BOOK PREVIEW for “The Elvis I Remember”

Table of ContentsPrelude

Chapter 1 The First Time We Met

Chapter 2 Growing Up California Style

Chapter 3 Fate’s Hand

Chapter 4 My Summer’s Night Dream

Chapter 5 The Invitation

Chapter 6 Memphis, Here We Come

Chapter 7 Christmas in July

Chapter 8 A Southern Gentleman

Chapter 9 Love?

Chapter l0 Vernon

Chapter ll Graceland

Chapter l2 Holding on Tight

Chapter l3 Secrecy

Chapter l4 The Gun Incident

Chapter l5 Elvis On Stage

Chapter l6 An Angry Moment

Chapter l7 Torn Apart

Chapter l8 Gladys Gift

Chapter l9 Generation Gap

Chapter 20 The Christmas Gift

Chapter 2l Elvis In Control

Chapter 22 Mountain Home

Chapter 23 The Book

Chapter 24 Roses for Tara

Chapter 25 A Surprise

Chapter 26 Wedding Jitters

Chapter 27 Afraid of The Dark

Chapter 28 Don’t Cry Mommy

Chapter 29 I Am So Sorry

Chapter 30 Elvis!

Elvis, you were always my inspiration with your blessed understanding of God and His Son. You are my gift from Heaven. I wish the world had really known you... as I knew you...

A handsome young man in Memphis was working hard. One special day an older gentleman, who looked homeless, approached him. “Young man, your destiny is in front of you”. He then gave him a small Cross and told him that this would protect him, and bring him great success, and then the man walked away. It was not long after that, the young man got up the courage to walk into Sun Recording Studio, and his destiny began...My story starts about five years later. I was a little girl that was at the right place at the right time. This is Elvis and my story.

The next thing I knew this older boy just stepped towards me, bent down, placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re sure the quiet one, aren’t you?” He then started to stand, and as he did, he told me I was a very pretty little girl...

To tell you the truth I don’t think I cared who he was. I was in love. Whatever love is to a small girl. I was in love with Elvis. ..

Even though I had met Elvis as a little girl, I did not buy any of Elvis’ albums. Yes, I admired him and I thought he was gorgeous, but I was not an Elvis fan. I knew he was special, and I respected his work, but the music I was drawn to, was the period of my time and not his...

It wasn’t long after my father’s death, that my mother thought that she and I should take a trip back to Tennessee to see the family, and hopefully get a chance for some help in coping with my father’s death...

All of a sudden I realized that I was not the only one in the alley and I started to become frightened. A soft voice said to me “Are you all right Ma'am?” ... a southern man will respect a woman no matter her age, and will usually address them appropriately as Ma'am...At that moment I realized whom I was speaking with and started to get shaky. The voice that was speaking to me was unmistakable. The memory of when I was a little girl came flooding back to me. I was hearing that kind voice again... I said it right out of the blue, “Elvis! Did you love your mother as much as I have heard?” He said, “Oh yes, Ma'am, I thought she was an angel, and I never stop missing her. She was the most important person to me in my life and always will be”...

The next time Elvis called, he never did say hi to me. He just started singing “ Love Me Tender”...

At his home...He told me that he loved my smile, and then blurted out that since we have the house to ourselves, he wanted to show me around. Elvis took me from room to room...far away from him. No matter where we went I was prepared for him to grab for my hand. It didn’t matter to me, because I loved it. It was as if he was leading me around, I think it was his way of being protective of me. I felt so cherished....

He kind of sprawled back on the bed, and asked me if he could have a hug. Still nervous, I laid down next to him, he grabbed me and kissed me so intensely. I didn’t want the kiss to ever end.

“How did you handle sleeping in the army?” Elvis said it was the same. “When they called lights out, I would lay there forever and then get up, even though I was hungry or couldn’t sleep I could not get into the mess hall. I tried on several occasions but it was always locked. So I always kept a couple of candy bars around...

