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Resumen Carta Cruzadas
Resumen Carta Cruzadas
the holdup
Part 1 is called "the message" (Zusak has some real beef with capitalization in
this book), and it opens in the middle of a bank robbery that isn't exactly going as
planned. It's got all the right ingredients: a gunman, a crowd of scared people,
and a nervous robber… but the robber's a little pathetic.
Ed and his friends, Marv, Audrey, and Ritchie are all there, waiting for the
gunman to do his thing.
Their biggest concern? Marv is worried about getting a ticket because he's
parked in a fifteen-minute zone. That wouldn't exactly be at the top of our list if
we were in a bank when it was robbed, but to each his own we guess.
Ed and Marv start arguing about the car. Ed's all your car stinks, man and Marv
just can't take it. So what if it's older than he is? Nobody disses his blue Falcon.
Naturally the gunman gets annoyed with all the arguing in the corner—he's
nervous it's about the robbery—so he tells them to shut it.
Robber dude has got the money and is making a run for it, but just then he
notices his getaway car pulling away… without him. So he turns to Ed and Marv.
Since they were being real wise guys before, he decides to take their car.
Marv is more than a little upset about this—that car's his baby, after all—but what
choice does he have? He hands over the keys, and the robber's on the move.
Here the thing: Marv's car is actually really old and rundown. So the robber tries
to start it again and again… and again…but no dice.
At this point, he's dropped the gun and can't get the car to start. So Ed gets up
from the bank floor and goes after him. Wait, what?
Ed's no hero or anything. He just decides to do something instead of sitting
around, though he can't explain why.
Ed fires the gun, but winds up shooting Marv's car by accident; needless to say,
his buddy is definitely not happy about this.
The cops show up, arrest the bank robber, and Ed is declared a local hero. The
only thing Marv cares about, though, is the fact that his car is more ruined than it
already was.
Then Ed tells us he gets a message that changes everything. We don't learn
anything more about it, but boy are we interested.
pieces
After discovering the rape on Edgar Street, Ed's not so sure he likes the
messages on this card he's been sent. He tells no one what he saw.
One day at work, Audrey tells Ed to be careful; her words stay with him after they
go off to drive their cabs.
He wonders if the other addresses will be like the first one and, understandably,
hopes not.
Ed's out shopping when he hears the voice of a mom talking to her child—it stops
Ed dead in his tracks. It's the woman from Edgar Street.
He asks the little girl if she's okay, and she lies that she is.
Ed promises to do something about their terrible situation. Cue dramatic music.
harrison avenue
Ed chickens out again on Edgar Street. He's not sure what he can do, so he tells
himself it will all work out even though he knows he's lying.
There are still two more addresses on the card, so he decides he'll go to the next
one, and talks to the Doorman to build himself up.
While playing cards with his friends over at Audrey's, he imagines being with
Audrey. He doesn't just want to take her to bed, though—he also wants her to
want him. Aw. But that's not going to happen.
Marv asks Ed what happened with the Ace of Diamonds, and Ed tells them he
threw it away. Sure ya did, buddy.
Next up: 13 Harrison Avenue. Ed's a little scared to check this one out, but he's
relieved when he gets there—it's just some old lady in her house.
She closes the curtains. She drinks tea. She's not even remotely threatening like
the other house was. But she sure is lonely.
For something different, Ed plays cards with his friends again. He's feeling pretty
confident about the Ace of Diamonds now.
Ed goes to the Cheesecake Shop to get a cake to take over to the old lady. He
bumps into the girl who worked behind the counter during the bank robbery;
apparently she quit the bank and now works here. The two chit-chat for a bit, and
then Ed is off.
He arrives at the old lady's house and isn't quite sure what to expect—so when
she calls him Jimmy and invites him in for dinner, he just goes with it.
Let's face it: Ed's not really sure who this guy is, or what the story is, but he
wants to comfort the old lady. It turns out her name is Milla Johnson, and she
sure misses Jimmy.
Ed plays along and promises to come back; when he gets home, he and the
Doorman have a coffee and Ed calls himself Jimmy too.
He laughs and feels good about himself… or about being a messenger, we
should say.
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.
aftermath
Welcome to Part 2, a.k.a. 'The Stones of Home"—a section which Zusak has
deemed merits capitalization.
