Not you...
Not you!
Get it out...
- Go ahead. - Not you!
The story of the tragedy at Ruby Pier...
was in the newspapers for several days.
Then other stories took its place.
Well, pretty tidy for an old guy.
Are you surprised?
Don't think we'll find any bank statements in there.
It's the same apartment Eddie grew up in.
I don't know why he never moved out.
You'd think he'd want some air conditioning.
You'd think he'd want a change of scenery.
There's the soldier boy.
Hey, Eddie.
Happy birthday, son.
Here's your cake.
Happy birthday...
Happy birthday, Eddie.
Joe, you got matches?
Here you go...
Alright...
Good job.
You're alright, son.
So he looks pretty good, all things considered, don't he Pop?
You look really good, son...
Really, you look good, Eddie.
You bastard! How could you do that?
- How could you do that? - Get it out.
My leg! My leg!
- My life! - Get it out...
My life! Why?
- I had to. - Why? Why?
I took your leg to save your life.
You would have died in that fire.
You were obsessed.
You damn near knocked Morton unconscious.
Another second and you woulda been so deep in...
none of us could have gotten you.
There was nobody in that hut... what was I thinking?
I seen it happen a hundred times.
A soldier reaches a certain point and he's done.
Sometimes, in the dead of night...
a man'll just come out of his tent just start walking...
like he lives around the corner, like he's going home.
- Why didn't I just die? - Wasn't your time to die.
I couldn't just let you burn alive.
I figured a leg wound would heal...
Morton pulled you out of there.
And the others got you home.
What do you mean 'the others' got me home?
It's just like I told you. Tetanus? Yellow fever?
I'm gonna blow that lock and check around the curve.
Keep an eye out.
Hang on, Eddie!
Hold on, okay?
We're going home.
You wanna go home, don't ya? Eddie! Look at me!
Hey! Look at me! Look at me! Eyes open!
That's one of ours...
Captain?
I don't remember none of this...
I figure what was left of me...
landed in about a thousand places.
Including here.
This is where you're buried?
That's a fancy way of saying it, but yeah.
This was my 'funeral'...
Smitty, Morton... I never saw them at the hospital.
When I got home, I didn't open mail.
I didn't ask questions. I just wanted to forget.
You've been here all this time?
Waitin' for you.
That's what the Blue Man said.
Well, he was, too.
But he had something to teach you...
and now he's moved on.
And I'm fixing to do the same. 89
So...
What are you here?
Sacrifice.
I made one. You made one.
But you had the wrong idea about yours.
You got angry. Kept thinking about what you lost.
You didn't get it.
Sacrifice ain't something to be ashamed of.
It's something to be proud of.
If people stop sacrificing for one another...
they lose what makes them human.
It's the noblest thing we do.
But you lost everything.
Well, that's the thing about sacrifice.
Sometimes when you think you're losing something...
you're really just passing it on to someone else.
Forgive me about the leg?
That's what I was waiting for.
- Captain. - Yeah?
Why this place?
I mean, you can choose anywhere to wait... right?
Well, I died knowing almost nothing but war.
I wanted to see what the world looked like...
before we started killing each other...
Before war. But this is war.
Our eyes ain't the same, soldier.
This is what I see.
By the way, I don't smoke.
That was all in your eyes, too.
Who smokes in heaven?
This is yours...
Well...
Good luck.
Wait...
Wait. The little girl at the pier, did I save her?
I can't remember. I only felt...
her hands. Her little hands.
I just wanna know, that's all.
I can't tell you.
But someone can.
Come on! Let's get some ice off the truck!
C'mon, Eddie!
C'mon, you can hit it, let's go!
Give it a ride, Eddie! Murder the ball!
Eddie can't hit it past the first sewer!
Strike him out.
Go kid.
Keep going, kid. Keep going!
Got these for you.
You should call her.
She waited for you, Eddie.
Your brother Joe called.
He starts that sales job tomorrow...
