Free The Great Gatenby by John Marsden Page B

tonight?’ I asked.
    â€˜I don’t know, get a video maybe, go to a movie, just rage around town, find a party, go to a disco, what do you wanna do?’
    â€˜How slack are your parents?’ I asked. ‘Like, will they want you back at a certain time, or what? Will they care if we go out?’
    â€˜They’re slack,’ she said, and her voice sounded kind of bitter to me. ‘They’ll probably say midnight, but it won’t matter.’
    We eventually figured out that a party was definitely the way to go, and Melanie got on the phone and sleazed an invitation, after a few false starts. Seemed like an ole school pal from Ainsworth was opening up her mansion for a pool party.
    â€˜Great,’ I said, ‘I’ll be able to do a few more laps.’
    By then Mr and Mrs Tozer were home. I saw them from the window arriving in a car and this time they definitely weren’t in no Toyota hatchback. We went down the grand staircase to meet them. By then I’d been in Melanie’s room long enough to forget what the rest of the house was like, so it struck me with a new sense of shock. But Mr and Mrs Tozer gushed away, asking about the CCS Carnival and all that. They were friendly enough. There was a housekeeper there too, whom they all called ‘Lil’. Melanie gave her a big hug, which was more than she did for her parents. It seemed like Mel really liked her, and Lil sure struck me as being warmer and more sincere than the people who paid her salary.
    Dinner was around a grand table in a grand dining room but the food was just average. We had soup, then some kind of fish in some kind of sauce. I didn’t like to ask but I figured there was a cook hidden away in the bowels of the building, as no-one seemed to have to do anything. Lil served the meal and Mrs Tozer waved a few things around like she was being helpful, but she didn’t work up a sweat. Mr Tozer didn’t say too much — he was probably thinking about how striped socks were moving in the Menswear Department. Melanie popped the question about the party. For slack parents, the Tozers managed to put her through quite an interrogation.
    â€˜I don’t know dear,’ Mrs Tozer said. ‘We’re going over to the Robertsons’ later — I’m not sure what time we’ll be home. We’re only going for a drink but these things do tend to go on and on.’ Melanie started her flashing eyes routine but Lil saved the day.
    â€˜I’ll be in tonight, Mrs Tozer,’ she said, as she served the pudding: ice-cream, with plums that tasted like they’d been soaked in brandy for a week. ‘I’ll be happy to wait up, if that would help.’
    â€˜Well, that’s very good of you, Lil,’ said Mrs Tozer.
    â€˜Thanks Lil, you’re a dude,’ said Melanie.
    â€˜Now Erle, do your parents let you go to parties? You’re sure they won’t mind?’ Great question. As if I was going to say ‘No, Mrs Tozer, I’d better stay here and do some homework while Melanie goes on her own.’ These people might have been rich but they didn’t seem like they had too many smarts.
    The meal was a bit of an ordeal, and I was glad when it was finished. Nobody seemed interested in hanging around to say grace and Melanie was keen to crack the track. So we split for our separate rooms to get changed, agreeing to meet up in Melanie’s room in twenty minutes. I just hoped I’d be able to find it again.

Chapter Ten
    We took a cab to the party. (I paid, Mum, in case you’re reading this.) It was raging away in good style by the time we arrived. Although it was a pool party lots of people were inside, but the night was warm and we were young, so we headed out to the lawn as soon as I’d been introduced to the girl whose party it was, and her parents. To this day I can’t remember any of their names. The choice of drinks was light beer or wine or punch;