Blue Like Elvis Read Online Free Page A

answered.
I’d noticed the gold name tags pinned to the other girls’ jacket lapels, but hadn’t
noticed the small handful of business cards the girls kept tucked onto their
clipboards.
    “We give these
along with our brochures to each of the new patients.” Pamela showed me her
card with her name and the office extension below the title, Hostess, and
handed me one of the small brochures. More like a pamphlet actually. It had a
picture of the front of the hospital on the cover with the words “At Your
Service” across the bottom. “That’s how they contact us. They put a call into
the office, then Mrs. B. or whoever’s here calls it in to paging. You’ll get
used to hearing your name all the time. ‘Miss Colter, Miss Shelby Colter,’” she
mimicked, “then you just pick up the nearest phone, call paging, and they give
you the message.”
    “Do you get a lot
of pages?”
    She laughed out
loud. “Oh, girlfriend, you have no idea. You’ll start hearing them in your
sleep. Well, let’s do this. You ready?”
    “Sure,” I lied,
following her out the door.
    As we rode the
elevator up to the Ninth floor on the Madison wing, Pamela asked, “So have you
ever met him?”
    “Who him?”
    “Elvis! You know,
we all go a little crazy when he’s here. I’ve met him several times. Mostly at
social events I’ve attended with Franklin. Franklin and Dr. Nick are good
friends.”
    “Who’s Dr. Nick?”
    “George
Nichopoulos. Elvis’s doctor. Would you believe every time I’ve been around
Elvis, he’s asked for my number? Of course, I always refuse to give it to him.”
    Why am I not
surprised. Pamela certainly had the looks to attract a king.
    “Why didn’t you
give it to him?” I asked, curious.
    “Because I’m
engaged, silly!” she scoffed, looking at me like I’d sprouted horns on my head.
“Besides, everybody knows Elvis likes lots and lots of girls. That’s just not
me. Oh, no no no.”
    “So what’s he
like?”
    “Once you get
passed the flirting, he’s the nicest guy. He really is. Not at all like the
wild stallion everyone makes him out to be. He’s very generous, very kind. The
last time I saw him, he didn’t look well. But then, that’s why he comes here
when he’s sick or needs to . . . get better. Of
course, you can’t just go walking up there on his floor. He’s got quite an
entourage surrounding him every time he comes in. And then there’s Marian.”
    “Marian?”
    “Marian Cocke.
Elvis’s nurse. Let’s just say she’s extremely ‘protective’, but then who can
blame her? That’s quite a responsibility. She’s got her hands full when he’s
here. Plus she just adores him. Like a mother hen, you know? I really respect
her for the way she looks out for his best interests while he’s here. And he
absolutely loves her in return.”
    The elevator door
opened. We threaded our way through a throng of doctors, orderlies, and
visitors, finally making our way to the nurses’ station on Madison Nine. I
noticed a group of nurses, a medical records clerk, several orderlies, and
others working around the station.
    And then the
former beauty queen (yes, I’d already found out she was Miss University of
Mississippi just a few short years ago), looking every bit the radiant glamour
queen that she was, introduced the plain peasant girl from Birmingham who’d
come to take her place.
    “Hey kids! Who
wants to meet the new kid in town?”

Chapter 3
     
    I’m pretty sure my
head was spinning and would topple off any moment. Pamela was wonderful,
showing me around the floor, introducing me to everyone I’d be working with.
But it was a lot to take in all at once. Especially after meeting all the girls
in the hostess office. Mostly I shadowed Pamela, observing as she visited all
the patients on her floor. She showed me the computer printed cards for each
new patient admitted in the last 24 hours. The cards gave all kinds of
information, more than we probably needed to know—name,