The captain then leaves, and Eddie finds himself going to the next person he was meant to meet in heaven.Įddie meets Ruby, a kind woman who married a wealthy man with a fascination for amusement parks. The captain says that he sacrificed his life for his men, but he was able to fulfill his promise to get them all out alive. Eddie is angry until he learns that the captain was killed that same night when he stepped on a landmine that was buried in the path of the transport vehicle the soldiers were using to escape.Įddie is filled with regret for the captain’s fate, but the captain tells him that sacrifice is sometimes a necessary part of life. Unfortunately, the wound to Eddie’s leg left him with a permanent limp. The captain believed Eddie was suffering from battle fatigue and shooting him was the only way to get him out alive. Eddie learns that it was the captain who shot him.

Eddie is burned trying to enter the building, and then he is shot in the leg. When Eddie lights one building on fire, he believes he sees a figure moving inside. Once they are free, the soldiers decide to burn down the village. Eddie played an important role in their escape, using juggling skills to first distract and then attack the four enemy soldiers. He meets his former captain who reminds him of the six months during which he, the captain, and three other soldiers were held captive by four Filipino soldiers. The Blue Man explains that for every life saved, another life is taken.Īfter the Blue Man leaves, Eddie arrives outside a small village he recalls from his time in the Philippines during World War II. The Blue Man had a heart attack brought on by the adrenaline of the near accident. The Blue man tells Eddie that he caused the Blue Man’s death when as a nearly eight-year-old boy, he ran out in front of the Blue Man’s car while chasing a baseball. This man tells Eddie that he will meet five people who will help him understand certain moments of his life. He meets a man from the sideshow tent, The Blue Man. He rushes to get her out of the way, dying as the car hits him.Įddie arrives in heaven and finds himself back at Ruby Pier, but the Ruby Pier he remembers from his childhood. As the car begins to fall, Eddie spots a young girl standing too close to the tracks. Dominguez cannot hear him over the crowd. When he realizes the cable has unraveled, he shouts for Dominquez to not release the car. He gives instructions to his coworker, Dominguez, and runs the mechanics of the ride through his mind, trying to figure out what went wrong. Midway through his day, Eddie is drawn to Freddy’s Free Fall where one of the cars has come off the track at the top of the free fall tower. Eddie works as the head of maintenance at Ruby Pier, an amusement park by the ocean, where it is his responsibility to make sure the rides run safely. This guide refers to the 2018 Hachette Book Group, Inc e-book.

The five people you meet