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A
fictional story about a young man who impersonates Elvis Presley.
The story is based on a real person, Billy Edwards.
Billy Edwards goes by the stage name, Billy Elvis. But that's just about where
reality ends!
Billy Elvis has been singing the Detroit Metro circuit since he was 15
years old. Billy Elvis decides to move to Memphis, Tennessee, after his
father gets angry with him, and kicks him out.
In an old Chevy, he moves to Memphis Tennessee at the tender age of 17,
with $500 in his pocket. When he gets to Memphis, he finds a one-bedroom
efficiency apartment for $150 a month. Needing some furniture, he goes
to the local Goodwill store to look around.
He seems strangely drawn to a piece of furniture in the back of a
recliner, a toy chest, and two end tables. It's an old chest of drawers.
Exactly what he needs for his bedroom!
He seems strangely drawn to the old looking piece of furniture. He asks
an employee if he can move the dresser for a better look. He ends up
buying the dresser for $25.
This is very strange because the boy never really had paid much
attention to furniture in his life, let alone being drawn to anything.
But this time, things were very different. He simply had to have this
chest of drawers. When Billy gets the dresser home, he felt compelled to
clean it carefully.
He cleaned the shelves with precision and polished the wood. He even
used a screwdriver to take various pieces apart and carefully reassemble
them. Billy doesn't really know why he's compelled to clean this
dresser. But he must. While cleaning the dresser, and throwing out
pieces of dust, hair, and slivers of wood, he discovers something in a
hidden panel, in the back.
Little did he know that he was about to stumble onto one of the most
astonishing discoveries of his life, and history. Inside the dresser,
wedged in a hidden compartment, was a leather-bound personal diary. A
journal of some kind.
Billy stands up and looks again at the dresser. He realizes the dresser
is no ordinary piece of furniture. His attention quickly turns back to
his new discovery.
The leather
bound journal was dirty, with some pages stuck together.
He carefully
opened up the journal and studied it. There were passages entered in
this journal, with several signings. The journal had hand written
entries, and was signed by, Elvis Presley?
Wait a minute.
Could this be the real Elvis Presley, he thought?
It was right there in front of him. He was holding the journal with the
writings and signings. The personal Journal of Elvis A. Presley, the
first page read.
Billy Edwards lived in a portion of Memphis called Whitehaven. The same
area that Elvis lived when he was alive. In fact, Graceland is just a
couple miles from Brookwood Apartments, where Billy's one-bedroom
apartment was located.
He thought to himself, either Elvis, Elvis' family, or his employees,
must have given, or donated, the chest of drawers to the Goodwill
charity in Memphis. Perhaps it was Elvis' Estate who donated the
furniture, following Elvis' death, when arrangements were being made to
open Graceland to the public.
His heart raced, while dozens of thoughts came to his mind. He thought
he was Elvis' number one fan. He must have known hundreds of pieces of
trivia, regarding Elvis Presley's life and career. Never did he find
out, or even given it a thought, that Elvis Presley might have kept a
written journal.
He wanted to tell everyone about his discovery, but knew only a few
people in Memphis. Moreover, he was fearful that the journal would be
immediately taken from his possession. Elvis Presley Enterprises would
surely take it, if word ever got out. He decided to stay quiet, and keep
the journal.
The entries, and dates, corresponded to different periods of Elvis'
life.
He began fervently reading the Journal. He then flipped to the
last couple of pages in the journal. |
