ACT 8

Cameron and Amanda have been living under a restrained sort of truce. She has allowed him to provide her every day needs, keeping verbal contact to a minimal, but she has not proceeded forward with her therapy. That is the one area she feels is left under her control. She doesn't want to give in so easily to him on this. Though she is confused to as why. After all, he is right, the sooner she is able to get better, the sooner he will be out of her life. But for some reason she is delaying her freedom. Part of it is her stubbornness - she won't let him win. After all, as she sees it, he has had too many victories already.

Meanwhile, Cameron is conflicted with his own feelings. The last few days have been the happiest he has had in a long time. He is, after all, alone with the woman he loves. But he does realize, for her sake, that he has to get her to begin physical therapy. Though there is no guarantee that she will be able to walk again, he believes that if she at least works for it, the struggle may lead to acceptance and hopefully the courage for her to face her life again. As he's been wondering how to accomplish this, the unexpected opportunity arises.

Scene 1: Fade In (a few days later)

Cameron comes rushing into the cabin gently cradling a small dog. Amanda, startled, looks up. He tells her that he found the little guy whimpering behind the wood pile and thinks that he may have a broken leg. She says nothing. Cameron then goes to hand her the dog so that he can get what he needs to help him. Amanda protests, "Don't give him to me. He's your problem".

"For god sakes Amanda, stop thinking about yourself and just hold him", he snaps as he lays the dog in her lap. Then he adds, "Just keep him warm and try to calm him down. I'll be right back". He leaves.

Looking down at her charge, she takes pity on the little guy and begins to stroke him. When Cameron comes back, he hesitates a moment as he is relieved to see that Amanda has finally listened to him. And he is moved by her gentle touch with the dog as she is able to quiet him. As she is holding him, Cameron begins first aid on the dog.

He eventually breaks the silence with, "You have a good way with him, Amanda. I always knew you were a great mother ".

She is taken back by this and thrusts the dog at Cameron saying, "How could you", and then turns her wheelchair around to leave. Cameron realizes that he has touched a nerve in her. Though the opening came by accident, he decides to take advantage of it and try to get her to open up a little about her feelings over Alli's death. She never has with anyone before and he believes that's part of what's holding her back from getting on with her life.

After making the dog comfortable, he goes and knocks on her door. She tells him to go away. He opens it anyway and says, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. That truly was not my intention".

"Just leave me alone", she tells him.

"I'm sorry about Alli. I know you miss her terribly, but she wouldn't want you to live like this".

"Shut up!", she angrily orders. "You don't know what I feel or think! Or what Alli (she begins to tear up) would have… ".

"Amanda", he tenderly and respectively says, "I know I can't. I just want you to face what you're feeling. Please just let it out".

"Stop it!", she bitterly demands. "I may have to live here against my will, eat your food and do what you tell me to do. But I don't have to open myself up to you or share my feelings with you. I'm sorry, but that you can't have".

"You're right Amanda, I have no right to invade your privacy or trespass on your feelings. I just thought that maybe you needed to talk about it. I guess I was wrong".

"Well you guessed right. Now just go and leave me alone".

"I'm sorry, I will. But before I go, I just have to say one last thing". She remains quite as he continues. "You miss your daughter so much. Why can't you see how much Rachel misses hers. She's already lost a granddaughter. I don't think she could stand losing you too. Think about that Amanda". He then leaves her room and closes the door.

A few hours later Amanda opens the door of her bedroom. She sees Cameron with his hand against the window staring at the evening sky. As she begins to talk, he turns his head toward her.

"You can call the therapist. I'm ready to give it a shot". He turns around fully and recognizing hopefulness in his eyes, she quickly adds, "I'm doing this for my mother, not for you. I just want to make myself perfectly clear on that point".

"It's perfectly clear", he is quick to reply. I'll call first thing in the morning".

"Fine then. Goodnight" she tells him as she heads back to her room.

"Good night", he replies back, and then as she closes the door, he looks up and says, "Thank you".

