I Am The Messenger

On Christmas Eve, Audrey, Ritchie, and Marv gather at Ed’s house. “Copiously disgruntled” (274), Marv honors his agreement and kisses the Doorman. The friends eat, drink, and play cards together until Audrey leaves with her boyfriend. Then Ed, Ritchie, and Marv join a crowd gathered for a bonfire on Main Street. Angie Carruso and her children are also at the bonfire. She gives Ed an ice cream cone, thanks him for the card, and tells him that she’s surviving.

After Ed loses his friends in the crowd, he visits his father’s grave. Guiltily, Ed remembers his silence at his father’s funeral. While others may remember the man only for his alcoholism and broken promises, Ed considers his father a gentleman because he “never had a bad word for anybody or a true act of unkindness” (277). He wishes that he had spoken up during his father’s funeral and fears that his own may be as silent and empty one day. Ed staggers home to find Marv and Ritchie asleep outside his house and ushers them inside. The usually laid-back Ritchie is uncharacteristically sad, so Ed encourages him to stay the night. As his friends sleep, Ed reads and relives the four aces over and over.

On Christmas Day, Ed goes to his mother’s house. His sisters bring their families, and Tommy brings a beautiful young woman named Ingrid he met at university. As Ed leaves, Tommy calls out to him. The brothers sit on the porch and talk about their lives. Ed congratulates Tommy on his achievements and feels confident that one day they’ll “get together and remember and tell and speak many things. [...] Just not soon” (282). Ed’s mother wishes him a Merry Christmas, and he tells her that people’s lives are decided by the choices they make, not the places they live. He says that, before he ever leaves this town, he’ll “make sure [he’s] better here first” (283).

Ed spends Christmas evening at his place with Milla. She gives him a casual black suit and a blue dress shirt. Ed and Milla take a cab back to her place, and Ed realizes that she did him a favor by spending Christmas with him rather than the other way around. The cab driver is Audrey’s boyfriend, Simon. On the way back to Ed’s house, Simon asks Ed if he’s in love with Audrey. Ed counters that the question is irrelevant because Audrey doesn’t want to love anyone due to her difficult family life. Simon says that Audrey loves Ed, and the two men part as friends.

Ed visits Bernie at the Bell Street theater and asks him to tell him everything he knows about the three films listed on the ace of hearts: The Suitcase, Cat Ballou, and Roman Holiday. Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for Roman Holiday, and Ed makes the connection between the actress’s name and his friend. Lee Marvin’s role in Cat Ballou calls to mind Marv. The director of The Suitcase and Ritchie share the surname Sanchez. Ed feels certain that the messages for his friends will be more challenging than any he’s yet delivered.

Fighting to subdue his fear, Ed hurries toward Audrey’s house. However, he accepts that he must deliver the messages in order and goes to Ritchie’s place instead. As he sits across the street from Ritchie’s house, Daryl and Keith join him. They question why Ed is waiting outside the home of one of his closest friends when he already knows what must be done. Devastated, Ed goes home and thinks about the words he knows he has to say to Ritchie.

Ritchie is unemployed. He spends his days at the pub and the betting shop. At night, he sits in the kitchen and listens to the radio. One night, as the friends disperse after another card game, Ed alludes to Ritchie’s radio. Ritchie realizes that Ed has been watching him. When Ritchie confronts him later that night, Ed explains that he kept the ace of diamonds, that he’s been delivering messages to people across town all along, and that he has a message for Ritchie. Ed tells him, “[Y]ou’re an absolute disgrace to yourself” (302). When Ed returns to Ritchie’s place the following night, Ritchie joins him outside. Together, they stand in the river. Ritchie confides to Ed that the only thing he wants is to want something.

