Graceland Beginnings [Elvis]

Chapter 12 - What Is That Secretive Man Hiding?

Only a week passed since I arrived in 1880, but it felt like a month. So many things had happened since then, but I still had some things to figure out.

The heat of the morning was burning the back of my neck. I could feel it. I was asked by Lucy if I would pull the weeds from her vegetable garden near the front field. I had my hat on, but it didn't shield my neck. I was already burnt on my face. Yesterday, since Elma refused to leave her room because of her broken heart, Grace and I were doing a lot of the outside chores all day. Poor Elma... She spent the rest of Sunday and all of Monday sobbing in her room. She was still in there. She never left her room even for meals. Bathing, yes. We caught her going to and from the back, but after, nothing.

"Man, it's hot..." I complained and wiped my brow of sweat. My hands were dirty, so some of that dirt got on my forehead. "Doggonit. I'm gonna need a bath after this." I looked over at Petunia, who was in the grass next to the garden, and she was chewing on a chicken bone from dinner yesterday. "Hey, girl!"

She brought her head up to me, and she looked at me for a moment with her different colored eyes, then she went back to what she was doing. I chuckled, thinking that cute. I couldn't wait to get a dog once I got home. Along with the other mysteries of my time here so far, that was another one. When the heck would I go home? I really hoped it wasn't yet. I needed to get those other things figured out. Plus... I didn't want to leave Grace. We both were in love with each other, even if we had to pretend we weren't. Grace was really good at it. She hadn't spoken a dozen words to me since we arrived home after church.

I got back to the weed pulling, and I hollered when I saw a rather large black spider crawling out from the roots of a dandelion weed. My heart racing, I stood up and stepped out of the garden. I sat next to Petunia as she still chewed the bone that she was holding with her two front paws.

"Yikes, that was a big one," I said as I looked at my furring companion. "I don't normally mind spiders, but that was an exception."

Petunia stopped chewing and looked beyond me at something. She stood up and started growling. I looked over to where she was and saw a man walking along the road. She barked, and I pet her head and ran my hand down her back.

"Hey, girl, it's just someone walkin' by, that's all," I told her, and then the man starting into the field. "Or... he's comin' this way. Hey, don't...!"

She ran for the lanky man and reached him. I stood up as this person crouched down and pet Petunia and started licking him on the face. I squinted my eyes and realized that the man wasn't a man, but a tall boy. It was Eddie. I waved at him, and he waved back and started for me. Once up to me, he greeted me as Petunia joined us, "Hello, Elvis."

"Hey, Eddie, how are ya?" I patted his back in a friendly manner.

"Honestly, not so good. I had to escape."

I noticed the sadness in his hazel eyes. "Escape? From where?"

"Home. I couldn't take bein' there any longer. He was holdin' me prisoner, basically, since what happened at church on Sunday. He told me if I ever even went near the Toof farm, he would disown me. Well, seems like I'm disowned now."

His throat caught on the last word, and I put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry, pal. He really doesn't want ya bein' with Elma, does he?"

This tall teen shook his head grimly. "No, not at all. I begged 'im, but... he's so adamant. He even told me to stay away from you."

"Me? Why?"

He shrugged. "He didn't tell me. I recalled what we talked about at the town gatherin', so I asked 'im why he wants the Toof farm so much, and I asked if it had anything' to do with you. He told me to keep my trap shut and go to my room and stay there, and my meals would be brought to me." His voice cracked as his eyes became bloodshot. "I had to escape through my bedroom window. It's on the second floor, so I had to climb down without killin' myself."