The Green Sofa on the Stairs

Noa bought a green sofa from a man named Rafe. He said he could bring it to her flat. She lived on the fourth floor.

Rafe came on Saturday morning. He looked at the narrow stairs. Then he looked at the sofa.

"Which floor?" he asked.

"The fourth," Noa said.

"There is no lift?"

"No lift," she said. "Only stairs. And you."

"I am a man with a sofa," Rafe said. "I am not a man with magic."

Noa laughed. She took the front end. Rafe took the back end. The sofa was heavy and very wide.

"Go slowly," he said. "I cannot see my feet."

"I cannot see anything," Noa said. "The sofa is in my face."

They climbed to the first floor. Then the stairs turned left. The sofa did not turn.

"Push," Noa said.

"I push," Rafe said. "The sofa does not listen."

"Now pull," he said a moment later.

"I pull," Noa said. "The sofa hates me."

"It does not hate you. It hates the wall."

A door opened above them. A man named Bram looked down. He held a cup of coffee.

"Good morning," Bram said. "Do you need help?"

"No," said Rafe.

"Yes," said Noa.

Bram drank some coffee. "I think I will watch," he said. "It is a good show." Then he went back inside and shut his door.

Noa sat on the stair and looked at the sofa. She thought for a minute. Then she stood up.

"Let us stand it on its end," she said. "Like a tall door."

"That is clever," Rafe said.

They lifted the sofa together. It stood up with a loud bump. Now Noa and Rafe stood face to face. The sofa stood between them.

Rafe had kind brown eyes and dust in his hair. Noa looked at him for too long.

"Hello," he said.

"Hello," she said. "We are stuck."

"I know. I like it here."

"You like a dusty stair?"

"I like the company," Rafe said. "The sofa is a bit rude."

Noa laughed again. She pushed hard. The sofa slid around the corner. They went up the last two floors. They had only one small argument.

At the fourth floor, Noa opened her door wide. Rafe pushed the sofa forward. It went in an inch and stopped.

"The door is small," Rafe said.

"The door is normal," Noa said. "The sofa is huge."

They tried it on its side. They tried it on its back. They tried it with Rafe on one side. Then Noa tried the other side. Both of them said, "Gently, gently."

At last they sat on the sofa in the hall. It was a very good sofa. It was soft and cool. After the stairs, it felt wonderful.

"I want to say something," Rafe said.

"Please do."

"I forgot to measure your door."

"I forgot to measure my sofa," Noa said.

"You did not forget. You bought it from me."

"Then it is your fault."

"Yes," Rafe said. "It is." He looked at the sofa and then at the door. Then he looked at the window down the hall. "Do you have a rope?"

Noa stood up and looked at the window too. "Yes," she said. "In the kitchen."

Rafe took off his shoes and put his feet up. "I am not moving," he said. "I live here now."

"Then you pay rent," Noa said. She gave him the rope. "Start with the window."