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He was home, off the road and had a couple of weeks to rest and try to relax before heading out again, no doubt. 1974

E. Hello?
W. Hi, it's me-are you busy?
E. Oh hi! No-no I'm just sitting here, been kinda reading some. What's up?
W. I just found out you were home-thought you were still out there pounding the pavement. How are you?
E. Okay, just had the flu again-guess. I'm okay, it's nice to be home, nothin' I have to get up and do-you know.
How is it out there? They said it was rainin' yesterday.
W. It is, but it's been light, the streets are not flooding yet.
E. It's nice here, cool nights again and I been sittin' outhere for a while.
W. You're outside?
E. Yeah...every body's asleep now an' it can get quiet 'bout this time-can't hear traffic so much back here.
Gawd, they get loud sometimes...hate that. Quieter in LA sometimes.
W. What were you reading?
E. Oh it's a book I got a few years ago-read it before but it's one of those type you have to go back and read again to understand the whole truth of it. It's about a group of men who form a monastery in Tibet and all the trials and tribulations they had keeping things together what with the tribes around there not wantin' them to be there an how they all prayed, chanted and turned it all a round. They had some hard times, havin' to find food an' then raisin' it and then havin' enough to feed some of the people who were nearly starving on account of wars goin' on between different tribes. It's kind of a thing of prayer and spiritual growth...have to read it to understand it. But I've learned how to have faith from reading their story-true faith-with not any doubts ever allowed in. You know if you put all your worrys away, an' concentrate on just what you want to happen, see it in your mind-keepin' that picture before you, you can make it happen... will it to be and it comes to you. It's like Jesus said, all this and more can you have, if you believe. It's hard for me to do sometimes, with all that...eh...the things that---that seem to be out of my...my...reach or what ever, personal things as well as career things...but if I can just let it come to me...what is mine will and the rest, just have to let it go. It's not mine, not now...but something else will be..see what I mean?
W. Okay, I understand what you mean, that's kind of a different way to see it...it's not mine now-but something else will come to replace it, right?
E. Yeah...that's my problem...I can't wait but I have to and one day, I'll understand why. It's the waiting that's hard to do-especially when.... well, when no one is here with me who...any way, I'm on my own and I got to get used to it.
W. Yes, the sooner you realise that, the better things will be-
E. I know. I'm tryin' really honey. I enjoy this time here, by myself for a while, then it gets lonely and I don't feel like doin' much you know, goin' out or nothin'. All I can do to keep up with exercising some-probably wouldn't do that if I didn't have to. (laughs) I'm damn lazy -never used to be-Gawd, used to be out doin' somethin' all the time-couldn't stand sittin' around for long. Now, just want to set me down and stick a book in my face... Linda got sick of me this mornin' and went home-best ever done was get her that house! Damn! outta here baby-and she's gone!
W. Okay, what time are you supposed to be there?
E. (Laughs loudly and giggles) Gawd-you know me huh?
W. Yep-by now.
E. Goin' over there about 4:30 or so, she's gonna make breakfast-but it'll be like dinner for us ya know, an' then we'll watch a movie or something 'n go to bed. Nothin' too excitin'... just like bein' with her, 'n she's funny about that, don't want to do much else but be with me no matter what I'm doin'. Sweetheart, she is, really. I'm such a lucky s.o.b. man, just fell into that one...I did. Man, she's such a sweet child. Don't think I'd been doin' half this good without her, ya know.
W. I think she's good for you.
E. Un-huh, an' you know what, she likes to take off for home knowin' I'm gonna follow her! So I play the game.
W. Okay, she wants you to her self, that is what it is Elvis. You know that don't you-it's a good thing-but you know that, that's why you bought her a home-right?
E. I may be from the backwoods baby, but I ain't no dummy-damn right I knew if I did that, we'd have a home of our own-only it'd be her home-an' she'd be boss there. This boy's no fool... (snickers) I like bein' with her there-just me 'n her an' no body callin' or comin' up knockin' on my door or botherin' me...and I know damn well they would if they could get in!
W. And what do you do there-that you can't do at home?
E. Be me, her be her, and just talk an' do whatever we want silly though it might be, an' relax without havin' to to be watchin' every thing we say or do. Normal stuff, that most people do in their homes, I guess. Bein' as how I'm not normal and never have been, far as I know it's normal at her place...more than at mine. She likes to have me all to her self and it's mutual.
W. No one bothers you there?
E. Not unless somethin' is dyin' or dead...cause if they do they better be one or the other!
W. I heard that you were thinking of getting married.
E. (Silence)
W. Okay, skip that one.
E. Naw...it's okay...jus' didn't quite no how to put it...but the safest thing I can say is, I'm not ready to do that yet... I need time to...ehhh...to... I can't say that. The truth is, I have to get over the last one fore I can say okay, I'm ready to try again.... cause don't know if I ever can do that. I'm jus' gettin' my wings back some...an' they...they...just won't hold me up yet...not yet. 'n she knows that...she'll wait to see...
W. Well, I just called to see how you are and I can see you're doing just fine. Very thoughtful and got your head out of the water...so looks like Elvis is doing okay.
E. Yeah, he is...'n so am I. (Laughs) I'm puttin' "him" up for a while an' I'm gonna just be me...'n see what happens a few days. If you call I'll be at Linda's place an' that number's private so if anything happens, jus' tell 'em to get John for you, it's an emergency. Okay baby?
W. Okay, nothing will happen. But if some one's dying or dead...I might.
E. (Laughs) Good girl! bye-bye sugar, thanks for callin' to check on me, I appreciate it honey really I do. love ya doll, bye-bye.
W. Bye Elvis, have a nice vacation and don't let "him" in!
E. (Laughing as he hangs up)

