Playing House Away From Home

Chapter 14

They were running on pills, vile coffee and pure determination to soldier through. Elvis often seemed to not get any sleep at all. He had gotten to the point where he couldn't sleep when the opportunity presented itself. His entire frame ached, a strange kind of soreness, not exactly as if he ran several miles but not like he'd taken a beating either.

The days seemed to blend together into one never ending one. Maybelle lay sprawled across both his and Loretta's lap with her thumb in her mouth, not quite asleep nor quite awake.

They had almost reached the finish line. Just one more scene to film. The rest of the day would be devoted to saying their goodbyes and packing up whatever personal belongings might still be left behind in their trailers.

Usually there was some sort of celebration upon finishing a movie, but Hillbrook had declared the practice foolish. Elvis didn't mind though. They weren't exactly in the right state of mind for a party.

"The last one ever?" Clayton asked for at least the tenth time today, waving around a script that hardly resembled what it had originally been.

"Yes," Elvis and Loretta said in unison.

"I'm not gonna be no actor when I'm grown up," he declared.

"You can be whatever you want," Elvis said. "Now let's-" He trailed off upon catching the boy stare into the distance. "Clayton," he sang, waving a hand in front of his face. "Come on now."

Elvis swallowed when Hillbrook approached them, signaling the end of their short break.

"Last day of filming doesn't mean that we'll forget all about discipline and hard work," he said sternly. "Now let's get this on the road."

They roused little Maybelle with some reluctance, both hoping that Clayton did recall his line. The ending of the McCall's story was bittersweet. They were reunited and they made it where they had been meaning to go. But unlike them, the viewer knew of the hardship that would await them in the promise land of California. Just four out of many, fighting to survive the same way they had been on their dust wrecked farm in the mountains of Kentucky.

Somehow it could be compared to their real life situation. There had been good times and bad times, laughter and tears, funny stories and angry words.

Elvis' thoughts were running a mile a minute as they filmed the scene. As he lifted the children onto his knee and pointed out in the distance, where California was supposed to be. The words really did get caught in his throat when he said, "We made it, honey"

He thought that he saw real tears glittering in Loretta's eyes. A kiss had been added to the scene at the last minute, so Elvis brushed a thumb over her wet cheeks, looking at her as if to ask permission before leaning in. Their lips landed on each other, Elvis' hand slipping through her thick hair all the while. The children giggled in between them but knew better than to speak. It was one of those moments where everything they knew shifted into a parallel universe.

Their heads smacked straight into each other at the yell of 'Cut'. A needle sharp pain bore into Elvis' head. "Shit!" he cursed without realizing. The children collapsed into a heap of laughter, while Loretta was too busy holding onto her own aching head to say anything.

"You alright?" Elvis asked, rubbing at an especially painful spot.

"Fine," Loretta assured him.

"You're silly," Maybelle giggled, laying sprawled across the car prop, the skirt of her dress riding up to reveal her underwear. Loretta attempted to pull it down, causing the fabric to rip instead.

"What else are you gonna break today?" Elvis managed to choke out in between chuckles. "First my head-"

"That was both of us," Loretta argued. "I reckon we won't need this anymore."