An Impetuous Tale [Elvis]

Chapter 12 - Calling in Sick

Hey, all! So, I have had a cold these past few days, and I wrote this while sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose. Fitting, considering the chapter title. haha

Also, I have the best husband on the planet. He is NOT a fan of Elvis, but he knows how much I love Elvis and how many stories I have written about him, so... for my birthday a couple weeks ago, he surprised me with a thick, 600-page Elvis encyclopedia on everything that has to do with Elvis. From now on, I'll be referring to that tome for info regarding people, films, events and so forth for this story. It's pretty darn helpful and has information that Google doesn't.

~ ~ ~

The crew stood back as Gene really laid it on one of the cameramen for not shooting a certain angle. My brows rose as I stood there with everyone else, watching this go on. I had never seen Gene so upset in the short time that I had known him. I knew him to be pretty level-headed and cool as a cucumber. The man was stressed. It was obvious.

"He's been like this the past few days," a crew member said next to me, a blonde woman who looked thirty-five. "He's been railing the crew and cast for the slightest mistake."

"I've noticed," I remarked. "Good thing I haven't been in the line of fire. I'm only an extra. I don't have to do much."

I eyed Elvis in there, along with the extras that play thieves, and that included a small man. He looked forty but wasn't four feet tall. His name was Billy Barty, and from what I heard from other members of the cast, he was in the movie Roustabout with Elvis as well. Both him and Elvis watched Gene yell at the poor cameraman. Another one had to put a hand on his shoulder, and he simmered down. I saw Elvis press his lips together.

"Okay, okay, let's redo the take," Gene said, and everyone got to it, and I watched them redo a town scene when the thieves and Elvis were running for it.

Thankfully, Elvis never bothered me since our last talk. Maybe he was afraid to. That was another thing to add to my notes—Elvis didn't like being a bother. Well, that was good for me. Yes, I still needed more information, but him not talking to me would give me some time to work on my article. I really needed to get started on that.

~ ~ ~

I sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table, my back to the sofa, that evening after both Mary Ann and I arrived home. "Okay, time to work on my article."

I put out all my notes that I had written or obtained so far and read through a couple of them. There were a lot since I took notes as I was on the set, observing Elvis. There was probably about fifty pieces of paper strewn all over this table. I heard Mary Ann say as she studied me while standing near the coffee table, "You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

"I have to. I'm writing a summary of his life."

"You know what I mean."

Indeed, I did. "I have to focus on the story, not Elvis's feelings for me."

"And your feelings for him. Look, I've known Elvis for about a year, and I know him to be a man who doesn't let things go, even if he doesn't say anything about it. Those looks he gives you with those blue puppy-dog eyes of his... It will force you to do something about the situation."

He was giving me those little looks the past few days since our kiss scene. "You've known him a year?"

"M-hm. We played in the film Girl Happy together last year."

"Huh." I rummaged through my notes and found the one he wrote out, the list of his movies. I read the titles of the movies. "Ah-ha, Girl Happy, 1965, directed by Boris Sagal. So, it was filmed in 1964 but came out in 1965."