RM#73

JACK’S PAGE
A THIRTY MINUTE MOVIE by Jack Sewina © 2006
Scene 8
(The next day the police are all over the house searching for clues and questioning the four kids.)
Policeman- Do you know anything about what happened last night?
Rachel- No, we heard him shouting about something weird but we thought he was just playing another one of his dumb jokes.
PC- So no-one has any idea of how the killer got into the house?
Lunchbox- Nah, Like Rachel said ya know. We hears him shouting. But no-one came to the rescue.
Lunchbox- (continues) Oh, and did you hear about the kill in the woods? And in the taxi?
PC- Yeah I did and I'm afraid you’re all suspects.
All- What?
PC- Well funnily enough, you were all in the woods when the murder took place ...
MORE FROM JACK’S MOVIE SCRIPT IN RM#74

SIGHTLESS by Nicola Batty (c)2006

Braille and Beyond (continued)

This is the final bit of the final story from my Ziggy Collection.

I suppose by this point I had accepted that my eyesight was on the way out… it didn’t scare me like it used to, yet I felt I had to act quickly now. The thing that did disturb me was that I would also lose the use of my hearing, which I had become more dependent on now. It was alright at this time to listen to books on tape or CD… but how long would I be able to do that? There was really no way of telling for certain. So I decided to enrol on a Braille course at a nearby college.

At the beginning of September, Carmel came with me to the college for an assessment. I with filled with trepidation immediately; images of the horrific university assessment crowded into my mind, jostling one another for room… I didn’t think much of these assessments for sure. However, I hoped that this would be different; I was encouraged when I met the tutor Bernard who was himself blind. I was taken into an individual room – which I couldn’t see the reason for. I would have liked to have been with the other people… perhaps I may have found it difficult to hear everything but I would have liked to have been given the choice.

Anyway, I simply practiced running my fingers over some Braille, which all seemed pretty meaningless! But obviously I needed to show that I had sensitivity and some movement in my hands, enough to take me through. Well, I myself was quite happy to continue with the course and when I went back the next week I was encouraged by Bernard and the other two teachers that I might keep on with Braille, even though it may take quite some time! There never seemed to be any question of my not being able to learn it.

So I was shocked when I received a phone call (through Andy) from Bernard, saying that the assessment had shown me to be unsuited to learning Braille; there was no point in continuing with the course. That was that! I was completely outraged… how could they reach stupid conclusions from a mere two hour assessment? I didn’t blame Bernard at all – I don’t think he had ultimate authority. I think that somebody else had told him what to do, and he was simply obeying orders.

The next time that I saw Jo I told her what had happened about Braille, and she arranged to get hold of some stuff on teaching yourself Braille from the social services.
This took ages to actually materialise… but when it did I began to work on it within a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Carmel left in December and I now have two new helpers, Jessica and Ruth, who cover the week between them – both of whom are helping with Braille, and also with my other writing! With them I finally competed the Dry Rot film script in April 2005, and sent it to the BBC. At the time of writing this, it’s still there. I’m still not totally confident about Braille…

It may be that I will give it up in the end. But I want that to be my decision and I want to give it a fair go first. I feel that the loss of my eyesight is an ongoing process… sometimes it never seems to end! So you understand that this is an unfinished story; I’m not quite sightless yet, and can’t imagine ever being so… even though I can see very little physically!

Does this make any sense? I hope it does. In years to come, look out for Sightless: Part Two…

The End
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