I Am The Messenger

The weeks stretch on as Ed waits in suspense for someone to come to his home at 26 Shipping Street. On February 7, Audrey visits him. She and Marv are worried about Ed because he’s been quiet and withdrawn lately. Ed shows her the joker and begs her to tell him that she sent the cards so that he would “help people” and “[m]ake [him]self better—make [him] worth something” (344). As much as Audrey wishes that she could give Ed the answer he needs, the truth is that it wasn’t her.

Late one night, a middle-aged man with a mustache knocks on Ed’s door. Sensing that this visitor is connected to the cards, Ed invites the man inside. He opens his briefcase and gives Ed an envelope containing the following note: “Dear Ed, The end is near. I think you’d best be getting down to the cemetery” (346). Ed recognizes the handwriting on the note as the same penmanship on the cards. The mention of the graveyard reminds Ed that the next day is the first anniversary of his father’s death. Ed asks the man who sent him, but he only bows his head and replies, “I don’t know who he is….” (346). Ed becomes convinced that his father set this plan into motion before he died. His father used to walk around town late at night to sober up before returning home from the pub, and Ed surmises that his father picked out the addresses on the cards during these strolls.

Ed runs to the cemetery, where Daryl and Keith await him at his father’s grave. The hit men tell Ed that his father was a failure, and that Ed was likely to follow in his footsteps and die without achieving even a fraction of his potential. Daryl and Keith’s employer sent Ed the cards as a test to see if he could avoid his father’s fate. Like the man with the briefcase, Daryl and Keith don’t know their employer’s identity. However, they dispel Ed’s hope that his father hired them. Ed’s mind races with fresh questions, and he asks Daryl and Keith how they could possibly know the precise moment when he would appear in the graveyard. They explain that their employer told them when and where to find Ed, and that this mysterious figure’s predictions have all proven true thus far. They tell Ed that he needs to wait a little longer and then promise to disappear from his life forever. Helpless to do anything else, Ed watches Daryl and Keith vanish into the night. After they leave, Ed regrets that he didn’t thank them.

A few days later, a young man wearing a cap waves down Ed’s cab at the end of his shift. He tells Ed to drive to 26 Shipping Street. Nervously, Ed follows his instructions. When they arrive at Ed’s house, the man removes his hat and reveals himself to be the bank robber from the beginning of the novel. In a surprisingly friendly tone, the criminal says that his prison sentence is over and instructs Ed to drive to all 12 addresses where he delivered his messages. At each location, the man asks Ed if he remembers the events that transpired there, and Ed confirms that he does. Lastly, the man tells him to drive back to Ed’s house. Holding up a mirror, he reminds Ed of his words in the courthouse. With a smile, he asks if Ed sees a dead man when he looks at his reflection now. Ed vividly recalls all the people he helped and answers no. The man says that his jail sentence was worth it then, prompting Ed to realize that the robber was in on the plan all along and that he went to prison for him and everyone who received his messages. With a last goodbye, the criminal tells Ed to go inside his house.

When Ed enters his home, he finds a young man happily petting the Doorman. The man tells Ed that he came to Ed’s town about a year ago, killed his father, organized the bungled bank robbery, and arranged the messages. He explains that he did all of this to reveal the power of human potential: “And if a guy like you can stand up and do what you did for all those people, well, maybe everyone can. Maybe everyone can live beyond what they’re capable of” (353).

To prove his words, the man gives Ed a yellow folder full of notes for Ed’s story, including their current conversation. Ed realizes that he’s a fictional character and that the man is his author. Shocked and desperate, Ed asks what he’s meant to do now, and the writer calmly replies, “Keep living, Ed….It’s only the pages that stop here” (354). Soon afterward, the writer says that he should go, and he and Ed say their goodbyes. As Ed watches the writer leave, he realizes that the man didn’t mention his name, but Ed supposes that he’ll find that information in the folder. For a moment, Ed grows angry imagining how the author will get all the credit for the things Ed did, but he realizes that this line of thinking is pointless and forces himself to stop. Days pass, and Ed stays inside his house, lost in thought and waiting for his life to begin again.

One afternoon, Audrey comes to Ed’s home and asks if she can live with him. She kisses Ed, finally embracing her feelings. The Doorman joins them in the hallway as if to give this development his seal of approval. Ed tells her all about the writer’s visit, and she believes him. When Ed frantically searches the folder for any mention of him and Audrey becoming a couple, she gently stops him and says, “I think this belongs to us” (357). That evening, Ed, Audrey, and the Doorman sit on the porch together. Ed ponders the author’s words about how his story shows that everyone can do more than they believe they’re capable of. He experiences a sudden realization, which he shares with Audrey and the reader: “I’m not the messenger at all. I’m the message” (357).