August 6, 1978, Tucker, West Virginia
It felt good to be able to do something kind for Sally Beth. Today she seemed to have shaken off the grief that had enveloped her since her mother’s death and was back to her sunny ebullience. John couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle at the rush of her monologue as he drove toward the airport through the bright mountain air.
“I’m so nervous! I’ve never been on a plane before, and the farthest away I’ve been from Tucker is DC when we went there on our senior trip, and now I can’t believe I am going to Las Vegas! I’m real nervous about being there. You know they call it Sin City, don’t you? And I could tell Lilly had changed after living there. I’ve never gambled before. It even scares me to think about it. I’ve heard of people losing their shirts! But I want to see the Elvis impersonators, although I don’t think there are any Elvis shows going on. But we are going to see Frank Sinatra. And then, we’re going to go to the Grand Canyon. I can’t wait to see it!” She balled her fists, giving an excited little grimace and shiver, her eyes wide with the thrill of the thought.
“I bet we will see some Elvis impersonators when we go to Graceland, and do you know he died a year ago? And that he and Mama are exactly the same age? They were both born on January 8, 1935! We’re going to put a flower on his grave from her, because she just loved Elvis, and we know she’d want us to. We might even get there on the anniversary of his death. Wouldn’t that be something?” She paused to take a breath. “That’s kind of silly when you think about it, putting a flower on his grave from her, because they’re both up in heaven and probably just having a good old time together.”
She grinned at the thought before moving on. “There’s so much to see. I wish we had more time, because I’ve never seen the desert, and I want to see the place where you can see all the stars because there’s no light way out in the desert. Have you seen the Milky Way on a clear night when you’re away from town? I have. It’s like that up at Holy Miracle’s place up on Jacob’s Mountain, but I bet it’s different in the desert because you’re in a different place. Come to think of it, I bet you have seen a whole set of different stars out there in Africa.
“Well, yes,” answered John. “The stars are beautiful there, and there’s no light pollution out on the plains so far from the cities. The Milky Way looks just like that—a milky wash spread out over the sky.”
“I know! It’s that way up on Jacob’s Mountain. But I bet it’s even better out in the desert, and probably in Africa, too, because the air is dryer—is the air dry in Africa? Oh yeah, there’s desert there and all, isn’t there?”
He smiled, wondering if he would be able to answer before she broke in again. “In some places. In others, it’s a rain forest. There’s lots of different climates and terrain in Africa. I haven’t seen nearly—”
Sure enough, she cut him off. “Oh! I would love to go to Africa and see giraffes! I love giraffes. And elephants! Did you know they mourn when one of them dies?”
“So how do you know so much about the American West, Sally Beth? And Africa? Have you ever thought about traveling?”
“Oh my goodness. Daddy subscribed to National Geographic for years. And we’ve got stacks and stacks of them. I think we’ve been through them all about a million times! Mama and Lilly and me? And Daddy, too, before he died, and we would pretend we were going to all these places, and Daddy would make up stories about them, about tigers and walruses and flying pigs all living together, although I know they don’t live in the same place, and there’s no such things as flying pigs, but they were so funny.
She then launched into one about a toad who fell in love with a mockingbird who taught the toad to sing, and they started up a traveling show, going all around the world singing at palaces and such, until the toad developed laryngitis and could only croak again. The story went on for some time, and John suspected that Sally Beth had gotten parts of it mixed up with another story, but he finally decided to just enjoy the telling of it because she seemed to get such a kick out of it. The tale was still going on when they pulled up to the airport curb.
“Oh, my! You didn’t get to hear all of it, so I’ll just tell you how it ends so you won’t be worrying about it. Anyway, the toad recovered, although he never could sing as beautifully as before, so they learned another act, where he learned a hundred different croaking sounds and the mockingbird copied them exactly, and they turned the act into a comedy, and they lived happily ever after. It’s a great story. Oh my goodness—I’ve got to hurry!”
Nearly in a panic, she bounded out of the car, yanking a suitcase out of the back seat before John had a chance to open his door. He rushed out to help her, and as he pulled the second bag out to place it on a waiting cart, she swung around, bumping her voluminous purse into him.
“Ouch, Sally Beth! What do you have in there?”
“Oh, just the usual stuff, and two canteens of water,” she said, hoisting the strap higher on her shoulder. “In case the plane crashes in the desert. Bye, John, and thank you. Have a good time in Kenya!” She hurried into the terminal building, leaving him standing at the curb, then turned and waved at him before the doors closed behind her.