Your father says there might be some work at Ruby Pier.
Help you get some money for engineering classes.
Not Ruby Pier.
What's that?
I ain't working at Ruby Pier.
All those people I know...
I don't feel like it, Ma. OK?
Yeah ok.
Shut the door, will ya?
Digby rocks back and fires, here's a strike called...
and the count is strike one on him...
He just needs a little time.
He needs to get off his high horse, that's what he needs.
Working at the pier ain't good enough for him?
Stop it! After what he's been through.
How the hell you know what he's been through?
- He don't even talk. - Look at him.
Do you ever look at him?
Something awful happened over there!
Well, something awful happens every day.
I go now.
Get up, and get a job!
Go to bed, Pop.
Get up, and get a job!
You're drunk, Pop.
Get up, and get a job!
That it, you think you're better than me?
Get up, get a job, get up, get a job...
Enough!
See? You ain't so hurt.
You ain't so hurt, and you ain't so tough...
not so I can't whip you like I used to.
No more...
Eddie's third heaven was a place he'd never seen before.
His body was decaying...
and his soul was growing restless.
Is it fixed?
I'm here, Pop! I'm here! Look at me!
I'm here! Look at me!
- Look at me! - He can't hear you.
Don't be angry.
My father's in there!
Well, he's not really here.
It's only his spirit, safe from harm.
That's part of my heaven.
Why does my father have to be safe for you?
Would you like me to explain?
No.
- Where are you going? - I wanna go home...
- Come with me. - No.
Edward...
Can I see earth again?
I'm afraid not.
Then can I go back, to my life? Can I promise to be better?
Why do you want to go back?
Why? Why?
Because you... this...
none of it makes no sense to me, that's why.
Heaven. Where are the people...
you're supposed to see in heaven...
My brother... my brother died before me...
my mother...
I had friends...
I can't even remember my own end.
There was this little girl. The cart was falling...
I felt her little hands...
- And that was when I... - Passed away?
Went to the other side?
Met your maker?
Died.
What do you remember? About that moment when you died?
Floating.
And colors. Colors like I'd never seen.
No offence lady, but I don't know you.
But I know you...
if you have a spare moment for me, now...
The Seaside... I remember this old place.
They tore it down years ago...
There I am...
I was pretty.
- You worked here? - Yes, why?
You don't seem... the waitress type.
Well, I wasn't always well-to-do.
My family was poor.
I left school early to work.
Until Emil.
He came to the diner every morning.
And he ate such big breakfasts.
'Oh, what a big appetite he has! ' I thought.
But Emil's appetite was for more than just food.
Well, I was pretty in those days.
And Emil...
he was so charming and adventurous.
And rich.
Oh, my what a big fortune he had.
You've seen these pictures?
They were in the old files in the workshop.
Most of it was before my time.
Things that come before your time can still affect you.
Even if they are in the 'old files'...
He loved those seaside fun parks.
He asked me to marry him in one.
When I said yes...
he promised he would capture that moment forever.
So he built his monument...
a place where children could always be children...
and adults never had to grow up.
He brought in animals, and clowns...
a carousel from France, and a Ferris Wheel from Germany...
and his piece-de-resistance...
the entrance.
Oh, it was grand!
'Sweetheart' he said...
'everyone who comes through these gates...
will have to pass under your gaze.'
I don't understand.
The name!
Weren't you ever curious about the name?
The place where you worked? Where your father worked?
All those years? Ruby Pier?
Up here.
I am Ruby.
Man, this feels weird...
Maybe this is something...
Lemon Fizz...
Damn! A Bronze Star!
This ain't right.
Forget these insurance people.
Bad enough what happened.
Yeah let him rest in peace.
Lay off the kid, already! That's enough!
Don't you tell me what's enough. He's gotta learn a lesson. 270
Dad, please, don't, no please don't do it...
- Stop it! - Quiet!
No, Dad, I promise, I won't do it again, please, stop...
