The Small Things [Elvis]

Chapter 11 - Elvis Gets a Puppy!

"You can take my timeslot!"

"No, you can take my appointment. I don't mind waiting."

"I was up next. Go ahead and take mine!"

Most of the people in the lobby offered him their appointment, even one of the men who was waiting there. Most of the people had dogs, and one guy had a parrot, but one older gal had a cat, and she was sitting there with wide eyes as she saw all this unfold. I was in the same position, as were all my employees, who had strawberry-red faces. Honestly, mine was probably no different.

"That's really kind of all of ya'll, but I don't wanna cut in line," the big star in a little vet clinic said.

"Oh, no trouble!" said a blonde gal in her thirties who had a little white poodle in her arms. "Go on ahead. Dixie here can wait to get her shots. In fact, she wouldn't mind not getting them at all!"

"Can I have your autograph?"

My employees were trained to not go berserk when a famous person walked in since that happened in LA sometimes because of Hollywood and all that, but my clients didn't have to follow that rule. Jerry, one of Elvis's detail, took the little dog out of Elvis's arms as Elvis signed autographs. Glenda pushed my arm. I snapped out of it as I stared at the most handsome man I had ever seen in person or anywhere else.

"Well? Are we going to accommodate him?" Glenda asked.

I looked back at him as he stopped signing autographs and was holding his dog again. A girl who looked twelve came up to him cautiously. "Um," she began, and he looked down at her since she went up to his chest. "Are you really Elvis Presley?"

"That I am, little lady," he said.

"Wow! That's amazing! And you have a cute dog. Can I pet him?"

"Of course you can. You can hold 'im if you want. I haven't got a name for 'im yet since I just picked him up today."

I should've known. "Yes, book him," I told Glenda, and I saw all five of my staff giving me pleading looks. "Oh, okay. Go ahead."

I snickered as they all rushed up to Elvis and did the fan thing of asking for his autograph, hugging him and gushing about his music and movies. He glanced at me, and before he could open his mouth to say something, I said, rather loudly, "Mr. Presley, you can follow me."

"Sorry, folks," he said. "I'll be right out."

He took his dog back from the girl and followed me through the door, as did his detail. He came into the second exam room, but his detail didn't. They stood outside the door, guarding it. I still heard the people out there screaming and squealing. I couldn't help but laugh as I prepared the items I needed for a puppy check-up.

"You're laughin'," he said. "That's a good sign." He looked around. "This is familiar."

"We were in the other room that time."

"They all look the same."

"Something tells me you bought that puppy on purpose."

He set the puppy down on the little table that had a white towel on it, and the poor thing looked pretty darn frightened. Why wouldn't he be after all that? "People should always buy animals on purpose. Never buy an animal if you can't take care of it."

"And with your lifestyle and how busy you are, you can?" I put a stethoscope around my neck, stepped up on the stool at the table, and I handled the poor little furry thing. He was shaking. "Aw... it's okay, sweetheart. I know you're scared."

I put the stethoscope in my ears and pressed the metal to the puppy's chest and heard a very fast little heartbeat. Elvis said, watching me, "It's nice to see you at work. You've seen that with me plenty of times."