by Ginger Alden
“Get George Klein on the phone,” he said.
Victory! We contacted George. My spirits quickly sank, though, as I heard Elvis’s end of the conversation and realized George was telling him the workers at Libertyland had either gone home or were preparing to close up the park.
They talked for a few more minutes, then Elvis hung up. George called back a little later, however, to say the employees would stay late and keep the park open. Victory again!
Suddenly, Elvis was in an upbeat mood. He asked me to invite my sisters and made a few calls to ask other friends and family to join us. Elvis even told me Rosemary could bring her date for the evening and Terry could include our friend Cindy.
When my sisters and their friends arrived at Graceland, Elvis got dressed in his loose blue jumpsuit and black stage belt. We went downstairs, joined some of the guys, and decided we needed more cars. A small group of us cut across the backyard to Vernon’s house so we could use some of the cars parked there.
At Libertyland, Elvis and I spent well over an hour on the Zippin Pippin roller coaster. We sat in the front car, which was scary but I loved it. Elvis rode with his hands raised high in the air. A few times he even pretended he was going to stand up as the coaster sped around its loops and hills. Periodically, the ride stopped so anyone could get off or switch partners, but Elvis and I stayed on.
We later rode the dodgem cars and Elvis played a couple of arcade games, winning a few stuffed animals for Lisa as well as a stuffed pink panther and a big yellow bird for me.
Rosemary and her date unfortunately had to leave early. She thanked Elvis and gave him a hug. Dawn was breaking by the time the rest of us decided to head back. Elvis remained in great spirits, along with everyone else, as we returned to Graceland. The two of us said good night to everyone and Elvis and I retired upstairs. It had been a wonderful night.
Terry and Cindy remained at the house, visiting with some of the guys, and the two of them eventually fell asleep downstairs in the TV room. Having been on tour with us before, Cindy had gotten friendly with David, and he invited her to join us on the next tour. I was pleased to hear this. My two worlds were finally beginning to merge as one.
• • •
A couple of days later, my mother was shocked to receive word that she was behind on her July and August house note payments. She called Beecher Smith, Elvis’s attorney, for assistance, because she had given him all of the paperwork dealing with her home as Elvis had requested.
Beecher apologized and said he’d been so busy, he had forgotten to take care of everything. Right after that, he sent a letter to my mother’s mortgage company, stating that it was an oversight and asking for the full payment amount owed on the home, and whether there would be a prepayment penalty for paying off the mortgage entirely in one lump sum. My mother was relieved to have Beecher sort things out for her so quickly.
On August 12, Elvis decided he wanted to see a movie and rented the United Artists Southbrook 4 theater. He took me, Lisa, and a small group of friends to see the latest James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me.
A few days later, I noticed more activity around Graceland as members of Elvis’s entourage began preparing for his next tour, which would take us to Portland, Maine. Elvis really wanted Rosemary and my brother to come along, so I asked them and was thrilled when my brother said he could take some vacation time and both of them agreed to join us.
• • •
Elvis had mentioned needing to lose some weight before this tour, and I was pleased to see that, for the first time, he was showing more awareness of his diet. On August 15, he began having only small amounts of yogurt and drinking a lot of water.
Lisa was still with us, but she would be leaving the next day to return to Los Angeles and get ready for the new school year, so Elvis wanted to spend time with her. It was a cloudy day. Between periods of drizzle, the three of us, along with my niece Amber, took a short ride around on her golf cart in the afternoon.
That evening, Elvis and I watched television. My stomach began to cramp and I realized my time of the month was starting. My periods were often bad, especially during the first few days. Hoping Elvis would understand, I ventured, “Could I join your tour in a day or two?” Embarrassed, I went on to explain why, even though I knew Elvis would want me with him.
He gave me a displeased look. “I’d like you to go,” Elvis said, then waited a beat. “See how you feel.”
