Joplin and Presley: a Fan-Fiction

2

Janis' first letter arrived within a week. Elvis' father, Vernon, had collected the mail, which consisted of mountains of the usual fan-mail. Elvis had, somehow, gotten use to the amount of letters, and was typically bored with it. But this morning was different.

"You don't see any new names in there, do you, Dad?"

His father gave him a look. "I don't keep track of them."

Elvis laughed, but picked up a few and made a pile. He skimmed the fronts and threw them all aside in frustration.

"What are you looking for - a handwritten marriage proposal?" one of the boys asked, passing by.

"No," Elvis told him. He didn't clarify, and grabbed another stack.

"He's been looking for the past six days," Joe said. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and sat beside Elvis.

"Yeah, but I'm not excited or anything." They all knew Elvis was bluffing.

"Well, what name are you looking for, son?"

"Janis...Janis Joplin." Elvis hardly took his eyes off the mountain of envelopes. He shuffles through them quickly, but eyes alert and open for that one detail. Joe grabbed some letters and began going through them, too.

"I don't see any Janis or Joplin."

"Well, keep looking." The stack of letters on the floor was beginning to grow and stretch into an ocean. Elvis was losing his patience, thinking maybe she hadn't written after all. It was quite silly to think he would spend his time looking for one letter in the sea he received daily, but he did. He, Joe, and Vernon continued their search, throwing aside letters carelessly. Elvis was about to stand up and just give up completely, yet again, as he had the past six days, when he read the following:

Janis Joplin

He read it once more before standing up, arm raised, letter grabbed. He was smiling greatly and widely. He ripped open the envelope, and was about to read it when he realized he needed to read it somewhere he could think. He hurried off to his room, smile growing by the thought.

"I think he found it," Vernon Presley joked.

Joe laughed.

In his bedroom, Elvis took the letter out, still smiling. As he read it, his lips moved in a soft whisper. His smile never left his face.

Dear Elvis,

It was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope you have a lot of good times. Man, you do have the voice, you know. Take care and write whenever you can.

Janis.

It was quite ordinary and friendly, just as many letters he had received before. He appreciated it just the same and set it down on the dresser. Then, he picked it up and read it again, before he placed a pen to paper and wrote his own reply. It was sent off the next day. As far as Elvis felt, it was as if he were a child again, excited by the smallest of things. He knew he was being stupid, more than a bit, but he sort of liked it. Besides, he was happy. And he liked that, too.