Swapping Around

Chapter 12

Elvis woke up overcome by overwhelming anticipation and dread over Priscilla's daily report about the children. He would be barely lucid when she took it upon herself to tell him that Roxanne had brought home a note from school or Little Elvis refused to nap. Then he remembered- Priscilla was still at Loretta's house. Or at a hotel. Wherever she was, she wasn't here. Peace settled over Elvis at the knowledge. When he went downstairs, he found Little Elvis sitting on the stairs with a toy truck clutched in his hand.

"Hi." Little Elvis grinned at his father.

Elvis swung his son up in his arms on the way downstairs. He could hear guitar strains from the living room. He approached slowly, standing in the doorway until they became aware of his presence.

"Guess what Loretta just showed me?" Roxanne thrilled.

"Good things I hope." A crooked grin formed on Elvis' face. "I can't show her much on the guitar these days," he admitted, his smile fading.

"Oh, I don't play so well," Loretta said.

Roxanne frowned. "You play better than me and Daddy does too."

"Now Roxy." Elvis crossed the distance between them, releasing his son on the way. "It's not always about who is best at something. It's hard to tell who is anyway."

"Everyone at school is better than me at everything."

"Even at music?" Loretta asked.

Roxanne mulled this over for a moment. "No. Not at that."

They all turned when Little Elvis whimpered. The little boy held up one of his trucks wheels, looking close to tears.

"Daddy will fix it," Elvis assured him. He grabbed the truck and wheel while Loretta pulled Little Elvis into her arms and cuddled him. Elvis gritted his teeth, trying not to curse under his breath at the way the wheel refused to click back into place.

He glared up at Roxanne when she let out a giggle. "Does your husband ever say bad words?" she asked Loretta.

"Yes," Loretta said simply.

"Which ones?"

"Roxanne," Elvis scolded. "Don't you start."

"My daddy says bad words sometimes," Roxanne went on.

"Well," Loretta said, "That's just somethin' men do sometimes, I suppose. Elvis, she gets outta school early tomorrow so I was thinking that we could go to the thrift store?"

"Sure," Elvis agreed. "Don't see why not cause I already said that you could."

Elvis fiddled with his son's toy for another while.

"I can do it," Roxanne volunteered and Elvis handed the truck to her without any thought.

"You do it then," he said as Roxanne moved to the floor. Elvis went to sit beside Loretta, sweeping an arm over the back of the couch. "Had a good day?"

"Yeah, we did."

Little Elvis crawled from Loretta's lap into Elvis'. He pointed toward Roxanne with a pout, causing the adults to exchange smiles.

"You let Roxy try and fix it," Elvis said. "Maybe she can do better than your daddy."

"My boys had some of those that didn't have no wheels at all," Loretta said, smiling at the memory of her children's younger years.

"How old are they now?" Elvis questioned.

"Jack Benny's fourteen and Ernest Ray just turned thirteen. Ernest's the one who...I'm sure he went and gave Priscilla a hard time though I warned him."