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Roll of a lifetime
Or, a little play on words, about a play on wheels

Chapter 1
Barbara was just finishing her make-up when her cell phone rang. Bob, her agent was eager to talk to her about a new role in a film, and as a lead no less, rather than a minor character. It seemed the break she had hoped for had finally come her way.
“You are the best actress in circulation,” Bob replied to her excitement.
“You are biased,” she replied.
“As your manager, I think I am allowed to be biased.”
“What is the exact nature of the role?”
“It’s a human interest movie about a young woman paralyzed in a car accident, who goes on to become a successful businesswoman.”
“Sounds like a good role, but you know that I am a method actor, I need to live as my character.”
“I know and explained this to the company; they really want you for the role and are offering an adapted house and wheelchair for six months so you can train properly as a paraplegic. Plus you will be able to go to rehabilitation classes with proper physical therapists. This is a big deal but it’s also a big commitment. You have an audition in three days time so I have part of the script for you to learn. So long as you don’t screw up the audition, I think this part is yours for the taking.”

The audition went really well for Barbara and she got the phone call offering her the part a few days later. She was so excited that she phoned Bob immediately. “I think its going to be a great part, should get lots of publicity for this one and it could be the one that makes me the biggest name around for years.”
“Its great news but I saw the script and its going to be tough, there’s a lot of training and preparation needed.”
“I know but don’t worry; they already have me signed up to attend a rehab institute with real patients and everything. It’s really exciting, don’t you think? They are arranging for this company to send someone over and measure me up for my own wheelchair so I will look the real deal. The house is ready as well and I will move in next week. Apparently they will do lots of the filming there later.”
“I look forward to being invited over once you settle in,” he smiled broadly. This was a big break for her and as her agent also for him.

A couple of weeks later, Bob knocked on the front door of Barbara’s new place. It took a while to hear any response from inside, but eventually the sound of rubber wheels on wood floor got nearer and the door opened.
“Bob! Come in,” She held the door open for him to pass through.
“Nice see you,” he bent over and gave her a big hug and a kiss. “In the chair already, I see. Wow, you look so different.”
“I know, its hard work, I never dreamed it would be so difficult. I have been trying to act like a paraplegic but it’s difficult to avoid moving sometimes, the director got a bit annoyed when I spoil a rehearsal scene because I moved my feet without realising it. I sometimes think it would be easier if they could give me a shot so I wouldn’t be able to move for real.” She joked and then laughed at the thought and they proceeded further into the house.
She showed him round and explained how everything worked. Barbara was a big fan of method acting and she explained how she meticulously lived the part she was playing. Bob was so impressed at the way she approached it and he had no doubt about her ability to carry off the part when the serious filming began. They had only begun with some rehearsal and background shooting so far and nothing heavy. Babs was also due to film the accident scene and needed some rehearsal so they got together over dinner and read through the script several times until she knew her lines by heart.

Filming went well initially and the director was impressed by his lead actress during all the early scenes where Babs’ character was able bodied or incapacitated in bed. He had no doubt that they had found the right woman for the part; she took her work seriously and was getting on really well with all the supporting actors and crew. The early wheelchair scenes were difficult though. Babs had only been rehearsing for a month and there were times when she accidentally moved the parts of her body that weren’t supposed to move any more, spoiling the take on several occasions. More than the director being frustrated at her, Babs was more frustrated with herself and some of her best lines were wasted when they had to cut the take for physical errors. She explained her frustrations to Bob over dinner one night.
He was thoughtful and eventually reminded her of what she had said in jest a few weeks earlier. Sitting in her wheelchair still, Babs thought back to what she had said. “I was joking at the time, but I think it might be what I need to do this job right.”
Bob asked her how serious she was about it. Her response left him in no doubt. “I’ll call a doctor friend of mine and see if there is some way to achieve this, maybe just for the important scenes.”

