The sofa that stayed outside

Text C: an original fiction extract.

Rafi bought the sofa before he bought a kettle. It was blue, long enough to lie on and reduced because one cushion cover had faded in the showroom window. He sent his friend a photograph with the message that the flat was beginning to look like his own. In the photograph, the sofa stood on a wide white floor with nothing beside it except a small card. The card did not show a hallway.

On Saturday, the delivery team brought it to the building. Rafi had measured the front door twice and had the figures waiting on his phone. The sofa passed through easily. At the turn beside the stairs, its wrapped corner met the opposite wall. The driver tried another position, stepped back and looked along the route. There was no way to make the turn without damaging something. He asked whether there was another suitable entrance. Rafi showed him a narrow rear door which opened into the same corridor.

His cousin Leila arrived carrying the kettle she had promised to bring. She found Rafi explaining that the sofa had fitted the measurement. The driver agreed that it fitted the doorway. Rafi heard the distinction as criticism, though the man's voice remained practical. Leila asked him to show the full delivery route, including the flat's own entrance upstairs. He had measured that door too. He had not measured the space in which a long object would have to change direction.

A neighbour came down to collect a parcel. She offered two folding chairs until he found something suitable. Rafi thanked her too quickly and returned to the sofa. The driver explained the available return arrangement. The shop would take it back, but the delivery charge would not be refunded. Rafi began calculating how many evenings that charge represented at his weekend job. Beyond the open entrance, a small rain mark appeared on the pavement.

Leila suggested calling the shop before the team left. Rafi wanted more time to think of an entrance everyone else had missed. He looked towards an upstairs window, then at the team waiting beside the wrapped furniture. The driver said they could not attempt an improvised lift. Rafi made the call. While he listened, Leila brought his notebook from the flat and wrote down the return reference. She did not offer to choose the replacement.

When the van went, the entrance seemed unusually wide. Rafi carried the kettle upstairs. Leila asked where he wanted to plug it in. For the first time that morning, he gave an answer which depended on the room in front of him. They drank tea on the borrowed chairs. The blue sofa remained on his phone, still looking inevitable against its white floor.

That evening he drew the route from the street to the living room. He added the turn and the staircase landing, then marked a rectangle for the neighbour's chairs. The flat did not yet look like the photograph he had sent. It contained a working kettle, two places to sit and a mistake he would have to pay for. Rafi took another photograph, leaving the empty wall in it.

You are Rafi. That evening, write a letter to the friend who received your first sofa photograph.

In your response:

• describe why you chose the sofa and expected the delivery to succeed
• explain what happened and how you responded to the people helping you
• explain how you now view the flat and what you would do before choosing replacement furniture

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.