The first chapter of the book I never finished

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The first time Jules had ever seen a pokie he’d been told off.

It was Melbourne Cup Day and they’d gone down after school to Nan and Pop’s Bowls Club to watch the race.

Nan had bought them all tickets in the sweeps. It was a full-on party, all the old blokes were wearing suits, ladies in dresses and hats. On top of the sweeps, Nan had picked everyone a horse, put down $2 each way. Phoebe got ’Nothing Like A Dane’ which came in second - and got $23. Jules’ horse - he couldn’t remember it’s name - fell and got shot.

Jules had been bored by the talking on the pergola so wandered inside to look around the clubhouse. The inside of the bowls club was like a cross between an old person’s house and a scout hall. Wooden plaques and folding tables and no cool stickers or brands or anything to look at and the TV only played Channel 2.

So when Jules saw the two brightly coloured machines just sitting there next to the toilets, backlit with the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom video cover, he walked straight toward them. He reached up and started hitting the square buttons. There were pictures of skulls and guns on the screen, and it even said “Insert Coins” like a game in an arcade.

He turned around and ran to get a coin off Nan, then someone grabbed his arm just below the shoulder. The man was wearing shorts and long socks and he spoke to another old woman about Jules instead of speaking to Jules directly. He kept saying “In breach of licence” to the woman in an annoying voice. He sounded like a gaybo from the Mardi Gras - which he’d heard on his cousin’s Twelfth Man CD and loved the reaction it got when he repeated it.

It was the nice woman, Mrs Thompson, who’d taken Jules back outside to his Nan, who bought him a can of Coke and explained that the machines were only for adults to play. She said that Mr Thompson who grabbed Jules’ arm was the licensee and could get in serious trouble if small boys were playing on the gambling machines.

Jules told his Nan he thought that Mr Thompson who grabbed his arm was a gaybo from the Mardi Gras. His Nan grabbed his arm, put him in the car and took him home without finishing his Coke.