Scene 1: Fade out

Amanda begins her physical therapy. Her relationship with Cameron is cautiously improving as they are now in a more solid routine. As a result of her efforts to get better, she has had more contact with her family both on the phone and in person on special visits. They are appreciative of all that Cameron has done for her, though they make sure Amanda is not aware of their gratitude for fear that she may fight back against him again. For the first time in months all those who care about her are beginning to have hope.

Following are Vignettes (small literary sketches) to briefly describe subtle moments that occur between Amanda and Cameron which brings them closer together.

Vignette A.

Amanda is sitting in her wheelchair in her room reading a magazine when she hears a commotion outside her door. She goes to check it out and sees a freaked out Cameron, jumping out of a chair and yelling, "Get off of me, get it off of me", as he tries swatting something off his body.

"What are you doing?", she inquires of him.

Embarrassed to have her see him like this, he stammers for a second, and then says, "Nothing, go back to your room".

She is about to respond back when she notices a spider crawling up his shirt sleeve. "Watch it", she warns him, "There's a spider crawling up your arm". He immediately jumps out of his skin again and knocks it off his sleeve.

Realizing that this was the cause of the commotion to begin with, she starts to laugh out loud, "Don't tell me that the big heroic Cameron Sinclair is afraid of a little bitty spider".

"Enough with the wise cracks, all ready. I just happen to have that problem with spiders. OK!".

Baffled, she asks, "What problem?".

An uncomfortable Cameron explains, "You know when you're terrified of spiders and you can't help it".

After a moment of trying to figure out what he means, it dawns on her. She tries to hold back another laugh, but just can't. "You mean you have Arachnephobia? The fear of little creatures that can't hurt you syndrome".

"Just shut up".

"Okay, I'm sorry", she smiles. Then she lets out another chuckle. As he begins to turn red with both embarrassment and anger, they notice a spider crawling on the table in between them. Cameron freezes, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. She, sensing this, quickly slams the magazine she was holding down on the spider. Then she looks at him and sweetly asks, "Anything else you want me to whack for you?".

"Yeah. Your mouth", he sarcastically replies.

"Ouch!. Guess I deserved that", she says with a smile as she turns away to go back to her room. "Oh Cameron", she adds pointing to the floor in front of her, "Watch out for that corner there, I think I see an ant". Then she enters her room.

Cameron gives her a dirty look, and then looking around the room, shivers to think if any more spiders are waiting for him.

Vignette B.

Amanda is watching Cameron playing with the dog, whose leg is still bandaged. She hears him say, "Hey boy, how you doing little fellow?".

"Isn't it about time you name him?", she asks him.

"Why don't you?", he smiles.

"It's not my dog".

"Okay, how about Rover? It's a basic name for a basic kind of dog".

"Rover? Can't you be more original than that?".

"No I can't".

"Why don't you call him something that reminds you of him", she persists.

"Like what for instance?".

"I don't know", she ponders. How about Hop-a-long?". Cameron twists his face in disapproval.

Then she adds, "You know, like Hop-a-long Cassidy. I mean he hops around here all day on three legs".

"Don't make fun of him", Cameron protests. " I do like the Cassidy part of it though. That's it, I'll call him Cassidy", he proudly announces.

"Well I'm going to call him Hop-a-long".

"I thought this wasn't your dog", Cameron smugly responds.

"That's it, Hop-a-long", Amanda declares. Then Cameron whispers in the dog's ear, "Don't listen to her Cassidy".

Vignette C.

It is late evening, and Amanda is excitedly waiting for Cameron to retire to his bed. She is in her wheelchair, behind her bedroom door which is slightly ajar so she can see what's happening. He finally rises from the sofa, yawns, turns off the TV, and then walks into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. She opens the door and enters the living room to get a good view of what she knows will soon take place. She anxiously waits, and then, "Oh my god!", a frantic Cameron yells out. And in the next moment, he blasts out of the door in fear. Amanda can't control her herself, and bursts out laughing. A confused Cameron soon becomes extremely angry when he realizes what's going on. She has filled his bed with very real looking rubber spiders. He slowly turns toward her with a menacing look in his eyes. Fearing his repercussions, she throws up her hands in self defense, and proclaims, "They're not real - they're just rubber spiders I had my brother get for me". His expression does not change as he continues to slowly walk towards her again. As she starts to wheel her chair backwards to her room, Amanda pleads again, though she can't seem to control the giggles. "I'm really sorry, honestly. I just couldn't resist".

