Page 64 of The Wish
Sam had to be carried up to bed, and Jessie followed not long later, exhausted. Her bed, her own bed, was soft and comfortable, the sheets cool and fresh and fragranced with the laundry powder her mother liked to use. She could hear the murmur of her parents’ voices downstairs, a sound she remembered from before she got sick, a sound that made her feel secure and cosy.
She’s just about to fall asleep when she senses her parents are at her door, looking in on her.
Neither parent moves, and Jesse finally falls asleep under their gaze, feeling happy, feeling safe, feeling loved.
CHAPTER 27
In her apartment, curled up in a blanket for comfort, with an empty coffee cup and box of tissues competing for space on the small table beside her, Kelly watches another black and white movie. A lamp in the corner of the room provides a sliver of light, the half-moon shining through a window she hasn’t bothered to draw the blinds on adding to the eerie mood in the room. Realising she has not followed the movie playing out in front of her, that she’s missed something, what’s being said is not making sense to her, she hits the mute button and the room goes quiet.
She’s stumbled on an old movie she’s never seen before,Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farmwhich is playing on silently. She looks at the farm scenes and becomes Rebecca, a young girl in trapped a world she feels she doesn’t belong in. Kelly is flooded with memories of hiding under her bed or disappearing onto the farm when one of her parents called out to her and her siblings to come and help. Every day, twice a day, came the call to collect the eggs from the chicken run, move the cows to the overnight paddock, feed the pigs: a million chores needing to be done. Night after night she sat at the dinner table, questioned by her parents about where she’d been all day, ridiculed by her siblings for not wanting to get her hands dirty, did she think she was better than they were?
‘No,’ she screams at the television. ‘I didn’t think I was better than them, I just wanted no part in that life, I couldn’t allowmyself to engage with it when I knew I was going to leave as soon as I could. I wanted to find a way to work with people, to make a difference.’
Grabbing the remote she switches the television off and puts herself in the foetal position on the sofa, burying her head under a cushion. Not even chocolates will help tonight.
Back in her own room, her own bed, Amy sleeps fitfully. She misses having a bed on the other side of the room and the company of a friend tossing and turning like her.
Mandy and Dean tiptoe from Sam’s room and slowly open the door into Jesse’s bedroom. They stand for several moments watching their daughter sleeping peacefully.
‘I’d better be off,’ Dean whispers.
Mandy nods yes and doesn’t look back as he leaves. She remains leaning against the door frame. Only when she hears him close the front door does she allow herself to weep silently.
CHAPTER 28
‘What am I going to do, Max?’
Alex studies Max’s face, hoping he can read an answer to his question, his dilemma. Max tilts his head to show he’s listening, and that he cares.
Sitting at his kitchen table, a cup of coffee half drunk, a piece of toast on a plate pushed away, Alex continues to stare at Max. He gets an answer when Max puts a front paw on his leg and whimpers softly.
‘I’m meant to go to her house today to get more videos and photos from her mum. I’ve spent all weekend trying to work out how to do this for her, you know, buddy, make her wish come true. But I can’t do it with what I’ve got, I need the studio and there’s no way Ian will let me use it for this project with no money coming in. He wanted me to do this thing free of charge somehow, and I can tell he now thinks I’ve spent long enough. I can feel him trying to work out how to call it off without annoying his daddy-in-law. And then he’d like to get rid of me also.’
Max continues to whimper.
‘Yeah, you’re right, you’re always right. I’ve got to tell Ian it can’t be done then find a way to tell Jesse, and Kelly – and Luke and Ryan. And Mandy and Sam. The dad will be delighted, so there’s a plus. Oh God, what have I got myself into? I’ve given it a good go, haven’t I? I won’t feel regret at not having finished it if I know I really tried?’
A low growl from Max suggests this mightn’t be the solution, but he takes his paw away as if he knows it’s time for Alex to stand up and leave. Sitting staring into space won’t make it any better. He walks to the front door and waits for Alex to put his jacket on, grab his helmet and pat him goodbye.
Alex arrives late at the office. Again. He yanks off his helmet and pulls a hand through his hair, making it worse. Scuffed trainers. Crumpled shirt. He looks like he slept on a park bench.
‘There he is,’ Ian says, his voice unnaturally bright.
Alex stops. Ian is standing with a TV film crew – camera, boom mic, clipboard, all of it. A few colleagues peek over cubicle walls. No one’s pretending to work.
‘What is this?’ Alex says.
‘You’re late,’ Ian replies. ‘And you look like something the dog dragged in.’
‘Ian . . .’
‘Alex, meet the crew. They’re going to grab a quick shot of you at your desk before heading to the hospital to meet the girl.’
Alex blinks. The camera turns to face him.
He places his helmet and jacket on a colleague’s desk, then grabs Ian by the elbow and steers him towards the reception desk nearby. The receptionist takes one look and wisely vanishes.
‘Get rid of them,’ Alex snaps.
