!" "It's hot." "And I got all this extra stuff to carry." "Ah, I'm sorry Daisy, you got a little stain on your dress, there?" "I can't..." "You can't?" "What do you mean, you can't?" "What are you going to just sit there?" " Get up!" "Hey, get up!" " Hold on, Morton, hold on." "Before you go killing anybody." "I got a better idea." "Give me your pack, Rabozzo." "Come on." "I'll race you to the Captain." "I'll carry his pack..." "Ioser's gotta carry it till dark." "Okay, Goldilocks." "You're on." "You sure you can do that, Eddie?" "You ever run up a roller coaster with a sledgehammer?" "Come on, Rabozzo, go." "Say your prayers, buddy boy." " What the hell you grunts doing?" " It's a race, Cap!" "A race!" "That's open ground!" "On three." "One... two..." "Look at Eddie go." "Open up!" "Come on, Eddie!" "Captain?" "It is you." "But you look..." "Like the last time you saw me?" "See, time ain't what you think it is, kid." "Either is dying." "Aw, you're right." "No reason to spit up here." "No reason to smoke." "Old habits, I guess." "Look, Captain... sir." "No reason for that either, but much obliged." "Captain, there's some kinda mistake going on." "I mean." "I don't belong here." "I lived a nothin' life, see?" "I never went nowhere." "I never accomplished anything worth note." "Couldn't find a job?" "No." "No, I had a job." "A dumb job." "I fixed the rides at this amusement park." "Ruby Pier." "Ruby Pier." "That's the place you always used to tell us about, right?" "We were all gonna go there when the war was done." "'Free rides with the prettiest ladies in the tunnel of love.'" "That's right." "You ever seen them boys again?" "Morton?" "Smitty?" "Morton..." "Smitty..." "Throw the pineapple!" "Throw it, Johnny, come on!" "Johnny!" "The grenade!" "Eddie learned the quiet prayers of war." "He learned to go days without rest... and nights without sleep." "He learned how to take a prisoner... but not how to become one." "And then one night, in the Philippines... he learned that, too." " Who's that?" " Shut it, kid." "Aw, you bastards..." "Eddie?" "You heard him, kid." "Shut it." "They're gonna kill us." "I never saw none of them boys after the war." "Well, people lose touch..." " So." " What?" "You went back to that park, you took that job." "Then what?" "Then nothing." "I never left." "I meant to." "But I... things never worked out." "Money." "My leg." "I never really got the war out of my head." "Maybe you weren't supposed to." "One more sip for me, okay champ?" "Do that for me..." "Good." "That's it." "What is it?" "In this rat hole?" "Could be anything." "He can't keep his food down." "What food?" "I'm freezing..." "Oh God..." "Easy, buddy boy... easy." "Where is everybody?" "They're losing this war..." "How desperate do they gotta be using us to do this?" "I figure some go awol every night." "Rats off a sinking ship." " How much longer?" " Not much." "I seen them digging ditches up the way." "Now the oil barrels." "So?" "The oil's for burning the evidence." "They're digging our graves." "He's sick..." "He's sick, you son of a bitch!" "For God's sake, Eddie." "No!" "No!" "I used to pray every night during the war." "I'd take Marguerite's picture... and I'd make these deals with God, see." "I'd say..." "I'll give you one more week as a soldier... if you give me one more week with her." "I'll give you one more month in this life... if you give me one month in that one." "Used to?" "I stopped the night they shot Rabozzo." "All I could think about after that was getting out." "I was gonna take care of myself, if I made it... in one piece." "That never happened, of course." "You know, it's the damndest thing." "I'm dead." "But I feel..." "I feel healthy." "Strong as I ever was." "You still juggle?" "Captain..." "Captain..." "I think we got a chance here." "What're you talking about?" " I can juggle." " What?" "I can juggle." "Them rocks." "Hey!" "Hey you!" "Over here!" "I can juggle..." "Juggle?" "Yeah, here." "Lemme try." "Lemme try." "I can do it." "What's going on?" "Okay?" "Huh, you like that?" "Yeah, see?" "Okay, give me one more." " Motto." " Motto?" "Yeah, one more." "One