Cameron finally breaks his silence as he grabs the wheelchair by both of its arms. "I am going to get you for this, Princess", he swears with a glare in his eyes, "if it's the last thing I ever do".

"You wouldn't hurt a poor defenseless handicapped girl, would you?".

"Handicap my ass", he retorts back.

With a flirtatious smile, Amanda looks behind him and answers, "I guess about an 8".

This takes him off guard for a second, but then he looks at his backside, turns back to her and with a proud smile, says simply "Thank you".

"Oh please, don't flatter yourself. I was talking handicaps. Like in golf'.

"That's not what your eyes were saying, Princess", he slyly grins as he begins to walk away from her.

"Well then it was on a scale from 1 to 100", she throws back at him.

"Oh no, the scale is always from 1 to 10", as he continues walking away in victory.

"No, that's you IQ", she angrily hurls at him, as she slams the door. He raises a fist in triumph.

Vignette D.

It's a miserable rainy day. Both are very bored when Amanda challenges Cameron to a game of Scrabble, convinced that she can beat him. Grateful for the interaction, he happily accepts and warns her with a roughish grin, "I'm going to beat the pants off of you".

"We'll just see whose left wearing the pants around here", vamps back Amanda.

"You can't put that down", Amanda informs him.

"Why not?".

"Because 'Yankees' is a proper name, and everyone knows you can't use proper names in scrabble".

"Who says so?".

"The rules says so, that's who", she quickly replies back.

"Let me see the rules, where are they?".

She looks for them, but can't find them. "I don't know where they are, but you'll just have to take my word for it. And besides, I thought you were a Cubs fan. Isn't that a bit disloyal?".

"Not this year. I'm a Yankees fan now". Then he smiles into her eyes and adds, "I always pick the winners". After he gets the satisfaction in seeing her blush, he takes the word away and puts down a different one.

Amanda now plays her turn by putting down the word 'adieu'. He looks at it dubiously and then asks, '"What's this?".

"Adieu, it means goodbye".

"In French, not in English. You can't use that".

"And why not?".

"Because everybody knows you can't use foreign words in scrabble. But since you can't find the rules, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it", he sasses her back. Reluctantly, she concedes.

Cameron's turn is next.

"Durst is not a word", Amanda declares.

"Yes it is", he says in defense.

"What does it mean?".

"You know… I durst you".

"Oh please, give me that dictionary near you. I'm challenging you".

"What's this with the challenging bit. Another rule? " , he skeptically asks as he hands her the dictionary.

"No. My rule", she replies, as she accepts it from him. It's always been the rule in our family. If I challenge you and the word is not in the dictionary, I get all of the points you would have gotten for it".

"Oh no you don't", he exclaims as he tries to get it back from her. "That is not an official rule".

"Are you chicken? Don't have confidence in yourself?".

Not one for letting a dare go by, he says, "Go for it", hoping by some miracle it's in there.

He watches Amanda as her cocky expression changes quickly into shocked disbelief. Sensing a miraculous victory, he excitedly says , "It's in there isn't it?".

She looks up from the dictionary with her mouth open, and sensing a demoralizing defeat, slams the book shut.

"Hold on there, missy. Give me that", he orders her, as he grabs the dictionary. He looks up the word and reads the definition out loud. "Durst, the past tense of dare". Looking at her, he cackles, "What do you know, I even got the meaning right. You know, 'I durst you'. You did and I won. So take that miss smarty pants".

"Wait a minute. You were just bluffing and you know it. You had no idea of what that word really meant, so that doesn't count. So there".