Elvis had to have a chocolate shake everyday. I already knew why he wore the scarves, mostly just to wipe the sweat off his face. To tell you the truth, Elvis always sweated no matter whether it was cold or hot. When Elvis was around 6 years old, he had fallen off a bike and had hurt himself pretty bad. His lower tooth went into his top lip, which bled very badly. His lip never healed correctly and that is why Elvis’ lip would curl up. I was pouring water very gently over his chest and playing connect the dots with my finger, with a few moles on his back. He asked, “What are you doing?”, and I said, “I'm making a star with the moles on your back-You have a star!”.

He asked me if I had noticed the ring he was wearing. I said, “Which one?” He laughed, “The one with TCB on it”. I said “Yes, it’s a beautiful ring”. He went on to tell me that it meant “taking care of business” and how from now on it was going to mean, “taking care of Beth”. And take care of me he did...

Vernon once told me that when Elvis was a child, he would decide to cook for them. He would put so many spices in everything. Elvis loved hot spicy food. They never had the heart to tell him that his cooking really upset their stomachs. Vernon said he would usually have to sit up all

[note] now that you are gone the void has come back. I am lost and hurting. I am lost without you. I need and love you. E

She put her little hands on both of my cheeks, and said, “Don’t cry, Mommy, it’ll be okay.” I attempted a smile. “I pray so, Darling. Please don’t be mad at Elvis.” “I’m not; he can’t help it if he’s sick.” I just cried and cried holding my precious, understanding child...

I knew he [Elvis] was easily depressed, I knew he was tired, and I knew he was overweight, and I knew his doctors had prescribed certain pills for him. Elvis took sleeping pills and a few other pills apparently given to him by his doctor. All I know is that he had to force himself to go to sleep most nights so the next day he could get up at a decent time. And yes, he would take pills every morning to wake himself up, but they were prescription drugs. Was there abuse, and was there other pills taken that weren’t prescription? I cannot say. What I do believe is that if he had been taking pills, it was because he could not find a way to remove the pressure the Colonel placed on him, and everyone else, including his fans...

Next Easter I would be Mrs. Presley, living a total different life...before the minister pronounced us husband and wife, Elvis had planned to pick Tara up in his arms and sing Welcome To My World in which he would ask his long time friend, Glen, to accompany him on the piano... I never found the house that I thought would make Elvis or me happy, but I was shown the most beautiful property... started planning where the house would sit on the property. It had a six-acre pond sitting on it...

“Right before I went into the army, my mother handed me this bracelet and told me that it was very special to her.” He went on to say that his mama told him that when you find the woman that will love you for you then I want you to give this bracelet to her. She told him that he would know in his heart when that woman walked into his life. I was so overwhelmed. I remember asking him if Priscilla had given it back to him when they divorced. He said, “Baby, I never gave this bracelet to her.”...

there was an envelope at my front door. When I opened it, it was from Elvis. The following is what Elvis wrote for me:

“I don’t know how to show my feelings Words don’t ever come out right

But way back when, no words were needed

We just loved and held on tight In the heat of an angry moment

Words were said that tore us apart You’ll need more than hugs and kisses Cause you can’t see inside my heart.

(You can’t see inside my heart

You’ll no longer gonna try The love we knew would last forever

It turned into this last goodbye And then she turned and walked away

To try to make a fresh new start I know you wonder what I’m feeling But you can’t see inside my heart.)

Don’t say you know how I feel Don’t tell me time will heal the pain

How can you say that I don’t love you? And it will be better this way

You don’t know what you’re doing to me Or how my world is torn apart

You can’t see how much I love you Cause you can’t see inside my heart

(You can’t see inside my heart... Elvis had written me a song. I loved it and I loved him...

he kept showing me all these diamond rings, but I kept looking at this one ring. “Elvis, that’s the one I want.” He said, “Baby, that’s not a wedding ring.” I said, “No, but its you.” The ring had every color in the rainbow in it, five different colored gems and diamonds. He asked me why that one? I said, “Because it is you Elvis, you are all those colors. You are my rainbow.”...

Elvis left to see Lisa Marie. He said he wanted to start to prepare her for a new woman in his life...

...on the phone, I could hear a man crying. It was Vernon. “Beth, Elvis is gone...........................”