Elvis Lives

Chapter 4 - Inter... what?

I didn't see a single phone in this house, at least one that I was used to seeing. Did all people use those thin bricks to call people? It just didn't make any sense to me. No more phones with cords or receivers?

My reflection stared back at me in the bathroom mirror. At least the shower and bathroom were similar to how I knew them to be, with a normal sink, tub and toilet, even though the tub wasn't what I was used to. It worked. Where was a comb? I pulled open drawers to the counter and found a bunch of random things, like little rubber bands covered in material and women's brushes. I pulled open another and saw a metal something. I grabbed the black part of it and stared at it for a moment. It was connected to a cord. At least some things were connected to a cord.

Someone knocked on the door. "Hey, it's me," I heard Hannah say and I opened the door. Steam escaped the small room, making it increasingly cooler. Hannah stared at me as soon as she saw me, her mouth opened slightly and her eyes wide.

"Hey," I coaxed as I saw her cheeks gain color. I smirked, flattered by her reaction to me.

"Hey, so..." She pointed to my outfit. "Looks like my dad's clothes really do fit you."

I looked down at the black polo and jeans, with the polo tucked in. "Yeah, they do. The shirt's a little big, but it'll do. I'm gonna have to thank your pop when he gets here."

"That's going to be later this evening. I just came up to say that lunch is ready. You must be hungry after the morning you had."

"Yeah, I admit that I am." I turned to the drawers. I pulled up what I was looking at. "What's this thing?"

She took it and pressed down on a knob on it, making the thing look like an opening and closing mouth. "It's a curling iron, for hair." I think she saw the question in my eyes. "I'll show you."

She took the cord and slammed the end of it into the wall. "This is the power cord. I'm sure you had to plug electric things in where you're from."

"Yeah, some things, like music equipment."

"I see. It's the same thing here. The cord turns this thing on and allows it to heat up." She touched it, but took her hand away immediately. "Yeah, it's already hot. Feel."

I did so, and did the same thing as her. "Whoa."

"Yeah. So... this is how it works." She wrapped some of her hair around it and the metal thing she pushed keeps the hair in place. "The heat will curl the hair. They have straighteners that use heat to straighten curly hair, but I don't need that obviously since my hair is already stick-straight naturally."

This was so fascinating, how people did their hair in 2021. "If that thing's usin' heat, then you don't wanna burn your hair."

"I know, but you have to allow the heat to work its magic." She pulled the thing out of her hair and the result was a single bouncing curl. "Cool, huh?"

"Yeah, that's pretty swell."

"I could curl your hair if you want me to, make you look something like a poodle."

My heart pulsed and I plowed a hand through my freshly washed hair. Hannah saw the alarmed look on my face and laughed.

"I was only kidding, relax." She went to a drawer and pulled out a comb. I pointed at it.

"I was lookin' for that."

"Well, here it is." She set it on the counter and I immediately pulled the comb through my hair all over. That's better.

"You probably want this, too." She set a bottle of some... what was it? It looked like blue goo. The label read Hair Gel. "So, we don't have what you use back in 1958, but we have hair gel. It'll hold and style your hair just as well. This was my brother Jason's that he left here after he visited a couple months ago."