Crazy Little Thing by Saxon Bennett, Layce Gardner Page A

okay to leave a human locked up in
the car?”
    “You have a better idea?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do,” Claire said.
    Ten minutes later EZ was ensconced in a wheelchair,
wearing dark sunglasses and being pushed by G-Ray. EZ’s head bobbed up and down
and every few minutes a loud snore bubbled out of her open mouth.
    Ollie said to the ticket taker, “Three adults,
please.”
    The ticket taker, who looked alarmingly like a very
old, very rumpled, very obese Ann-Margret, said, “I count four of you.”
    Ollie pointed to EZ, “She doesn’t count. She’s
asleep.”
    “Wake her up,” Ann-Margret said.
    “I can’t,” Ollie said, throwing a dirty look at
Claire.
    “Not my problem. That will be four adults. One
hundred and forty-eight dollars, please,” Ann-Margret said.
    Ollie almost shit her pants. “One hundred and
forty-eight dollars!”
    Ann-Margret rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
Ollie sighed and handed over the money. She wasn’t going to bitch about the
price of admission. She bit her tongue. She wasn’t going to bitch about the
price of admission. She clenched her jaw. She wasn’t going to bitch about the
price of admission.

Ollie Speaks
     
    The camera focused in on a close-up of Ollie.
    “There’s lots of things about myself that I’ve never
told Claire. She thinks my mom died when I was fourteen. I didn’t tell her
that, but she assumed it and I didn’t bother to correct her. Dad and I never
talk about Mom anyway. I never see her or talk to her. And it’s kinda hard to
tell somebody that your mom went crazy, you know?”
    Ollie sighed and continued, “I freaked out about the
price of admission to Graceland. That much is true. But, hey, who wouldn’t
freak about prices that high? The part that upset me the most, though, was
recognizing my mother in me. That ever happen to you? You open your mouth and
hear your mother’s voice coming out?
    I didn’t let on to G-Ray or Claire but I was kinda
excited to tour Graceland. Not that I’m an Elvis fan-girl or anything, but when
I was a kid I never got to see any famous attractions or theme parks. I grew up
poor. Not the kind of poor where I didn’t have enough to eat, but poor enough
that making ends meet was hard on my dad. My parents fought about money a lot.
    Mom would take me places, but wouldn’t ever pay for
the ticket to go inside. This one time we went to visit the Alamo. I was about
eight or nine. Mom refused to buy the ticket to get inside. She said that
charging to learn about history was a rip-off. Instead, we stood across the
street and she read to me from a pamphlet about the Alamo while I looked at the
outside of it.
    Another time she made me hide in the trunk of a car
to go to the drive-in movie so she wouldn’t have to pay for an extra person.
I’m pretty sure she was into self-medicating at the time… anyway, she forgot I
was back there until she drove back home and I yelled so loud the neighbor
heard me and she let me out.
    The last time she took me somewhere was Six Flags.
She made me sit in the car all day in the parking lot and visualize riding the
roller coasters. I told Dad about that episode and even he had to admit that
something was wrong. Not long after that Mom went away for good. He committed
her and that was the last time I saw her. So when the ticket lady told me,
“That’ll be one hundred and forty-eight dollars,” I had this moment of wanting
to walk away. We could always do that video tour on the net or something. But
then I remembered the roller coaster and that made me fork over the money. I’ll
be damned if I’m going to go crazy like Mom did.
    I even bought everybody a T-shirt that said I’ve
Been to Graceland. ”
    The camera shut off.

The Jungle Room
     
    The bright colors of the peacock windows that opened
into the music room mesmerized Claire. The white couch looked so comfy it made
her want to take a nap, and she would’ve, too, if the area hadn’t been roped
off. She thought the