Days later, Bob came to the house and brought his doctor friend with him. He left shortly after as Babs asked him to go, not wanting to get him into trouble. Explaining herself Babs asked the doctor to give her a shot to see if it would work out better. The doctor was eventually persuaded to do it and prepped everything hygienically for an epidural. When the shot went in, Babs felt her lower body become numb almost instantly, just a few seconds passed between normal sensation and then nothing from her waist down. The doctor explained what had happened to her and that it would last about 24 hours. During that time she would need the wheelchair for real and would have to be fitted with a catheter. Babs knew the routine as she had been living it for some weeks, but it felt strange nonetheless.

Now we haven’t mentioned him before, but Babs had a boyfriend. They had been seeing each other for about a year and they were pretty serious. His name was Jake and he was also an actor. They had met on the set of a TV advert they had appeared in together. Jake thought Bab’s role was interesting and he had enjoyed the fact that she was living it so to speak at the moment. Babs hadn’t told him what she had done beforehand, concerned that he might freak out about it. She hoped that she might get away without mentioning it until he could see how much easier it was to play the part. He was an actor too; surely he would understand why she would do this for such an important film.

A few hours later, Jake arrived at the house. Babs answered the door a little out of breath. She was wearing a short summer dress but her feet were bare.
“You seem to be struggling,” Jake noted.
“It’s really hard, I can't even get my shoes on,” she complained.
“Why?”
“Every time I lean forwards, I nearly fall out of the wheelchair and can't get back in by myself. I never realised it was so much hard work sitting down all the time!”
“You look pretty sexy though with no shoes on,” Jake grinned.
“Thanks. I’m not sure how I look, my legs keep bouncing around so I have to adjust them with my hands all the time.”
“You look awesome, the dress is cute.”
“Does it look okay? It was hard to put it on, sitting on the bed to get dressed.” She looked down and adjusted her clothing a little self-consciously.
It was a day off filming for Babs so Jake asked her out. “So, what you want to do today, babe?”
“I need to get some more clothes and shoes that look good in a wheelchair, most of my clothes don't fit right sitting down.”
“This training is making you look the part, I’ll give you that.”
“My skirts, dresses and trousers are all too short and my tops and blouses are all too long. I’d love to go out shopping, but will you help me out with trying things on, I’m finding getting dressed really difficult. They gave me an allowance to pick up more clothes.”
“My car or yours?”
“Well they sent me one with hand controls and I would like to use my new car, but I am not good at getting in and out yet.”
“Okay, so my car then?”
Outside, Barbara wheeled the chair close to the door for Jake to open it for her. She wanted to try to get in by herself but was worried about falling so he watched carefully, ready to catch if she fell. She got as close as possible to the seat and put the brakes on so the chair didn’t roll away as she tried to get out.
She tried to move herself forwards, having dropped one foot on the ground, but even though she pushed down hard on the seat, her butt hardly lifted off the cushion. It took several tries to lift high enough to clear the wheel of the chair. She managed to swing over to the car seat but only got halfway on and started to fall sideways. Fortunately Jake spotted this and pushed her further onto the seat. Having managed to lift herself in the rest of the way, she grabbed her legs in and adjusted her position to get comfortable.
They got underway after Jake had loaded the chair, but Babs kept looking at her legs and adjusting their position. Jake noticed her fidgeting around.
“Is everything okay? You keep looking at your legs.”
“I am just a bit self-conscious about them in such a short dress.”

Before she could add anything else, Babs’ cell phone rang. It was Bob’s doctor friend with some bad news for her. She listened in shock as he explained that he had used the wrong strength anaesthetic on her, that it was actually ten times stronger than he had intended and that she would probably find herself paralysed for up to three weeks, depending on how quickly her body absorbed the medication. She tried not to say anything to alert Jake; she didn’t want to worry him. The doctor was incredibly apologetic and explained that she shouldn’t get any adverse problems from it other than the extended period of incapacity. Because he was feeling guilty, the doctor told her he was sending round a nurse in the morning to ‘take care of a few things’ whatever that meant. As the call ended, Jake noticed she was strangely quiet.
“Anything wrong?”
“Er, no. Just arranging an appointment for the morning.” It wasn’t a lie exactly. “I’m fine, its just for the movie that’s all.”