Crossroad Blues (The Nick Travers Novels) Read Online Free Page B
on the maps. Where he worked. His high school."
"Actually," she said, laughing, "we don't even like Elvis." She and her friend both kept snickering as they left the store.
Jesse could feel the heat in his face. It wasn't that they were laughing at him that made him mad. It was how they did it. Like he was some kind of freak. Well, he wasn't.
He turned and walked down to Rockabilly's malt shop and waited until he saw an old couple leave. Before the busboy could clear the table, Jesse sat down, finished half a cheeseburger, and gulped down a melted chocolate milk shake. He belched as he stared through the plate glass and across the boulevard at the grand house. The damned center of it all.
It wasn't until two hours later that he saw another target. She stood at the wishing wall around Graceland. Seventeen or eighteen years old. About his age. She smoked a cigarette and doodled a message to E on the wall. Short dark hair, tight blue jeans, and a short, black baby-doll shirt that showed a pierced belly button. He just stood and watched.
She leaned on the wall and stuck the pen in her mouth, twirling it around. Her lips were red and puffy. On the ground next to her was a tattered brown teddy bear, some kinda weird purse. She stopped working the pen and stared.
"If looks could kill," she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him with the greenest eyes he'd ever seen.
"No," Jesse said. "If eyes could fuck."
Chapter 6
That night, Jesse snuck the girl inside Graceland. A few months, back he'd made himself seduce this nasty, alcoholic-hag employee so he could learn the back-entry code. He already knew where to hop the fence behind the meditation gardens where E, Vernon, and Gladys were buried. And E's twin brother--the one they said died at birth.
The girl was a German tourist and said she quivered just thinking that E had once been in her country. She could imagine feeling the stubble of His army haircut and the way He smelled after basic training. She worked nights in a McDonald's in Frankfurt just for the airfare to New York City. After arriving in the States, she'd hitched all the way to Memphis. There was a little trouble with a trucker in Kentucky, but she grabbed his balls until his eyes bulged. Gutsy little piece.
The girl thought she was psychic or something because she knew this was where she would meet another E. It was a vision that told her she'd find that missing part of her soul at Graceland to make her a complete woman.
Her hands tousled Jesse's black hair as he popped the back door.
Jesse and the girl made love all over the holy estate--in the deep, green shag carpet of the Jungle Room, on the stairs leading to the basement TV room, and on E's pool table. She was on top mostly, but sometimes he would get behind her. It was what he needed.
He worked her until his body rolled with sweat and his chest heaved. About three in the morning, he took her upstairs to a place where the tourists weren't allowed. They stood naked in E's bedroom and stared around His room as dark branches from a tall oak tree clicked against the window. He took her to the bathroom where E had taken his last breath. They knelt in front of the toilet and cried as a purple dawn cracked near the stables like a ragged bruise.
Later that morning, they said their good-byes at a Hardee's over sausage-and-egg biscuits and Dr Peppers. He told her that he loved her, that he wanted her to be his girl. But she just laughed and wiped a piece of egg off his lip.
" Shh . We will be together, one day," she said in a heavy German accent. She pressed a folded note with the number of a Biloxi hotel in his hand.
Then she was gone.
?
Jesse traveled southbound in a Greyhound bus on Highway 61 to Hollywood, Mississippi. The old man had said to meet back on Wednesday. So there he was, his pelvis aching from working all last night, and his head hurting from the lack of sleep. A copy of The Prophet rested on his knee, along with an old copy of
"Actually," she said, laughing, "we don't even like Elvis." She and her friend both kept snickering as they left the store.
Jesse could feel the heat in his face. It wasn't that they were laughing at him that made him mad. It was how they did it. Like he was some kind of freak. Well, he wasn't.
He turned and walked down to Rockabilly's malt shop and waited until he saw an old couple leave. Before the busboy could clear the table, Jesse sat down, finished half a cheeseburger, and gulped down a melted chocolate milk shake. He belched as he stared through the plate glass and across the boulevard at the grand house. The damned center of it all.
It wasn't until two hours later that he saw another target. She stood at the wishing wall around Graceland. Seventeen or eighteen years old. About his age. She smoked a cigarette and doodled a message to E on the wall. Short dark hair, tight blue jeans, and a short, black baby-doll shirt that showed a pierced belly button. He just stood and watched.
She leaned on the wall and stuck the pen in her mouth, twirling it around. Her lips were red and puffy. On the ground next to her was a tattered brown teddy bear, some kinda weird purse. She stopped working the pen and stared.
"If looks could kill," she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him with the greenest eyes he'd ever seen.
"No," Jesse said. "If eyes could fuck."
Chapter 6
That night, Jesse snuck the girl inside Graceland. A few months, back he'd made himself seduce this nasty, alcoholic-hag employee so he could learn the back-entry code. He already knew where to hop the fence behind the meditation gardens where E, Vernon, and Gladys were buried. And E's twin brother--the one they said died at birth.
The girl was a German tourist and said she quivered just thinking that E had once been in her country. She could imagine feeling the stubble of His army haircut and the way He smelled after basic training. She worked nights in a McDonald's in Frankfurt just for the airfare to New York City. After arriving in the States, she'd hitched all the way to Memphis. There was a little trouble with a trucker in Kentucky, but she grabbed his balls until his eyes bulged. Gutsy little piece.
The girl thought she was psychic or something because she knew this was where she would meet another E. It was a vision that told her she'd find that missing part of her soul at Graceland to make her a complete woman.
Her hands tousled Jesse's black hair as he popped the back door.
Jesse and the girl made love all over the holy estate--in the deep, green shag carpet of the Jungle Room, on the stairs leading to the basement TV room, and on E's pool table. She was on top mostly, but sometimes he would get behind her. It was what he needed.
He worked her until his body rolled with sweat and his chest heaved. About three in the morning, he took her upstairs to a place where the tourists weren't allowed. They stood naked in E's bedroom and stared around His room as dark branches from a tall oak tree clicked against the window. He took her to the bathroom where E had taken his last breath. They knelt in front of the toilet and cried as a purple dawn cracked near the stables like a ragged bruise.
Later that morning, they said their good-byes at a Hardee's over sausage-and-egg biscuits and Dr Peppers. He told her that he loved her, that he wanted her to be his girl. But she just laughed and wiped a piece of egg off his lip.
" Shh . We will be together, one day," she said in a heavy German accent. She pressed a folded note with the number of a Biloxi hotel in his hand.
Then she was gone.
?
Jesse traveled southbound in a Greyhound bus on Highway 61 to Hollywood, Mississippi. The old man had said to meet back on Wednesday. So there he was, his pelvis aching from working all last night, and his head hurting from the lack of sleep. A copy of The Prophet rested on his knee, along with an old copy of
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