more..." "I can do it." "Yeah, motto." "I'll juggle them for you." "Alright..." "Yeah, he's good..." "Good..." "Good, huh?" "Pretty good, huh?" "Good!" "Boy can juggle!" " Motto..." " Motto?" "Yeah, four!" "Four?" "Four rocks, yeah, I can do it." "I'll get whosever closest to the door..." "Morton?" "Just give me an opening." "Yeah, right here..." "right here." "They're giving us rocks." "Okay... it's okay... okay." "Just having some fun..." "Juggle... juggle." "You really this good?" "I used to pitch, Captain." "Look at this, huh?" "Isn't he something else, ladies and gents?" "You get the one on the left, alright!" "Smitty, you get the one on the right..." " Okay, ready for four?" " Four!" " You guys ready for four?" " Four!" " Four?" " Four!" "On my count, guys..." "One!" "Two!" "Three..." "Four!" "For Rabozzo." "It was war, Eddie." "I never stopped thinking about it... my whole life..." "these dreams..." "Every soldier has dreams." "We coulda just run." "We didn't have to destroy the whole place." "What did you see?" "In those dreams?" "Hey, Eddie, what you doing?" "Yeah, burn it down, Eddie!" "Burn the whole place down!" "Fire in the hole!" "Eddie!" "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "Eddie, what are you doing?" "Are you coming?" "Is somebody in there?" "Eddie, Eddie, we gotta go... come on!" "There's somebody in there!" "Come on, we gotta go, let's go now!" "I think there's somebody in there!" "Eddie..." "Movin' out!" "Let's go!" "You'll die in there!" "Come out!" "Eddie!" "There's nobody in there, let's go!" "Come on, we gotta go, now!" "Come out!" "I won't shoot you..." "I'm a soldier..." "I'm a soldier..." "You remember how you got out of there?" "That bullet got you good." "Lost a lot of blood." "Those planes firing." "I never saw it coming..." "Everything changed after that." "I couldn't run no more." "Couldn't play baseball." "I used to swim the ocean like a fish..." "You didn't stop walking." "No, I just stopped... moving." "I sorta sat down in my life." "I ever tell you I come from a military family?" "My father was a soldier... his father, and his father, too." "At the dinner table it was 'yes, sir, no sir.'" "All I did was take orders." "Then along comes a war, and all of a sudden, I'm giving orders." "Kids are looking at me for answers." "They thought I could keep 'em alive." "You did too, didn't ya?" "I couldn't, of course." "I took orders like everyone else." "But I thought... if I couldn't keep you alive... at least I could keep you together." "In the middle of big war, you grab at them little ideas." "We're going home together." "That's right." "Going home together... meant a lot, Captain." "I hope so." "Why do you say that?" "'Cause I was the one who shot you." "Not you..." "Not you..." "Not you!" "Get it out..." " Go ahead." " Not you!" "The story of the tragedy at Ruby Pier... was in the newspapers for several days." "Then other stories took its place." "Well, pretty tidy for an old guy." "Are you surprised?" "Don't think we'll find any bank statements in there." "It's the same apartment Eddie grew up in." "I don't know why he never moved out." "You'd think he'd want some air conditioning." "You'd think he'd want a change of scenery." "There's the soldier boy." "Hey, Eddie." "Happy birthday, son." "Here's your cake." "Happy birthday..." "Happy birthday, Eddie." "Happy birthday, Eddie." "Joe, you got matches?" "Here you go..." "Alright..." "Good job." "You're alright, son." "So he looks pretty good, all things considered, don't he Pop?" "You look really good, son..." "Really, you look good, Eddie." "You bastard!" "How could you do that?" " How could you do that?" " Get it out." "My leg!" "My leg!" " My life!" " Get it out..." "My life!" "Why?" " I had to." " Why?" "Why?" "I took your leg to save your life." "You would have died in that fire." "You were obsessed." "You damn near knocked Morton unconscious." "Another second and you woulda been so deep in... none of us could have gotten you." "There was nobody in that hut..." "what was I thinking?" "I seen it happen a hundred times." "A soldier reaches a certain point and he's