Later Elvis made some calls, trying to arrange for a private screening of the new movie MacArthur at a local theater. At one point, Elvis told me he thought a piece of tooth had broken off. He wanted to have it checked and filled. He showed me a small glass box with some temporary crowns in it that he carried on tour, in case he chipped a tooth while traveling.
Elvis set up an appointment with a dentist named Dr. Hoffman. He asked Billy Smith to come over and, along with Charlie, we left Graceland in the Stutz around 10:30 P.M. We arrived at the dentist’s office, where Elvis gestured at me, saying, “Isn’t she ugly?”
Smiling, Dr. Hoffman replied, “Yes.”
Elvis later reappeared from the dentist’s room, the problem fixed. Dr. Hoffman then took some X-rays of my teeth. Meanwhile, Charlie said he’d made a phone call to Graceland to find out if anyone had managed to set up a screening of MacArthur, but discovered the projectionist wouldn’t be around that late.
We returned to Graceland around 12:30 A.M., and I followed Elvis upstairs to his bedroom. Elvis mentioned that he needed to speak with a couple of the guys for a few minutes, so I went into Lisa’s room. I wanted to see if Lisa and Amber had gone to bed. They were nowhere in sight. Even the kids operated on “Elvis time,” so I figured they were downstairs playing.
A short time later, Elvis asked me to come back to the room. He was now alone. We watched a little television, then Elvis called downstairs to have the bed made.
Mary, one of the maids, came upstairs to do the bed, so Elvis and I moved into Lisa’s room. I lay on the couch while he turned on the television and sat down in the chair across from it, where he lit up a cigar. When he mentioned wanting to play racquetball later, I got excited. This would be my first time seeing him play, and I thought it might help relax him before his tour.
We’d been watching TV for a little bit when, without any warning, Elvis suddenly turned it off. His eyes quickly cut away from the television screen to my face.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about getting married lately,” he said, fiddling with the cigar in his mouth and studying me, waiting to see my reaction.
“Really?” I was caught completely off guard.
“Really,” Elvis said, smiling.
Again, he talked about having our wedding ceremony take place in a nondenominational church, like the pyramid-shaped church Charlie had told him about. “I would like certain people there,” he said, “public officials and friends. And there should be so many police officers to guard the church, so no news media can get to us. I don’t want this to be a three-ring circus,” he declared.
Elvis paused for a minute. Then, using his hands to show me a measure of length, he said, “The limousines should be so many inches longer than a normal-length limo and in blue.”
As I nodded, my excitement mounting, he continued, meticulously going over every detail. “I’ve thought about your gown. The dress should have a high collar and I would like it to have small rosebuds with gold threads through it. I’m gonna have someone work on it in Los Angeles.”
“You don’t have my measurements,” I said, thinking practically for a moment.
Elvis gave me a look, as if to say he knew exactly what those measurements would be. Once again I was swept along by his ability to make anything happen. The vision of what the dress would look like and the reality of the wedding drew more sharply into focus. I couldn’t believe Elvis had already given this much thought to everything! On the other
hand, wasn’t this the way Elvis had done everything with me from the start?
“You should wear clear, glass-looking slippers and a tiara in your hair,” he said. I loved these ideas. Then he brought up bridesmaid dresses. “I think pink would be good. What color would you like?”
“Lavender would be pretty,” I said.
Elvis smiled and shook his head. “This has got to be the wedding of the century.” He sat quietly for a moment, then added, “We should pick a date. I’ve been thinking about my birthday, your birthday, or Christmas. What do you think?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Christmas would be nice,” I said.
He nodded, giving me another soft smile. “That will be our gift to God.”
I felt as Elvis did, that God wanted us to be together and would be pleased to see us married on such a special day. I was so happy, I stood up, walked over to Elvis, and kissed him full on the lips.
He returned my kiss, then said, “I’d like to announce our engagement to the audience at the end of the tour in Memphis. We’ll put it in the local paper too, under the regular engagement section, nothin’ fancy.”
I smiled. Here was Elvis, going with his own version of the wow factor once more. He turned the television back on and we settled down again to watch it.
