I Am the Messenger: 3 of Diamonds Summary & Analysis

Ed looks over the articles about the bank robbery, which disappointingly exaggerate his heroism. His Ma comes over and tells him she’s proud of him for once in his life. One evening some time later, Ed comes home and finds an envelope in his mailbox. He doesn’t think to open it until later that night, but when he picks up the envelope again, he feels a strange power surrounding it. Shivering, Ed opens the envelope and discovers a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds, inside.

Three addresses and times are written on the card. Ed looks out the window but sees no one outside. He stands holding the card and ponders if his friends, or fate, sent him the card. The phone rings and Ed excitedly picks it up, believing the caller will answer his questions. Instead, his Ma is calling. She swears at Ed for forgetting he promised to help her pick up a coffee table that day. Ma continues ranting at him, but Ed ignores her as he stares at the card in wonder. He no longer feels like the worthless cabdriver, because the card was given to him specifically.

Ed returns his focus to the conversation and promises to help his Ma tomorrow. Before she hangs up, he asks her if she sent him the card. His mom responds by yelling at him further for forgetting about the coffee table. Ed remains calm, as he always does in the face of his mom’s anger, even though she is never this angry with any of her other children. Ma tells Ed to “piss off” before she hangs up.

After getting off the phone, Ed chastises himself for forgetting about the coffee table. Then he forces himself instead to focus on the card. He knows the sender must know him, because they clearly know he plays cards. However, he thinks Marv’s too stupid and Ritchie isn’t the type to scheme like this. He also doesn’t think Audrey is a likely suspect. He wonders if someone saw him playing cards with his friends out on his front porch.

Ed can’t sleep and, in the morning, he looks up the addresses on the card. One is a rundown house, the other is old but well-kept, and the other address is in the wealthy part of town. That night, at a card game, Ed tells his friends about the mail and asks if any of them are responsible. Marv answers that he’s too dumb, and Ritchie says that he himself is too lazy.

Audrey claims she did not send the card, but she has a theory about why the card was sent to Ed in the first place. She believes whoever sent the card read about Ed stopping the bank robbery in the paper and decided the town needs a person like Ed. From this, she determines that Ed will witness something at each address and then have to do something about what he sees. Ed responds that her theory sounds like a horrible deal for him, because it sounds like he might have to do something like break up a fight. Audrey says, “that’s just luck of the draw, I guess.”

Marv gloats over winning the card game. Ed details how Marv lives at home and works for his dad, though Marv never spends the money from his job. Ed says he’s only friends with Marv because they grew up together. Unfortunately, his inner monologue about Marv doesn’t solve the mystery of the card. Ed decides that the only thing to do is go to the first address.

Late the next night, Ed is sitting on his front porch when Audrey arrives. They have a drink and Ed desperately wishes they could sleep with each other. But Ed still does not make a move on Audrey. Instead, he holds the card in his hand and contemplates how this could be the time where, like Dylan or Dalí or Joan of Arc at his age, Ed accomplishes something with his life. Then Ed realizes he is just kidding himself.