The ramp
Marx, Paul
ca 1'141 Paul Marx ~ t's not easy to carry on a conversation with Jerry. Finding the right word is not his thing; finding the right wood or the right tool is. He'd much rather get on with...
...Whenever something needs fixing, he picks through all the possible ways, from materials to tools to time to methods of concealment...
...When my father first arrived, he had no problem getting around with his walker...
...I gave him my weekday at-home schedule and told him to come out at any of the times when I would be home...
...But I most definitely do not like the idea of going through the rest of my life alone, without loving and being loved...
...His work is terrific...
...He had promised to take his wife to Boston to visit their daughter...
...I called Jerry about constructing a ramp outside the back door...
...Commonweal ~ 8 November 6, 1998...
...The following Saturday he set to work at nine, and by three we had a first-class ramp...
...I've come close to deciding to have the ramp taken down...
...I see ramps that are too long or too short...
...I've been a single man ever since my partner decamped for New Mexico, freeing herself of the burden of having to share her home with an aged parent in need of help...
...Lately, I've been telling myself that the ramp is Dad's memorial...
...She loves to do that," he said...
...Usually, Jerry is pretty quick to quote a price...
...Getting access to the pipes through bathroom walls and kitchen ceiling was a big problem, but Jerry figured out how to do it and exposed the pipes for the plumber with minimal damage...
...Jerry finished up during the week before the Boston trip...
...I see ramps made of nothing more than sheets of plywood...
...He has had to turn down kitchen jobs, because "once you start you can't stop in the middle...
...She was a smoker...
...And often, especially in foul weather, I have vivid images of him, hanging on, angry, or laughing, as I struggle to push him up the ramp or to hold him back going down...
...Jerry has been doing jobs around my old house for a half-dozen years...
...Jerry became as talkative as he has ever been with me...
...You never know...
...Most recently, he got me through the problem of the slow-draining bathtub...
...But in his ninetieth year, after numerous falls, we decided to put the walker away and use a wheelchair...
...When, at age eighty-six, my father moved from Los Angeles to my home in New Haven, Jerry built the wall of doors that allowed us to turn the dining room into a bedroom...
...You know, you really shouldn't take it down," he said...
...Jerry's, made of one-by-six planks with half-inch spaces for drainage between them, would be a sure winner in any competition...
...It'll probably be the last time, though...
...But it was apparent that this was one job he didn't want...
...He can't work as much as he would like...
...My father died two years ago, and the ramp is still up...
...His wife needs him more and more, and he just doesn't know when he'll have to give up a day's work and stay home...
...He stepped outside to have a look...
...I see ramps without the cleats that would prevent the pusher from slipping and sliding...
...Usually he settles on just the right combination...
...So I've found myself wondering about the effect of the ramp on a female guest: "What on earth does he need a wheelchair ramp for...
...Paul Marx teaches in the department of English at the University of New Haven...
...I've been looking at other ramps ever since and have yet to see its equal...
...He'd much rather get on with the job than stand around picking through words...
...Galvanized pipe," Jerry said, "probably only a finger open for the water to get through...
...She's got lung cancer, and it's getting worse...
...If I was you, I'd leave it alone...
...You might need it...
...We aren't getting any younger, you and me...
...Almost all the work Jerry has done for me has been on Saturdays...
...I go up and down it several times a day...
...After the plumber did his work, Jerry was apologetic about not being able to come out on the next Saturday to start the patching up...
...I told Jerry that the work for me didn't necessarily have to be done on Saturday...
...As he was getting his stuff together, I asked him how much he would want to take down the wheelchair ramp...
...Is he anticipating his decline, expecting to become a cripple...
Vol. 125 • November 1998 • No. 19
