This book begins at Ruby Pier on Eddie's 83rd birthday. Eddie works at an amusement park operating rides and

making sure everything runs smoothly. He has a co-worker named Dominquez, Eddie instructs him to fix the ride; before

this was able to happen one of the carts from the rollercoaster breaks free from the track and falls into the pier. Eddie

notices the cart falling and a little girl in the way of being hit, when he jumped out to save her he did not get out of the way

and got killed by falling cart. Upon Eddies death he travels to heaven and meets several people. The first person he meets

is named the Blue Man, the Blue Man begins to talk to Eddie and informs him that his death was indirectly caused by

saving a child’s life. When Eddie was a child he ran into the road chasing a ball, the Blue Man was driving down the street

and swerved out of the way and hit another car, resulting in his death. The Blue Man tells Eddie that he will meet five

different people in heaven and teaches him a lesson on how lives intersect for a reason. Eddie moves on through is

journey he four more people; his former war captain from WWII, who saved him from a fire; he meets his father who

jumped into a lake to save him from drowning, and who died the next day from pneumonia. The fourth person Eddie

meets teaches him about the power of love. She explains to him that true love endures forever; and the final person Eddie

meets is an Asian girl named Tala. Tala explains to Eddie that he killed her in a fire, while he was in the military during

WWII. Everything begins to come back to Eddie as he sees the burn scars on Tala’s body. The final lesson that Tala

teaches Eddie is that his place in life was to be at Ruby Peir keeping children safe.

Summary

Inspiration Do not have to

complete a deed for a specific reason

Blue Man- First person to save Eddie

Team Building“There are no

random acts in life.” Eddie placed at Ruby

PeirCooperation from

the ‘5’ people Took a long time for

Eddie to understand the role of all of the people he met

ConfidenceNeed confidence to

complete the tasks they did.

Eddies father needed confidence to save his friend.

Common FateThe Discipline of

TeamsAll of the characters

ended up in the same place

Work together without realizing

MediatorBlue ManShowed Eddie the

ropesEvery group needs a

mediator

Family Confidence

SportsTeam building Mediator

Parents Older sibling

"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed."

"This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down."

“Holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves.”

“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.”

Quotes