- Oh my lord. - What's that smoke?
No, don't do this... don't do this!
What is it?
I remember this fire. Burned down half the park.
In those days, everything was made of lathe and tar.
Our pier was like a matchbook...
I begged Emil not to go.
But of course he went.
He wanted to save his gift to me.
They say he was...
trying to save the grand entrance...
with my painting on it...
when it collapsed.
There was no insurance.
That was my Emil. The risk taker.
That one night, we lost everything.
But they rebuilt the park. I remember...
Someone else, not us.
Emil was in the hospital for months.
It took most of our savings.
Even so, he didn't want to sell it. Can you imagine that?
But I sold it.
To a rich railroad man. He kept the name.
I didn't care.
We moved away...
and I tended to my beloved husband...
and I nurtured one impossible wish.
What wish was that?
That he'd never built that place.
I had that thought a few times myself.
I had dreams when I was a kid.
Thought I'd be an engineer.
But my father used to tell me...
'the world is divided into somebodys and nobodys, Eddie...
and there's a lot more nobodys'.
He made sure I was one of them.
Eddie, your father is not the reason...
that you never left Ruby Pier.
Oh no? What is?
You still have two more people to meet, dear.
No, lady. I can meet a thousand people...
that ain't gonna change. That pier...
that dumb job, was the last trick he pulled on me.
How?
By dying.
Eddie?
Eddie!
It's your father!
He collapsed. They took him to the hospital.
Oh, god. It's my fault!
It's my fault!
Her fault? He came home one night...
four in the morning, soaking wet...
probably drunk as a skunk. And he gets pneumonia.
And it was her fault?
But that's how he was, my old man.
You were always the one doing something wrong.
Never him.
I took over his shifts while he was in the hospital.
I worked nights, weekends, so he wouldn't lose his job.
And then he died on me.
My mother never did accept it.
She kept talking to him like he was still alive.
One night, I went over to see her...
I said, 'Ma, you want I should put these dishes away? ' 336
No, Eddie. Your father will do it.
Ma...
Dad's gone.
Gone where?
I moved back in here the next week.
And I took that job to be around...
to take care of my mother. I became my old man...
And I never left.
What's happening?
You don't really know how your father died.
What are you talking about?
What's he doing here?
He's been fired. Drinking.
He came looking for your father. But your father wasn't here.
Your mother is going to get dressed... 351
to help him find your father.
No... don't you move, you bastard!
- This happened long ago. - No!
What are you doing? No! You don't want to do this!
What the hell is going on?
Come here!
- I'm all right... - What did he do?
I'm alright. Don't do it! Don't!
Why didn't he let him drown?
- Why didn't he kill him? - He wanted to.
But years ago, they fought in the war together.
Mickey helped him get his first job.
Your father held loyalty in very high regard.
In the end, it mattered more than his rage.
So he saved a life...
instead of taking one.
Pneumonia...
He fought the ocean for a long time.
Sometimes, he would cry out. For your mother.
For your brother. Or for you.
For me?
How do you know that?
There were two patients to a room.
Your father died in the middle of the night.
Again, I cursed Ruby Pier.
I wished I could undo any harm it had ever caused.
That wish formed my heaven.
I don't understand. This old diner?
This old diner is more than a place.
It's a time.
When things were simpler.
But those people inside?
They were all hurt.
Well...
Accidents. Fights.
Fires. I would have none of it.
My heaven would be a place where...
anyone who ever suffered from Ruby Pier...
even for a moment would be safe forever.
Your father, too.
- I hated him, you know. - I know.
He was hell on me as a kid.
And even worse when I got older.
Once he couldn't hit me no more...
he stopped talking to me altogether.
Eddie.
We think by hating someone we hurt them...
but hatred is a curved blade.
And the harm we do to others...
we also do to ourselves.
Why is everything so different than I thought?
Well, when you first got here...
do you remember how you felt? 409
I had... no pain.
