An ambulance drove down the street between us, and I imagined who it was carrying, and what had happened to him. (...)
Was there any chance that I knew him? Did anyone see the ambulance and wonder if it was me inside?
What about a device that knew everyone you knew? So when the ambulance went down the street, a big sign on the roof could flash

DON'T WORRY! DON'T WORRY!

if the sick person's device didn't detect the device of someone he knew nearby. And if the device did detect the device of someone he knew, the ambulance could flash the name of the person in the ambulance, and either

IT'S NOTHING MAJOR! IT'S NOTHING MAJOR!

or, if it was something major,

IT'S MAJOR! IT'S MAJOR!

And maybe you could rate the people you knew by how much you loved them, so if the device of the person in the ambulance detected the device of the person he loved most, or the person who loved him the most, and the person in the ambulance was really badly hurt, and might even die, the ambulance could flash

GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU!

One thing that's nice to think about is someone who was the first person on lots of people's list, so that when he was dying, and his ambulance went down the streets to the hospital, the whole time would flash

GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I LOVE YOU!

"Grandma? Over?" "Yes, darling? Over?" "If grandpa was so great, then why did he leave? Over." She took a little step back so that she disappeared into her apartment "He didn't want to leave. He had to leave. Over." "But why did he have to leave? Over." "I don't know. Over." "Doesn't that make you angry? Over." "That he left? Over." "That you don't know why. Over." "No. Over" "Sure. Over."
"Hold on," I said, and I ran back to my field kit and grabbed Grandpa's camera. I brought it to the window and took a picture of her window. The flash lit up the street between us.

10. Walt
9. Lindy
8. Alicia

Grandma said, "I hope you never love anything as much as I love you. Over."

7. Farley
6. The Minch/Toothpaste (tied)
5. Stan

I could hear her kissing her fingers and then blowing.

4. Buckminster
3. Mom

I blew her a kiss back.

2. Grandma

"Over and out," one of us said.

1. Dad

(Uit: Extremely loud and incredibly close, Jonathan Safran Foer, 2005)