done." "Sometimes, in the dead of night... a man'll just come out of his tent just start walking... like he lives around the corner, like he's going home." " Why didn't I just die?" " Wasn't your time to die." "I couldn't just let you burn alive." "I figured a leg wound would heal..." "Morton pulled you out of there." "And the others got you home." "What do you mean 'the others' got me home?" "It's just like I told you." "Tetanus?" "Yellow fever?" "I'm gonna blow that lock and check around the curve." "Keep an eye out." "Hang on, Eddie!" "Hold on, okay?" "We're going home." "You wanna go home, don't ya?" "Eddie!" "Look at me!" "Hey!" "Look at me!" "Look at me!" "Eyes open!" "That's one of ours..." "Captain?" "I don't remember none of this..." "I figure what was left of me... landed in about a thousand places." "Including here." "This is where you're buried?" "That's a fancy way of saying it, but yeah." "This was my 'funeral'..." "Smitty, Morton..." "I never saw them at the hospital." "When I got home, I didn't open mail." "I didn't ask questions." "I just wanted to forget." "You've been here all this time?" "Waitin' for you." "That's what the Blue Man said." "Well, he was, too." "But he had something to teach you... and now he's moved on." "And I'm fixing to do the same." "So..." "What are you here?" "Sacrifice." "I made one." "You made one." "But you had the wrong idea about yours." "You got angry." "Kept thinking about what you lost." "You didn't get it." "Sacrifice ain't something to be ashamed of." "It's something to be proud of." "If people stop sacrificing for one another... they lose what makes them human." "It's the noblest thing we do." "But you lost everything." "Well, that's the thing about sacrifice." "Sometimes when you think you're losing something... you're really just passing it on to someone else." "Forgive me about the leg?" "That's what I was waiting for." " Captain." " Yeah?" "Why this place?" "I mean, you can choose anywhere to wait... right?" "Well, I died knowing almost nothing but war." "I wanted to see what the world looked like... before we started killing each other..." "Before war." "But this is war." "Our eyes ain't the same, soldier." "This is what I see." "By the way, I don't smoke." "That was all in your eyes, too." "Who smokes in heaven?" "This is yours..." "Well..." "Good luck." "Wait..." "Wait." "The little girl at the pier, did I save her?" "I can't remember." "I only felt... her hands." "Her little hands." "I just wanna know, that's all." "I can't tell you." "But someone can." "Come on!" "Let's get some ice off the truck!" "C'mon, Eddie!" "C'mon, you can hit it, let's go!" "Give it a ride, Eddie!" "Murder the ball!" "Eddie can't hit it past the first sewer!" "Strike him out." "Go kid." "Keep going, kid." "Keep going!" "Got these for you." "You should call her." "She waited for you, Eddie." "Your brother Joe called." "He starts that sales job tomorrow..." "Your father says there might be some work at Ruby Pier." "Help you get some money for engineering classes." "Not Ruby Pier." "What's that?" "I ain't working at Ruby Pier." "All those people I know..." "I don't feel like it, Ma." "OK?" "Yeah ok." "Shut the door, will ya?" "Digby rocks back and fires, here's a strike called... and the count is strike one on him..." "He just needs a little time." "He needs to get off his high horse, that's what he needs." "Working at the pier ain't good enough for him?" "Stop it!" "After what he's been through." "How the hell you know what he's been through?" " He don't even talk." " Look at him." "Do you ever look at him?" "Something awful happened over there!" "Well, something awful happens every day." "I go now." "Get up, and get a job!" "Go to bed, Pop." "Get up, and get a job!" "You're drunk, Pop." "Get up, and get a job!" "That it, you think you're better than me?" "Get up, get a job, get up, get a job..." "Enough!" "See?" "You ain't so hurt." "You ain't so hurt, and you ain't so tough... not so I can't whip you like I used to." "No more..." "No more..." "Eddie's third heaven was a place he'd never seen before." "His body was decaying... and his soul