No worry.
No hate.
That's because no one is born with anger.
We build it over the years, with the things we don't say...
with the things we bury.
When we die, the soul is freed of it...
Free to see the truth.
So, what do I gotta do?
You need to forgive your father.
Dad?
I'm here now...
I saw what happened.
I didn't understand you.
I still don't. You beat me. You humiliated me.
I was your son!
Look at me, Pop...
I'm older than you...
I didn't know your life. I didn't know you.
But I understand now. I'm letting it go. All right?
Do we let it go?
I forgive you, OK? You hear me?
I forgive you dad...
I forgive you.
It's fixed.
How old was the deceased?
I dunno. It was his birthday.
What can you tell me about...
You mean about Eddie? About what was he like?
He was great.
You know, he'd do little things for you sometimes...
help you out.
Don't get me wrong, he was a tough old goat.
Everything had to be safe.
'Make it safe, Dom.' 'Grease them tracks, Dom.
Tighten them bolts, Dom.'
How about... personally?
Personally?
I know Eddie loved his wife very much.
Of course, I never met her.
To the beautiful bride, Marguerite...
and to the lucky groom, Eddie, my kid brother...
who figured out you can get a restaurant cheap...
on Christmas eve!
To the bride and groom everyone!
To the bride and groom!
I'm sorry we couldn't afford more...
It's all I ever wanted.
Come on, Eddie. We love this song.
- Ah, please... - No, I can't...
You know I can't move around.
Alright... alright.
- They're staring at me. - I don't care.
You're alive, and you're here.
And I love you.
I don't worry
Whenever skies Are gray above
Gotta pocketful of rainbows
Gotta a heart full of love
Mister heartache
Happy birthday honey!
I found a way To make you believe
Gotta a pocketful of rainbows
Kiss me extra tender
Honey...
Hold me extra tight
It's not easy finding a watch with a Ferris Wheel, you know.
'Cause I'm saving Your sweetness
For a lonely night
So, you like it? 475
No more teardrops
Of course I like it.
Now that I found a love so true
I could never wear something like that.
If you did, the fellas wouldn't look at anyone else.
Eddie?
Want some water?
You're my fourth person?
It can't be...
Can it be... Marguerite?
For the bitter and the sweet?
Your hair. It's white.
I can't stop staring. I'm sorry.
Eddie.
Have you forgotten so quickly what I look like?
I never forgot that.
All weddings. That was my choice.
I can go from one to another, all over the world.
When the groom lifts the veil, when the bride takes the ring...
it never changes.
They always believe their love will break all the records.
Did we have that at our wedding?
We had an accordion player.
Your leg...
It's getting worse, it was good when I got here.
So... you... went through this whole thing, too?
- You met five people? - Yes.
And it made a difference?
It made all the difference.
And then I came here to wait for you.
My sweetheart.
How much do you know since you died?
Well, I remember everything that happened...
when we were together.
And now I know why it happened.
And I know that you loved me dearly.
But I don't know how you died.
There was this little girl. One of the rides a new one...
not like the ones we used to have...
everything goes a million miles an hour now...
but this ride, I never trusted it, it drops a cart, see...
and somehow the cable, it snapped...
I don't know how, it just snapped...
and this little girl, she was underneath it...
and I went to push her out of the way...
I grabbed her hands, and then...
that's all I remember...
I felt her little hands and then everything went black.
I tried, I tried, but I don't know...
if I failed...
I ain't talked this much since I been here.
Oh, God, Marguerite...
I can't say...
565
- What? - I missed you so much.
I'm a soldier.
Are you OK, Eddie?
Yeah... it's nothing, honey...
That dream again?
You want me to fix you something?
- It's four in the morning. - It's all right I don't mind...
Get some sleep, honey... 572
What happened during the war?
- You never told me. - I couldn't tell you.
We had to survive. We did what we had to do, I guess.
But I was never the same. It was like...
all the things I had wanted, I couldn't see 'em anymore.