A little while later, Elvis left the room, saying he had to talk business with some of the guys. I figured this must have something to do with his upcoming tour.
After he’d finished his meetings, I asked Elvis if he still wanted to play racquetball, knowing some exercise would be good for him. He told me he did.
It was after 4 A.M. Elvis called downstairs and asked Billy and Jo Smith to meet us. I hated the idea of waking them. By now, however, I’d learned that, when Elvis called, most people jumped.
Elvis changed into a warm-up suit and loaned me one to wear that wasn’t overly large. I was still on a high from our conversation about the wedding, and eager to be going outside to move around. We met up with Billy and Jo and the four of us walked down to the racquetball court.
Other than peeking inside the racquetball court once with my mother, this was my first time seeing it. Elvis wanted to show me around before we played. The court was as lavish as most of Graceland, with a custom bath and spa, dressing room, bar, pinball machine, jukebox, and workout area with weight equipment. There was even a piano.
Elvis quickly took me up to the roof, too, and showed me an outdoor jogging track. It was still dark out. There was precipitation in the air, but that didn’t seem to disturb him. His gaze swept over the property, then Elvis pointed to a nearby area and said if I wanted to paint again, he’d build an art studio for me there.
I couldn’t believe this night could get any better, but it had. I had no idea Elvis would offer something like this! What really touched me was that he hadn’t forgotten our last conversation about me wanting to reconnect with art and not lose the things that had been important to me before I met him.
“Thank you,” was all I could muster, inadequate as I felt it was.
Back downstairs, we rejoined Billy and Jo. I went onto the court with Jo but I had never played racquetball before. I tried to give it a go but unfortunately didn’t feel like moving around much because my cramps had returned. We weren’t out there long and then Elvis and Billy walked onto the court while Jo and I sat behind a nearby glass partition. The two of them began to hit the ball around and then Elvis started cutting up. He was laughing, being silly, and having a good time. Pretending to hit himself on the leg with his racquet sometimes, Elvis kept turning around, making funny faces to see if Jo and I were watching.
Elvis soon got tired, though, and he left the court to come over and sit down beside me. We then watched Billy and Jo play for a bit. When they came off the court, Elvis went over to the piano and started to play, singing “Unchained Melody” and then “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” When he finished at the piano, he walked over to one of the stationary bikes and peddled for about ten minutes.
About 6 A.M., Elvis and I went back to the house. Billy came upstairs, too, because Elvis wanted him to help dry his hair. Elvis and I peeked in on Lisa and Amber, and I was glad to see the girls were both in bed and fast asleep.
Elvis and Billy then went into Elvis’s bathroom. I went into mine, changed into my sleepwear, then came out and lay on the bed.
I listened to the hum of the hairdryer in the bathroom for a bit. Shortly after that, Billy left and Elvis walked out, having changed into blue pajamas. Around 6:45, Elvis called downstairs, asking for whoever was on duty to bring up a packet of medication to help him sleep.
I was still suffering from sharp menstrual cramps. Seeing that I was in such discomfort, Elvis called Tish to bring me something to relieve the pain. He again asked if I was going to come with him at the beginning of the tour. I hated to disappoint him, but knowing how I was going to feel for the first few days, I told him I’d like to wait just one day, if not two, until I felt better.
I hoped Elvis would understand. He sat quietly for a few moments, thinking things over. “I want you to buy something special for when we announce our engagement during the show in Memphis then,” he said.
I smiled. This was good. He understood.
“All right,” I said, relieved.
Tish sent up a Tylenol with codeine for me. Right after that, Ricky appeared with Elvis’s morning sleep packet and we both took our medications. Elvis wanted to show me a couple of new books he’d been given recently, so the two of us settled in bed and began looking at one of them. The book’s title was A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus and described the Shroud of Turin, which had supposedly been wrapped around Jesus after he was taken down from the Cross. Elvis and I were both intrigued.
