Murder Boogies With Elvis Read Online Free PDF Page B

room which I knew would be snaking up the steps.
    “I don’t want to miss the second half,” Tammy Sue said.
    The three of us nodded in agreement. Damn men architects.
    “I wish I had a choice. Oh, well.” Sister gave a little wave. “See you later.”
    “She seems very nice,” Tammy Sue said. “I know Daddy’s crazy about her.”
    I nodded. It was going to be interesting to see how Tammy Sue and Mary Alice worked out their relationship. I hoped Tammy Sue wouldn’t be intimidated by her new stepmother.
    “Do you think they’re going to get married?”
    I had forgotten that Mary Alice and Virgil hadn’t told his children yet. That explained Sister’s unusual quietness tonight. She was nervous about breaking the news. A new role for Sister.
    “Maybe,” I said.
    “Well, maybe it’ll work out. Daddy’s been needing someone. And Mary Alice seems so easy to get along with. I really like her.”
    Easy to get along with? Lord have mercy.
    “I just hope, if they do, that it’s a little wedding, and that she’s not planning on me wearing a bridesmaid dress. I’m done with that. Last time I was in a wedding I had to wear the most god-awful yellow dress you ever saw, and I said to myself, ‘No more, Tammy Sue.’”
    Oh, joy. Welcome to the family, Tammy Sue.
    We had a wonderful fifteen minutes of conversation. I told Tammy Sue about Haley and the baby. She told me about her job as a realtor, that she and Larry had been married for five years, that her brother, Buddy, was still drifting, she thought. An Elvis impersonator? Get real. It was fun for Larry, but sometimes she thought Buddy really believed he was Elvis. Heneeded to settle down, get a good job, and find a nice girl to marry.
    Members of the orchestra began to wander back into the orchestra pit. Fred and Virgil came down the aisle.
    “Did you see Mary Alice?” I asked.
    Virgil nodded. “In the line outside the ladies’ room. You ought to see that line.”
    “We see them every day,” Tammy Sue said.
    Neither man looked concerned. Hah. Nicholas and Alexandra hadn’t been concerned, either. Soon the great bladder revolution, boys.
    The lights dimmed and the Mighty Wurlitzer rose from the floor again to begin the second half of the show. The organ was so well lighted that the women trying to get back to their seats weren’t having too much trouble. By the time we sang “Cuddle Up a Little Closer,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and Mr. Wurlitzer had segued into what he announced was the hymn du jour, “How Great Thou Art,” the audience was settling down—even Mary Alice, who was breathing heavily and fussing, “Who the hell’s idea was it to put the bathrooms in the basement?” as she stumbled over Virgil’s feet.
    Fortunately the audience was belting out the last line of “How Great Thou Art.”
    Tammy Sue patted her on the arm sympathetically.
    We sat back to enjoy the rest of the show. There were the usual jugglers, comedy routines, one spectacular group of contortionists that Fred said it hurt him to watch and which Tammy Sue said was one of her husband Larry’s acts. And then, according to the program, it was time for the dancing Elvises.
    The music was “Jailhouse Rock,” and fifteen Elvises came from each side of the stage, thirty Elvises in all.They were short, tall, skinny, paunchy, but still eerily alike with their black hair, sideburns, and white jump-suits. They danced onto the stage with a sort of sidestep, then joined arms, bowed to the audience’s applause, and then broke apart. We soon caught on that there were four stars who got to come to the front of the stage and do their version of Elvis dances. One turned cartwheels and did splits, which I had never seen Elvis do, but he was good at it and got a round of applause. One was wonderful, dirty-boogying and sweating.
    “That’s Larry.” Tammy Sue squealed. “Hey, Larry!”
    Larry’s hips moved even faster.
    I poked Tammy Sue. “Where’s Virgil,