John felt a little dazed, as if a storm had just blown through and he had been hunkering down, knocking back tree limbs and bits of houses that flew in his direction. Sally Beth was different from anybody he had ever met. On the surface, she seemed like just a blonde airhead, always chattering near-nonsense, but he knew there were depths of her hidden below her milky skin. Ever since he had seen how coolly she worked to stop the blood streaming from Geneva’s leg while he stood aside, feeling sick, helpless, and weak with despair, he had learned not to judge people too quickly. And Holy Miracle Jones, the wisest person he had ever met, had loved and honored her above everyone.
Yes, Sally Beth was unique. That was the only way to describe her. He smiled as he drove to the hangar where his instructor waited for his flying session. After today he would be a fully licensed pilot, and Kenya, the new home he hoped would burn the ache out of his heart, would become smaller and more welcoming.
August 6, 1978, Las Vegas, Nevada
The first thing Sally Beth saw as she walked through the gate was Lilly’s smooth, pale hair, as sleek as a river otter and the color of winter sun. Her sister was the prettiest girl there, and she looked so much like Mama it was all she could do to keep from running to her with her arms outstretched. But Mama had taught her not to act like an ignorant hillbilly, but to hold her head up and be dignified. Las Vegas. Oh my! What would Mama think now? Both her girls loose in Sin City. She almost laughed aloud just thinking about it. But she glided over to Lilly with as much dignity as she could muster and squeezed her baby sister until Lilly protested, “Sally Beth—you’re choking me!”
The airport wasn’t far from town, and Sally Beth was tickled that they got to drive right down the main drag so she could get a good look at the place she had heard such awful things about. It made a little shiver run up her spine. Even in the daylight, the Las Vegas Strip was wonderfully glittery, but in a tasteful way: not at all tacky and garish as she had anticipated. There were big signs of cowboys and stars and funny little glasses that looked like they were clinking together because they were made of lights that ran around and around, and Sally Beth thought they were the cutest things she had ever seen. It was all just so exciting! She squealed when they drove past a row of palm trees.
“Lilly, look—palm trees!” She craned her neck around as they drove past them. “Do you think they have coconuts in them? Can we get fresh coconuts here? “Oh , look! There’s a big picture of Elvis and he’s swerving his hips around. Lilly! This place is amazing.”
Half of her was in love with the glitter and excitement, the other half full of disappointed trepidation. Las Vegas was cleaner and classier than she had imagined. Truthfully, this disappointed her a little because she had anticipated being shocked by its tawdriness. No gunslingers sauntered down the streets, and there didn’t seem to be any prostitutes hanging out on the corners. She wondered if they only came out at night, like vampires, and if the place magically transformed into some apparition from hell once the sun went down and the lights shone brighter. She tingled all over at the thought.
They drove slowly through town, and then, suddenly, they were out in the desert, and Sally Beth’s spirit sank at the brown ugliness. She had expected the desert to be an ocean of undulating, pale sand piled up in mountains with little riffles sculpted by the wind, like the pictures she had seen of that desert in China, but this lifeless, bleached soil boasted no such elegance. There was nothing but scattered rocks and scrawny, woebegone little bushes, some without roots that roamed hungrily in the wind. Not far ahead mountains shimmered behind the rising heat, but her glimpse of them seemed like only a dream dissipating into hopelessness. A strange, unsettled aura skulked about the place, and she had a momentary sensation of falling off the edge of something, as if the ground was too malevolent to keep the promises of the solid earth. Perhaps Las Vegas was built upon sin after all, and this is where the dregs of it resided. Hell was surely close by. She pulled out a canteen out of her purse and just about sucked it dry.
“What are you doing? You brought a canteen?”
“It’s dry here. And hot. I’m parched to death. My eyeballs are even drying out. Lilly, how on earth can you stand this?”
Lilly laughed. “You get used to it. But I know what you mean. Why do you think I want to come home? Here’s a Carl Jr. We can stop and get you a Coke. It’ll be another fifteen minutes before we get to my place, and as soon as we get you unloaded and changed, we’ll head back here for a night out. Sally Beth, you’re going to love Vegas!”
Sally Beth suddenly wasn’t so sure. She squinted through the haze and the heat wavering on the highway and looked toward the inhospitable, colorless mountains that did not beckon, but sat brooding in the heat like the unhealthy, sad parents of an unhealthy, sad landscape.
Oh, Lord! Do You ever come to this place? It looks like something the devil would love. She would have given a year of her life for a glimpse of a green tree just then.
