I Am the Messenger Part 5 / Chapter J (the end is not the end) Summary

the end is not the end

  • Finally there's a knock at the door.
  • Ed invites the guy in because he has something for him. He's not sure whether he should be relieved or scared, so he goes with both.
  • The man hands Ed a letter that tells him to get to the cemetery, the one his dad is buried in, and all of a sudden Ed thinks it's his dad who set this whole thing up before he died.
  • Wrong. There at the cemetery, Daryl and Keith wait for him.
  • They congratulate Ed on completing his missions, and explain that it wasn't his dad who organized this whole thing—instead it was a test to make sure he didn't end up like his dad.
  • Ed questions them about their employer, but they don't even know who he is. All they know is that they were hired to make sure he doesn't drink his way to the grave like his pops.
  • When Daryl and Keith leave him alone this time, Ed knows he'll never see them again.
  • After a couple of days, Ed is driving his cab around when someone asks to be taken to 26 Shipping Street—his address.
  • Ed does a double take, and then it clicks: The man in the backseat is the bank robber. Six months are up and he's out of jail. Next he wants to go to 45 Edgar Street. Then 13 Harrison Avenue. You get the idea—he's asking Ed to take him to all the addresses Ed has visited. It's like a little tour of all of Ed's messages.
  • When they get back to Ed's place, the bank robber asks Ed if he remembers what he said at his trial—that Ed was a dead man. Yep, it's not something you forget easily. He asks Ed if he's dead now.
  • Ed really thinks about this question, and realizes that he's super alive now.
  • Just then, the guy asks him to go inside before saying goodbye.