Cover -- About the Author -- Title Page -- Contents -- Chapter One: Tom Jones And The Bottle Top Collection -- Dead parents -- Thomas -- The house -- A gated community -- Arnold -- Our old town -- Barbara -- Shock! Horror! Belly! -- School -- Class 6 W -- Bribery -- Time and motion -- Money -- Chapter Two: Grandpa Jones And The Funeral -- Grandpa Jones -- Shock! Horror! Drunk! -- The Grandpa Jones list of things to do at a funeral -- The moon and the stars -- The deal -- Chapter Three: Cleo And The Escape Plan -- Cleo and the pinhead parents -- Aunt Ruth and Uncle Robert -- Cleo, the snake, and how to be instantly popular -- Tom and the snake girl -- Tom and Cleo -- Cleo's bright idea -- The plan -- Cleo's house -- Cleo, the archeologist -- Friends in prison -- Tom, the gardener -- Tom -- The escape hatch -- The prison gates -- Chapter Four: The First Day Of Freedom -- Escape -- Cleo - snake-charmer, escape-expert, and Queen of the Nile -- The right side of the fence -- The phone call -- Saturday - yabbies, bulls and being a carnivore -- Lunch -- Snob! -- Chapter Five: The Gardens Of Mercy -- Outside the gates, okay -- Mercy Gardens -- Tom's visit -- Tom and Grandpa Jones -- Chapter Six: Gobbledegook, And The History Of Tom's Family -- Cleo -- Gobbledegook -- The history of Arnie and Grandpa Jones -- Thick shakes -- Uncle Robert, the pop-star -- Chapter Seven: Cleo, The Genius -- Cleo's bright idea # 2 -- Tom, bottle tops, and Cleo the genius -- Cleo's letter -- Long and loud -- Tom's bottle top collection -- Exclusive? -- Chapter Eight: Barbara, To The Rescue -- Mercy Gardens calls -- Grandpa -- Tom's dream -- Slow and steady -- Barbara to the rescue -- Two secrets -- Tom -- Whose letter? -- The Treasure Chest of Mystery -- Cleo's letter #2 -- Chapter Nine: Tom Falls In Love ... With A Dictionary! -- Cleo plan # 3.

My love affair with the dictionary -- Dinner with Dad -- Rejoice (meaning "to celebrate, have fun, etc") -- Thomas extends his vocabulary -- Cleo -- Tom -- Double gobbledegook? -- A virus -- After three days, a breakthrough? -- Breakfast -- Chapter Ten: Quivering Lips, Trembling Hands, Beating Hearts And Other Stuff -- Grandpa and the bottle tops from China -- Quivering lips, trembling hands, beating hearts and other stuff -- Thursday afternoon -- Cleo, and ladders -- The parcel and the possiblilities -- Dead parent wish #9, or not? -- Cheating -- Uncle Robert and Aunt Ruth at morning tea -- Like riding a bike -- Murchison Creek -- Bulls, Hamburgers, and Dads -- The reason there are so many dead parents in books -- Almost caught -- Two words for a moron -- Chapter Eleven: Cleo's Last And Absolutely Final Plan -- Tree -- Skimming stones -- What is Dad saying? -- Cleo's last and absolutely final plan -- Perfect -- Uncle Robert's surprise -- Strangely normal -- Chapter Twelve: The Time Of His -- Saturday -- The time of his life -- Lunch, and music -- The music -- Copyright.