Page 24 of The Wish
Sandy nods. ‘Well, then, why don’t you wait in her room while I see if I can track her down? I’ll be back shortly.’
Alex steps into the room, feeling uncomfortable. He’s not sure he should be here really, and is about to head back out, to wait outside, when he’s drawn to the family photo on Jesse’s bedside table. Picking it up, he stares at the faces of a family. A family bound to each other physically and emotionally. This photo was taken when Jesse had a head of beautiful hair. He stares at the photo for a long time, so caught up that he doesn’t hear Jesse enter the room, wheeled in by an orderly.
‘Have you got any photos of your family I can see?’ Jesse asks, startling him as she steps out of the wheelchair, grasping her IV pole, and standing beside Alex. He quickly replaces the photo before turning to face Jesse, putting on a fake smile, shaking his head no.
‘You should carry a photo of your family with you.’
Jesse steps closer to the bedside table and studies the photo he has just replaced.
‘When I’m not feeling so good I look at them and know they love me and that I must be strong for them.’
Alex tries to read her face as he watches her, looking so lovingly at her family. ‘Aren’t they meant to be strong for you?’
‘That’s not the way I see it.’
Jesse climbs onto her bed, drawing her knees up under her chin.
‘What’s wrong?’ Alex asks as he pulls up the chair and sits beside the bed.
‘There’s something I should probably tell you about my family.’
Alex fiddles with the bag in his lap, giving Jesse the time to decide what she will say.
‘My parents are separated; they don’t live together anymore. Sam and I, well, when I’m not in here, we live with Mum, but we still see Dad a lot.’
Alex nods. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘My dad has trouble with me being sick. He just can’t deal with it, and he and Mum were fighting all the time, so he moved out.’
‘That’s rough.’
‘Do you want to know what they were fighting about?’
‘I presume it was about you.’
‘Yeah. It was all sorts of things, really. Like, my dad was spending all his time researching cures in other countries,contacting hospitals here, there and everywhere. Once, he even flew to Cyprus because they had a hospital that claimed it could cure me.’
‘And your mum?’
‘She got several opinions, of course, but they were all saying the same thing.’
‘What about you, what did you want?’
‘You know, you’re the first person to ask me that. It was like they were the parents, they knew what was best for me even if they couldn’t agree.’
‘So would you—’
‘Have liked to go to another country? I never really thought about it as I wasn’t asked, I just overheard all the fighting. And I couldn’t do that to Sam, drag him away from his school and friends. I spoke to Sandy and Christine and asked them what they thought was best.’
‘What did they say?’
‘They showed me the other countries’ data relevant to my situation, and no one had treatment better than what they were giving me here.’
‘So, you stayed here and your dad doesn’t like it?’
‘It was more that he couldn’t accept that Mum wouldn’t even try, but she was trying, trying to make these past two years as easy on me as she could. My mum’s not a quitter.’
‘I bet you take after her.’
