I Am the Messenger Part 2 / Chapter 8 Summary

juveniles

  • Ed thinks about how to get people into the pews at O'Reilly's church. Duh: free beer. No one can turn up a no-cost pint, and Ed is so proud of his idea that he runs to tell Father O'Reilly.
  • There's just one problem, though: the church doesn't have money to buy beer. Darn.
  • Ed is glued to his plan, so he decides he'll raise five hundred bucks to get it done—O'Reilly is surprised, but Ed tells him to have a little faith.
  • Next step: get the word out. What good is free beer is no one comes? So Ed decides he'll just spray-paint the message on Main Street. That should do it.
  • Marv helps him do the job, and when the cops come round to the priest, the guy claims to know nothing about it.
  • Then the cops come to Ed's house and tell him to clean the spray paint off. Ed says he will, and then he asks the cops if they're planning on going to the shindig that Sunday at the church. Heck yeah, they are. It looks like the plan is working.
  • Ed has a meeting with Father O'Reilly about the big day. The priest thanks Ed for setting this up, and becomes the second person Ed helps who calls him a saint.
  • Ed visits Milla and asks her to come on Sunday; then he visits Tony and invites him. His brother sure would like to see him there, Ed tells Tony.
  • Tony's in the middle of dealing with his kids fighting with one another, but says he might make it Sunday.
  • The day has finally arrived and all of Ed's friends get ready to go to the church. Ed borrows Marv's beat up car to take Milla, which Marv gives him grief about since Ed is always mocking it.
  • At church, Father O'Reilly busts out a gnarly tune on his harmonica; the crowd goes wild and O'Reilly starts preaching. It's not the usual fire and brimstone church stuff either, and instead it's all about people helping other people out. He closes out by praying.
  • It's barbecue time, and Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey all help Ed out with the food and beer.
  • Ed notices that Tony did show up, and he's sitting down talking to his brother. The day seems like a complete success.