Vegas Hotel: The Female Bellhop

Chapter 14 - Well, It's About Time!

This was ridiculous, all this fuss. Nothing was seriously wrong with me. I actually walked into the hospital, I wasn't brought in on a gurney, unconscious. Daddy and those in my party convinced me to be checked out at the hospital after passing out. I sat there on my hospital bed right after Jerry made a phone call to the Brentons, about a half-hour after I was admitted.

"Really, Jerry, now they're gonna think I died. Why didn't you tell 'em, I'm fine?"

"Because I don't think they should be involved in this mess," the Colonel piped up as he and Daddy stood in the room with me. The rest of the guys were out in the hallway. "The less they know, the better, so they don't tell others."

My sternum pinched with annoyance. I didn't want to give mainly Amelia grief regarding me. The poor girl had already been through enough. "Jerry, give me the phone. I'm gonna call 'em myself."

"No, you won't, my boy," the Colonel ordered. "We're having a hard enough time keeping the press away."

"This wouldn't have happened if we didn't work him so hard today, Colonel," Daddy put in, his eyes worried. "The shelter, meeting fans, walked to three other places after that..."

"Hold on, I'm not an old man here," I shot. "I don't need to be babied."

"You passed out, son," Daddy hotly, but it was out of worry and concern. "You really need to take care of yourself."

"I take care of myself just fine," I said and folded my arms.

"Not with those pills you're taking, EP," Jerry said, and my gaze darkened. He went there, and my chest pricked harder with annoyance and now anger.

"Hey, I said to never mention those pills again, Jerry!"

"But you know it's the combination of them and all the exertion that makes your body give out! C'mon, EP! We're all worried about you, and we have been since you started your career, and especially since you took that nasty fall and blacked out in '67! Pain pills became candy for you after that!"

A surge of fury shot through me, and I got off the bed and went for my best friend, my eyes blazing. Daddy stopped me from doing something to Jerry. "You say one more word about it, Jerry, and I swear it...!"

"Simmer down, Elvis!" Daddy ordered. "Simmer down. We're all high-strung right now, and you're still recuperating. Now... go sit back down and take a breath."

My father was one of the only people I listened to, or obeyed, more like. I yanked myself out of his hold and went back to the bed and sat on the edge of it, my heart pounding still with anger. "Just give me that damn phone, someone!"

Jerry got it for me, and the cord had to be extended since it was plugged into the wall. I set the white set on my lap and immediately put the head piece against my head and held it there with my shoulder as I put in the Brenton's number with one hand and held the set on my lap with the other. After three rings, someone picked up...

"Brenton residence."

I knew this voice. "Gena, hey."

She gasped into the phone, and I heard her holler to the rest of her family, "It's Elvis!" And then I heard a commotion in the background, and my heart dropped when I heard Amelia's whimpering. I knew all too well what that sounded like. Gena said, "Oh my heavens, we're all so glad you're okay! Jerry said..."

"Jerry didn't give ya the whole story. Yeah, I fainted and was taken to the hospital, but I walked in on my own. Really, I'm fine. I'm just gonna take a breather for a couple days."

I glanced at the Colonel, whose eye went wide. He didn't like that since we were busy with things the next day, and he always needed me doing things. He was about to come in and say something, but Daddy stopped him and shook his head, telling him to leave it be. For now.