Elvis has entered the house

As we left church last Sunday, we noticed a sign for a garage sale down the street.  The boys wanted to stop but we were on our way to brunch and decided against it.  This led to much pleading and some whining on the drive to the restaurant.  We suggested that maybe, just maybe, if everyone's mood improved, perhaps we could stop at a garage sale on the way home, after brunch.

Our intention was not to return to the sale by our church.  Instead, we'd hoped to find something between the restaurant and our house.  We knew it might be difficult - Sunday is not an ideal day to find sales in our neighborhood.  Still, we managed to find one along the way home.  It was not what the boys had hoped for - light on toys and electronics, heavy on plants and romance novels.  We moved on.

The rest of the route to our home appeared to be sale-free.  We had no pressing schedule and my wife and I were feeling bad about how disappointing the last sale had been so we decided to visit the sale by church.  It claimed to be a four family sale, surely we would find at least one treasure.  The sale was attracting a small crowd, but as I parked I didn't see much of interest.  We got out and began perusing.  After a single pass, I deemed it consisted mostly of dishes, holiday decorations and clothes.  I returned to the car and waited for the others.

As I sat listening to the radio, B came running to the car window.  Apparently, N had found something but Mom didn't have any cash.  I handed over a five-dollar bill, hoping it would suffice.  B took the money and ran off without elaborating about what the item was.  A moment later he returned, followed by my wife and N.  N was hugging a pile of clothing and grinning from ear to ear.  When they got to the car, N revealed the treasure: a white jumpsuit with rhinestones on the lapels and a red stripe down the side of each leg.  The jumpsuit had an attached cape, with "Elvis" written in rhinestones across the back.  The outfit also included a black wig with sideburns.  This was a find indeed.  As he clambered into the car, N was already practicing his "Thank you.  Thank you very much." impersonation.  He put it on as soon as we got home.

After watching N jump around the house for the afternoon, I decided it might be good for the boys to see the King in action.  A quick search on YouTube revealed a number of Elvis performances.  I chose one where Elvis appeared to be wearing a white jumpsuit very similar to N's.  What we learned was that by the time Elvis hit the white jumpsuit stage of his career he wasn't moving very much.  As we watched Elvis singing "My Way", B looked at me and said, "So...this is it?  This is Elvis?"  He was noticeably underwhelmed.  I switched to a 1957 rendition of "Jailhouse Rock" - there was no white jumpsuit but the dancing was more what they were expecting.

The whole experience did not seem to dampen N's spirit.  He still loves his Elvis costume.  His only comment about the YouTube videos came as he watched the first clip.  "Oh man." he said, "There were scarves at the garage sale.  I didn't know they were part of the costume."