Read Online The Listmaker by Robin Klein - Free Book Online Page A

seemed to be watching properly. Corrie’s friends were racketing about all over the place. Mr Ryder came in with a handful of ice-cream cones. He sat down to eat one, too. Corrie did something to the footrest on his reclining chair and his feet shot up in the air. He hit her with a cushion. They all hit him back. Mrs Ryder brought in a big plate of cocktail sausages, which everyone ate with their hands. Corrie put on a different video which nobody watched, either. They were all too busy chattering to each other and mucking around.
    I felt like a traveller passing through a strange town late at night, gazing through a lighted window at a party. There was no way I’d fit in with that crowd of girls who already knew each other. I didn’t belong down there. Slowly, I turned around and went back to Avian Cottage. In the front hall, I looked at the phone again. Piriel Starr was different; I never got on
her
nerves. She’d said right from the start that she knew we were going to get along just fine. I picked up the phone, then dialled her number …
    â€˜Guess what, Aunty Nat!’ I cried a few minutes later, bursting in on the serious business of the card night, which was a mind-numbing jackpot game that went on for ever and ever. ‘Piriel said if I meet her tomorrow at the Moreton Shopping Centre she’ll help me choose something to wear to the wedding! Oh, and by the way, Eileen left her car keys in the ignition. Here they are.’
    â€˜Thank you, dear. And that’s very thoughtful of Piriel; it should be a nice outing for you,’ Aunty Nat said.
    The card-group members didn’t have to ask whose wedding it was – Aunty Nat had kept them up to date on every little detail since Dad and Piriel first met. Eileen Holloway said gooily, ‘What a sweet way to start off the new year, having a family wedding! Have you ever considered holding the reception here at Avian Cottage, Nat? I think garden settings are always
so
romantic.’
    Aunty Nat glanced up from her hand of cards. (It was always quite easy to tell from her expression if she’d been dealt good ones. She would have made a terrible secret agent.)
    â€˜That darling little porch out the front would be just perfect for bridal photos,’ Eileen added. ‘Almost as lovely as a gondola in Venice.’
    Aunty Nat laid down her cards in full view, not even realising everyone could see she had the joker. ‘Now why didn’t I think of it myself?’ she cried. ‘Not just the reception, but having the whole caboodle here – the marriage ceremony and everything! It would be a bit of a rush, but I don’t see why I couldn’t get everything ready in time. It would be so much nicer than a registry office! That’s what they were planning, would you believe – a registry office, then going on to some restaurant straight afterwards. It’s certainly not
my
idea of a proper wedding. I wonder if I could talk them into changing their minds –’
    â€˜But Piriel’s already made her own plans,’ I said quickly, trying to stop her getting carried away. There was nothing Aunty Nat liked more than buzzing around arranging things that involved a lot of eating. ‘You can’t just –’
    â€˜They could have the actual ceremony down in our little summerhouse,’ Aunty Nat prattled on, as though she hadn’t even heard. ‘Catering wouldn’t be any problem, either. If the weather’s nice enough we could use the deck … though maybe not with all those greedy rosellas hanging around. A kind of buffet thing set up inside might be better. And I could make the wedding cake, too!’
    â€˜But Piriel wasn’t even planning on having one …’
    â€˜Even if I do say so myself, my cake decorating is every bit as good as a professional’s. You remember that beauty I rustled up for your niece’s twenty-first, don’t you, Joanie? Once