"Oh no you don't. As you yourself said, if it is in the dictionary, it counts. And it is. So there, back to you", as he cackles once again.

Amanda, so incensed at his gloating, picks up the letters that made up 'durst' and throws them at him. Cameron, taken aback by her actions, momentarily forgets her condition, and playfully kicks her leg under the table. "Ouch", she blurts out. "Stop!. That hur… ". She trails off as she and Cameron both realize at the same time what this means. Strong feelings are coming back into her legs again. He jumps up, goes to her, and gently touching her asks hopefully, " Amanda, did you really feel that?".

Trembling with shock, and almost forgotten hope, she replies, "Oh my god, Cameron, I felt that, yes, I felt my legs". As she tries to take in the impact of this, she smiles, laughs, and cries all at the same time. She can't believe what's happening to her. Then she looks at Cameron and sees the tears welling up in his eyes too, as he lovingly caresses her face. "Oh Amanda, you don't know how happy I am to hear that". "Oh yes, I do. I really do", she softly tells him. He then gently kisses her. Then, staring into each other eyes, he strokes her face, and says "I, love you Amanda. I love you so much. They kiss again, passionately and long.

Amanda suddenly pulls away from him with an alarmed look on her face. "What's wrong, Amanda?, did I do something to upset you?". She just shakes her head "no", and then says she has to go to her room and tries to leave.

"Please Amanda, don't. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, please don't go".

Amanda, choked up with emotions tells him, "Just let me go", and then proceeds to her room.

An anguished Cameron watches her leave him, one more time.

END OF ACT 8

ACT 9

A few days have past since Amanda felt the strong feelings in her legs. Instead of celebrating, Cameron is very concerned for Amanda. She has pulled away from him ever since that emotional kiss. In addition to her withdrawal from him, she has stopped her daily exercises and spends most of the time in her bedroom.

She has been examined by her doctor who informed them that it is only a matter of time before she should be able to walk again. As long as she keeps up with her therapy.

Cameron, feeling guilt for his advances toward her, tries without success to assure her that it won't happened again. He decides to call her family for help.

Scene 1: Fade In

Rachel and Matt arrive to see Amanda. After the initial greetings, Cameron leaves the house to give them some privacy. The trio embark on small talk for awhile, avoiding any serious issues. Rachel is sensing a change in Amanda as Cameron had warned her. Wanting to talk with him about this, she makes an excuse to step outside for a while.

She finds Cameron sitting on a tree stump playing with Cassidy. "Hello Cameron".

He smiles back.

"You're right about my daughter. There is something bothering her. I know you couldn't say much on the phone to me the other day. Can you tell me now, please?"

"I'm worried about her".

"Why Cameron, what happened?".

"She was doing really well until two days ago. That's when she had the sensation in her legs. We were so happy, so excited, that for a moment we just forgot about the past. We…", and then he hesitates out of slight embarrassment.

"Go on Cameron. It's all right".

"It was a very emotional moment. We embraced and then began to kiss. She got upset, pulled away, and has been distant ever since. She doesn't talk much, and I can't get her to do her exercises. I'm sorry Mrs. Hutchins, I skewed up and it scared her. And now I don't know what to do".

She fondly touches him for a moment and then says, "Oh Cameron, you didn't scare her. She scared herself. I know my daughter. Part of her is afraid of walking again".

"But why?", he bewilderedly asks.

"Because then she would have to leave this place, which to her means she would have to leave you. And she just can't bring herself to do that".

"I don't want to go back to my life without her either. But I just don't know if it's possible to have her in it. Not with everything I'm facing when I go back".

"It's going to be hard for both of you, Cameron. I just hope you and Amanda can find a way to deal with the whole situation".

"Mrs. Hucthins, I just have to ask, how is everybody back home?".

"You mean Josie and the baby".

"And Gary".

"They're all doing fine Cameron. Gary's been there for her so you don't have to worry. I even think he's started to come around a little. He's not all the way there yet, but I do believe there's a real chance that he will be. At least I hope so for everybody's sake".