Thanks for sharing Wanda, beautiful story.

I'm glad he had manny happy times with Linda.

I wonder if Elvis had not gotten ill & if he had more time for emotional healing, if he would have eventually married Linda. She seems to have really cared for him.

Could I interest you in a "fat Elvis bobble -head doll" -I've seen them out here- UGLY! Officially stamped Graceland too. wjh

Well, let's hope they don't come out with an Elvis toilet seat cover!!!!

Well, how about a tolite paper holder that plays "Love Me Tender"? I saw a catalog from China that has one in it for $3.98 plus tax. On the sides of the part that holds the paper there are little pictures of Elvis in his signature pose with the guitar from the 50's. It's one of those little musical do-dads like go in cards, music boxes and such things-inexpensive ones. I had to laugh over that- I could just imagine what he would have had to say about it. wjh

Oh yes, I have to laugh too. Very tacky! Do you suppose the "Tender" is a subtle suggestion for extra soft toilet paper? Just kidding . . .

The funny thing about the "pig in a jump suit" is that Elvis would laugh his head off- after all, he was born in the Chinese Year of the Pig. He thought that was halarious when I told him and boy did he laugh, snicker and giggle like some kind of goofy or something. He said, "I always knew I was a "boar"! And when he asked me what year Priscilla was born in I told him, The Year of the Dog and I think he might have rolled on the floor had he not been laying in bed. He laughed so hard and couldn't stop hee-heeing and said, "Always said she was a-a-a-bitch!" I said that's not nice! And he said, between laughing and giggling, "we-we jus' won't tell her!" They were happily married at the time too... He sent gifts at Christmas for Starla and with it was an Avon pig made out of soap and he had "carved" his name on the belt!
That same year for Halloween he sent a baking dish-with a lid and in it was a chubby pink pig-that squeaked when squeezed. So you just didn't ever know that turned on his giggle box! wjh

According to the Chinese Zodiac based on a 12 year cycle. wjh

Your are born in the Year of the Tiger. you are sensitive, emotional and capable of great love. However you have a tendency to get carried away by what you sense and think is right. You may be seen as a "hot head" or rebel.
Your sign says you would be excellent as a boss, explorer, race car driver or matador. Some Tigers: Ted Turner, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jay Leno, Joan Lunden.

