Wild Fiction

‘Sorry,’ Rebecca said.
They spent the rest of the session staring at each other and smiling. Rebecca held Genevieve’s hand and every now and then she got up, leant forward, and gave her a kiss on the lips.
Rebecca told her about how crowded the house had become with all the revived characters.
‘I’m now being woken up at all hours of the night by people coming up from the basement and wandering around looking for direction in life,’ Rebecca laughed. She then became very excited: ‘Genevieve, the book’s been printed and it goes on the shelves this Friday.’
Genevieve raised her eyebrows.
‘Let me tell you what happened,’ Rebecca paused. She was trying to work out where to begin. ‘Do you remember that scene from The Godfather. Tom Hagen flies out to California to try to convince movie producer Jack Woltz to take on Johnny Fontane in the new war movie. Woltz refuses and calls Johnny Fontane a pinko punk. A couple of days later, Woltz wakes up in bed with his champion horse’s severed head next to him. The Mob had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
‘I love that phrase: an offer you can’t refuse. Well I went to Martin Kent, the editor of Meta Publishing, and I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating. It wasn’t so much an offer he couldn’t refuse but more like an offer he couldn’t resist. He didn’t resist it and I’ve managed to dangle the carrot in front of him long enough to race the book through the production cycle. Next Thursday we’ll see if it’s made The Times best seller list.’
Genevieve smiled weakly at Rebecca who bent forward and kissed her on the lips. The nurse who had been taking Genevieve’s pulse came in.
‘I’m going to have to ask you to leave,’ she said to Rebecca. ‘She needs as much rest as possible.’
‘Can’t I stay for just a little bit longer?’ Rebecca asked.
‘No,’ the nurse said taking her firmly by the arm and leading her away.
‘Bye,’ Rebecca waved to Genevieve.
Genevieve’s feeble smile returned to her face and she closed her eyes.