"Me too. Thank you for telling me. I don't know what's going to happen but I just wish Amanda could find a way to forgive me and give us another chance. But I don't have any false illusions. She won't even talk about the situation. It's as if it doesn't exist".

"She can't deal with it now. Have a little faith, Cameron. Whether she likes it or not, she's too in love with you to turn back now. There's a strong bond between the two of you. I can feel it. Just hold on. Let me see if I can get her back on track. Okay?", she smiles.

"Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Hutchins".

"Rachel. We've grown close too", she fondly tells him. "Please call me Rachel".

"Thank you. Rachel".

Scene 1: Fade Out

Scene 2: Fade In

Rachel walks back into the cabin and finds Matt and Amanda laughing. They are recalling a funny incident that occurred at the cabin years ago. Amanda looks up and sees her mother. Matt then turns around and says, "Oh, Mom. We were remembering the last time we were all up here together". Rachel smiles as Matt continues telling the story. "Remember when Mac thought he was cornering a squirrel in the wood shed and it turned out to be a skunk?". Rachel begins to laugh.

"I'll never forget the look on daddy's face when he realized what it was", Amanda adds with a smile.

"The look", Rachel says, "I'll never forget the smell. Poor Mac. I made him stay in the wood shed that night. I don't think he got that smell out for days. But we did have a great time anyway".

"Yeah", Matt remembers, "Mac really loved this cabin. Those were some good times we had here".

"They were the best", a melancholy Amanda reflects.

Rachel, noticing the sadness in her daughter's voice, asks Matt to give her a moment with Amanda. After he leaves, Rachel asks her how she is feeling.

"Fine", Amanda replies. Then, knowing her mother so well, asks, "What did you talk to Cameron about for so long?".

"You, of course".

Amanda just looks at her, annoyed at hearing the answer she already knew.

"He's worried about you".

"Well, I'm sorry about that, but that's his choice".

"I'm worried too, Amanda. I don't want to lose you again. I can't take any more loss".

Amanda sees the pain in her mother's eyes, and is moved to comfort her. "Don't worry about me Mom. I'm going to be fine".

"No you're not, Amanda. Not if you give up like this. And I'm not just talking about trying to walk again. You have hard things to face when you get back home, but you're going to have to find a way to face them or you'll never have your life back again".

"I'm not sure I want back that life anyway".

"Maybe not, but you can't just erase the past…and everybody in it".

"Mother, I know where you're going with this, but just don't".

"Amanda, you just can't keep denying you feelings".

"Stop it!", an increasingly agitated Amanda orders. I don't want to talk about this. Leave it alone, Mother".

"All right, I will. But I just want you to listen to one thing more and then the subject will be closed".

Amanda remains silent as Rachel speaks. "Real love doesn't come from the good times; the dates, the flowers, or even the sex. It grows from the bad times. When you find yourself going to that deep dark place and a hand reaches out to you. You grab onto that hand, Amanda, because that's real love not letting you go. Don't you see, Cameron cares about you so much, that he rather risk losing you, then let you be lost. That is truly love. Don't let go of it so easily. It may not come again".

Rachel leaves the cabin as Amanda lowers her head. A few minutes later, Cameron walks back in and hears Amanda on the phone. "If you can, I would like to get started again on my physical therapy tomorrow morning. That will be fine. Thank you, goodbye". As she hangs up the phone, she sees Cameron at the door, and says to him, "I guess you heard that". He nods yes, and then she continues, "Well I figure it's time I get back to my life" .

"I'm glad to hear that", he sincerely replies.

"I don't know what is going to happen", she plainly states, "But thank you".

"You don't have to thank me, Amanda. I…".

"I do", she interrupts. "Like I said, I don't know what's going to happen with my life, but I do know that it's because of you I have another chance at my life. So I really do want to thank you".

Not knowing what to say, a moved Cameron simply responds with "You're welcome".

Scene 2: Fade Out

END OF ACT 9

CONTINUE