Elvis and Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells Her Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

a side wall; and the green carpet was, surprisingly, on parts of the ceiling as well as the floor.
    After a few minutes, a maid entered and offered us a drink. We asked for sodas and, when she left, eased our tension by taking our mirrored compacts out from our purses, opening them, and jokingly pretending to primp.
    Suddenly, I noticed cameras mounted on the walls near the ceiling. The cameras seemed to be aimed our way! I quickly closed my compact and pointed them out to my sisters. Mortified, I wondered if we were being watched.
    The maid returned with our drinks and we sat quietly, now cautious of every move we made.
    Considering the late hour, I was surprised that Graceland was so active. Phones periodically buzzed (they did not ring) and various people came and went. At one point, a young man in his twenties, with long blond hair, stepped into the Jungle Room and casually introduced himself as Elvis’s brother, Ricky Stanley.
    Brother?
I was puzzled. I didn’t know Elvis had any siblings. Later, I learned that Ricky was Elvis’s stepbrother; his mother, Dee, had married Elvis’s father, Vernon, after Gladys Presley died. We introduced ourselves and found out that Ricky worked as an aide to Elvis.
    Not long afterward, a short, dark-haired man in his forties appeared and introduced himself as Charlie Hodge. With a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he began telling off-color jokes, all the while leaning as if balancing on the deck of a heeling ship. If Elvis was considered the King of Rock and Roll, I thought Charlie would certainly qualify as his court jester. I wondered if he’d been sent expressly to entertain us. As I discovered after I started seeing Elvis, Charlie sang harmony with Elvis and assisted him onstage during his shows.
    George finally returned. “Elvis is still practicing karate,” he said. “Would you like to see downstairs?”
    Thinking we were downstairs, I was surprised to follow him down a staircase at the back of the den. We entered a colorful room with vibrantly patterned fabric in blue, red, and yellow lining its walls and ceiling. Pieces of furniture were upholstered in matching material. An electric organ stood against one wall, and a billiard table sat in the middle of the room beneath two large Tiffany-style lamps suspended from the ceiling.
    George then took us into another room he called the TV Room. I felt immediately disoriented as we entered this room, because it was filled with mirrors: Mirrors covered the ceiling, framed the fireplace, and covered a square coffee table. What looked to be small mirrors were shining in the embroidered fabric of yellow-and-white pillows scattered across a large navy sectional sofa. Yellow leather stools were pulled up to the bar, and three television sets had been built into a side wall.
    A huge white lightning bolt inside navy and yellow clouds had been painted above the couch. George explained that Elvis had a motto,
TCB
, which stood for
taking care of business
. The lightning bolt was a symbol for
taking care of business lightning fast
.
    A phone began to buzz in the room. George answered it, listened, then hung up, saying we were going upstairs next, to Elvis’s daughter’s room.
    Upstairs?
I couldn’t believe it! Our tour had helped me calm down, but now my nerves began to hum again. I knew Elvis had to be on the top floor because we’d pretty much covered the entire downstairs. The time had come, I thought: We were finally going to meet him!
    •   •   •
    Elvis’s relatives were still playing cards in the dining room as we passed by them again, this time headed for the foyer. When George started up the staircase, my heart began to beat even faster. At the top, we followed him down a hall and into Lisa’s bedroom.
    This room was decorated mainly in yellow and white. A black leather sofa was against the wall to the right, and the center of the room was dominated by a large round bed blanketed in white faux fur with