Truth Is Like the Sun

Chapter 23

Time seemed to have been flying before, but it refused to pass now. When Carol Ann thought that they had been there an hour, it turned out that only ten minutes had gone by. Joe entertained her for a while, but eventually drifted off, leaving Carol Ann to contemplate her life. She found herself regretting the promise AJ had extracted from them. As much as he wanted to go to Hawaii, there was no way that he could handle a nine hour flight without having a melt down.

After what seemed like a day or two, the wheels touched down with a jolt and Carol Ann was hit with the sudden flash of panic of having to get off the plane. Nothing about her demeanor gave it away though, as Joe continued to make small talk and jokes

The airport was stuffed like an overcrowded can of sardines, a melting pot of people traveling from or to Hawaii for various reasons. She was wandering through the endless sea of travelers, part of her wanting to cling to Joe like a child. Hawaii didn't seem very different from the places she had been to, at least not at first glance. She didn't spend as much time as she thought she would taking everything in though. Once they were herded into a car, she gave up trying to look at the scenery at all. Somehow looking out of the window made her dizzy in a way it never did previously.

"Where are we goin'?" Carol Ann asked, not realizing she had spoken until Joe shot her a strange frown.

"The hotel."

"What hotel?"

"Hilton."

"Hilton?" she echoed with a laugh. "As if I'm not gonna stick out around there."

"We'll tell em that I'm an oil tycoon and you're my lady."

"You don't look like no oil tycoon I ever saw."

"They don't look like on TV."

"Well, if you wanna be an oil tycoon, I'll let you be an oil tycoon, Joey."

"Carrie," was all he said in response to the fact that she had dared to refer to him as Joey.

Carol Ann raised a brow at him. "Only Elvis calls me that."

"And you know who calls me Joey?"

"No one."

"That would be right." He put on a mostly fake frown. "I don't suppose that you wanna do much of anything today?"

"All I want is some rest." Carol Ann turned away from Joe, her thoughts drifting to the Hilton Hotel. Once she actually got to see the suite, complete with rooms for everyone in his party, her included, she idly wondered if maybe her mother was right in a way. This wasn't her world, and neither did she want it to be. Graceland was different in a way. Graceland was a home and a part of Elvis she couldn't help but love.

Carol Ann didn't know what time it was now, in Hawaii or back home in Memphis. Still, she took out her notebook, which contained Clettes and Vester's number and called their house. Clettes answered, luckily not sounding like someone who had been sleeping.

"How is my son doin' so far?" Carol Ann asked.

"We just got him to fall asleep," Clettes said. "Vester had to go and take away his flashlight so he'd stop with his books."

"Oh boy. I should've warned you about that. He does that. I hope he didn't forget his manners."

Clettes laughed softly. "You remind me a bit of Gladys with your fussing over him. We

really liked having him so far. We went and took him to the store to get some food he can fix himself to take to school."

They had allowed AJ to stay home from school on Elvis' birthday and the day after. It wasn't something Carol Ann usually did, but it helped with the guilt. She had given her son two days off school in exchange for a week in Hawaii. Carol Ann had gone into school to pick up his school work for both days on Elvis' birthday lest they send someone to her mother's house to drop it off. Louann did not allow her children to miss school unless they were gravely ill. When her father died, Carol Ann and Jeff were sent to school while Hank went about his chores on the farm. She remembered how surreal it was. She couldn't pay attention to the lessons that day for she spend hours wondering whether her father had really died. Meanwhile everyone else was wondering what was wrong with Carol Ann.