Graceland Beginnings [Elvis]

Chapter 7 - Well... That Eventually Will Be Here

The day before the town celebration came, and the Toof family was busy making baked goods for the event. I helped out by getting eggs from the chickens, milk from the cows, and I churned the butter for Lucy. All those things were needed ingredients for baked goods. I had watched Momma and Dodger bake quite often, so I knew what ingredients were used. Here, the flour was ground from the grain that was harvested, and I helped with the grinding, too. It took some muscle. The women were thankful that I was there to help out with that.

"Woo-wee," I exasperated as I sat on the top step the few stairs up to the porch. "A full day's work and it's not even eleven in the mornin'. I have a huge respect for these 1800s people now."

Petunia came running up to the steps, a stick in her mouth. I chuckled at how adorable that was as she had a happy gleam in her two different colored eyes, and her fluffy tail was wagging excitedly. I ran a hand through my hair that had sweat in it at my neck. It was already pretty warm out here. What I would give for some air conditioning.

"You wanna play fetch, huh?" I asked Petunia as I stood up and came down to her and tried to get the stick out of her mouth. She was keeping hold of it impressively, and she was growling cutely as she was going so. I couldn't help but chuckle. "You're just so doggon adorable, aren't chya?"

I got the stick out of her mouth, threw it out into the grass, and she bounded for it. Someone came out of the house behind me, and I looked back to see Grace coming out, and her apron was dusted with flour, and some of it was on her face. Petunia came back, and I turned my attention to my furry friend, and I tried to get the stick out of her mouth, which I succeeded in doing after a minute, and I threw the stick again, farther this time. I heard Grace laugh as she came and stood next to me.

"I think you became Petunia's favorite person," she commented.

"You jealous?" I asked with a sly look.

"I admit, a little. You have a way with animals, as was already seen on your first day here."

Petunia came back, and we did the same thing again. She ran after the stick. "Hard to believe that I've been here five days already. I'm wonderin' how long I'm gonna be here. I mean, it's excitin' living in my hometown and on my own property fifty-five years before I was born, but... I miss my family. I'm wonderin' if time's passin' there and they're all wonderin' where in the blazes I've gone, or... I might be still out cold in the grass, and only a couple minutes have passed. I don't know."

We watched as Petunia stayed where she found the stick, lay down in the grass and chew on it as she held it with her paws. Grace said, "I guess you'll find out when you go back. Hopefully it's not for a while."

My heart jumped, and I looked over at her. "You don't want me to leave?"

Her face started to flush under the splotches of flour on her cheeks. "I mean, that... um... well, you're a good worker. Momma and I, as well as Papa and Elma, are all thankful for your help."

I snickered. Nice cover. "Well, I'm happy to help, even if it's hard work."

"You're used to hard work, though."

"Yeah, but not this kinda hard work. It's different, but... nice. It's nice to get away from the life of fame. Where I'm from, I can never escape it since everyone around the country knows who I am. I can't really hide. It's one of the reasons why I wanted a bigger property." I indicated the massive field in front of us with cows grazing and the trees. "It's big enough that my family can have some privacy. Our last house was in a neighborhood, so not very private. We installed a fence around the small property, but that didn't stop people from lookin'. People even climbed the trees around so they could see my family and I chillin' by the pool in the back."