was growing restless." "Is it fixed?" "I'm here, Pop!" "I'm here!" "Look at me!" "I'm here!" "Look at me!" " Look at me!" " He can't hear you." "Don't be angry." "My father's in there!" "Well, he's not really here." "It's only his spirit, safe from harm." "That's part of my heaven." "Why does my father have to be safe for you?" "Would you like me to explain?" "No." " Where are you going?" " I wanna go home..." " Come with me." " No." "Edward..." "Can I see earth again?" "I'm afraid not." "Then can I go back, to my life?" "Can I promise to be better?" "Why do you want to go back?" "Why?" "Why?" "Because you... this... none of it makes no sense to me, that's why." "Heaven." "Where are the people... you're supposed to see in heaven..." "My brother... my brother died before me... my mother..." "I had friends..." "I can't even remember my own end." "There was this little girl." "The cart was falling..." "I felt her little hands..." " And that was when I..." " Passed away?" "Went to the other side?" "Met your maker?" "Died." "What do you remember?" "About that moment when you died?" "Floating." "And colors." "Colors like I'd never seen." "No offence lady, but I don't know you." "But I know you... if you have a spare moment for me, now..." "The Seaside..." "I remember this old place." "They tore it down years ago..." "There I am..." "I was pretty." " You worked here?" " Yes, why?" "You don't seem..." "the waitress type." "Well, I wasn't always well-to-do." "My family was poor." "I left school early to work." "Until Emil." "He came to the diner every morning." "And he ate such big breakfasts." "'Oh, what a big appetite he has!" "' I thought." "But Emil's appetite was for more than just food." "Well, I was pretty in those days." "And Emil... he was so charming and adventurous." "And rich." "Oh, my what a big fortune he had." "You've seen these pictures?" "They were in the old files in the workshop." "Most of it was before my time." "Things that come before your time can still affect you." "Even if they are in the 'old files'..." "He loved those seaside fun parks." "He asked me to marry him in one." "When I said yes... he promised he would capture that moment forever." "So he built his monument... a place where children could always be children... and adults never had to grow up." "He brought in animals, and clowns... a carousel from France, and a Ferris Wheel from Germany... and his piece-de-resistance... the entrance." "Oh, it was grand!" "'Sweetheart' he said... 'everyone who comes through these gates... will have to pass under your gaze.'" "I don't understand." "The name!" "Weren't you ever curious about the name?" "The place where you worked?" "Where your father worked?" "All those years?" "Ruby Pier?" "Up here." "I am Ruby." "Man, this feels weird..." "Maybe this is something..." "Lemon Fizz..." "Damn!" "A Bronze Star!" "This ain't right." "Forget these insurance people." "Bad enough what happened." "Yeah let him rest in peace." "Lay off the kid, already!" "That's enough!" "Don't you tell me what's enough." "He's gotta learn a lesson." "Dad, please, don't, no please don't do it..." " Stop it!" " Quiet!" "No, Dad, I promise, I won't do it again, please, stop..." " Oh my lord." " What's that smoke?" "No, don't do this..." "don't do this!" "What is it?" "I remember this fire." "Burned down half the park." "In those days, everything was made of lathe and tar." "Our pier was like a matchbook..." "I begged Emil not to go." "But of course he went." "He wanted to save his gift to me." "They say he was... trying to save the grand entrance... with my painting on it... when it collapsed." "There was no insurance." "That was my Emil." "The risk taker." "That one night, we lost everything." "But they rebuilt the park." "I remember..." "Someone else, not us." "Emil was in the hospital for months." "It took most of our savings." "Even so, he didn't want to sell it." "Can you imagine that?" "But I sold it." "To a rich railroad man." "He kept the name." "I didn't care." "We moved away... and I tended to my beloved husband... and I nurtured one impossible wish." "What wish was that?" "That he'd never built that place." "I had that thought a few times myself." "I had dreams when I was a kid." "Thought I'd be an engineer." "But my father used to tell me... 