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The Ramp

© Wendy Smith

Chelsea, never one to be left out, followed us into the living room and stared in amazement with the fold out couch. She loves to sleep on beds. Unfortunately, the beds in my house are so high that she can’t get on them by herself anymore. For her own protection, she’s barred from sleeping on the beds at my house except on special occasions.

But here in this new house there was a bed so low to the ground that even the stiffest old Rottie would have no trouble climbing onto. Within seconds, she was on the bed between my uncle and cousin, watching the movie with them. She seemed to enjoy the movie, but her favorite part was the very end of the tape, when the screen was nothing but static. She did some major head cocking at the sounds coming from the television.

Finally, we were ready to head home. I went outside and fumbled around with that blasted ramp again, determined to get the hang of the thing. This time, I set it up against the front passenger seat instead of the cargo area. To my surprise, Chelsea didn’t panic. She just gave the ramp a disdainful look then marched up into the Jeep. Once again, though, she refused to climb into the backseat, where her seatbelt was. Instead she propped herself regally up in the front passenger seat and refused to budge.

I was too tired to argue, so I climbed in and drove home very slowly. Luckily we don’t live far away.

At home, I managed to get the ramp ready in record time and propped it against the seat. Without a balk or even the slightest look back, Chelsea trotted down the ramp as if she’d done it all of her life. Her limp was nearly gone as she trotted up the steps to the front door.

Once the door was open, she greeted Dingo by promptly slapping him in the head with her paw (the one that she had been limping on, I might add). She then grabbed a stuffed toy and went running down the hall with Dingo in hot pursuit.

The queen was indeed home again.

I looked down at the heavy, awkward ramp and smiled. OK, maybe I couldn’t give credit for Chelsea’s recovery to a piece of plastic. But perhaps, despite it all, the ramp had in a way opened the door for a night of the kind of freedom she hadn’t had in a long time.