The three of us stayed outside at that table for a while. Anne and Penny talked quite a lot, and I mostly listened. At one point, Penny introduced me to Lily. I didn’t like her very much, though. She seemed very snooty. She seemed like one of those very stuck-up wealthy girls. She was from Australia. I was trying to be friendly though, so I told her that Australia looked like a very nice country. Then one really great thing happened. I’m not normally a very funny person, but I made this joke when I was talking to her.
I said, “Did you ever see many kangaroos before?” I asked her because I knew a lot about kangaroos living in Australia from this show I once watched about kangaroos. I didn’t really mean it to be funny though, I was just asking her to make conversation, but then she started laughing a lot. And Anne started laughing too. And then I realised it was actually quite funny. Even though I didn’t really like Lily too much, I felt in a very good mood after that. It made me feel really clever and witty.
Eventually though, maybe around midnight, Penny told me she had to go home.
“Are you going to be all right, Franny?” she asked me.
“Yeah.”
“Would you like to come and stay with me for the night? You’d be more than welcome.”
That made me feel quite good. Penny’s so nice. “No thanks, I’m enjoying myself here,” I said. That was a bit of a lie. I wasn’t enjoying myself too much, but it was okay. I was actually quite enjoying the drinks that Anne gave me. She had given me a few and they tasted quite nice. But I just didn’t really feel like staying the night at Penny’s house. We’d been friends for almost our whole lives though, me and Penny. We went to the same kindergarten and the same primary school and then the same high school, too. Our mothers met each other before we were even born, when they worked in the same place together. Then, when we were kids, they always arranged for us to have play dates and stuff. Even though I’d been to her house quite a lot of times when I was younger, I’d actually never stayed the night before. It was mostly because when I was a kid, I used to get very homesick.
What used to happen was that my dad would drop me off at Penny’s house to stay the night, and he would say, “Are you going to be all right this time, Franny?” I would always tell him that I would. But he would still say, “Remember, there’s nothing to be upset about. Penny’s family is going to take good care of you. And your mother and I will be right there first thing in the morning to pick you up.” He used to say that stuff to try to reassure me. Because what always happened was that when it was time to go to sleep at Penny’s house, I would start getting very worried. I don’t even remember what I was so scared of, but I just didn’t like sleeping at someone else’s house. Penny’s parents would be very nice and set up a bed for me right next to Penny and come in and tuck us both in. Eventually, I’d hear Penny fall asleep, but I couldn’t sleep. I would just stay up getting more and more nervous. Then eventually I wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, and I’d get up. I’d walk down the hallway to her parents’ room and knock on their door. Then when they opened it, they’d just find me there standing in the hallway, crying. I would be so upset that my parents weren’t there, and I’d just cry a whole lot and tell Penny’s parents that I wanted to go home. They’d usually sit with me for a while and pat me on the back and tell me that everything was all right. They’d try to tell me that if I just went to sleep, the next thing I knew, it would be morning. And then my parents would be there. But I couldn’t ever sleep when I was like that. I would just keep crying, and eventually, one of them would put me in the car and drive me home. It’s funny because that happened every single time I tried to stay the night there. Probably about twenty times. I never even once made it through the whole night. I always ended up going home. I’m not too sure why.
I wasn’t really scared like that anymore, but for some reason, I just didn’t really feel like staying the night at Penny’s house. Maybe I was worried that actually, I would still be scared, and that I’d start crying again and want to go home to see my dad. Only, I wouldn’t be able to. I don’t know. Penny asked me if I was sure again, and I said yes. She gave me a big hug. It was really nice. Then she left.
