INSTANT LIFE SUBSTITUTE
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Episode 27 - 12 March 2005

There was a knock on the door. Rona rushed to answer it.

When she opened the door Hannah was standing there, hand on hip, her lips pursed and turned up at the corners, her hair piled on top of her head, her hips tilted. She was wearing black from head to foot, and for once she'd left her coat at home. Her right hand was held up and on its palm rested two pizza boxes. She raised an eyebrow at Rona. "Hiya, short stuff. You owe me some money."

Rona grinned and took the pizzas from her, then hugged her with her free arm.

"Is that the pizzas?" shouted Alain from the sitting room.

"And Hannah" Rona shouted back. She gave Hannah an inquisitive look.

"The pizza guy rolled up just as I was about to knock on the door" explained Hannah.

Hannah and Rona carried the pizzas into the sitting room. Hannah greeted everyone: "Hey, Bootsy" she said to Mal. "Frenchy" she nodded to Alain.

"I keep telling you, I'm not French!"

"Close enough. Hi, Big Ears" she said to Brent, then turned to Sacha. "And good evening, Country Girl."

"What" complained Sacha, "I'm from Canberra, he's from Albury, and I get called 'Country Girl'?"

Hannah smiled slyly. "Best I could do at short notice, darl. Besides, Brent doesn't like it when I call him a girl." She looked around. "So, has the party started?"

"No" said Rona, "we were waiting for the pizzas."

"Cool." Hannah grinned at her. "Get me a drink, short 'n' sweet, I'm dangerously sober."

"Huh!" Rona said good-naturedly. "Get one yourself, you lazy cow!"

"You two" said Alain, shaking his head and smiling cheekily. "You're like an old married couple."

"Less talk, more eating" complained Mal. "I'm starving."

"Me too" said Sacha.

"Cool, you tuck in and I'll get the first box of goodies" said Rona.

"'Goodies'?" scoffed Brent. "Here's hoping! After last time!"

Rona went back out to the hallway and came back with a cardboard box stuffed full of review copies of C.D.s and D.V.D.s "Come on everyone, dive in!"

Alain, Mal, Brent and Rona all started pulling things out of the box. Sacha held back, unsure of what was expected of her. Hannah, leaning noncommittally in the doorway, smiled at her and nodded her head in the direction of the box. "Go on!" she mouthed.

Just then Rona came towards Sacha holding a C.D. "Latest hot young things from Britain. Cover of N.M.E., all that shit. Probably be forgotten about in a year's time. Put it on! Let's do some damage." She leaned closer to Sacha, and whispered in her ear: "See? Who needs a job when you can write 200 words of bullshit and get free C.D.s for it!"