Ed thinks about the man's body hitting the ground and the gun. He's back at his
place now with the Doorman, thinking through what happened.
Ring, ring. It's the phone again, and Ed worries it's the people sending him on
these message trips—but it's just Marv calling to give him a hard time about the
Annual Sledge Game.
Ed tries to forget what happened with the man, but fails; then he tries to sleep.
When he goes over to Marv's, he tells his best bud he's in for the game. Marv is
excited.
Ed has the next day off, so he goes walking. He sees Sophie and she tells him
she misses him, and he checks in with her to make sure she's still running
barefoot. Yep.
Then he talks to his dog, and surprisingly, his old buddy doesn't talk back
(because he's, well, a dog).
Ed feeds the Doorman an ice cream as he waits for the next ace. He's sore
because of what happened at the Cathedral with the man the other night.
He lets us in on his dirty little secret: it was attempted murder. Hmmm… that
makes us wonder what happened, but he doesn't tell us.
the visit
A few days have passed, and nothing has happened. Ed begins to wonder if
anything will happen.
He passes the time by thinking back to what happened with the man from Edgar
Street…
One night Ed returns home after playing cards to find two balaclava-clad men in
his house eating pies, and before he can decide what to do, the men knock him
down and drag him through the kitchen.
By the way, your dog has fleas and needs a bath, one of them tells Ed. They
gave him a pie though. When Ed asks if it was cooked, they're offended, and say
they're not savages. (Gee, he was thrown off by the fact that they broke in to his
house.)
These two clowns call each other by name (Daryl and Keith) and tell Ed he's
been ungrateful. Ed figures out they're connected to the messages, and asks
who they work for.
Daryl and Keith don't answer, but they do tell him this is all for the greater good.
What is this, some sort of terrible trust exercise?
The guys joke around, complain about their balaclavas itching, and are all around
not your average hit men.
Daryl and Keith take the gun from Ed, then they deliver a message of their own:
he's doing a great job so far. And they let it slip that they already know he didn't
kill the Edgar Street guy. Whoops.
The last thing they do before leaving is give Ed another envelope.
the envelope
Once Daryl and Keith have left, Ed gets up off the floor. He grabs the envelope,
worried it might send him on more dangerous assignments like Edgar Street.
He opens it anyway, and inside he finds a letter and an Ace of Clubs. The letter
tells Ed a couple of things: (1) he's doing well; (2) they know he didn't kill Edgar
Street, but they like how he handed it anyway; (3) that scum bag got on a train to
never return; and (4) here's the Ace of Clubs, and good luck because it's no
picnic. Can you handle it?
Challenge accepted. Ed looks at the card, ready for his next set of addresses,
but instead he finds these words: "say a prayer at the stones of home." What
does thatmean?
Confused and annoyed, Ed leaves the card on the coffee table; he doesn't know
what to make of it.
He pets the Doorman and realizes his head is bleeding. He should probably go
fix that.
just ed
Ed needs help, which is pretty understandable since he's receiving random
messages on cards and doesn't even know how to interpret them and all. So he
heads over to Audrey's.
When he gets there she's entertaining a male friend who asks who's at the door.
"Just Ed," Audrey replies.
Ouch. Ed takes it hard. He doesn't like being "just Ed" so he turns and leaves,
but Audrey calls after him and says she'll stop by later.
Ed wishes he were the guy in there with Audrey; he wishes he were more than
"just Ed" to her.
Back at home, Ed thinks about the aces and imagines he has a full set, which
would be a great hand… except that he's not playing a game.
Audrey comes over as promised, and has about a million questions about the
first card.
He tells her all about reading to Milla, getting Sophie to run, and… he's guilty
about what happened with the Edgar Street guy. He finally tells us (or Audrey, to
be exact) what went down. He took the guy up to the Cathedral and stuffed the
gun in his face; then he told him to leave town and never come back. Guns can
be pretty persuasive.
But Audrey isn't convinced that was the best move. She asks Ed if that guy
deserved what he got, and he gets ticked off.
It's kind of tense now, so Audrey breaks the ice by telling Ed he's her bestie. How
sweet.
