Pieces of My Life

Chapter 6

The images blurred, cleared and then blurred back into a mix of fragments of memories. Then there were the voices, familiar and pained, choking out words that would haunt her forever.

Loretta's eyes fluttered open and the hospital waiting room came into view. Something was wrong, but not the cotton-dry feeling in her mouth, the goosebumps covering her shivering limbs, or the too-clean smell of the hospital.

So many she loved succumbed to Death's relentless clutches already. She couldn't lose another. Anguish kept a tight grip around her heart, squeezing until she could scarcely breathe.

One of her children- Cissie, the one who always talked about things like that, things her mother did not understand- told her that there was no real way to measure the progression of instances, the parade of events that stretched on forever. But hearing Cissie tell her was different than waiting to find out if Elvis survived his operation.

They could keep her in the dark, but they couldn't keep her away, so she waited on tenterhooks for someone to give her some information about Elvis.

Loretta rubbed her eyes. Her hours of sleep had been few and far in between and the world took on a permanently blurry edge. She jumped to her feet upon hearing approaching footsteps at the off chance that it might be the Mafia. It was. Five of them, including Lamar. They flanked a pale Lisa Marie Presley, who looked small and vulnerable.

"You again," Lamar groaned.

Despite the tension building in her mouth and jaw, Loretta kept her expression as pleasant as possible.

"How is he?' she forced out, hoping that her voice sounded pleasant enough.

"Back off," Lamar said in response.

"Hey." Billy Smith, his voice gentler than Lamar's. "He made it out of his surgery fine. They cut this off him." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden chain. It took her a moment to recognize her birthday gift to Elvis.

Loretta extended her hand automatically, and the chain pooled in her palm. Her heart nearly burst from her chest as she clutched the golden cross in a desperate bid for comfort.

It was just an object. The chain could be replaced or repaired and no one would ever know. But Elvis- she tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.

The Mafia didn't say anything to her. They simply walked away. She thought that she had heard one of them - probably Lamar- snort. Loretta followed them, but not by choice. Her legs seemed to move on their own volition.

"She's following us," Lamar snapped. "If she doesn't get lost..."

"I wanna see Elvis," Loretta said. Try as she might, she couldn't stop the crack in her voice at the last word.

"You can't see him," Billy said. "They won't let anyone but me and Lisa Marie see him and we only get to stay for an hour. So the guys aren't going in, most of his cousins aren't, Aunt Delta isn't..."

Loretta could have sworn that she heard Lisa Marie swallow audibly at his words. The poor girl's her eyes were bloodshot. Though her hair had been brushed, it hung limply around her face. Loretta suspected that she looked about the same, only worse.

~*~

Her father's birthday was a million years ago. At least that was what it felt like to Lisa Marie. Ever since she could remember, she'd been terrified of losing her father and ironically, her mother. But it was always Elvis she was afraid of losing most of all. She'd kneel by her bed at night and pray "Dear God, bless my daddy and don't let him die". Even as she headed into her teenage years, a time during which most girls seemed to view their parents as a disturbance while also taking them for granted, her fears did not subside.