The Sofa on the Stairs

On the first of March, Odette finally got the keys to her first flat, on the fourth floor of a very old building with no lift. Her brother had brought her things in a van and then gone to look for a parking space, but she didn't want to wait. She grabbed her single mattress, bent it in the middle and began pushing it up the stairs, one step at a time.

The staircase was so narrow that two people could hardly pass each other, and it turned sharply at every floor. Between the second and third floors, Odette heard a loud bump above her, and then a man's voice saying something very rude to a piece of furniture. She looked up. A green sofa was coming down the stairs, and behind it, holding it by one arm, was a tall man with paint on his jeans.

"Ah," he said. "Hello." "Hello," said Odette, from behind her mattress. They both looked at the stairs. There was no way around. "If you back up to the landing, I can squeeze past," he suggested. "If I back up, this mattress is going to fall all the way down," she said. "You back up." "I can't. This sofa has been stuck on this turn for twenty minutes. My friend promised to help me, but he let me down this morning."

Odette studied the sofa. "Tip it up on its end," she said, "and turn it towards the window." He tipped it up. It got stuck on the light. He turned it the other way. It got stuck on the handrail. For ten minutes they pushed, pulled and gave each other instructions. In the end, the sofa slid down onto the steps between them with a heavy thump and refused to move at all. Odette laughed so hard that she had to sit down, right on the sofa. After a moment, he sat down next to her. Up close, he smelled of fresh paint and coffee.

"I'm Ruairi, by the way," he said. "I'm moving out today. I've just painted the whole flat so I can get my deposit back." "I'm Odette. I'm moving in." "Which floor?" "The fourth. Flat 4B." Ruairi stared at her. 4B was the flat he had just finished painting. He turned slowly and looked up the stairs, then down at the green sofa, then at her. "In that case," he said, "do you need a sofa?"