Ed tells us those words could kill a man. Then he rests with her next to him and
tries to decide what to do next.
the stones
Ed goes about his mundane life. He drives, drops the cab off, walks home, has a
coffee with the Doorman, then goes and plays cards with his friends. Repeat.
He's thinking about the next card, but he doesn't even know where to begin; even
when he's playing cards, his mind wanders to the Ace of Clubs.
Marv mentions that chick he used to date—Suzanne Boyd—and Ed wants to ask
more about her, but he doesn't. Why? He's not really sure what to say.
Then Ed asks Marv what he would do if he had to be somewhere right now, but
didn't know where. Marv isn't much help (who would be with that question?) and
says he'd be frustrated.
Ed starts searching for the stone of home on maps, but it's no good; then he
reads to Milla and watches Sophie run again.
One night he picks up a guy in his cab at 4 a.m. who asks to be driven home. Ed
isn't really sure where that is, but the guy is demanding.
Ed drives, and thinks this guy is connected to the messages. The man tells Ed to
pull over, then runs off without paying—so naturally, Ed follows him to get his
money for the ride.
As Ed is chasing after the guy, he worries someone will steal his cab—he left the
keys inside, so he's practically begging for it.
He stops running, though, when he sees stones that he used to run past with his
brother, Tommy. They have three names carved in them: Thomas O'Reilly, Angie
Carusso, and Gavin Rose. Bingo.
Back at the car, Ed's cab is still there, and the keys are too. Phew.
the priest
Ed has no idea who these people are, so he searches the phone book. He finds
two O'Reillys listed, so he heads to the first house. There he asks the man if he's
Thomas O'Reilly, but this guy's name is Tony—Thomas is his bro who lives on
Henry St.
Wait a minute, Tony says. Why do you want to know, anyhow? Ed tells the truth:
he's not really sure what he wants with Thomas yet.
As Ed leaves, Tony asks if he can pass along a message to his brother (who's a
priest, by the way). Sure, Ed says. Here is the message: greed hasn't swallowed
me up yet.
Cut to Ed talking on the phone with his brother Tommy. He wants to know if he's
the one sending the cards. His logic is that Tommy's the only one who knew
about the stones.
After Tommy assures Ed that it's not him, they exchange a couple words and
hang up.
Ed's going out to—what else—play cards with his friends, but on the way there,
he decides to stop to see this priest.
As he's walking to O'Reilly's place, someone asks him for a cigarette, and his
jacket. Nice neighborhood, priest.
Over at Ritchie's, Ed and his friends play cards and Ed wins.
Audrey goes out of her way to smooth things over with Ed, and once things are
cool between them again, they talk about the cards.
Ed points out that whoever's behind this seems to know him well, which Audrey
finds strange because no one knows him well.
Ed heads over to Father O'Reilly's and is invited in for coffee. The guy is
welcoming, kind, and really down to earth, which isn't at all what Ed expected
from a priest.
Father O'Reilly helps settle a fight outside. It's clear that this guy's good news to
the community.
After some random small talk, Ed finally gets down to business. He tells the
priest that he's there for a purpose… he's just not sure what it is yet.
We're not sure what we would say to such a cryptic message from a stranger, but
Father O'Reilly takes it all in stride, and tells Ed to have faith and things will work
out.
Then he takes Ed outside and introduces him to the locals; O'Reilly tells them not
to bother Ed for cigarettes or his jacket. This guy's cool.
Just as he's leaving, Ed remembers the message from the priest's brother and
delivers it to him.
The guy is obviously moved by the message, but Ed's not really sure how.
When Ed gets to Marv's place, his friends are watching Baywatch; He asks them
if they'd be up for going to church with him on Sunday. It's clear they aren't really
the church-going type, but Ritchie agrees. Why not? It could be fun—or funny. So
the others pile on, too.
Later Ed's mom calls to remind him to call his sister for her birthday. Whoops—
he totally forgot. He's not winning brother of the year anytime soon, and even has
to call his mom back to get his sister's phone number.
On Sunday, Ed, Marv, Ritchie, and Audrey all go to Father O'Reilly's church.
There aren't many people there, though, and it's pretty depressing.
After the service Ed introduces Father O'Reilly to his friends. Marv says he won't
come to church again, but the priest takes it well.
Then it hits Ed: O'Reilly needs his church to be full. Now if only he can get more
people to attend.
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.