I felt stuck... I should have made us a better life.
I should of gotten us out of there, the pier...
I loved the pier.
I lost myself...
I'm sorry.
No.
Marguerite?
Do you think God knows I'm here?
Of course.
Why do you ask?
I dunno. I guess part of my life I was hiding from him...
And the rest?
The rest I just figured he didn't know I existed.
The wine, wine's good, huh?
Were you sorry about anything?
With us, I mean?
I was sorry we couldn't have children.
We had lots of 'em around, though.
And you?
Were you sorry about anything with us?
Yeah. I was sorry it didn't last longer.
- I'll make some tea. - I'll get it.
You had to live without love for many years didn't you?
You felt that it was snatched away.
That I left you too soon.
You did leave too soon.
There was a reason to it all.
What reason? You died.
You died and you lost everything...
And I lost everything...
I lost the only woman I ever loved.
No you didn't.
I was right here.
And you loved me anyhow.
Lost love is still love, Eddie.
It takes a different form, that's all.
You can't hold their hands...
you can't tousle their hair.
But when those senses weaken, another one comes to life.
Memory.
Memory becomes your partner. You hold it.
You dance with it.
Life has to end, Eddie.
Love doesn't.
- I never wanted anyone else. - I know.
- I'm still in love with you. - I know. I felt it.
You felt it? Here?
Even here.
I want to show you something.
I was saving this one.
Dance with me, Eddie.
May I ask you something?
How come you look the way you looked...
the day I married you?
Because I thought you would like it this way.
Can you change it?
Change it? To what?
To the end.
But I wasn't so pretty at the end. 652
Can you?
I don't want go on. I want to stay here.
No...
Not again...
Tala.
649
Tala?
Baro.
Saya.
Loser.
Washing.
Like our Inas do.
Inas?
Mommies.
Where are your Mommies?
These? These are pipe cleaners.
I keep 'em for the kids at the Pier.
Here...
Look, see...
There.
You like that, huh?
You burn me.
What did you say?
You make me fire.
I don't understand...
My Ina say hide. Hide in nipa.
My Ina say she come back.
What were you hiding from, little girl?
Sundalong.
Soldier.
Come out!
I'm a soldier!
Tala...
Why are you in Heaven?
You burn me you make me fire.
You were the shadow... the shadow in the hut...
Ina say she come back.
Ina say Tala be safe.
You burn me. Not safe.
Oh, God, oh no...
I killed you... I killed you...
Forgive me dear Lord, forgive me... 688
all this time...
those dreams.
Forgive me! I didn't know...
I didn't know...
why didn't I know...
No... No...
You wash me.
I don't know how...
Five.
Five?
You're five years old?
You're my fifth person...
Why are you sad?
Why am I sad?
Where? Here?
On Earth?
I was sad because...
I didn't do anything with my life.
Because...
I always felt trapped by the things that were happening...
I wasn't where I was supposed to be.
Do you understand that?
It is where you supposed to be.
Where? Ruby Pier? Fixing rides?
Why?
Why was I supposed to be there?
Children. You keep them safe.
You make good for me. Every day.
You make good for me.
Is where you are supposed to be...
Eddie Main'nance.
- Tala? - Tala.
There was a little girl. At the pier. The day I died.
Do you know who I'm talking about?
Did I save her? Just tell me. Did I pull her out of the way?
No pull. Push. You push her away.
Big thing fall. You keep her safe.
No... I felt her hands...
I couldn't have pushed... I felt her little hands...
Not her hands. My hands.
I bring you to heaven.
Keep you safe.
All the accidents Eddie had prevented...
all the lives he had kept safe.
And all their children...
and all their children's children... 738
there because of the simple things that he did...
day after day.
This is the story of a man named Eddie...
who lived and died...
and would one day himself share the secret of heaven:
That each life affects the other...
and the other affects the next...
and the world is full of stories...
but the stories are all one.