The Five People You Meet in Heaven Page #2

before in his life.

Don't be afraid...

don't be afraid.

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?

This is the greatest gift

God can give you, Edward...

to understand your life

on Earth.

'Tis why you are here.

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.

It was on a Saturday morning.

I thought, what can happen?

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...

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...

your 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.

An airplane crashes that

you should have been on.

A fire burns the building that

you left an hour before.

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.

I can go on.

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.

Your journey does not end here.

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.

You got real old...

that's a compliment.

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?

Hey Goldilocks...

it'll take you a lot

longer than that...

to get as pretty as me,

you know that!

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?

Shut your yap!

Must be jingle-brained...

Keep it on that ridge.

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.

Man, he's a carny. He probably

walks tightropes, too.

Go, go, go! Move it!

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.

I figure it's like that whole

Adam and Eve thing, right?

Adam's first night on Earth...

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