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Chapter 3
Babs heaved her legs from the bed one at a time, thinking that they hadn’t seemed so heavy when she could feel them. They felt like lead as her feet hit the floor with a thud. It took her ages to get showered and dressed but at least she didn’t have to worry about hair and make-up, the studio would take care of that. She was however, determined to drive herself there in the new car. Pulling up at the studio, they were filming a rehab scene that day, so she had an idea of what she would need to do. She had learned her lines and knew the plot line well enough by now that she wasn’t worried about her working day at all. If anything her only worry was Jake. When she told him what she’d done, he looked stunned and could hardly speak. He didn’t know what to say to her as she pulled herself back in bed.
“I just thought you were acting really well, like you said – living the part – I didn’t expect this.” He had waved his hand at her legs.
“To be honest, neither had I, it was only supposed to be for a short time, but the guy screwed up and its going to last a few weeks now, maybe three. I just wanted to do a good job and I got more than I bargained for.”
He didn’t look pleased, but when she attempted to adjust herself to lie down, he had gently moved her legs for her and replaced the padding between them, conscious that she couldn’t move them for herself now.
Gathering her thoughts for the day, Babs swung out of the car into her wheelchair and made her way into the studio door. She greeted everyone else and made her way to wardrobe to collect her outfit. The assistant handed it over, bagged and tagged with her name and the date and scene number attached. She moved off to the dressing room and got herself sorted before heading to make-up.
She arrived in make-up feeling very self-conscious. Her fall from bed had left a massive bruise on her left knee and her costume had her in shorts and T-shirt for the rehab scene. The director, Brian, came in to chat to her and noticed immediately.
“I fell out of bed,” she said, truthfully. “Do you want me to change?”
“Don’t worry, I can cover it up,” the make-up girl jumped in before anyone started panicking.
The director was thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not sure we need to cover it up for now, especially as we are shooting hospital scenes, but if I have to re-shoot anything from before the accident you might have to get it covered up. We can improvise with the script if we have to. Actually I have an idea about adding a scene where you try to get up out of bed and walk, but collapse to the floor instead, I’ll go find Lesley with the script.” And off he went, inspired it would seem, all because of her bruise.

“Cut! Great job everyone,” Brian yelled out. He came over to Babs, who was lying on a mat in the rehab set. “Wow, really good today. You are getting really good at playing paralyzed; I couldn’t detect a hint of movement in your legs at all. Great work. This whole ‘living the part’ thing is working out really well for you.”
Babs was thrilled.
The guy who played her therapist was stood beside her and patted her on the shoulder and said the same. They had a real PT, Jenny, on set who was acting as a technical advisor who also came and added her congratulations to the others.
Babs, knowing she was currently sprawled out on the mats and unable to stand up and walk out, needed to get back in her wheelchair now that filming was over for the day. She had thought about this for the last few minutes, trying to figure out a way to do this without it seeming weird.
“Guys, I need to practice getting from the floor to the chair for one of the scenes tomorrow, so I’m just gonna stay and practice for a while if that’s okay. I don’t wanna screw it up now that things are going so well.”
The technical advisor offered to stay and help her, to which she was grateful, if all else failed, at least she wouldn’t be stranded. This long-term shot was working well for her in some ways, but was proving a nightmare as well.
The others left while she dragged herself towards the chair on her backside. “Am I doing this right so far?”
“Yes, keep going. To make this look real, you need to make sure you don’t put any weight on your legs at all.”
‘If only you knew how impossible that was,’ Babs thought to herself.
“What’s the best way to do this? Backwards or forwards and then turn over once I’m in it?”
“Whatever works best for you? Let’s try backwards first.” Jenny showed her how to position her legs with her hands and then where to put push down in order to lift herself up. She tried it, but her arms were shaking as she tried to lift her hips over the cushion and failed.
“I don’t think my arms are strong enough to do that,” she admitted, lowering herself back to the floor. “What’s the other way?”
Jenny then explained how she could raise herself up onto her knees with the chair supporting her upper body weight and then as she pulled her hips forward, gripping onto the sides, she could twist her hips into position on the seat. “It’s less graceful, but easier if your arms aren’t that strong.”
Babs found it much easier to get herself at least part of the way on, though she got a little tangled up trying to twist round into the seat and Jenny helped straighten her legs out. “Good try, want to do it again?”
“Yeah.”
Unexpectedly, Jenny tipped her out of the chair and she sprawled onto the floor. “This is what we do in rehab for real.”
“Thanks,” Babs muttered, curled in a sort of foetal position where she had fallen on the mats. Again, Babs pulled herself upright and back towards the wheelchair. This time she was much more efficient, remembering exactly where to place her hands and managed to turn herself into the seat without help.
“This is how we’ll do it tomorrow; we can have another rehearsal in the morning.” With that Jenny disappeared, leaving Barbara to inspect her bruised knee.