Lilly lived in a shabby apartment building, but there was a pool, and Sally Beth hoped they would have time for a quick dip in it before they headed for the marquees and the spinning lights.
“Can we swim?” she asked.
“Sure. We have about an hour and a half before we have to leave.”
The pool felt like bath water, not as refreshing as the river where Sally Beth was used to swimming, but it was so hot here that even tepid water felt good. As she paddled around, careful not to get her hair wet and full of chlorine, she heard laughter, and she glanced up to see a beautiful, dark-haired man standing above her. He was wearing a bathing suit so tiny and tight that she could see all his man-bulges, which, from that angle, were significant. Face scarlet, she averted her eyes, pretending to look at something over by the building.
A moment later, he jumped in right beside her, so close that he splashed chlorine-laden water all over her hair. Making her way quickly to the other end of the pool, she eyed him discreetly from a safe corner.
There was something about him—well, a lot, actually—that she found discomfiting. He was too slick, flawless, really, with curly black hair and blue eyes fringed with the thickest, blackest lashes she had ever seen, white teeth, and a body that was beyond perfect. There were no laughing crinkles around his eyes, no scars or calluses, no sign that he lived in the real world of hard work and joyful living. He wore a smug expression that didn’t look friendly. And that bathing suit! Sally Beth kept her distance, trying not to look in his direction.
Seconds later, a sweet-looking woman with a wild halo of dark auburn hair strolled into view. Sally Beth was struck by the sheer size of her: she was huge, both tall and broad, and typical of girls who are self-conscious about their weight, she wore a shapeless muumuu that billowed out like a stiff tent, covering her from neck to ankles. She carefully sat down on the edge of the pool, tucking her legs underneath her.
The man in the tiny bathing suit swam over to her, laying his hand on her knee, and all of a sudden, Sally Beth’s perspective changed. If this was his girlfriend or his wife, then there was more to him than she had thought, for anybody that good looking who would prefer a lovely, angelic face to a beautiful body must have some goodness in him.
“You coming in, Tiffany?” he asked.
The woman glanced at Sally Beth. “No, I’ll just sit out here awhile.” She leaned forward to dabble her hand in the water.
“Oh, come on,” he insisted, splashing water at her. “It’s hot out there.” He splashed her again, laughing as she jumped up and backed away.
“No,” she said again, but she laughed. The man pulled himself out of the pool and walked around behind her. He nudged her with his knee.
“Oh, come on! You won’t melt! I dare you!”
She stood, then turned to face him. “No, I just don’t feel like it right—” but he shoved her hard, nearly pushing her into the water. Recovering quickly, she stepped backward for a moment before she reversed her stance to lean solidly into him, then she put her hands on his shoulders and shoved him back.
It was quite a shove. The woman was as tall as he was, at least six feet or more, and her arms looked powerful. Laughing, she leaned into him again, and when he wrapped his arms around her to try to throw her into the pool, she spun quickly. A second later, so fast that Sally Beth wondered if she had missed something, the woman stood at the pool’s edge, relaxed and serene, and he was in the water.
“Hey! No fair!” he sputtered, his eyes dark and hard, despite his laughter. The woman casually reached into her bag and pulled out a cigarette.
“I’m going back into the apartment,” she said as she stuck a match. “Take your time.” She strolled nonchalantly into the building behind them, leaving pale blue smoke in her wake.
He turned his attention to Sally Beth, pushing off the side of the pool toward her and giving her a coy smile. It was time to get out, she decided, but as she glanced toward the shallow end, she felt her face go hot with embarrassment. Lilly had stepped into the glare of the white sunshine, wearing a tiny bikini almost as revealing as the man’s.
“Hi, Lawrence,” came Lilly’s voice. She strolled to the water’s edge. “Haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?” She flashed him a smile that was, in Sally Beth’s opinion, a hair too friendly. Surely, she knew he had a girlfriend.
“Lil-ly!” he hollered, rolling over into a lazy backstroke. “Hey, beautiful! Missed you, too. What’s up?”
“Lots. I see you’ve met my sister. She’s come out to help me pack up ‘cause I’m moving back to West Virginia. We’re headed out day after tomorrow.” She sat by the pool and splashed at him with her foot seductively.
“Awww. Too bad!” He made a silly-looking pouty face, pursing his lips at Lilly and eyeing her legs. Sally Beth decided she had had enough. She heaved herself out of the water, picked up her flip-flops, and said, “We’d better go, Lilly.” She wanted to get her sister out of there before she made a complete fool of herself.
