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“Well, this is a red-letter day,” Irving said, pushing the cookies out of the way to make room for our food. “Now all we have to do is keep the momentum going until the committee meeting tonight.”
“We got this!” I said enthusiastically, but inside, I was afraid we would have nothing at the end of the meeting.
We’d done our research, but we'd fail if we couldn’t convince the committee that there was a need for the ramp beyond just one person having access to the gazebo. It’s a concept that’s hard for people to understand. You build the ramp, even if it’s only one person. That one person deserves access to the space. I was confident it wasn’t just one person, though. If they made the gazebo accessible, people who never bothered to go to the park would start going. That was a win.
Ivy set two steaming hot plates of nachos in front of us and returned to the counter. We dug into the food without further conversation, and all I could think was we needed an ace in the hole, but all we had was jokers.
∞∞∞
“The park?” Hazel asked as we entered the parking lot and headed up the pathway. “I thought we had work to do.”
“We do, and we’re doing it.”
“Taking a walk in the park prepares us for the committee meeting?”
“You ask a lot of questions,” I said, laughing as we rolled along the pathway.
“You don’t like to answer any of them!” she exclaimed. One might think she was upset, but I could hear the laughter in her words.
“I was aiming for mysterious.”
“Mysterious. Right. That’s the word I’d use.”
“Well, to answer your question, this will help us prepare. Or rather, he will,” I said, motioning ahead at the gazebo where Shep stood.
“Maybe you are a little mysterious,” she said as we rolled up to the front of the gazebo. “Shep,” Hazel greeted him with a quick hug.
“Hey, guys,” Shep said after their hug. He stuck his hand out for me to shake. “Glad you could make it.”
“We just left the diner,” I explained, flicking my eyes to Hazel for a moment to see her smirking. “I can’t thank you enough for installing the door opener and booth. It was enjoyable to eat in my chair and get in and out of the diner without risking injury.”
“No thanks needed, my friend. We should have done it a long time ago. We didn’t realize how easy it was and how much adaptive equipment is available now.”
“Most people don’t,” I agreed, motioning at the gazebo. “As per the reason we’re here.”
He turned and stared at the building with a nod. “I’ve been pushing them to do something with the gazebo since you rolled into town. I’ve always felt it should be accessible, so let’s do the work to make it so.”
“Do you have the model?”
“Model?” Hazel asked as she glanced between us.
Shep held up his finger and jogged over to the gazebo. He lifted the model gazebo off the floor, and I rolled closer while Hazel followed to get a better look. “Shep, this is so detailed,” I said as I stared at the miniature gazebo.
“That’s easy to do with a laser printer these days.” He turned the model so we could see the back of it. “The specs said the ramp had to be thirty-six inches wide and no longer than thirty feet without a resting spot, correct?”
“Yes, but the grade matters, too. If it's too steep, I can’t get my manual chair up without help. The model is awesome, but it’s not what we discussed.”
“You’re correct,” he said, stepping back to take in the gazebo. “I tried to fit all the guidelines in and get it on the gazebo's left side as we discussed in the plan.”
“Away from the tree,” Hazel said, and he nodded.
“Doing it that way, the ramp would have to come too far out, and the council would say it was unsightly. To combat that, I talked to my guys, and we all agreed a path around the tree was easy to pour. They were happy to have one for access to the tree in the fall for preparing the lights and the back of the gazebo in the winter. With the path there, shoveled in the winter, I could bring the ramp out further away from the gazebo, make the first landing, then slope the second ramp to come right out into the gazebo.” He used his finger to go up the ramp, as he explained. “Then we cut out that part of the railing,” he said, motioning at the back of the gazebo, “and connect the railing to the ramp. It will look like it was always there.”
I blew out a breath and nodded. “It’s beautiful, Shep. I love how you made the railings match. That should hopefully appease those complaining about the aesthetics.”
“And the best part is, we can use composite wood to build the ramp, so it will last forever,” Shep explained.
“That’s less maintenance and repairs over the long run, even if it is a bit more expensive on the front end,” Hazel said in agreement.
