Sonya loved working at the opera house because even though she never had an audience, she could still sing there. She always got her work done and had time left over for her "performances." No one ever came to bother her and she felt quite comfortable singing to her imagined invisible audience, until today.
Sonya was frightened when she had heard someone clap at the end of her aria. She had turned on the lights, but there was no one to be seen. She walked up and down the aisles, looking for anyone who might be hiding. No one was there.
Sonya hoped there was no one in the opera house today. It made her feel uncomfortable. She decided to leave the lights on and stop singing. She had do get to work anyway. She started by mopping the stage.
The next morning the little tramp awoke on his roof when the sun got too hot and unbearable. He climbed down the tree and put his jacket back on. He started looking for breakfast again and he took off at a faster pace than usual, swinging his walking stick. He had a mission today and it excited him to have something to do.
After a few ill-gotten pieces of food had found their way to his stomach, he washed them down with water from the drinking fountain and a half bottle of warm beer that he found discarded on the street. On the side walk, he found a nice cigarette stub to smoke. He stood idly in a doorway smoking until the cigarette nearly burned his fingers. Then he tossed it away, kicking it backward with his left foot.
The opera house loomed ahead and he found the door open again. This time he didn't hear any music. He wondered if the singer had come today to practice on the stage. He carefully looked around him as he opened the inner doors. There was a woman on stage, but she was obviously the cleaning woman. She was mopping and had a pail behind her. She wore a dark long dress and had a kerchief around her head.
The tramp decided to explore. Even if he couldn't hear the singer again, this was a fascinating building and he still thought it would be a grand place to sleep. He went up to the gallery again. Shrouded in darkness himself, he could still see the cleaning woman on stage. He climbed more stairs, more galleries higher up. None of these would be good to sleep in - he might be discovered when a performance would start. He wanted to be awake for the opera if it included "his" singer.
The tramp went down the stairs again and found a passageway that led somewhere…where? He didn't know. He followed it and soon he was actually behind the stage. He went down more stairs and then he was under the stage. He could see light above him outlining some cracks in the dark ceiling. He didn't know that these were trapdoors and platforms which actors used to come up and down on the stage during performances. He heard the cleaning woman's mop right above him.
The tramp wandered behind the stage again. He looked up to the catwalk high above him. He could see the huge stage lights in a row, soaring above the stage. Only one was on now, to give the woman light enough to clean. He saw the various backdrops which could be lowered onto the stage to provide atmosphere for the stories. The little tramp was totally fascinated. He wondered if he could climb up to the catwalk without the woman seeing him. He decided against it, too risky. He would wait till "his" singer was on stage again, practising.
The tramp explored more and found there were a whole series of passageways leading various places in the opera house. He even found the costume room where the fancy opera clothes were kept. He went through rows and rows of wonderful male and female clothing, some of them bright and dazzling, some historical, some fanciful. He had entered a world of enchantment. Now he knew he had to see "his" singer in her performance. But how could he be sure when she would be singing? He didn't even know her name. And he couldn't make head nor tail out of the strange language printed on the posters.
The tramp climbed the steps to one of the upper boxes. When he arrived, he was chagrined to see the lights out and the stage empty. In the dark, he waited, but the lights stayed out. He fell asleep in the box seat out of boredom.
Sonya was feeling a bit disquieted today, working alone in the opera house. Ever since the ghostly clapping after her aria yesterday, she was spooked. Today, she thought she heard footsteps several times. She even thought she saw a figure in one of the galleries when she looked up. She didn't feel like singing today and she felt uneasy. She had seen the movie, "The Phantom of the Opera" when she was ten years old and suddenly she thought about a scary figure haunting this opera house. She put it out of her mind; she was being silly. That was just a story. Maybe the noises were only rats. Although that wasn't exactly a comforting thought either.
The little tramp woke up startled. There were house lights on and he heard someone coming up the steps to the box he was sleeping in. He jumped up and hid behind the velvet curtain. He peeked around the curtain to see a man and woman in evening clothes sit down in the box. He hadn't thought about the fact that when you come to the opera you have to be dressed right. He felt a bit shabby. He kept standing behind the curtain for what seemed an eternity.
Finally the lights went out. He knelt down and leaned against the carved wooden balcony of the box seat and kept the velvet curtain pulled around him. The opera started and the tramp waited for "his" singer to come on the stage. But she didn't show up. Although the sets and costumes were beautiful, the singing was incredible and the acting was great, the tramp couldn't understand a word and since "his" singer wasn't there, he sat down on the floor behind the curtain. He couldn't see that way, but his knees hurt from kneeling so long.
He sneaked out the back of the box and took a wrong turn, ending up in the basement. He was in the costume room again. No one was there. He had an idea. He looked down the rows of male costumes and found what he was looking for. There was a section of formal clothing, in various sizes. He found a black tailcoat and white waistcoat. Then he found a white shirt and a black bow tie. He fitted a wing collar onto the shirt and changed into the clothes. A black pair of trousers and shoes completed the ensemble. The clothes were a little big, but not bad. He found a top hat and a fancy black cane and ran back up the stairs, after throwing his own bundled up clothes to the back of a walk-in closet.
The tramp strode into the box, feeling elegant. He sat down behind and to the side of the couple. The woman looked at him askance, for coming in late. He carefully watched the stage and tried hard to understand the story. Becoming slightly bored, he put his legs up on the seat in front of him and fell asleep.
He was awakened rudely by an usher. "Mister, you'll have to leave now, they are locking the theatre. Come on, get up." The tramp tipped his hat politely and left the box. He went down to the costume room to get his clothes, first checking to make sure no one was there to see him. He must have slept quite a while, for all the performers had left. He changed and came back up to the main entrance. He tried the door, but it was locked. He checked all the other exits and they were all locked. Well, he would find out if it were a good place to sleep. He didn't have any other choice. He looked in the prop room and found a bed. Not the most comfortable, as it was made for the stage, not sleeping, but he curled up there anyway to wait for morning. In a few minutes he was asleep.