Page 40 of The Wish
‘Oh, all right then.’ Sandy sheepishly shrugs her shoulders, turning to Alex who takes a photo. She’s much more self-conscious in front of the camera than the two teenagers.
‘Again,’ he says.
Sandy relaxes into laughter as Alex gets his shot.
‘I’ll get your details and put them in a release for you to sign,’ he tells her.
‘Well,’ Sandy says with a twinkle in her eye, ‘if you two ladies are going to be in a photoshoot, what do you say to a little bit of makeup? I know you have some, Amy, would you like me to send in someone to help you with it?’
‘And our hair, we’ll have to get our hair done,’ Jesse says, teasing.
Even Alex laughs as she pulls at the tufts of spiky hair on her head.
Sandy turns to Alex. ‘Will you excuse us for a few minutes? Kelly’s just outside, maybe you’d like to shoot her.’
The girls laugh, miming firing pistols at each other. Realising the double meaning of what she’s said, Sandy rolls her eyes.
‘Film, photograph . . . you know what I mean.’
With Jesse and Amy giggling hysterically at Sandy’s remark, Alex backs out of the room, unable to conceal his amusement. Glancing up, he sees Amy reaching into her bedside drawer and bringing out a mirror and a lipstick and other things unrecognisable to him.
Alex finds Kelly sitting behind the nurses’ station, writing in a file. Leaning over, he takes a close-up photo of her.
‘Sandy says I have to get your permission to photograph you.’
‘And if I say no?’
‘Then Jesse doesn’t get her wish.’
She gives him a look. ‘We can’t have that, now, can we?’
Alex focuses the lens, taking a few more photos. ‘Just need a head shot or two.’
Kelly smiles, grimaces, turns away laughing. When she sees Alex has stopped shooting, and placed the camera on the desk, she turns serious.
‘Do you really think you can do this?’
‘I don’t know, but I’m going to try.’
Alex sees Kelly look beyond him and follows her gaze. Sandy is heading towards them with Jesse and Amy, IVs removed, now changed into trendy clothes, glossy lips, subtle eye shadow, Jesse batting her eyelids, Amy putting a floppy hat on and off, both girls laughing. Alex gasps. All he can think is they should be on a beach, or at a shopping centre, wherever girls their age hang out.
Their eyes meet. Both look away again quickly, feeling their cheeks burn.
He turns to Kelly. ‘They shouldn’t be here.’
Kelly whispers back, ‘I know. My only advice is just do your job, don’t think about it, it’s the only way to get through.’
‘That’s easier said than done.’
Picking up the camera, Alex forces a smile at the girls. ‘With or without hat, Amy?’
‘Both, of course!’
‘I hate to interrupt, but this isn’t the most appropriate place for a photoshoot,’ Sandy says.
‘Oh, of course, I’m sorry, perhaps we could go . . .’
‘. . . to the garden, dream team HQ,’ Jesse finishes his sentence.
