4. The Phantom's Prank
Erik was bored. He paced back and forth in front of his organ, racking his brain for something to do. He sighed, the only things that came to mind were the old stand-bys, write music, tutor Christine, sulk and/or feel sorry for himself, and haunt the opera house. He didn't want to write music, he couldn't tutor Christine, and with the Vicomte dead he wasn't feeling very sorry for himself. That left haunting opera house…again. So he grabbed his cloak, slicked back his hair, straightened his mask, and bounded to the waters edge. But before he began the journey up from the depths of the opera, he dashed back and grabbed something off of his desk. It was a book, Haunting the Opera House for Dummies. When Erik had first found the book in the garbage dumpster outside the opera house he had felt quite a bit of resentment toward it, for he was anything but a dummy. But he had quickly grown to respect it; it had taught him a lot. Even though he had already known ventriloquism, how to make the lights go out on command, and how to throw his voice, it had a long list of magic tricks and pranks that he hadn't known. The book had taught him how to mix the solution that had made Carlotta croak. So now he started up toward the stage, where he knew that rehearsals for the new opera should be starting.
Once he was up on the catwalk, Erik glowered down at the stage. They were, in fact, not rehearsing, but quarreling. Firmin, Andre, Madame Giry, Reyer, Piangi, and a few other fairly important people were standing in a group in the middle of the stage, arguing in voices so loud that they easily carried up to where Erik was standing. He sighed, apparently they hadn't the faintest idea of what opera to put on. "What about Romeo and Juliet?" Firmin suggested.
Everyone groaned. "No, that's boring. Well, you know not boring, but the story's over used. What about something lavish and romantic, like Faust?" Offered Madame Giry.
Andre said, "No, Faust is quite complicated, and we don't have much time to rehearse. I want the opera ready to perform by the time we have a new patron. A good one to put on might be Tosca, that's new and foreign, impressive and easy to put on!" Every one murmured their approval; they all seemed to think that it was quite a good idea.
The small crowed broke up, and Reyer could be heard saying, "I'll start working with the orchestra, if you could get the score."
And Madame Giry told the managers, "I shall begin practicing with the girls at once, there's a ballet in act 2 that will take a bit of work", before she dashed off.
Andre and Firmin stood together, looking pleased that they had finally made a decision. Then Andre suddenly said "Dance Dance Revolution!" Firmin stared at Andre as if he were an ostrich wearing an evening gown. Seeing the look on his fellow manager's face, Andre quickly asked "Did I just say something stupid?"
Firmin just sighed and told him, "Yeah, but hey, it's supposed to go away eventually! I wonder how long that will take…" Both men shrugged and walked over to a stage hand, instructing him on the props needed for Tosca.
From above the stage, Erik scowled at the people working down below. As he watched them scramble around he was thinking to himself, if they had just preformed my opera they would be halfway through rehearsals right now! But no, they had to turn me away once again and now they're way behind! Tosca might be easy, but they've already wasted so much time quarreling! Then he remembered what he was up here for, to haunt the opera house! Erik took out his book and flipped through it, muttering out loud to himself. "Hmm…no…no…oh! Wait, no…to violent. I feel like something humorous…I haven't had a good laugh in a long time! Well, actually I barley laugh at all…Ah ha! This one's great! But how would I pull that off…oh, I see! This should be a good one!"
So after studying the trick Erik threw the book aside, and prepared himself for the prank, it would take some concentration. With great pleasure he finally whispered "Alright gentlemen, I don't think those pants match your jacket!" and the opera house was plunged into compete and utter darkness. Several screams and quite a few crashes erupted around the stage. It was so dark you couldn't make out what color shirt you were wearing, or even see your arms at all. The Phantom of the Opera cackled softly to himself, listening to the turmoil happily from his perch. Then suddenly the lights came back on and every thing was back to normal, except for the fact that everyone's pants had fallen down around their ankles.(well, everyone except the magician him self's) It didn't matter who you were, you could see everyone in the opera house's underwear and they could see yours. That, of course, caused a fresh round of screams and lots of cherry red faces. In the rafters, Erik was laughing so hard that he was bent over double, clutching his side. He finally had to sit down to keep from falling among the chaos, and was fighting extremely hard to keep his hysterical laughter from traveling down to the people below him.
Firmin and Andre were in the middle of all the mess, and Firmin was hastily trying to get his trousers back on, wanting to keep the color of his boxers a secret. Andre, though, looked fairly at ease with the whole situation, and had made no move to pull up his pants. He gleefully exclaimed to Firmin, "Look! No pants! What fun!"
"ANDRE!" Firmin exclaimed.
The other manager shook himself, "Oh my! I just said something random again! Gah, this is embarrassing! Hey, my pants!" And he immediately pulled on the trousers lying at his feet.
Soon the excitement began to die down, although almost everyone was still blushing profusely. Up among the catwalks, Erik was still laughing to himself. The prank couldn't have gone better, and Andre! That was hilarious! Erik was sure he had never laughed so hard in his life, and made a huge mental note to remember this trick for whenever he was feeling down. (Next week, he guessed) So he happily began the long walk back to his lair, and uncharacteristically, he was laughing all the way.