The Imperfect Couple

“Oh my God, oh my God” she screamed.

I ran from the kitchen into the hall thinking she must have had an accident or something. Instead I found her with an open envelope in one hand and what looked like an invitation card in the other.

“What on earth’s going on”, I asked.

“We’ve only reached the final” she shrieked.

I was used to Lauren talking in riddles but did get frustrated at times when she assumed I knew what she was on about.

“Got to the final of what”?

“Ah, I hadn’t mentioned it because I thought nothing would come of it.  I entered us in “the perfect couple competition” several months ago.  I’ve been filling in forms, sending photos and even footage from our holiday last year”.

“And this”, she said waving the card around, “is our invitation to Brayford Manor for the finals.  It’s an overnight stay, all expenses paid for us and three other couples.

“Unbelievable”, I thought, most of the time I need a crystal ball to unravel what she is talking about and now she’s entered us in this competition without telling me anything about it.  If the judges are looking for compatibility, they were going to be sadly disappointed.

“When is it”, I asked.

“Friday week, so we have plenty of time to brush up on what answers we should give.  I assume they’ll be asking us things like, what our favourite foods are, favourite holiday destinations, you know the sort of thing”.

“Well that should be a real walk in the park, its in the bag if that’s all they want to know”.

She totally missed the sarcasm in my voice.

Last week her favourite food was Italian, the week before it was Indian.  Then there were the diet fads, first it was the low carb diet followed by the Atkins diet, at the moment the 5:2 diet is favourite.  What chance do I have of answering anything correctly.

There was an upside though, a free night of luxury at Brayford Manor sounds good.  This is a place which is well out of our price range so it will be nice, to, instead of seeing how the other half live, to be the “other half” if only for one night.

The day finally arrived, Lauren had been on a high ever since the invitation arrived and I must admit to feeling excited about the trip.

We arrived at the Manor about 6.00pm and were escorted to our room.  After the long drive, the first thing we did was to take advantage of the luxury en suite bathroom where it seemed every type of toiletry was available.  Lauren turned into an eight year old.

“Look at this, look at these” she was picking up soap, shower cream, talc , eau de toilette, these were in sets of lavender, rose and magnolia, each of course being her favourite.  She decided on the Lavender fragrance.

I chose Aramis.

When we were ready, we were lead into a small reception hall where champagne had been laid on and we were introduced to the other three couples, all of us feeling very nervous.

Not sure about the others, but the champagne certainly gave me courage and my nerves seemed to disappear.

The judges were to speak to each couple as a couple and then individually after which we were to be served dinner.

The judges would give their decision about 10.00pm.

There were four prizes up for grabs, the first being a whopping £10,000, the second £5,000 and the third £2,500.  As a consolation prize the fourth couple would receive a weekend break at Brayford Manor.

We were the third couple to go in front of the judges. 

The first question, “if you won first prize what would you spend the money on”?

“A new car”.

“Put it towards the wedding”.

We both answered simultaneously.  You can probably guess which one of us gave which answer.

I looked at Lauren, “what wedding”, I whispered, I just couldn’t help myself.  I thought as the perfect couple, we didn’t need a wedding.

It all went downhill after that, each of the answers we gave couldn’t have been more diverse.

I was asked to leave the room whilst Lauren remained, I couldn’t bear to think of what replies she would come up with and just hoped the judges would be able to understand her.

My turn came and all I could do was answer truthfully, being absolutely certain that our interview as a couple had scuppered any chance of us winning or even coming third.  Any way the fourth prize of a weekend at Brayford Manor wasn’t to be sneezed at, that would do me.

The dinner provided was nothing short of a banquet, both Lauren and I tucked in, the other three couples pushed each course around on their plates, hardly eating anything.

After the meal there was about thirty minutes to spare before we all faced the judges again.

Although it was a bit chilly, Lauren and I decided to have a wander outside and found ourselves in a beautiful courtyard, although it was 2013, it could have been three hundred years earlier. The setting was perfect, the Manor had been built in the 18^th century and it was clear that the courtyard today remained exactly as it was all those years ago. The whole area was illuminated by a bright white moon shining from a clear night sky.

All too soon, we were called back by the judges.  In good competition tradition, the prizes were awarded in reverse order.

We waited expectantly to hear our names but they weren’t our names called our, nor were the next.

Finally, “it gives me great pleasure to present the first prize of £10,000 to Lauren and Paul” the senior judge said.

We stood rooted to the spot, the scream came suddenly at the same time as Lauren launched herself into my arms, how I managed to remain standing upright I’ve no idea.

The judge continued, “each couple presented great merit in their relationships but to be a Perfect Couple there has to be complete honesty and this sometimes means when honesty by one is not always popular with the other.  Lauren and Paul gave honest answers even when a number of these were at total odds to each other.  The body language exhibited by each of them clearly showed their love”.

“The Perfect Couple doesn’t mean they always have to agree with each other but living in harmony whilst not having the same views gains special merit and makes for a strong relationship”.

The remainder of the evening past in a dream but I was wide awake when I asked Lauren to marry me.  Her reply, “oh, I thought we might buy a new car”!

By Christine Williamson.

Prompt words: Champagne  Courtyard  Envelope  Moon  Soap