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Chapter 11
The knock at the door came and her aide went to open it. Ryley was running around like four year olds do, but when the stranger entered the house, he retreated to his mom’s lap as he often did when he wanted comfort. She couldn’t hold him, but he could hold her.
The producer came in. A middle aged woman dressed in a suit approached, then looked confused about how to introduce herself. Most people having a business meeting had it in an office and they shook hands.
Putting her out of her misery, Barbara steered her chair forwards and smiled.
“I can’t shake your hand for obvious reasons,” she glanced down at her perfectly straight fingers spread on the padded rests in front of her. “But please put your hand on mine. I’m Barbara.”
The woman regained her composure and smiled back. Placing her own hand on top of Barabara’s right, she introduced herself. “Helen. It’s lovely to meet you at last.” She glanced at the little boy in Barbara’s lap. “Who do we have here?”
“This is my son, Ryley. He’s pretending to be shy.” Barbara was able to drop her chin forwards and kiss the top of the boys head.
“Shall we sit and talk over the proposals?” Helen asked.
“Of course, would you like to sit outside? It’s too nice to sit in. Can I offer you a drink, coffee, tea, juice, lemonade?”
“Coffee sounds good, thank you.”
Barbara took the straw between her lips and sipped slowly turning the chair around and then blew to go forwards. She told the aide to bring drinks outside and then asked Helen to follow her.
They moved out the back of the house to a lovely garden with a pool. Helen was nodded towards a table, where there was a large gap left for Barbara to pull up to. Ryley climbed down and went to play in the garden.
“I have to say, this is lovely.” She commented. “And your son is very cute.”
“He is and really not very shy either. He soon warms up.”
“I remember the film you made and it was very moving, you know. When I received the script, I knew I had to make the film. It’s such an emotional story and I can see why you wanted to tell it.”
“Thank you. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when it became obvious I wouldn’t be able to act anymore. I enjoy writing. It’s one of the few things I can still do without having help.”
“Can I ask how? I mean physically how you type without the use of your hands.”
“I have a computer which has some clever software. I can use a mouse that it controlled like my chair, with a little straw. I also have dictation software that converts my voice into type. I use a combination of both.”
“So the whole manuscript was written like that? I just assumed you must have dictated it for someone else to type.”
Barbara smiled. “No I did it myself.”
Helen went on to discuss her vision for the film and possible contenders for the lead roles. Barbara was happy to talk through everything and after some further meetings and agreements, a contract was signed. The film was going to be made.

Barbara waited nervously in the van as everything was readied. Finally the door opened and the platform lift dropped to the sidewalk with her on it. She controlled her chair towards the red carpet. The ultimate accolade was within reach, not as an actress but as a screenwriter. She was nominated and the buzz surrounding the film was very positive. They had eight nominations altogether including best film and best actress. They had chosen wisely for the leading role and now it looked like everything was going well. It had done well at the box office, the star had received a number of smaller honors already and the final one now was here.

She had been supportive of the production, visiting the set a few times and inviting the leading lady round to the house on numerous occasions. Their chosen young actress had reminded Barbara of herself in many respects. The parallels were astounding. She had wanted to see the writer going about everyday tasks including all the care that she required as research. Barbara had shown her willingly; the film needed to be realistic in every respect.

She had done a good job and when she watched them filming some of the key scenes, Barbara had been asked to contribute her opinion as they went. If a scene wasn’t good enough the former actress would let the director and current actress know about it.

“You need to relax your legs more, your feet wouldn’t be stuck in the air, they would hang limply down if you really were paralyzed,” she had noted on one occasion.
“Cut!” the director had yelled. “Let’s go again from the beginning.”
It had been a massive physical challenge for the actress who appreciated all the help she received.

The nominees smiled as their faces appeared on the big screen for the audience. The names were read out. It was no contest really; the others looked resigned the moment Barbara had turned up in her gorgeous black dress and puffed herself up the red carpet, Jake beside her holding her limp hand in his.

“And the winner is….” The presenter left the expected pregnant pause. “Roll of a Lifetime.”

Barbara steered her chair slowly up to the stage. The audience full of admiration for the actress turned screenwriter. There was a standing ovation for her by the time she made it to the podium. Presenting the award was her co-star from her film debut all those years before. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, carefully placing the prized gold statue in her lap.
She sipped at the straw to turn to face the audience. She had moved them beyond imagination, they were standing, clapping loudly and virtually all of them crying.

She started her speech. “In winning this award I really do feel like my life has come full circle….”

The end