I was just sort of wandering around the house then when I noticed the music. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but there was awful music playing. I don’t even know what kind it was, but it was terrible. I thought maybe, if I was very sneaky, I could change the music without anyone catching me. I could change it to something much better, like maybe Don’t Stop Me Now or Let’s Twist Again. The only problem was that I didn’t know where to change it. There were about four speakers around the house, all playing the same music. It was in the kitchen and the lounge and outside, too. And I couldn’t find where to change it from. But luckily, I thought of a very clever technique. I was investigating the speaker in the kitchen when I noticed this black wire coming out of the back of it. I made an excellent plan. What I thought was that if I followed the wire, if I tracked it all the way through the house, it would lead me to the source. And it did! It was kind of like following a set of clues. Or a treasure map! I followed it back to this spot in a lounge where all the music was being controlled from. It was hooked up to a computer. Luckily, there was no one in that lounge just then, so my plan would work perfectly. I kind of fiddled around with it for a second, trying to get it to change to something good. But then the music stopped completely! All the music in the whole house even stopped! I got very nervous very quickly just then. I was trying to do all sorts of stuff to get it playing again, but my head was all rushing and I couldn’t figure it out. I decided I had to abort. I just ran out the door, into the hallway, so that no one would see me. I sneaked down the hallway into this bedroom and hid in there. After about a minute, the music started playing again. The same bad stuff as before. Someone must have turned it back on. I thought about trying my plan again but decided it was too risky.
I was in someone else’s bedroom. There were photographs of these two people hanging on the wall. And there was a photo of Lily, too. I think it was Lily’s parents’ room. They had this really huge bed. It was massive. It was probably about four of my beds all in one. For a moment, I kind of sat on it, just to get a feel. I decided that, one day, I’d get a bed like that. One that you could lie all the way across with your fingers stretched out towards one side and the tip of your toes towards the other. And even then, you couldn’t touch both sides. Even when you stretched all the way. That was the kind of bed I wanted.
After a while, I started feeling pretty weird just hanging out in her parents’ bedroom by myself like that, so I headed back out to the party. I went and found Anne. I was actually feeling a little bit drunk. Anne was with this other group of people who I didn’t know. They were all sitting on some couches and chatting. I went up behind Anne and tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Can I have another drink?” She turned around and looked at me. A couple of other people did too. I said it again, because I wasn’t sure if she heard me. “Could I have another can?”
“Sure. I’m sick of them. Have as many as you like.”
I kind of giggled in her ear when she said that. I don’t think I’ve ever giggled in my life, but I did then. I went to the fridge where she had them all stacked up in a little tower. I took one. But I didn’t think it through very well and took one kind of at the bottom of the pile, and they all collapsed and clunked around very loudly in the fridge. I looked around the side of the fridge door, but no one had noticed. I opened the can. It made a cracking noise, foamed up a little bit, and spilled some on the floor. My face was feeling quite warm, and the coolness of the fridge was very nice. I actually just stood with the fridge door open for a while, standing in the cold. Then I even picked up another can of drink and put it on my cheek. It was very cold when I did that. It was nice though. I started thinking that must be what it’s like to be an Eskimo who lives in the snow all the time. Just like having a refrigerator around you everywhere you go.
I took my drink and went back to where Anne was. I didn’t know who else to hang out with, so I just sat down next to her on the couch. There wasn’t really enough room for me though, and I sort of squeezed into the side, squishing up against her a bit. She didn’t seem too happy about it, but eventually she shuffled over and made a little bit more room. They were all talking about various things, but I wasn’t listening too much. I was just drinking my drink. But then I started thinking about my dad. And my mother, too. I hadn’t even had a chance to see her yet since my dad died. He only died on Thursday, and it was Friday then. I guess it was only one day, but I figured I probably should have gone and seen her straight away. I wondered how she was doing. I had talked to her a few times over the phone the day before, though. She had rung me a lot of times, and I had chatted to her. But I hadn’t talked to her at all that day. I suppose it was because I turned my phone off.
Then I put my can of alcohol down on the table in front of me. I wasn’t feeling too good anymore. I didn’t want to have any more sips of it. I leaned over to Anne and said, “I think I’m going to leave now.”
“Are you feeling all right?” she said. Maybe she saw my face and thought that I was feeling a bit sick. It was quite nice of her to ask me that. Anne’s not too bad all the time.