'the world is divided into somebodys and nobodys, Eddie... and there's a lot more nobodys'." "He made sure I was one of them." "Eddie, your father is not the reason... that you never left Ruby Pier." "Oh no?" "What is?" "You still have two more people to meet, dear." "No, lady." "I can meet a thousand people... that ain't gonna change." "That pier... that dumb job, was the last trick he pulled on me." "How?" "By dying." "Eddie?" "Eddie!" "It's your father!" "He collapsed." "They took him to the hospital." "Oh, god." "It's my fault!" "It's my fault!" "Her fault?" "He came home one night... four in the morning, soaking wet... probably drunk as a skunk." "And he gets pneumonia." "And it was her fault?" "But that's how he was, my old man." "You were always the one doing something wrong." "Never him." "I took over his shifts while he was in the hospital." "I worked nights, weekends, so he wouldn't lose his job." "And then he died on me." "My mother never did accept it." "She kept talking to him like he was still alive." "One night, I went over to see her..." "I said, 'Ma, you want I should put these dishes away?" "'" "No, Eddie." "Your father will do it." "Ma..." "Dad's gone." "Gone where?" "I moved back in here the next week." "And I took that job to be around... to take care of my mother." "I became my old man..." "And I never left." "What's happening?" "You don't really know how your father died." "What are you talking about?" "What's he doing here?" "He's been fired." "Drinking." "He came looking for your father." "But your father wasn't here." "Your mother is going to get dressed... to help him find your father." "No... don't you move, you bastard!" " This happened long ago." " No!" "What are you doing?" "No!" "You don't want to do this!" "What the hell is going on?" "Come here!" " I'm all right..." " What did he do?" "I'm alright." "Don't do it!" "Don't!" "Why didn't he let him drown?" " Why didn't he kill him?" " He wanted to." "But years ago, they fought in the war together." "Mickey helped him get his first job." "Your father held loyalty in very high regard." "In the end, it mattered more than his rage." "So he saved a life... instead of taking one." "Pneumonia..." "He fought the ocean for a long time." "Sometimes, he would cry out." "For your mother." "For your brother." "Or for you." "For me?" "How do you know that?" "There were two patients to a room." "Your father died in the middle of the night." "Again, I cursed Ruby Pier." "I wished I could undo any harm it had ever caused." "That wish formed my heaven." "I don't understand." "This old diner?" "This old diner is more than a place." "It's a time." "When things were simpler." "But those people inside?" "They were all hurt." "Well..." "Accidents." "Fights." "Fires." "I would have none of it." "My heaven would be a place where... anyone who ever suffered from Ruby Pier... even for a moment would be safe forever." "Your father, too." " I hated him, you know." " I know." "He was hell on me as a kid." "And even worse when I got older." "Once he couldn't hit me no more... he stopped talking to me altogether." "Eddie." "We think by hating someone we hurt them... but hatred is a curved blade." "And the harm we do to others... we also do to ourselves." "Why is everything so different than I thought?" "Well, when you first got here... do you remember how you felt?" "I had... no pain." "No worry." "No hate." "That's because no one is born with anger." "We build it over the years, with the things we don't say... with the things we bury." "When we die, the soul is freed of it..." "Free to see the truth." "So, what do I gotta do?" "You need to forgive your father." "Dad?" "I'm here now..." "I saw what happened." "I didn't understand you." "I still don't." "You beat me." "You humiliated me." "I was your son!" "Look at me, Pop..." "I'm older than you..." "I didn't know your life." "I didn't know you." "But I understand now." "I'm letting it go." "All right?" "Do we let it go?" "I forgive you, OK?" "You hear me?" "I forgive you dad..." "I forgive you." "It's fixed." "It's fixed." "How old was the deceased?" "I dunno." "It was his birthday." "What can you tell me about..." "You mean about Eddie?" "About what was he like?" "He was great." "You know, he'd do little things for you sometimes... help you out." "Don't get me wrong, he was a tough old goat." "Everything had to be safe." "'Make it safe, Dom.' 