Restoring Equilibrium

A brass rolling ladder affixed to the bookshelf stood frozen mid-track, its lower grooved wheel jammed against an errant wooden pencil. Such structural paralysis in my sanctum could not stand. Scaling the fluted oak rung, I anchored my armored boots upon the lower tread and leaned out over the bronze runner. Gripping the graphite cylinder with both gauntlets, I applied measured, vertical leverage. The wood creaked, then snapped free from the cog with a sharp crack. With a firm shove of my gauntlet against the timber upright, the ladder glided across the polished track in immaculate silence. Mobility is restored.