Oh, Lord! What a day I’ve had. I hate the desert. Which I’m sorry to say because I know You made it, but it’s so hot here. And dry. But even though I can see why they call Las Vegas “Sin City,” I did have a lot of fun. That magic show was the most incredible thing I have ever seen.
Sally Beth stopped praying then because she realized the Lord would not have approved of everything that went on that night—certainly not the way Sally Beth had handled things with her sister, who had dragged her to the casino right after the show. Sally Beth had tried to object, but Lilly grumbled about her being an old stick-in-the-mud, and she decided it would be wrong to fuss at Lilly after she had taken her to that wonderful magic act.
Lilly had marched straight up to the Blackjack table, sat down and won three hands in a row. “See?” she said. “There is nothing wrong with this. It’s just a game of skill, and you can win at it if you know what you’re doing.”
Sally Beth didn’t say anything. Something didn’t sit right in her gut, but she didn’t know how to argue. It was late, and she was tired and not thinking entirely straight, so she simply watched while Lilly racked up a considerable pile of poker chips.
“Wanna try, Sally Beth? I’ll show you.” Sally Beth shook her head. “Come on, you sit here, and I’ll tell you exactly what to do. It’s okay. We’re way ahead, and nobody’s going to lose the farm tonight.” She stood, pushing Sally Beth into her seat.
The other players smiled at Sally Beth. Most of them didn’t look like outlaws, but the one right beside her did kind of look like he might belong to the Mafia with his slicked-back hair and gold chains showing underneath his mostly unbuttoned shirt. The girl beside him looked like a part of a matched set. She had big bosoms and lots of chains, too, and her blouse was halfway unbuttoned.
Another glance at the woman told Sally Beth that she ought to spend less time in the sun and that she should take better care of her hair. She wished she could give her some of the leave-in conditioner she had in her purse. That hair would look a lot better if it weren’t so dry and had a little shine.
Lilly was talking. “Pay attention, Sally Beth. You have a jack and a nine. That’s nineteen. The dealer has a five. That means you don’t take a card, because it’s likely he won’t do better than you’ve got without busting. Wave your hand like this.” She leaned over Sally Beth’s shoulder and passed her hand over the cards, and Sally Beth was surprised when a moment later the dealer pushed two chips over to her.
“Hey, good for you!” said the woman with the bleached out, dry hair.
Sally Beth smiled at her over the head of the man with the gold chains. “Thanks. My first time at this. I’m a little nervous.”
The woman smiled back, and it was a nice smile. Sally Beth decided her tan was kind of pretty. It made her look exotic. “Where are you from?”
“West Virginia. And you?”
“Orange County.”
“Look, Sally Beth,” said Lilly. “You got a five and a three. You want to take a hit. And another.”
The woman next to Mafia Man had a big pile of chips in front of her, but her boyfriend was losing, and he was looking sullen.
“Twenty! Ha!” said Lilly.
Sally Beth spoke to the blonde over the head of Mafia Man. “Where is Orange County?”
“California. It’s where Hollywood is.”
“Oh,” said Sally Beth. That explained a lot.
“He busted!” shouted Lilly, and Sally Beth was astonished to see her little pile of chips grow. “Sally Beth, isn’t this fun?”
Well, yes, it was kind of fun, she guessed, even though it was late and she had been up since six o’clock this morning, Tucker time, and she found the game baffling. Lilly played Sally Beth’s hand while Sally Beth talked to the blonde woman over the head of Mafia Man next to her. Sally Beth felt bad for him because he was losing, but she figured since his girlfriend was winning, they would turn out okay, and she hoped he wasn’t worrying about the rent or anything. She gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, I think she’s making up for you,” and was surprised when he glared at her and got up from the table as he downed his drink.
“Hillbilly bitch,” he sneered and walked off.
Sally Beth was taken aback at first, then she remembered that men didn’t like to lose to women, and he probably had felt that she had been making fun of him. She was about to apologize to him, but before she could open her mouth again, Lilly jumped into his seat, mumbling, “Screw you! Take a hit, Sally Beth,” and the opportunity was gone.
The woman from Orange County rolled her eyes. “Don’t pay him any attention. He’s just mad because he’s losing. He usually calls me worse than that when he loses,” she laughed. “We girls are stomping them, aren’t we?” Lilly laughed, too, and so did the dealer, and Sally Beth thought, Oh, if Mama could see us now, she would just spin in her grave. But she didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the girl from Orange County, so she laughed, too, before turning to Lilly to say, “I’m getting tired, Lilly. Why don’t we get on home now?”
“Oh, no! We got this winning streak going on. Oh, look, two aces. Thank you, Jesus! I’ll split these.”
“Lilly, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!”
“That wasn’t in vain. I really was thanking Him.”
Sally Beth wanted to argue that it wasn’t right to thank Jesus for helping you gamble, but she didn’t feel up to it. She suddenly felt lonely and homesick, and she knew for certain that Lilly wouldn’t let herself be dragged from this place even if it was on fire.
The woman from Orange County leaned toward her. “So what do you do in West Virginia? I’m Carla, by the way.”
Sally Beth perked up. “I’m Sally Beth, and I’m a hair stylist.” She thought for a second and added, “and a cosmetologist. But mostly I just do hair. This is my sister, Lilly.”
“Oh yeah? I need to do something with this mess,” said Carla. “I got it colored last week and the woman did an awful job on it. See how dried out it is?” she said, running her hands through it and lifting the ends with a grimace. “Yours is so pretty. Is it naturally that color?”
Sally Beth saw her opportunity. “Oh yeah, but it takes some work, it’s so fine and delicate. Hey, I have some leave-in conditioner that’ll put some shine right back in your hair. I use it.” She rummaged around in her purse to find a small tube. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to try it out on you.”
Lilly glared at her. “Sally Beth! Don’t you dare. You can’t be rubbing stuff in people’s hair right here in the middle of the casino! People will think you are nuts. Don’t take a hit. You’ve got sixteen and the dealer is showing a six.”
“Don’t be silly, Lilly. There’s people acting crazy all over the place here and nobody pays one bit of attention. See that woman hollering over there?”
“It’s okay,” spoke up Carla. “I wish you would do something with this. You hair is so shiny. And your sister’s too. Does she use it?”
“Yes, and it’s real easy. Here, I’ll just work some of it through your hair. You’ll be amazed.” She opened the tube and put a small dollop in the palm of her hand as she got up to move behind her. “Lilly you can play my hand,” she said, plunging her hands into the woman’s tresses and massaging vigorously.
“Sally Beth, you are embarrassing the heck out of me. Hit her,” Lilly said to the dealer. “Hit her again. It looks plain trashy to be rubbing stuff in people’s hair you don’t even know right here in a public place. Hot dog! Dealer busted again! I’m going to up my bet. You want me to up yours, too?”
“Sure, okay. Oh, gosh, this is making a big difference already. Here, I’ll brush it through to get it distributed better.” She pulled a brush out of her purse and went to work. “Oh, that looks so much better! I’ve got a mirror in here so you can see. Isn’t that nice?”
“Shoot, I shouldn’t have taken that card. Oh my, yes! I can really tell a difference.” She smiled tentatively at Sally Beth. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you sort of remind me of Elly Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies. I mean, that’s a compliment.”
Sally Beth nearly grimaced, particularly after what the boyfriend had just called her, but she could tell the woman was being sincere, and she did not want to offend her by acting put-out.
“Well, I will take it as a compliment, then. Elly May’s real pretty.”
“Yes, you do look like her, but you’re really sweet, too, like she is. Sort of innocent. Not spoiled. I really appreciate you fixing my hair.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. It’s so dry out here, no wonder your hair is dried out. Mine would be, too.”
“Darn it!” exclaimed Lilly. “That was lucky. He took five cards and managed to pull out a twenty-one.”
“Are you starting to lose, Lilly?” Sally Beth was tired and feeling anxious. The blonde with the now-shiny hair had lost three hands in a row. “Shouldn’t we go now? I’m real tired.”
Lilly sighed, “Okay, Sally Beth,” she said, then seeing the tiredness in her sister’s face, she added, “It’s time we got you home.”
Lord, I can see why You don’t like gambling. But I did like meeting Carla. You never know how nice people can be. Just goes to show I shouldn’t be quick to judge. She yawned. Give my love to Mama and Daddy, okay? And Holy Miracle. I sure do miss them all. Sally Beth rolled over and fell into a dead sleep.
August 7, 1978
They spent the day packing up Lilly’s belongings and then had an early dinner before going to the Sinatra concert, which, Sally Beth decided, was the highlight of her life. She didn’t know which was harder: not singing along with Mr. Sinatra or enduring the dirty looks of all the people around her when she did. It also was hard not to dance out of the auditorium when it was over. “Strangers in the Night” was buzzing around in her head so beautifully, it was all she could do to walk steadily, one foot in front of the other. She thanked Lilly for bringing her a dozen times, as they strolled back through the casino.
“I’m thirsty. Let’s get a drink before we go home,” Lilly suggested, nudging her through the crowds toward a plush lounge. To Sally Beth’s surprise, she soon found herself sitting at a bar across from a grinning Lawrence.
“Hey, ladies. What can I do you for?” he wiggled his eyebrows at Lilly. She pretended to roll her eyes, but Sally Beth caught the smile she flashed at him. “Surprise us,” said Lilly.
“Nothing strong,” broke in Sally Beth.
“Hey, let the man do his job. Bring us something special. Something Sally Beth will like. She’s about to die from the heat here.”
“I got just the thing.” Lawrence kept up a lively chatter as he dished ice and a variety of liquids into glasses. “You ladies having a good time? I’m getting off in about an hour, and I’m happy to show you around town, some of the—ahem—special places I know about.”
Lilly laughed. “Don’t, Lawrence! Sally Beth already thinks you are awful. And besides, your girlfriend might not like it if she finds out you’ve been out with a couple of natural blondes.” She flung her hair back with a toss of her head.
Lawrence looked at Lilly as if she was some kind of dessert he couldn’t wait to devour. “She isn’t my girlfriend as of last night, so consider me a free man, up for grabs.” He winked. “In every sense of the word. Come on. Let’s show Sally Beth how to do Vegas right. Hot time in the old town tonight?” He placed two frosty glasses in front of them and dropped cherries on top with a flourish.
“Thanks, but I’ve had enough of hot,” countered Sally Beth as she picked up her drink and sipped. “I’m just ready for a good night’s sleep so we can hit the road tomorrow.” She frowned at the glass. “Is there liquor in this?”
He chuckled. “Not much. Just enough to help you relax. Go ahead. I won’t let you get drunk.”
Doubtfully, she sipped again. It was very good and fruity, and even though she could taste alcohol, it didn’t seem too strong. Not wanting to appear prudish or ungrateful, she took another swallow and felt the cool sweetness slip down her throat, then turn warm when it hit her stomach.
It seemed odd, drinking at a bar with Lilly, but it didn’t feel as unholy as she might have imagined it would be. The place was pretty, with soft lights and classy décor. The thrill of the concert was still buzzing in her blood, and the pianist was playing the most beautiful version of “Moon River” she had ever heard. When she glanced up at Lawrence, he smiled at her. It seemed like a nice smile, and she thought maybe he wasn’t so bad, after all. He was much too pretty and soft-looking, but his teeth were big and white, and she liked the way they lined up so straight, so she smiled back, and then they had a pleasant conversation about how hot it was and what the mountains east of there were like. Before she knew it, her drink had disappeared and Lawrence was placing another one in front of her.
“So you’re leaving tomorrow,” he said.
“Yes, thank the Lord,” said Sally Beth. I don’t think I can take another day of this heat.”
“You’re going back to West Virginia?”
“Yes, but we’re going to see lots of sights along the way. The Grand Canyon, and I’ve heard the high desert is real pretty, and maybe Carlsbad Caverns.”
Lilly spoke up. “And Graceland. We’re going to see Graceland.”
“Uh-huh. Our mama was born on the very same day as Elvis, January 8, 1935, and she always loved him. We’re going to put a flower on his grave for her,” added Sally Beth.
“Oh yeah? I’d like to see Graceland, too.” He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Say, why don’t I come along with you? At least to Memphis. I’m from St. Louis, and I’ve been wanting to get back for a visit. I could just catch a bus from Memphis. I’ll help pay for gas,” he added.
Lilly lit up like a Christmas tree. “You want to?”
Sally Beth thought that might not be a great idea, but somehow it didn’t seem important enough to say anything. She was feeling cozy, as if she was nestled down in a bed of cotton balls, and the room around her was full of shimmering, fuzzy lights, and the music was soft, and it seemed to shimmer, too. Come to think of it, it might be nice to have a man along, if they had a flat in the desert or something. She knew there were long, dry stretches of desert in their near future. Yes, a man could be a big help, and besides, she hated to turn down anybody who wanted to go home. It was the right thing to do, letting him come with them. She nodded, smiled, and listened to the dreamy music, floating along its currents as if she was riding on a cloud.
Lord, I sure wish Mama could have seen Mr. Sinatra tonight. Daddy, too. He was every bit as smooth and glamorous as I thought he would be, and he was so much bigger than he seemed when he was on Ed Sullivan, and much more alive. It was all really good…” Sally Beth was asleep before she could finish the sentence.