Tall Girl Blues [Elvis]

Chapter 2 - Meeting Her Favorite Star

The town was so cute! After that hour of driving half in the city and half in the mountains, I finally reached the mountain country town. The road was full of windes and turns, and if I hadn't eaten before I left, I would have felt pretty queasy. Well, I already felt queasy since my whole body was tickled with nerves.

The film personnel had a space in town where they could park. It was in a parking lot to a travel agency since this was more a recreational resort town, and it was the only one big enough to accommodate all the people acting in and being a part of the crew to the movie. The place was bustling with people walking around. I spotted Dad maybe fifty feet away from where I was driving slowly in the parking lot, trying to find a place to park, and he was helping with a large film camera.

After parking, I primped myself quickly in the dash mirror and fixed the collar to my lavender-colored dress. I came out of my car, and the instant I did, I felt the warm autumn air, and I smelled dirt, wood and pine, and the dead leaves of fall. Also, the moment I came out, the people around looked over. Of course, I knew why. I was nervous enough because Elvis would be arriving at some point, so people ogling me like some circus attraction didn't help anything. Ignoring people's stares and whispers as best I could, since I did that for half my life, I weaved my way through the cars, equipment and people to my dad.

"Hey, Dad!" I called, and he turned his head. His lips stretched into a grin, and he came over to me, a few feet from the camera on wheels.

"Deanne, you finally showed up."

"I'm early, though."

"I know. I just couldn't wait for you to get here. You like it? Isn't that mountain air amazing?"

He took in a deep breath and let it out. I giggled. "I really is, Dad. And the view... wow, the drive up here was beautiful, and being here and seeing all these mountains surrounding us filled with trees full of fall colors... it's so breathtaking."

"That it is."

"Hey Rodger, this is your girl, huh?" asked a man that was also tinkering with the camera, and he looked around Dad's age, but had brown hair, and was a bit wider than Dad. He came up to us and craned his neck to look up at me. "Deanne, right?"

"Sure is," I said. "And before you ask, I'm six-seven."

He laughed heartily. "You read my mind. You get that a lot, I take it." I nodded, and he held out his hand. "I'm Jeffery Brant. It's a pleasure."

Jeffery seemed like a nice enough man with those friendly brown eyes and pudgy smile. "The pleasure's all mine. It seems that my dad was talking about me."

"Just like any man would. He was going on and on about ya, saying how proud he was that you got a chance to be an extra in the movie. Excuse me for this, but I think people would have their eyes on you instead of the stars."

I was thinking about that on the way up. As famous as Elvis was, he was less-noticeable than a girl who was seven inches taller than him. At least, I read that he was six feet tall exactly. Pretty normal for a man. I was definitely not normal for a woman, especially a young woman. According to my research, a woman reaching at least six-four was rare.

"Have you met him yet?" I asked Jeffery. I already knew Dad hadn't met him yet.

"I have. He's a pretty great guy - very polite, friendly and personable. I was on the crew to his last movie Follow That Dream. We had to travel to Florida for that one just last summer, and let me tell ya... it was sweltering hot the whole time. I'm thankful that this one is closer to home and twenty-some degrees cooler."

I laughed at that as I noticed people walking by eye me. A blonde woman probably around thirty or more came up to me and, like Jeffery, she craned her neck since she was easily more than a foot shorter than me. "Hello!" she greeted me with a smile. "I'm so sorry, but I just couldn't help myself. Wow, you're so tall!"