'Grease them tracks, Dom." "Tighten them bolts, Dom.'" "How about... personally?" "Personally?" "I know Eddie loved his wife very much." "Of course, I never met her." "To the beautiful bride, Marguerite... and to the lucky groom, Eddie, my kid brother... who figured out you can get a restaurant cheap... on Christmas eve!" "To the bride and groom everyone!" "To the bride and groom!" "I'm sorry we couldn't afford more..." "It's all I ever wanted." "Come on, Eddie." "We love this song." " Ah, please..." " No, I can't..." "You know I can't move around." "Alright... alright." " They're staring at me." " I don't care." "You're alive, and you're here." "And I love you." "I don't worry" "Whenever skies Are gray above" "Gotta pocketful of rainbows" "Gotta a heart full of love" "Mister heartache" "Happy birthday honey!" "I found a way To make you believe" "Gotta a pocketful of rainbows" "Kiss me extra tender" "Honey..." "Hold me extra tight" "It's not easy finding a watch with a Ferris Wheel, you know." "'Cause I'm saving Your sweetness" "For a lonely night" "So, you like it?" "No more teardrops" "Of course I like it." "Now that I found a love so true" "I could never wear something like that." "If you did, the fellas wouldn't look at anyone else." "Eddie?" "Want some water?" "You're my fourth person?" "It can't be..." "Can it be..." "Marguerite?" "For the bitter and the sweet?" "Your hair." "It's white." "I can't stop staring." "I'm sorry." "Eddie." "Have you forgotten so quickly what I look like?" "I never forgot that." "All weddings." "That was my choice." "I can go from one to another, all over the world." "When the groom lifts the veil, when the bride takes the ring... it never changes." "They always believe their love will break all the records." "Did we have that at our wedding?" "We had an accordion player." "Your leg..." "It's getting worse, it was good when I got here." "So... you... went through this whole thing, too?" " You met five people?" " Yes." "And it made a difference?" "It made all the difference." "And then I came here to wait for you." "My sweetheart." "How much do you know since you died?" "Well, I remember everything that happened... when we were together." "And now I know why it happened." "And I know that you loved me dearly." "But I don't know how you died." "There was this little girl." "One of the rides a new one... not like the ones we used to have... everything goes a million miles an hour now... but this ride, I never trusted it, it drops a cart, see... and somehow the cable, it snapped..." "I don't know how, it just snapped... and this little girl, she was underneath it... and I went to push her out of the way..." "I grabbed her hands, and then... that's all I remember..." "I felt her little hands and then everything went black." "I tried, I tried, but I don't know... if I failed..." "I ain't talked this much since I been here." "Oh, God, Marguerite..." "I can't say..." "I can't say..." " What?" " I missed you so much." "I'm a soldier." "I'm a soldier." "Are you OK, Eddie?" "Yeah..." "it's nothing, honey..." "That dream again?" "You want me to fix you something?" " It's four in the morning." " It's all right I don't mind..." "Get some sleep, honey..." "What happened during the war?" " You never told me." " I couldn't tell you." "We had to survive." "We did what we had to do, I guess." "But I was never the same." "It was like... all the things I had wanted, I couldn't see 'em anymore." "I felt stuck..." "I should have made us a better life." "I should of gotten us out of there, the pier..." "I loved the pier." "I lost myself..." "I'm sorry." "No." "Marguerite?" "Do you think God knows I'm here?" "Of course." "Why