The Five People You Meet in Heaven Page #4

- 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?

All them shots?

Just a big waste of my time.

Look.

Look at it burn!

Hah, we're going home!

Hang on, Eddie!

Come on...

Eddie, look at me!

Come on, Eddie!

Eddie, look at me!

Damn!

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!

Strike now, 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.

Go! Keep going!

Slide! Slide!

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.

Like most.

I left school early

to work.

We all, my sisters and I.

Until we married.

I'd held up the longest.

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...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes