My Little Friend

Chapter 14

"You left Lynn out there alone?" Gladys asked as Vernon strode in sans little Lynn Rose, who had gone out with him a few minutes ago.

Vernon shook his head. "She's just barely out in the yard, Gladys. That child is fine. We have a fenced, guarded backyard."

Gladys scooted from side to side in apprehension but refrained from jumping up to go outside and watch Lynn Rose play. "You can't blame me for wantin' to keep one of 'em close," Gladys sighed.

"It's only a few weeks and he's got his girl and two of his friends with him."

"Well, I hardly know Georgia and I don't trust Red and Lamar all that well."

"He's a grown man. It's not like he ain't been away from you before."

"But this time there's an ocean between us and I can't go be with him if he needs me."

"You couldn't in basic training and the both of you made it through that."

Gladys' face darkened at the memory. "God, the poor boy was just...He wasn't made for anything like that, bein' so sweet. I'm glad Lynnie will never have to go, bein' a girl she's been through enough already."

The girl in question tore into the room then, face flushed and hair wind whipped. She flopped down onto the couch cushions, the movement jarring Gladys on the other end.

"You keep them dirty shoes off the couch," Gladys scolded, dragging the panting child on her lap. "And don't you play so hard."

"But I gotta," Lynn Rose said, "Elvis says work hard and play hard."

Vernon let out a rumbling laugh. "Well, it gotta be true if Elvis says so right?"

"Right!" Lynn Rose echoed in a tone as serious as she could manage in her high pitched little girl voice.

"You wanna know what's gonna happen soon?"

"We're goin' to Germany," Lynn Rose intoned.

"Before we're goin' to Germany." Vernon took a seat on the couch beside them before going on. "What is gonna happen is that we're gonna go before a judge—"

"What's a judge?" Lynn Rose cut in.

"A judge is...Well..." Vernon gave his wife a desperate glance. When Elvis was a little boy, he too always insisted upon having them explain the impossible but both Vernon and Gladys were horribly out of practice still. Eventually he settled for, "Well the judge's a man who decides things. And we're gonna go in front of one and he's gonna make us a family. And yes, Elvis too," he quickly added before she could ask about her beloved Elvis. "Then your last name is gonna be the same as ours."

The look on Lynn Rose's face was far from one of comprehension. "I don't like my last name," she said after a moment of silence.

"Vern," Gladys sighed. "That's not what she cares about. What she cares about is that we're gonna be together forever."

"We're gonna go to Germany with Elvis," Lynn Rose echoed the words she had heard many times yet struggled to fully understand. She knew that Germany was a different country for she had been told, but the implications of living in a foreign country for eighteen months were lost on her. She also demonstrated her lack of understanding over the significance of what they were trying to tell her by saying, "You said we're gonna stay together forever before."

"We did say so before, huh?" Vernon said. "Well, Gladys just now finished writing up a letter for Elvis so if you wanna put a picture in there you gotta finish it up today, alright?"

"Okay," Lynn Rose squealed. "I do it now?"

Vernon looked over at Gladys, who placed the little girl on her feet instead of responding. Lynn Rose took off toward the kitchen, pulling pencils and paper out of their nooks and crannies.