do you ask?" "I dunno." "I guess part of my life I was hiding from him..." "And the rest?" "The rest I just figured he didn't know I existed." "The wine, wine's good, huh?" "Were you sorry about anything?" "With us, I mean?" "I was sorry we couldn't have children." "We had lots of 'em around, though." "And you?" "Were you sorry about anything with us?" "Yeah." "I was sorry it didn't last longer." " I'll make some tea." " I'll get it." "You had to live without love for many years didn't you?" "You felt that it was snatched away." "That I left you too soon." "You did leave too soon." "There was a reason to it all." "What reason?" "You died." "You died and you lost everything..." "And I lost everything..." "I lost the only woman I ever loved." "No you didn't." "I was right here." "And you loved me anyhow." "Lost love is still love, Eddie." "It takes a different form, that's all." "You can't hold their hands... you can't tousle their hair." "But when those senses weaken, another one comes to life." "Memory." "Memory becomes your partner." "You hold it." "You dance with it." "Life has to end, Eddie." "Love doesn't." " I never wanted anyone else." " I know." " I'm still in love with you." " I know." "I felt it." "You felt it?" "Here?" "Even here." "I want to show you something." "I was saving this one." "Dance with me, Eddie." "May I ask you something?" "How come you look the way you looked... the day I married you?" "Because I thought you would like it this way." "Can you change it?" "Change it?" "To what?" "To the end." "But I wasn't so pretty at the end." "Can you?" "I don't want go on." "I want to stay here." "No..." "Not again..." "Tala." "Tala." "Tala?" "Baro." "Baro." "Saya." "Saya." "Loser." "Loser." "Washing." "Washing." "Like our Inas do." "Inas?" "Mommies." "Where are your Mommies?" "These?" "These are pipe cleaners." "I keep 'em for the kids at the Pier." "Here..." "Look, see..." "There." "You like that, huh?" "You burn me." "What did you say?" "You make me fire." "I don't understand..." "My Ina say hide." "Hide in nipa." "My Ina say she come back." "What were you hiding from, little girl?" "Sundalong." "Soldier." "Come out!" "I'm a soldier!" "Tala..." "Why are you in Heaven?" "You burn me you make me fire." "You were the shadow..." "the shadow in the hut..." "Ina say she come back." "Ina say Tala be safe." "You burn me." "Not safe." "Oh, God, oh no..." "I killed you..." "I killed you..." "Forgive me dear Lord, forgive me... all this time... those dreams." "Forgive me!" "I didn't know..." "I didn't know..." "I didn't know... why didn't I know..." "No..." "No..." "You wash me." "You wash me." "I don't know how..." "Five." "Five?" "You're five years old?" "You're my fifth person..." "Why are you sad?" "Why am I sad?" "Where?" "Here?" "On Earth?" "I was sad because..." "I didn't do anything with my life." "Because..." "I always felt trapped by the things that were happening..." "I wasn't where I was supposed to be." "Do you understand that?" "It is where you supposed to be." "Where?" "Ruby Pier?" "Fixing rides?" "Why?" "Why was I supposed to be there?" "Children." "You keep them safe." "You make good for me." "Every day." "You make good for me." "Is where you are supposed to be..." "Eddie Main'nance." " Tala?" " Tala." "There was a little girl." "At the pier." "The day I died." "Do you know who I'm talking about?" "Did I save her?" "Just tell me." "Did I pull her out of the way?" "No pull." "Push." "You push her away." "Big thing fall." "You keep her safe." "No..." "I felt her hands..." "I couldn't have pushed..." "I felt her little hands..." "Not her hands." "My hands." "I bring you to heaven." "Keep you safe." "All the accidents Eddie had prevented... all the lives he had kept safe." "And all their children... and all their children's children... there because of the simple things that he did... day after day." "This is the story of a man named Eddie... who lived and died... and would one day himself share the secret of heaven:" "That each life affects the other... and the other affects the next... and the world is full of stories... but the stories are all one."