Mazes and Monsters Read Online Free PDF Page A

around.
    Tonight, holding his filled tray and trying to maneuver through the narrow spaces between the long tables, he found an empty seat next to a really weird kid. He was wearing a black leather aviator’s cap like Robbie had seen in old war movies on TV, and around his neck was a pair of goggles and a long white silk scarf. He had a little pointy face with a mischievous look on it, and he looked about fourteen.
    “Jay Jay Brockway,” the kid said, holding out his hand.
    “I’m Robbie Wheeling.”
    “I’ve seen you before. Tan Fiat Spider.”
    “Right …”
    “I had one,” Jay Jay said. “Mine was red. The fecalite gave it to me for my birthday, neglecting to notice I was still too young to get my license, and I sold it to bug him and bought my mynah bird and a motorbike. Mynah birds cost a fortune if you want a good one.”
    “The what?” Robbie said.
    “What what?”
    “Who’s, what’s a fecalite?”
    “My father. It’s a petrified dinosaur turd. Sorry, am I ruining your dinner? He’s ruined many of mine.”
    Robbie had never heard anybody talk that way about their parents before, or indeed about anything so bizarre, to a total stranger. He supposed the outfit Jay Jay was wearing had to do with his motorbike, but why hadn’t he taken it off before he came to dinner?
    “Do you like Brigitte Bardot?” Jay Jay continued. He took a long, thin brown cigarette from a pack and lit it, then offered the pack to Robbie.
    “No, thanks, I don’t smoke.”
    “Because I’m giving a party tomorrow night for Brigitte Bardot’s birthday, and if you would like to attend it’s any time after eight, second floor, the room with the noise.”
    “Thank you,” Robbie said. Brigitte Bardot was some old movie actress, he remembered now. “Is she here? ”
    “Who?”
    “Who you’re giving the party for.”
    “Are you stoned?” Jay Jay asked, peering at him anxiously. He was beginning to look as if he regretted extending the invitation.
    “No.”
    “Of course she’s not here. Why would she come to this dump?”
    “I don’t know,” Robbie said. He thought fast. “Elizabeth Taylor went to Harvard once.”
    “So she did …” Jay Jay said thoughtfully. His face lit up. “Maybe next year I’ll invite B. B.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. He was very short. “See you tomorrow night. Bring booze, and no more than two friends, preferably interesting.”
    Mynah bird? Robbie thought, looking after him. His first party at Grant! He could hardly wait.
    At half past eight, when Robbie went looking for the party, he saw that it was already in full swing. People had spilled out of Jay Jay’s room into the hall, and into other rooms, and music was blasting. If anyone had planned to study tonight it was obviously hopeless, but no one seemed to care. There must have been at least a hundred people milling around, drinking beer or wine, smoking, talking, dancing, and making noise. Carrying a bottle of red wine he’d bought he pushed his way through the crowd to find his host. He finally saw him, almost hidden in the sea of people, wearing a tuxedo and a hard hat, and looking very happy. Next to him was one of the prettiest girls Robbie had ever seen. She had shiny brown hair and huge dark eyes, and her lips turned up at the corners even when she wasn’t smiling. Jay Jay’s stereo was playing Donna Summer singing “MacArthur Park.”
    “Jay Jay!” Robbie shouted, holding up his bottle of wine.
    Jay Jay steered him in like a ship to port. “This is Kate Finch,” he said. “Robbie Wheeling.”
    “Hi,” she said, and smiled, and held out her surprisingly hard little hand for him to shake.
    After all the loves in my life, you’ll still be the one, the record played. Donna singing, the beat of the music rocking through the room. Every time you fall in love you notice what song is playing, and you always remember it. Robbie looked at Kate Finch and knew that she would always be the record of Donna