The Housekeeper's Daughter [Elvis]

Chapter 14 - Free Tickets

(The concert in this chapter is completely fictional. As far as I know, he didn't do a concert in DC in 1960. After the army, there were no more concerts, I believe. Not until the '68 Comback Special.)

~ ~ ~

My ears rang from how loud Allison screamed when I told all that had happened between Elvis and me in his room and as he had his shirt off the whole time. We sat out in the middle of the large lawn behind the mansion, the one a couple of horses were grazing in, and a yellow blanket was under us and a picnic around us. Allison was now a person who was allowed into the property.

"And you refused him?! Are you outta your dad-gum mind?!"

I plucked off the grapes from the vine that they were connected to and put them on my plate, next to my peanut butter and banana sandwich. Yes, Elvis converted me to the banana and peanut goodness. I forwent the bacon, though. "Yes, I had to. We can't be together. We shouldn't."

"But you two love each other. Two people in love should be together."

"Not if the man is a star and the girl is his house maid."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does, Allison," I said with an edge. "Do you know what people will say 'bout him if our relationship goes public?"

She didn't seem the least bit fazed with my tone of voice. "It can't be worse than people thinkin' he's a felon for kidnappin' two girls."

The warm summer wind caught our hair and Allison took a bite of the same type of sandwich I had. She was converted, too. "Still... I don't wanna inconvenience him."

"You're inconveniencin' 'im by not allowin' the two of you to be together. He's just goin' by your wishes. He's been doin' that all along."

"I know. He's such a good guy."

She gave me a sly look. "And a hunk. Golly, I wish I could've seen 'im with his shirt off! I've only seen it in the movies, and you saw it for real, and he was kissin' you somethin' steamy with that bare chest exposed!"

That heated session had taken over my mind for good ever since it happened. Even though the temperature was moderate outside, my face flamed. "Allison, please, don't make this harder than it is."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Easy for you to say."

Allison looked over my shoulder. "Hey, your momma's comin'."

I looked behind me, and sure enough, Momma was headed our way, and with something in her hand, like an envelope. She came up to us. "Hello, girls."

"Hey, Momma," I said. "We're almost done here."

"Oh, no, no, you girls are fine. I just wanted to bring you both a little somethin'." She held out the envelope and I took it. "That was sittin' on the little table with the phone on it in the entryway. I didn't see it 'til just now. Go on, open it."

"What's that?" Allison asked curiously and she scooted next to me as I opened it and pulled out two slips of paper. I read what was on them and Allison screamed again. She read them, too. "Oh my Lord, they're tickets to Elvis's concert in DC!" she hollered.

"Indeed, they are," Momma said. "He invited all the household to his concert this Friday in DC. It's a thank you for all that we have done for him. And he added one for you, Allison, because I think he knew that Megan would want to bring her best friend along. He has even paid for the travelin' expenses and hotel. Are you girls in?"

"You bet we are!" Allison squealed and snatched the tickets out of my hand, and she gleamed at them. I took them back.

"Hold on a minute. He gave us free tickets and a free trip to Washington DC?"

"That's right," said Momma. "As I said, he's sayin' thank you."

My heart started to ache. "I... don't wanna go."

Both Momma and Allison stared at me, bewildered. "What the heck, Megan?!" Allison demanded. "Of course you've gotta go!"

"You both know why I don't wanna. It's the reason why I've been avoidin' him for the past week. Seein' him up on stage singin' is gonna hurt too much. I'll be starin' at 'im, knowin' I can never have 'im." I shook my head. "No. I'm not goin'."

Bernice called for Momma from the house, and she left us with a request that Allison talk some sense into me. Allison said, "At least go to show appreciation."

"I don't want to. It's too far away, anyway."

She put an arm around my shoulders. "C'mon. Just come with me, then, huh? I can't just go with your momma and the other help. That would be awkward and weird. Please, please, please?" She shook me.

I pursed my lips, not sure about this. I eyed the tickets in my hand, really thinking.

~ ~ ~

The whole stadium erupted in screams and cheers as I finished the song. I scanned the faces of everyone I could, but I couldn't spot them - my household. The tickets were for the front seating, but they were nowhere to be seen. Maybe I mis-remembered where I actually had them be.

Or they didn't come. No, only Megan didn't want to come, according to what Mrs. Brighten told me. It had been two weeks since that heated session in my bedroom, and I hadn't talked to her. I had seen her about the house, but every time she saw me, she skedaddled. That hurt. The girl I desperately wanted to be with wanted to be with me, but because of that, she wanted nothing to do with me.

"Thank you, thank you very much everyone," I said into the microphone, sweat running down my face, and I held my guitar. I was wearing all black, and it being the middle of summer in Washington DC, I was sweating like a pig. I loved concerts, but it wasn't fun being this hot. Good thing the event was almost over. I had two more songs to do. "Now I'm gonna sing a song to you that's from my up-coming movie G.I. Blues." They started cheering, and I grinned at how excited and happy my fans were. "It's called 'Doin' the Best I Can', and I would like to dedicate to you all, my fans, but most especially one particular fan that I have come to know on a personal level. To this person, you know who you are. I'm just doin' the best I can."

The crowd went crazy again. No doubt they had an idea of who this person was because the "kidnapping" story was pretty big. They all settled down as I started playing my guitar, and I sang into the microphone...

As I sang, I looked around the crowd. I spotted them to my right about three rows back. I saw Mrs. Brighten, Hugh, Neil, Bernice, Allison... and beautiful Megan, her brown hair down and wavy. She came! Suddenly, she became the only person in the audience. I never looked away from her until the last note of my song.

The whole stadium exploded in cheers, and I looked away from Megan and bowed and walked over to a table set up and swigged down a glass of water. I met the Colonel's gaze as I did so. He didn't look happy. I would have to deal with that later. I came back to the microphone. "Thank you very much, everyone. I hope you liked that one."

They all screamed, and I went on to mentioning my last song and started playing it, then singing it. All the while, I kept my gaze on Megan, wondering if she figured out what I tried to tell her with my song. No doubt that she did.