Page 17 of The Wish

‘ O ver there, that looks like the place,’ Alex tells Steve as the two of them, each carrying a high-end camcorder secured around their necks, wander through the park. Alex looks down the viewing pane in front of him, adjusting the angle from wide to tight and back.

‘So how do you want to do this?’ Steve asks.

‘The photos show them under those trees having some sort of picnic. They’re on a rug and there’s food.

It’s the right park, just need to make sure it’s the right spot,’ Alex tells him.

‘I want to walk with them to the spot, then we’ll do some panning scenes from where they were sitting.

You know the drill. You do the wide shots; I’ll go in for the close-ups. ’

Steve nods. ‘Sounds good.’

‘Turn the sound off. We don’t need it as we’ll be superimposing them into the scenes in the studio. We’ll get all the audio we need then.’

‘Which angle do you think we should come in from?’ Steve asks.

Alex looks around, sees the car park in the distance. ‘I reckon they would have parked there,’ he points out. ‘Come in on that angle.’

As Steve walks towards the car park Alex calls after him, ‘I don’t want anyone in the shot – you might have to wait so you avoid those families coming in.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know what I’m doing. By the way, you did get a permit for us to be filming today, didn’t you?’

‘Sure,’ Alex calls out.

‘No, you didn’t. Guerrilla filming again. One day we’ll get caught,’ Steve mutters to himself as he looks down into the lens of his camera, framing the shot he’s about to capture.

Alex and Steve separate, each filming different parts of the park and playground. After a while they come together again, cameras still rolling, sound off. Without looking up Steve coughs to get Alex’s attention.

‘So, I was thinking, maybe you’d like to come to a small gathering I’m having for Lydia.

It’s her fortieth next month and I thought I’d surprise her with a party.

I was thinking we would have it at home but now I’m thinking this could be a great place, plenty of room for kids to run around and the playground, and well, do you think you’d be up for that? ’

Caught off guard, Alex takes his time to answer, concentrating on the viewing pane showing him what he is filming. ‘Forty, eh?’ He whistles. ‘You there yet?’

‘Yeah, a few years ago. It was lockdown and our youngest was just a baby, so it was just the family.’

‘The family? You know, I don’t know if you’ve got any siblings,’ Alex asks. ‘Do you?’

‘A brother and a sister, one lives out in the country, the other overseas. What about you?’

‘None that I’m aware of. But who knows what my old man got up to in his day? For all I know you and I are half-brothers.’

‘You clearly haven’t met my dad. So, what do you say?

It’ll be quite quiet – just Lyd’s folks and two sisters – sorry, man, they’re both married – and a couple of friends.

I was thinking about inviting Sarah too.

She and Lydia have met a couple of times and kind of bonded over soy-milk lattes or some such concoction. ’

‘Yeah . . . I dunno . . .’

‘Go on, mate. What else have you got to do? And it’ll get Lyds off my back. She’s always banging on: “When are you going to bring home your work bestie? When can I meet your work bestie? Why are you hiding your work bestie from me?”’

Alex stops short. Work bestie? he thinks to himself.

‘So, yeah, she’s obsessed,’ Steve continues, ‘so you’ll be doing me a favour by showing your face. She’s starting to think I made you up.’

‘Work bestie?’ Alex wonders, this time out loud. ‘ Me ?’

Steve stops, takes a spare bottle of water out of his bag and hands it to Alex. ‘Course you are, you dickhead.’

Alex shakes his head, grinning as he realises that, yeah, it’s true. If there is such a thing as a work bestie, then Steve fills the brief. He discovers that he likes it. ‘Let me know the date. I guess if you’re having it here, I know where to come.’

‘Sure, no problem.’ Steve doesn’t seem to realise how momentous this revelation has been to Alex. ‘I’ll let you know when I’ve organised it a bit better. I’ll probably have to get one of her sisters to help me.’

‘I think we’re just about done here,’ Alex says. ‘I’m going to take some still photos to show Jesse where I’ve been, then I’m going to head back over to see her. I’ll come into the office in a bit and get the hard drive from you. Thanks for your help, Steve, I mean it.’

‘You’re welcome, I’ll see you back in the office.’

As Steve walks back to the car park Alex flicks a switch on his camera from video to photo and snaps away.

Buoyed up by his first day filming, with some still shots to show Jesse, Alex walks through 6 East smiling. The ward is full of family and friends surrounded by those young patients mobile enough to be out of their rooms.

‘Hey, Alex, what are you up to?’ Ryan calls out. He’s with two adults, and a younger girl and boy.

‘Hi, Ryan, I’m just going to see Jesse.’

‘Will you come and say hello to my family?’

Alex walks over to the family.

‘This is my mum Gaylene, my dad Norm.’

