Purple Blues [Elvis]

Chapter 3 - A Surprise on the Ed Sullivan Show

The whole nation?! "Um... I'm Katelyn Brier."

"Miss Katelyn Brier!" he boomed. "So, you are a fan of Elvis Presley, huh?"

"Yes, very much so."

"As are millions of others. The nation wants to know, Miss Brier, where you got this shirt of yours, since we haven't seen any with Elvis Presley's face on it. Yet," he added, winking at the camera.

I got the shirt online through Amazon, but I couldn't say that. My heart pounded as I tried desperately to think of something. "I, um... I made it. I mean, I put his face on it."

"Ohhhh!" he enthused. "I see. Well, you're quite the talented artist. I bet a lot of young ladies would love to have a shirt like this one. As well as this hair! Ladies and gentlemen at home, you cannot see it through your grey screens, but Miss Brier has streaks of purple in her hair! What a sight! Tell us, Miss Brier, how did you get your hair that color?"

They didn't have purple hair dye in the 50s? "Hair dye. A mixture of different colors."

"I see." Someone came up to Ed, whispered something to him, and left. "The nations wants to know more about you, Miss Brier. How old are you? Where are you from?"

I eyed the camera. I had to pretend it wasn't there. "Um, I'm sixteen, and I'm from a small town in California. I'm on vacation here." People would buy that.

"To see Elvis?" Ed asked.

"Why else?"

"And have you been successful?"

I nodded. "Yes. I got the opportunity to meet him today."

The whole studio erupted in screams and cheers. Ed laughed. "Is that so? He must have been flattered by his face on your shirt."

"Yes, he was." I turned around so my back would face the camera, and I pulled my hair out of the way. "He signed the back of it."

More screams, and I winced at how loud it was. Ed said, "Wow, would you look at that, folks?! This lucky fan of Mr. Presley was able to get a signature on her back. Now, Miss Brier, can you tell us more about yourself?"

I put my hair back down and faced Ed again. I should just say it. "Well, you all may not believe it, but I'm from the future. I'm from the year 2021."

~ ~ ~

My mouth had a continuous smile all day. That girl with the purple hair actually had my face on her shirt. What was her name? Katelyn? What a pretty name for such a pretty girl.

"What are you grinning about, Elvis?" asked the Colonel as he came out of the kitchen nook area of my hotel room, a bottle of beer in hand. It was around ten at night.

I stared up at the white ceiling as I lay in my bed. "I'm thinkin' of that girl from this mornin'."

He sat in one of the chairs at the table just outside the kitchen nook. "You mean the girl with the purple hair?"

"Yeah. She's fascinatin'. And pretty."

He took a swig of the beer. It had been a busy day, and he liked to unwind with the yellow liquid. I choose not to partake. No sleep if I drank. Plus, I didn't like to do so. "Don't you start, Elvis. That girl is trouble."

"You say that after only meetin' 'er once?"

"She's just like all those other fans. Have you heard the radio? She snuck onto the set of the Ed Sullivan Show, I assume right after she met you, and now the nation is going crazy over her purple hair, that shirt of hers and that crazy story about her being from the future."

Hearing the radio and hearing what she said about me was one of the things that got me grinning all day, aside from meeting her. "Yeah, I know."

"She's starved for attention."

"Whether she is or not, she's interestin'. I wanna see 'er again. A star meetin' a star." I looked over at him, hope in my blue eyes. "Do ya think you can pull off a meetin' with 'er?"

"We're not taking time out of your busy schedule to go and see that lunatic," he said firmly. "That's that."

"Psht..." I let out and stared back at the ceiling. Maybe I could make a statement at my next interview with the press, saying I wanted to see that girl again. Never had I seen any one of my fans with my face on her shirt, and a face she put on there herself, according to what she said on the show.

Her sparkly blue-green eyes, how her hair shimmered as she let it down after I signed her shirt, and her cute, flushed face as she talked with me came to mind. She was adorable.

Yes, I would see her again. Somehow.