Perfect, perfect, perfect! ... by Rose

Mr Strict liked everything perfect.

Plants that sprouted upwards, houses on the right angle, and a wife who would clean, dress properly and go out to high tea with him.

But the problem was, he could never find the right wife or the lady wouldn’t fancy him because of his bossiness and uptightness.

One day, a woman called Mrs Proudlove was carrying a basket full of daisies and cornelia flowers to catch Mr Strict’s attention, not  knowing he was a man of quality and disliked adventure.

She stepped onto the front porch and went to ring the doorbell to discover there was no doorbell! So she knocked instead.

“Who is it?” Bellowed Mr Strict. “Mrs Proudlove” Mrs Proudlove answered. “Who?” Mr Strict asked, “Mrs Proudlove, you know the teacher at the local kindergarten.”  “Oh” he said “come in then.”

So she stepped inside and sat on the neat little couch.

“Sit up straight” shouted Mr Strict. “Okay then” said a scared Mrs Proudlove. “So what brings you here?” he asked. “The poster” said Mrs Proudlove in her most sweet voice. “What poster?” asked Mr Strict. “The poster that said ‘Wanted - a proper wife’, I’m sure I got the address right” she said. “Oh you did” said Mr Strict. “So am I suitable then? I brought some daises and cornelias from my garden” she asked. “Oh you have to complete the test first” he said. “What sort of test?” asked Mrs Proudlove. “A cleaning test” said Mr Strict. “What? You think I’m just going to clean all day and be your slave?” she asked angrily. “Yep, and do what ever I tell you to do” said Mr Strict with a smirk on his face. “No, you’re such a selfish bossy and uptight man” she said. “You don’t care about anyone, you just care about neatness!”

So Mrs Proudlove walked out of the room back to the kindergarten, took some seeds and some bees in a jar and returned to Mr Strict’s house.

She carefully undid the lid and let the bees fly onto Mr Strict’s garden, and planted seeds that would grow into wonky plants. “There, that will show him” she said, and walked away.

The next day, Mr Strict went to check on his garden and discovered that there were bees and sprouts growing near the rose bush. “Oh my goodness!” shouted Mr Strict “it must have been Mrs Proudlove!”

He walked back into his house and the strong perfume of the flowers Mrs Proudlove brought filled the room. At first he didn’t like it, but as time went on he started to love the smell. As days passed he also noticed more sprouts and bees that started to make his garden look like Monet’s Garden. It was not neat and perfect but he liked it just the same.

Eventually, he was brave enough to go to Mrs Proudlove’s house with flowers from his imperfect garden. He got down on his wonky knee and said “Mrs Proudlove will you marry me?”