Ryan wraps his arm playfully around his younger brother, ‘And this is Ash, or Ashton as Mum and Dad call him, and my kid sister Sienna.’

‘Hello,’ Alex greets them all gruffly.

‘We’ve heard about you from Ryan,’ Gaylene says, extending her hand for Alex to shake.

‘And Dean,’ Norm says, shaking Alex’s hand. ‘Sorry, probably shouldn’t have mentioned that,’ he adds, looking sheepish.

‘That’s OK, it’s nice to meet you. Good to see you, Ryan, I’d better go.’

‘Sure, say hi to Jesse for me, and don’t forget, no upsetting her,’ Ryan says, gently punching Alex on the arm.

‘We’re going down to the cafeteria to get milkshakes to have in the garden. Nice to meet you,’ Gaylene says. ‘Oh look, there’s Luke and his family. Norm, go and ask them if they’d like to join us.’

Alex slowly walks away, watching as Ryan’s father greets Luke and his family. Luke looks over at him and waves.

Alex spies Amy with a couple he guesses are her parents and she waves for him to go on into her room. He watches as Amy tells her parents who he is, and they turn and smile back at him.

There’s no sound coming from Jesse’s room, so Alex enters slowly.

He freezes, unsure of whether to go in or turn and go home.

Jessie is lying on her bed, propped up with pillows.

The man Alex recognises as her father lies beside her, their faces almost touching.

Jesse holds her phone, and each of them is wearing one ear pod. Both are clearly lost in music.

Alex watches for several moments before deciding to leave. Turning, the bag he carries knocks against the wall. Jesse opens her eyes and sees him. Jerking to sit up, she pulls out her ear pod. Dean sits up and follows Jesse’s gaze to Alex.

‘I didn’t mean to disturb you,’ Alex blurts.

Dean scrambles from the bed. ‘Well, you did. You are?’

Jesse struggles to sit up on her pillows. ‘Dad, this is Alex. I told you about him.’

‘What? Oh yeah. Alex. Look, now’s not a good time—’

‘He’s come here to meet you, please, Dad—’

‘OK, honey, calm down. Alex, let’s step outside for a few minutes,’ Dean says, walking through the door, clearly expecting Alex to follow him.

‘Dad . . .’ a worried Jesse calls out.

‘It’s OK, Jesse, I’ll be back in a minute.’

Alex looks at Jesse who shrugs her shoulders, so he follows her father.

Dean walks towards the doors leaving the ward and stops to the side to prevent them opening. Turning to Alex he talks quietly, but firmly. ‘Sorry to waste your time, we’re all good here, Jesse’s good.’

‘I don’t understand, I’m here for Jesse, I’m making her wish come true.’

Hearing the word wish Dean struggles to control himself, clenching his fists, fighting internally.

‘I just said, we don’t need your help.’

‘I don’t mean to upset you, you are Jesse’s father, but I’ve been asked by Inspire a Wish—’

‘Don’t mention that name, you hear me?’ Dean has his finger in Alex’s face. They are almost the same height, but Alex gets the sense of the older man looming over him. ‘If my daughter wants something, anything, I’ll be the one to get it for her, not some stranger.’

‘Please, Mr Morgan, I’m not trying to take anything away from you and your daughter, quite the opposite, I’m wanting to help her give something to you and your family.

A wish, a gift that I admit I didn’t want any part of initially, but now, now that I’ve got to know Jesse and believe in what she wants for you, I want to do this. ’

‘Well, you don’t get to do “this” for her, I told you: her family will get whatever Jesse wants, whatever she needs. Get outta here, pal, and don’t come back.’

Alex holds his anger in check; all he can do now is protect himself as he says the words he doesn’t truly feel. ‘OK, settle down. I’ll go and tell Jesse you don’t want me helping her, and, what the hell, I was just sent to do a job; if you say I’m not wanted . . .’

As Alex moves towards Jesse’s room, Dean cuts him off. ‘I’ll be the one to tell her,’ Dean says putting a hand up to stop Alex advancing.

‘Look, the project’s going really well, but we need to keep going. I’ve been told there’s not much time to do this for Jesse,’ Alex is almost pleading.

Dean gets in his face, furious now, shouting. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, saying that to me?’

‘OK. I’m out of here.’ Alex realises there’s no reasoning with him, and turns to leave.

It’s only now that he sees Mandy and Sam, frozen, standing outside Jesse’s room and looking at them both in horror.

With a giant wave of shame, Alex realises that everyone on the ward – and, worst of all, Jesse and her family – have overheard this altercation.

The two men glance at each other, and Alex wonders if Dean is just as mortified as he is.

Sam struggles out of his mum’s grasp and runs towards the two men. ‘Stop it. Stop it, leave him alone, Dad!’

‘Sammy, it’s OK, I know what I’m doing—’

‘We can’t help her, Dad. He can.’