As we flipped through the book, Elvis showed me some photos of what the author claimed was the face of Jesus impressed on a shroud. Then, putting that book aside, Elvis showed me another one by Betty Bethards called Sex and Psychic Energy. This book highlighted ways to tune into your partner’s energy, your inner self, and your chakras. Elvis pointed out a few illustrations.
We didn’t look at the book very long because we were both growing drowsy from the medications and soon fell asleep. Sometime later, I was awakened by movement on the bed. I was still groggy from my medication, but I was aware of Elvis calling downstairs and asking for another packet to help him sleep.
I glanced at the clock. It was eight o’clock in the morning but I wasn’t surprised that Elvis was having trouble resting. By now, I was used to seeing him keyed up before a tour, and he’d been off a long time before this one.
Still, when he hung up, I asked Elvis what the problem was. “I just can’t sleep,” he said.
He sounded pretty alert, which surprised me. I wondered if there had been placebos in the medication packet he’d taken earlier.
Ricky brought up another packet shortly and then left. I hoped Elvis would finally be able to rest. We both settled down in bed again, and I quickly fell back to sleep.
In a little while, feeling some movement again, I opened my eyes. It was now close to 9 A.M. and Elvis was sitting on the side of the bed with his back to me. I moved over to him and put my hand on his back. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
Elvis said he still couldn’t sleep. In a few minutes, he stood up and told me he was going to read. He picked up the book on psychic energy and headed toward the bathroom. Once again, I wondered if the contents of his medication packets had been altered because Elvis seemed pretty much unaffected by whatever he’d taken.
“Don’t fall asleep,” I said, remembering the bed in his dressing area.
Elvis stopped before going in, looked at me with a little boy pout, then smiled and gave me a little wave. “Okay, I won’t,” he reassured me, and continued into his bathroom.
Between the Tylenol with codeine and the fact that I’d had no rest since the
day before, I once again fell into a deep sleep.
Just after 2 P.M., I awoke with cramps. Elvis wasn’t in bed. I was curious where he was but unable to look right away as my period had begun and I was beginning to bleed heavily. I got up and rushed to my bathroom to take care of this. While using the toilet, I picked up the phone on the wall above it and called my friend Cindy, knowing she’d expect to see me on the plane when everyone left for the tour. I told her I was thinking about coming in a day late because of the discomfort I was experiencing with my period.
I then quickly called my mother at work. “Where are you?” she asked.
When I told her I was at Graceland, she asked why I wasn’t home packing. “I’ve been thinking about coming in a day late,” I said.
She reminded me that my brother and sister were going.
I hesitated. I’d completely forgotten about this. I knew Elvis had really wanted me on tour from the start. Even though I knew I wouldn’t be feeling good, I changed my mind. “Okay, I guess I’ll go,” I said, then told my mother I needed to hang up, I wanted to find Elvis and tell him.
“Where is he?” my mother asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m going to go check on him.”
I quickly finished up in the bathroom, then walked into Elvis’s bedroom in search of him. I glanced at the clock and saw it was close to 2:20. The bathroom door was cracked open a little.
I knocked on the door and said, “Elvis?”
There was no answer. Slowly opening the door, I peered in and saw Elvis on the floor off to the left. I stood paralyzed as I took in the scene.
Elvis looked as if his entire body had completely frozen in a seated position while using the commode and then had fallen forward, in that fixed position, directly in front of it. His legs were bent, the upper part of his chest and shoulders touched the ground, and his head was slightly turned to the left with his cheek resting on the floor. His arms lay on the ground, close to his sides, back toward his legs, palms facing upward.
It was clear that, from the time whatever hit him to the moment he had landed on the floor, Elvis hadn’t moved. A blow dryer was lying on the floor, almost touching the top of his head. Billy must have left it there when he’d finished drying Elvis’s hair. The psychic energy book had been placed on the arm of the chair. The chair sat against the wall, under his window, facing the counter. The book lay open, undisturbed.
