The Five People You Meet in Heaven PDF
Preview The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom IEL- It|HYPER T ON I NE.w YORK YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU Copyright l9l3 (Renewed)B roadwayM usic Corp, Edwin H. Morris Co., Redwood Music Ltd. All rights on behalf of BroadwayM usic Corp administeredb y Sony/ATV Music Publishing,8 Music Square,N ashville,T N 37203. All rights reservedU. sed by permission. Copyright @ 2003 Mitch Albom All rights reservedN. o part of this book may be used or reproducedi n any manner whatsoeverw ithout the written permissiono f the Publisher.P rinted in the United 'V/est Stateso f America. For information address:H yperion, 77 66th Street, New York,N ew York 10023-6298. Libnry of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata Albom, Mitch. The five peopley ou meet in heaven/ Mitch Albom. P. cm. ISBN 0-7868-687r-6(a lk. paper) 1. Accident victims-Fiction. 2. Amusementp arks-Fiction. 3. Amusement rides-Fiction. 4. Future life-Fiction. 5. Aged men-Fiction. 6. Heaven- Fiction. ZDeath-Fiction. LTitle. PS3601.L335F59 2003 813'.6-dc2l 2003047888 PaperbacIkS BN-10: 1-4013-0858-9 PaperbackIS BN- 13: 978-l -4013-0 E58-2 Hyperion books are availablef or specialp romotionsa nd premiums.F or deails con- tact Michael RentasP, roprieary Markets,H yperion, 77 West6 6th Street, 12th floor, New York, New York 10023-629Eo, r call212-456-0133. FIRST PAPERBACKE DITION 20 t9 18 17 16 15 14 This bookisd edicatedto EdwardB eitchmanm, y belovedu ncle, whog avem em yf rst concepot f heavenE. veryy ear,a roundt he Thanksgivintga ble,h es pokeo f a nighti n theh ospitawl henh e awoketo seet hes ouka f hisd epartedlo yedo ness ittingont hee dge of theb ed,w aitingfir him.I never thats toryA. nd I neter firgot him. firgot Everyoneh asa n ideao f heavena,s d o mostr eligionsa, nd they shoulda ll ber especteTd.h e yersionre presentehde rei s onlya yess, a wish,i n somew ayst,h at my uncle,a ndo thersli keh im-people whof rb unimportanht ereo n edrth-realizefn, ally, howm ucht hey mattereda nd howt heyw erelo yed. The Five People You Meet in Heaven The End T*rtt ISA sroRy ABour A MAN named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem stranget o start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginningsW. e just don't know it at the time. 6\oTHEL q.STH oUR of Eddie's life was spent, like most of the others, at Ruby Pier, an amusementp ark by ^ great gray ocean.T he park had the usual aftractions,a board- walk, a Ferris wheel, roller coasters,b umper cars,a affy stand, and an arcadew here you could shoot streamso f water into a clown's mouth. It also had a big new ride called Freddy'sF ree Fall, and this would be where Eddie would be killed, in an accidentt hat would make newspa- pers around the state. lzl MrrcH ALBoM 6\0^.{TT HE TIME of his death, Eddie was a squat, white- haired old man, with a short neck,a barrel chest,t hick fore- arms,a nd a faded armyt attoo on his right shoulder.H is legs weret hin and veined now, and his left knee, wounded in the war, was ruined by arthritis. He used a canet o get around. His face was broad and cragy from the sun, with salty whiskersa nd a lowerj aw that protruded slightly,m aking him look prouder than he felt. He kept a cigaretteb ehind his left ear and a ring of keys hooked to his belt. He wore rubber- soled shoes.H e wore an old linen cap.H is pale brown uni- form suggesteda workingman, and a workingman he was. 6'oEDDIE'sJ oB wAS "maintaining" the rides, which really meant keeping them safe.E very afternoon,h e walked the park, checkingo n eacha ttraction,f rom the Tilt-A-Whirl to the Pipeline Plunge.H e looked for broken boards,l oose bolts, worn-out steel.S ometimesh e would stop: his eyes glazing over, and people walking past thought something was wrong. But he was listening, that's all. After all these yearsh e could ltear trouble, he said, in the spits and stut- ters and thrumming of the equipment. c\e\rlTH 50M INUTESle ft on earth, Eddie took his last walk along Ruby Pier. He passeda n elderly couple. "Folks," he mumbled, touching his cap. They nodded politely.C ustomersk new Eddie. At least the regular ones did. They sawh im summer after summer, FIvE PEoPLE You MEET rN HEAvEN t:] one of those facesy ou associatew ith a place.H is work shirt had a patch on the chest that read Eoote abovet he word MelNrpNeNCE, and sometimest hey would say, "Hiya, Eddie Maintenance," although he never thought that was funny. Today,i t so happened,w as Eddie's birthday, his 83rd. A docror, last week, had told him he had shingles.S hin- gles?E ddie didn't evenk now what they were.O nce, he had been strong enough to lift a carouselh orse in each arm. That wasa long time ago. 6-g"ppplE!" . . . "TAKEM E,E ddie!" . . . "Thkem e!" For{ minutes until his death. Eddie made his way to the front of the roller coasterl ine. He rode everya ttracrion at least once a week, to be certain the brakesa nd steering were solid. Today was coasterd ay-the "Ghoster Coaster" they calledt his one-and the kids who knew Eddie yelledt o get in the cart with him. Children liked Eddie. Not teenagers.G enagers gave him headaches.O ver the years, Eddie figured he'd seen everys ort of do-nothing, snarl-at-yout eenagert here was. But children wered ifferent.C hildren looked at Eddie-who, with his proffuding lower jaw, alwayss eemedt o be grinning, like a dolphin-and they uusted him. They drewi n like cold hands to a fire. They hugged his leg. They playedw ith his keys.E ddie mostly grunted, nevers ayingm uch. He figured it wasb ecauseh e didn't say much that they liked him. t+] MrrcH ALBoM Now Eddie tapped two little boys with backwardb ase- ball caps.T hey raced to the cart and tumbled in. Eddie handed his cane to the ride attendant and slowly lowered himself betweent he two. "Here we go. . . . Herew eg o!. . ." one boy squealed,a s the other pulled Eddie's arm around his shoulder.E ddie loweredt he lap bar and clack-clack-clacukp" they went. 6.e4 sroRy rorENTa round about Eddie. lfhen he wasa boy, growing up by this very samep ier, he got in an alleyf ight. Five kids from Pitkin Avenue had cornered his brother, Joe, and were about to give him a beating. Eddie was a block awalfto n a stoop, eating a sandwich.H e heard his brother scream.H e ran to the alley,g rabbeda garbagec an lid, and sent two boys to the hospital. After that, Joe didn't talk to him for months. He was ashamedJ.o e wast he oldest,t he firstborn,b ut it wasE ddie who did the fighting. o.o"cAN wE Go again,E ddie? Please?" Thirty-four minutes to live. Eddie lifted the lap bar, gave each boy a sucking candy, retrieved his cane, then limped to the maintenances hop to cool down from the summer heat. Had he known his death was imminent, he might have gone somewheree lse.I nstead,h e did what we all do. He went about his dull routine as if all the davs in the world weres till to come.
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