"Someone I knew invited me into the house. At the far end of the room was the gleaming copper coffin that contained his body. A couple in their late twenties stood beside the casket, she was sobbing and he had his arm around her. Behind the coffin, an arch led to another room where a glass statue stood high off the floor, twirling slowly, adorned by glass beads that leaked like water. Potted plastic palms surrounded the coffin and on the wall was a painting of a skyline on black velveteen. When Priscilla entered she offered me a Coke then introduced me to his father, Vernon Presley, who was watching the 10 o'clock news in a nearby bedroom. Nobody in the group around him spoke. Later, at the front door, I interviewed Charlie Hodge “It’s really hard to believe,” he said. “I went to the dentist with him on Monday night around 9:30. We were getting ready for the tour and we talked about the songs we’d use. But we never did rehearse" Outside the front door were hundreds of wreaths, some spelled ‘Elvis’ in flowers, others were shaped like crowns, broken hearts, hound dogs and blue suede shoes...."