The Five People you Meet in Heaven

Book Report 1

Five People You Meet in Heaven

Eddie celebrated his fifth birthday with his family at the Ruby pier There were picnic tables at the boardwalk where his father worked as part of the maintenance crew . While his father was engaged in a card game , Eddie pretended to be a cowboy and started shooting at his dad 's coworkers with his new toy gun . Mickey Shea , one of the coworkers decided to give Eddie the traditional Irish head bumps . He grabbed Eddie by the feet and hanged him upside down

, slowly lowering Eddie 's head to the floor once for each of Eddie 's years . After five bumps , Mickey flipped Eddie right-side up and laughed as the kid wobbly reached for his cowboy hat . Eddie , in retaliation , punched Mickey in the arm and ran away until he is caught by his mother 's arms . His mother placed the cowboy hat back on Eddie 's head . Later , his mother told Eddie how proud God is because he had been good during his birthday and that made Eddie feel good again Eddie 's 24th birthday was spent in a hospital , with bandages on his burns and a long cast on one of his legs . He had obtained the injuries during the war . Eddie 's family , along with Mickey Shea and Marguerite gathered around him , singing him the Happy Birthday song while he was sleeping . Eddie awoke with a curse because he had forgotten where he was . After a brief awkward moment , his mother continued the song and presented him his birthday cake . Eddie was embarrassed with his situation but tried to hide his feelings even though he felt that his father was ashamed of his predicament .Book Report 2

Eddie woke up from a nightmare and was now 33 years old . For the past years , his experience during the war had given him the same nightmare over and over again . He dreamt about the burning village huts in the Philippines , engulfing flames and high-pitched squeals that he did not understand . The nightmare torments him , making him feel depressed throughout the day . He returned home that same day , after a day 's work as a taxi driver , and saw that his wife had prepared cake and taffy for his birthday . However , a knock on the door disrupted the celebration as Eddie found out that something had happened to his father

It was Eddie 's 37th birthday and he was having breakfast with Noel , who worked for a dry cleaning service in charge of the park 's maintenance uniforms . Eddie was now part of the maintenance crew , fixing rides like what his father used to do . They talked about the incident at Brighton amusement park where a gondola ride snapped and a mother and child fell 60 feet below . Eddie commented that people should be more careful because what they do can affect other people . He thought about his job for that day and felt the weight of responsibility and his worries...