Free Dream Angel : Heaven Waits by Patricia Garber Page A

Her eyes grew wider, and her mouth fell agape, as one of the most famous men in the world sauntered her way.
    Soon she will understand, I thought.
    “Hello. I’m Elvis Presley.” Elvis extended her his hand and spoke as though Heather had no idea who he was.
    Unable to believe her own eyes, Heather looked at least three times from me to Elvis and back again. Elvis’ hand hung in the air while Heather blinked rapidly. I could not recall if I had ever seen her completely speechless.
    “Does your friend speak?” Elvis timidly rubbed the inside of his empty palm with the thumb of his other hand.
    “Sadly, yes.” I watched Heather’s face closely.
    When she suddenly turned toward me, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits, and I braced myself. Her mouth opened to fire a retort, but then unexpectedly she clamped it shut, and her lips became a single line once again.
    “I think she’s comin’ around.” Elvis leaned in closer.
    Heather’s heated stare turned back only to melt like molten lava in cool ocean waters.
    “You’re dead!” She exclaimed, and her outburst so startled me that I involuntarily laughed out loud, and then quickly covered my mouth with both hands.
    “Yes ma’am, last I looked, I was.” Elvis chuckled and once again extended her his hand.
    This time she took it.
    “Friends?” Elvis asked, as Heather looked down and I wondered if she understood she was touching an angel.
    “Friends,” she smiled.
    Suddenly, the snap of a twig sounded. My heart leaped up into my throat while Heather and I both turned, as if something or someone approached outside of the garden.
    “What was that?” I whispered.
    “Security,” Elvis dropped Heather's hand, and coolly folded his arms across his chest.
    “Security!” Heather and I spoke loudly and in unison.
    “I-I thought you would handle that?” I lowered my voice.
    “Do my job, you mean?” His eyes narrowed. “I’ll do it alright. I should turn you over my knee right here.”
    My cheeks flushed from embarrassment while I thought about a punishment that might actually hold wonderful benefits. Forever reading my thoughts, Elvis rolled his eyes. I smiled feebly.
    “Well you… and the gate… it opened.” I was babbling like a teenager caught necking in the living room.
    “Honey, you would have climbed the front walls of Graceland had I not let you in,” Elvis said, pointing in the direction of the famous rock walls in front of his home.
    My heart sank over the realization that I would have done just that. Justified frustration or not, I had, for all intensive purposes, broken in to his home. I might as well have thrown rocks at his bedroom window.
    “I told you he’d be ticked.” Heather said under her breath.
    “Oh, hush up.” I growled.
    “Ladies, there's no time for bickering. Security is headed this way.”
    “You’re going to let us go to jail?” I stomped like a child.
    Elvis chuckled. “Honey, freewill gets everybody in to trouble.”
    He placed his hands on my shoulders and spun me around in the direction from which we had just come.
    “I gave them boys a little something to keep em busy, so I’d say you have about twenty minutes.”
    My eyes widened. “Twenty minutes?” My voice quavered.
    “Nineteen,” Elvis’ eyes danced.
    Judging by his smirking he was enjoying my predicament just a tad too much.
    “W-where should we go?” I huffed.
    “Get out any ole way as long as it’s fast,” Elvis said with a chuckle and gentle push that sent me stumbling forward.
    Heather raced by me without a word, and her swiftness stunned me.
    “What are you waiting for?” Elvis asked.
    “Where will you be?”
    Elvis’ are-you-kidding-me glare told me I was pushing him to the limits.
    “Samantha, I will find you, now, get!” He slapped his hands together sharply, and I flinched, but I still didn't move. And it was only when Elvis looked down to his watch, that I understood he wasn’t kidding.
    As if turned loose from starting blocks, I