Wishes
an excerpt

He could feel his wig slipping from his head. Sweat ran in rivulets down his neck and he shot a nervous look at his handler, hoping she noticed his discomfort. How would it look if Captain Jack lost his wig? He certainly wasn't Johnny Depp and more certainly wouldn't be able to pull off an effective comedy routine using the heavy dread-locked monstrosity if it did fall to the ground. In his mind he heard the cries of frightened children, wailing about his hair loss.

"Kristy, a word, love." Marc swaggered over drunkenly and looped an arm around her shoulder. He pulled her close and waved his hand about a bit, feigning momentary distraction with the glossy paint on his fingers, before whispering. "The wigs slipping, fix it."

Kristy's eyes widened, reminding him of how new she was to this job. She'd barely been hired a week ago. "How?"

"Do I look like I care?" he hissed, flashing a lopsided smile to the gathering crowd of youngsters. "Just do something."

"I-I..." Kristy groped for her walky-talky speaker on her shirt and turned it on. She stepped back behind a bush and he despised her very existence in that moment. One tug from groping baby fingers and he might as well kiss his pay raise goodbye.

A little boy with a fierce expression of determination broke free from the drones of faces and shoved a blank page in an autograph book in his face.

"What's this then?" he slurred, taking the book in one hand, purposefully holding it upside to inspect it. He shook it a few times, before shrugging and miming chucking it over his shoulder, but caught sight of the boy's face and grinned deviously.

"Can you sign it, please."

"And to who might I be signing this to?" Marc asked, squatting down to eye level with the child. He could feel the elastic of the wig turning and a dreadlock he couldn't recall see appeared in his line of sight.

"Hayden," the boy whispered in awe. Hayden reached out with one hand towards the string of hair littered with bobbles, and Marc stood abruptly, staggering for real. He signed his name in the book with a flourish of untidy scrawl. He reached out for the boy who came willingly, posing in front of him as Captain Hook. Marc found he didn't mind it even as the flash of the camera in the dusk set spots in front of his eyes. Blind to his surroundings for a brief moment, he nearly missed Kristy emerging from the shrubbery. He didn't however miss when Hayden swiped his book away from Marc's fingers and run back into the crowd.

He shot Kristy a expectant look as she made her way over to him. Her steps faltered as she neared him, and it was all he could do to not yell at her. He was so damn glad the park was almost ready to close for the night.