“I’m just quite tired,” I said. Then Anne suddenly seemed very interested in me. She turned completely around to face me.
“How are you getting home?” she said. Then, before I could answer, she said, “Do you think I could get a lift with you?”
I realised then that all she wanted from me was a ride home. She must have thought that my parents were coming to pick me up or something. I thought that even if I was going home, I wouldn’t want to give her a lift anyway.
“I’m not going home,” I said. “They’re doing renovations at my house. I’m probably just going to get a hotel room or something somewhere.” Normally I’m not very good at lying, but I just thought of that one straight away.
“A hotel?” She sounded quite shocked. I didn’t really think it was that shocking, but apparently, she did.
“I don’t mind,” I said. And I guess I really didn’t mind too much. It was probably quite expensive, and I was quite low on money, but I didn’t really care.
“Of course, I would invite you to stay at mine, but I’m afraid we don’t have a spare bed for you.”
“Don’t worry ab—”
“Oh, I know! Why don’t you ask Lily if you can spend the night here? They have like five spare bedrooms. That sounds like fun!” She seemed very excited about the idea for some reason. But I really didn’t want to stay there, and I told Anne that. She wouldn’t listen to me. She insisted that it would be fine. I kept telling her I didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She jumped up and came back a moment later with Lily.
“No, Anne—” I said.
But she asked Lily right in front of me. “Lily,” she said, “my poor friend Franny doesn’t have any place to sleep tonight. I think her house is under renovation or something. She could stay here, in a spare bedroom, couldn’t she?”
I was really angry then. Anne wasn’t listening to a word I was saying! I stood up, and I was going to tell Anne off and storm right out of the house! But when I stood up, I forgot all about how angry I was. I actually felt very wobbly and dizzy.
“It’s perfectly fine for you to stay here,” Lily said. “My parents are gone for a couple of weeks, so no one’s going to care if you spend the night. I can give you a spare room downstairs.”
I kept trying to say no and even started to walk off. But then they both started ganging up on me and wouldn’t let me leave. They said I could take the spare bedroom downstairs. That no one ever used it. They were sort of holding one of my arms each, steadying me from falling over. I was feeling very drunk by then. Eventually, I couldn’t be bothered trying to argue with them anymore, so I said okay. Afterward, I was actually quite relieved. I didn’t have too much money, and I would have almost gone bankrupt paying for a hotel room.
Lily helped me get to the room downstairs. We were walking past so many people that all seemed to be staring at me. I thought it was a bit odd, but I guess I didn’t really notice too much at the time. She opened the door to the room, and it was very nice and white inside. Everything in there seemed to be white. White carpet and white blanket and white drawers and there were even two paintings on the wall that were mostly white. The bed looked very comfortable. I was feeling very tired by then. The party was still going on, but I felt like sleeping anyway.
I was all set to go right to sleep. I sat on the bed and was about to lie down when Lily came up to me, holding something in her hands. It was a little bowl. I think she had gotten it from the windowsill.
“Isn’t this bowl incredible?” Lily said. She held it out towards me. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to take it from her or not, so I only looked at it. “I got it in Thailand. Have you ever been?”
“No.”
“You should definitely go when you get the chance. The vendor I bought it from told me that it’s made of seven different types of metals. I just couldn’t refuse. It’s not often you find so many types of metal in a single product like that. It’s quite a rarity. There’s bronze, copper—go on, hold it.”
She forced the bowl into my hands. I didn’t really want to hold it, but I didn’t want to be rude. I rotated it around it my hands and pretended to look very closely at some of the finer details where the metals were joined together. I made it look as though I was very interested, when really, I wasn’t. I was being quite cheeky.
She continued, “Bronze, copper, and some other metals.”
I thought that was quite silly. She bought the thing because it was made of seven different types of metals, and she didn’t even know what the metals were. I just thought it was quite silly.
Finally, she put the bowl back and went upstairs. When she closed the door, the room was very quiet. I could hardly hear any more noise. I fell asleep instantly, I think.