I Am the Messenger Part 1 / Chapter 8 Summary

being jimmy

  • Everyone should visit dear old mom once in a while, so Ed goes round to her place. His mom has been working hard at the gas station, and is expecting company soon.
  • Plus she's returned the coffee table Ed brought over. Uh… Ed's a little annoyed because she gave him a hard time about that, but his bro Tommy told his ma (as he calls her) that she should get a cedar table instead. They're way better than pine.
  • Ed offers to get his ma stuff at the store, but she tells him he's no use when it comes to delivering stuff (or anything else in life, she seems to say).
  • He gets lost and tells us he likes being Jimmy instead of Ed.
  • Over at Milla's place, Ed reads Wuthering Heights to her and notices a note in it from Jimmy. It's from way back in 1941 and says, "my soul needs yours." Wow. No wonder Milla misses Jimmy—theirs was the truest love.
  • Milla gives Ed a slice of cake, and he's content there, playing Jimmy.
  • Back at home, Ed gets a strange phone call, asking for Jimmy. It creeps him out (us, too), but he decides to find out a little more about this Jimmy guy. His first stop? The cemetery. Ed searches the gravestones and asks the security guard for help.
  • When he comes to the grave, what he discovers majorly bums him out: Jimmy died sixty years ago, which means poor Milla has been alone all that time.
  • She's not alone now that she has Jimmy, er, Ed in her life, though.