The next day, Ritchie starts looking for a job. Ed tries to convince himself that he’s content with his life, but he knows that he wants more than “driving people around the city, being told what to do and where to go” (305). Marv is next on the list, and Ed realizes that his message must have something to do with the money Marv saves but refuses to spend. Ed ponders various ways he could attempt to make his friend open up. The answer dawns on him when he exits the supermarket and sees an unhoused man. The man’s “expression bleeds” shame and humility as he asks Ed for change (310). Ed gives him a five-dollar note and blesses him, grateful for the inspiration. Ed realizes that he can get the answers he needs if he asks Marv for money.

Ed visits Milla, and he thinks of her as his “favorite message” (311). Ed is afraid for himself, Marv, and Audrey, but thinking about the messages he’s already delivered gives him the courage to continue. After another night of cards at Ed’s place, Marv’s car refuses to start. Ed takes this opportunity to enact his plan. He tells Marv that he needs money and then lambasts Marv’s stinginess when he’s reluctant to help. Marv put the money into a fund and can’t make withdrawals from it. When Ed asks why he did that, Marv starts crying, drives Ed to Suzanne Boyd’s old home, and explains, “The kid’s about two and a half” (317). After Suzanne became pregnant at 16, her family moved away out of shame. Marv begged her friends until one of them gave him the Boyd’s new address. Three years have passed, and Marv still hasn’t seen Suzanne or their child. Ed promises to go with Marv when he’s ready.

The next day, Ed drives Marv to Auburn. The Boyd’s current house is “exactly the same sort of fibro shithole the Boyds used to live in back home” (322). Ed can practically hear Marv’s heart as he nervously knocks on the door. Suzanne’s father, Henry, strikes Marv with blows and words, telling him that he’s brought shame on his family. Ed recognizes that Henry Boyd has suffered, but he defends his friend by pointing out the courage that it took Marv to face Henry. Ed helps Marv back to the cab, and Marv and Suzanne’s gazes meet.

A week later, Suzanne calls the taxi company and asks them to send Ed. He drives Suzanne and her daughter, Melinda, to see Marv. Suzanne despises her father and hates herself for obeying him all these years, but she loves her daughter, whom she considers “the one piece of beauty among all this ugly” (327). Suzanne asks Ed if she hates him for the pain she’s caused Marv, but he answers that they were both kids. Ed drops Suzanne and Melinda off at a playground and then brings Marv to meet them. Although Marv longs “to hold her, hug her, squeeze her” (329), he knows that he’s a stranger to his daughter, so he confines himself to shaking Melinda’s hand and pushing her on the swings. Marv smiles through his tears, and Ed thinks that his best friend’s expression is among the “the most beautiful things [he’s] ever seen” (330).

At midnight, Marv comes to Ed’s house and hugs him so tightly that Ed “can smell him and taste the joy that leaks from inside him” (330). With Marv and Ritchie’s messages delivered, Ed can focus on the final and most important message. For three nights, he watches Audrey and Simon. Simon and Ed both know that Audrey loves Ed despite her reluctance to love anyone, and Ed decides that her message is that she needs to acknowledge that love “for one moment in time” (331).

Marv asks Ed if he still needs money, and Ed answers that he never did. Ed explains all about the cards to Marv and tells his best friend, “You were in hearts” (333). Confused but happy, Marv deduces that the last message is for Audrey and wishes Ed luck.

Around dawn, Simon leaves Audrey’s house, and Ed, who has stayed up all night, knocks on her door. He has his radio with him, and they dance in her garden for three minutes to “the music of hearts” (335). Audrey doesn’t confess her love directly, but she makes her feelings for Ed clear by pointing at him and saying, “But only you, though, right?” (335). Although he knows their time together can’t last, Ed is grateful that Audrey allowed herself to love him for three minutes.

Audrey tells Ed that she’ll see him again soon, and he takes his leave because the message has been delivered. Now that he’s completed all four aces, Ed exults, tasting “freedom for the first time in months” (336). His triumph turns to dismay when he hears someone at his mailbox. Inside, he finds a playing card with his address and realizes that the final message is for him.