Page 81 of The Wish
‘Yes, please, and it needs to be soon, now, if you can? We can’t come to you as we’re receiving treatment.’
Ryan gets all of this out in a rush. Luke has his hand clapped over his mouth as he listens in amazement. There is a long pause. Clearly the gruff voice is giving the proposal some thought. After a long pause:
‘Well, young man, I like your nerve, guess you’d better tell me where I find you. You’re at the children’s hospital, right?’
Ryan gives slightly garbled and breathless instructions.
There’s another long pause.
‘I’ll see you in about an hour,’ the voice says, warm now. He ends the call.
Luke and Ryan sit on the bed in silence for a long time.
‘What are we going to say to him?’ Luke asks finally.
‘Dunno. Guess we just have to ask him to tell Alex to make Jesse’s wish.’
‘OK. You can do all the talking.’
‘Think we better go and tell Sandy what we’ve done and that Frank’s coming here.’
‘You can do all the talking to her too,’ Luke says, sliding off the bed.
Briefed by the boys, Sandy keeps an eye on the door, looking for a stranger. She’s given up worrying about what is and isn’t appropriate for the time being. Frank is easy to spot when he walks in, stops just inside the ward, and looks around at the vibrant chaos. She smiles to herself at the reactions flitting across Frank’s face. Worried, scared, upset, lost, he looks at the activity of patients, families, staff bustling around him. She decides to rescue him.
‘Hello, you must be Frank. I’m Sandy, charge nurse on this ward.’
Frank looks at Sandy and the outstretched hand.
‘Hello, that’s right. Not sure what I’m doing here but a young man asked me to come and see him.’
‘That was Ryan. He and Luke are waiting to see you. I’ve given them my office to use, follow me.’
Sandy leads Frank into her office, where Ryan and Luke are standing in front of her desk.
‘I’m sorry Mr . . . I don’t know your surname?’
‘It’s Wallace, but please call me Frank.’
‘Thank you. Frank, this is Ryan and Luke, they are patients on my ward, and unbeknown to any of us they asked you to come here. I hope you don’t mind but I will need to stay with you, as they are minors. Precocious ones but minors all the same.’
Frank’s face is amused.
‘Of course not. Well, gentlemen, how can I help you?’
‘Let’s just grab some chairs and sit down, we may as well
be comfortable,’ Sandy says, noticing that Ryan and Luke are uncharacteristically tongue-tied. She brings chairs from the side of her office together with the two in front of her desk and forms a circle.
‘OK Ryan, I believe you are going to be doing the talking, over to you.’
Ryan shuffles in his chair before looking directly at Frank. He clears his throat.
‘Firstly, thank you for coming here so quickly, as this is urgent.’
‘It’s about Alex, right?’
‘Yeah, we know Alex because he’s making Jesse’s wish . . .’