The Year of the Pig- Elvis

You are a splendid companion, an intellectual with a need to achieve difficult goals. you are sincere, tolerant and honest but by expecting the same from others, you are naive. your quest for material goods could be your downfall. The Pig would be best in the arts as an entertainer or as a lawyer. Some Pigs, Ronald Reagon,
David Letterman, Steven Spielberg.

The Year of the Dog- 'Cila

The Dog will never let you down. You are honest and faithful to those you love. you are plagued by a constant worry, a sharp tongue, and a tendency to be fault finding. You would make an excellent businessperson, activitest or secret agent. Some dogs, Socrates, Benjamin Franklin, roger Maris, Hank Aron, Garth Brooks, Bill Clinton

Elvis was very pleased when I read that Socrates was listed under this. And "will never let you down. Honest and faithful to those you love." He felt that his choice was a good one at that time-though there were some ripples in his home pond about his not being "there" enough he had gone to record an album and was "too involved in that" for several weeks and not being "attentiive"and she was pregnant at that time also.

O.K. I have to admit this does make me wonder about the accuracy of the Chinese Zodiak!

Perhaps the key phrase here is, "to those you love" and the fact that sometimes immature personalities never truly understand the meaning of love-even when they may be well past maturity and beyond? wjh

THANK YOU SUE AND I AGREE WITH YOU LADIES!! I LOVE READING ABOUT THE TALKS THAT WANDA AND ELVIS HAD SUCH SPECIAL AND PRECIOUS MEMORIES! THANK YOU WANDA FOR SHARING THEM WITH US VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!

FRAN

Thanks for sharing this wonderful conversation with us Wanda. It is so endearing to hear Elvis say that he just wanted to do "normal" things, and "just be himself". The thought of him actually having the opportunity to be able to do this makes me so happy because he had so few times that he could just be himself and so MANY times where he had to be "HIM". Thanks for bringing this topic back up again Sue-Lenora. Man, I can't believe how many topics I seem to have overlooked somehow. I think I'm starting to lose what few marbles I may have left.

I wish I could remember where I read this recently, but anyway, it was a quote from Linda Thompson during the time she was on the concert tours with Elvis, sneaking in and out of hotels through kitchens and back doors and freight elevators. She had told Elvis she'd like to take him way out in the country somewhere. He laughed and asked why. When she told him to take him away from all that, he got angry and basically said, "It's my life!"

I've also read quotes from Felton Jarvis (Feb. 1976), maybe others like Larry Geller as well, that Elvis had said he was just so tired of being Elvis Presley. But many others have said he loved all that, the fans and performing, and how he'd miss it if it all just went away. I also saw on a TV show in the last year or so a segment where Wayne Newton had a letter on hotel stationery that Elvis had written to himself, saying, "I don't need all this."

Please, Wanda JH! Clarify! Was it just the fatigue and mental strain talking when he said he was tired of being who he was? I've also heard many people say there was nothing phony about him, that he was always the same, through the years, publicly or privately, yet you've said often that he would refer to "him," the image of him that he wasn't really in private. I know in the Madison Square Garden press conference in 1972, someone asked him if he was content with his image, and he said. "The image is one thing, and a human being is another." When asked how close the image was to the human being, he simply said, "It's very hard to live up to an image, I'll put it that way." In what ways did you find his public image to be so very different from what he really was, and in what ways was he exactly what he seemed to be?

One guess on how he was different -- Publicly he projected an aura of confidence, maybe to the point of arrogance, where privately he often seemed unsure and scared ('68 Special and Vegas 1969 come to mind).

On how he was like the image -- He seemed underneath all the glitz and glamour to be a God-fearing, patriotic, Southern boy who was more comfortable with close friends and family than the Hollywood crowd, though he seemed to have some friends among that group as individuals.

I'd love to hear your insights, as much as you have time to share!