Hi everybody,
this chapter contains a scene I have been looking forward to writing for quite some time, I hope you will enjoy it.
Since some of you have expressed concern that Raoul might show up, I have a feeling he will do so at one point, but not just now. Right now he has no reason to suspect that Christine might be anywhere other than in Sweden, and as to Erik, he believes him to be dead (or hopes at least that he is dead).
Once again, thank you to all my readers, thank you for reviewing, for adding to favorites or putting this story on alert. And keep in mind that only some of the supporting characters like aunt Ingrid or Anna Lena are mine, but that I sadly do not own the protagonists of the story.
Chapter 16 – Disaster?
When Christine arrived for her lesson that night, she beamed.
"Min mamma likes you," she told Erik. "She approves of our lessons!"
Erik nodded. "I did get that impression," he agreed, wondering how much Mrs. Johannsen might have told her niece about their conversation the previous day.
"Erik, don't be so calm about it," Christine admonished him. "Isn't this marvelous? It means I can stay here and we can work together, you can continue to teach me and..."
She interrupted herself, when she felt her cheeks growing hot with a sudden blush. What was she thinking? She almost behaved as if... she did not want to finish that thought.
Her embarrassment did not go unnoticed by Erik and he began to wonder if aunt Ingrid had maybe been right about Christine still having feelings for him. For what other explanation could there be for her excitement – and for her blush when she realized what she was about to betray?
"It makes you happy that your aunt approves of me teaching you," he therefore stated calmly, trying to make her reveal a bit more about her feelings.
"Of course!" Christine immediately confessed. "After all, you and I, we are friends again, sort of, that is, right? And min mamma has no objections, even though she knows all about two years ago." She looked up at Erik, before she hesitantly added, "and more."
Now it was Erik's turn to get nervous. "What did she tell you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Nothing specific," Christine reassured him, "just that there is more, that you will one day tell me everything, just not right away, since last night was emotionally draining for you..." She shrugged. "She seemed concerned that I might be … I don't know... appalled or maybe even shocked by it, but I am certain that whatever it is, if aunt Ingrid could deal with it, then I will be able to do the same."
Erik fidgeted. He began to feel ill at ease with this conversation. Last night's confession had been exhausting enough, he did not want to relive those memories again any time soon and he most definitely was not ready yet to tell Christine everything.
Fortunately Christine noticed his discomfort and therefore changed the topic.
"By the way, mamma told me that you are good friends with Mme. Giry," she remembered. "And she was wondering if you have a way to contact her?"
"Antoinette?" Erik asked, then sadly shook his head. "No, of course not. I cannot write to her openly, since she was suspected of being my accomplice and therefore might be under surveillance. I think Nadir managed to let her know that I was safe and that he would get me away from Paris, right after … that night. That's all."
He eyed her curiously. "Why do you ask?" Then it dawned on him. "Meg," he whispered. "are you in contact with her? Does she know?"
Christine shook her head. "No, Meg does not know where I am and that I am working for you," she explained. "She does know, however, that I am not in Sweden any longer, even though she still gets my letters from there and sends her replies to mamma Ingrid's address."
She smiled. "Mamma forwards our letters back and forth. It takes a bit longer, but it helps to keep up my cover here – and Meg cannot inadvertently betray my – our – whereabouts."
She pointedly looked at Erik. "If you want to write to Madame, mamma is willing to do it for you as well – she just thinks it might be for the best if I wrote Madame's address on the envelope in my handwriting and put my name as the sender. So that it would look like I am corresponding with her as well as with Meg."
They had so much to discuss, planning what Erik would or would not be able to reveal to Madame Giry in his future letters that they did not get to music at all.
When it was getting late, Erik reminded Christine that they would have a lot to do during their lessons the next two days.
"We will have to go through your entire part once again before the big dress rehearsal on Friday," he said. "I want you to be absolutely wonderful by then. Saturday I will have to perfect the production, to remedy any problems we might encounter during that final rehearsal and on Sunday we will have our big opening night!"
Xxxx
Thursday morning started with a shock. When Erik and Nadir arrived at the theater at their usual early hour they could barely enter, for a huge crowd of bystanders had formed in front of it.
"Find out what is going on there and try to get everybody out of the way that does not belong here," Erik ordered Nadir, then quickly made his way to his office where he could hide himself away. Huge crowds still made him uncomfortable, since they made it impossible for him to notice every single threat that such a multitude of people could possibly present to him.
About half an hour later, Nadir joined Erik in his office.
"This is a disaster," Nadir began his report, "it is Carlo..."
"Carlo? Our tenor?" Erik asked, already fearing that whatever had happened, whatever had caused all those people to crowd the theater entrance could – or rather: would – impact their plans for the opening night. "What is the matter with him?"
"Apparently he felt somewhat insecure about his aria, he thought that his singing was not quite at the same level as that of our two ladies, but he did not want anybody to know about his self-doubts," Nadir explained. "So he decided to come to the theater extremely early in the morning, before anybody else would be here and to go over the aria once again in one of the rehearsal rooms."
"So he has noticed that his female partners are both outstanding," Erik commented dryly.
"Yes, yes," Nadir agreed, "and he wanted to be just as good as they are. Of course he did not consider the fact that our cleaning team comes in before everybody else, and in his haste to reach the rehearsal room, he slipped on the wet stairs and fell..."
"Did the fool manage to injure himself three days before opening night?" Erik seethed. "Could he not pay more attention to his surroundings?"
Nadir nodded. "He broke his leg. One of the cleaning ladies heard him scream when he fell. She tried to help him up, and when it became clear that there was more wrong with his leg than the bleeding wound where his shin had collided with the banister, she alerted the doctor. The latter immediately realized that Carlo's leg was broken and that he needed to be taken to the hospital. The doctor ordered a stretcher to be brought here, so that Carlo can be safely transported. Right now he is patching up Carlo's wound and preparing him for transport. The crowd is already beginning to dissipate, now that nothing interesting is going to happen anymore."
Erik shook his head. "How long will he be out?" he asked. "I take it he won't be able to sing on opening night."
"No, of course not," Nadir agreed. "I managed to exchange a few words with the doctor. While he is confident, that Carlo will make a full recovery, he warned me that it will be weeks before he will be able to return to work."
Erik shuddered. This accident had the potential to jeopardize the whole production for which he had worked so long and hard.
"The understudy!" he barked. "What's his name? Giulio or something. Find him and bring him here immediately. I would have wanted to wait a bit longer before introducing any one of the understudies to the production, but we have no choice. Even though he has not had one single rehearsal on stage yet, he will have to sing on Sunday!"
Relieved that Erik had thought of a solution to their current problem, Nadir left the office in search of Carlo's understudy.
Xxxx
About an hour later, a somewhat disheveled Nadir nervously entered Erik's office.
"What took you so long?" Erik snapped at him. "And where is that blasted understudy?"
"He is waiting outside," Nadir stammered, "with Cantucci. I just wanted to make sure you..." he pointedly looked at the right side of Erik's face, sighing with relief when he noticed that the latter had already donned his lifelike mask again, since he was expecting the understudy.
"Bring them in immediately," Erik growled. "We don't have all day. He has to learn the blocking and have the costume adjusted to fit him before tomorrow's dress rehearsal!"
Nadir nodded, then went to the door and announced to whoever was waiting outside, "Signor Planchet is ready to see you now, gentlemen."
Cantucci, the pianist who had been working with the understudies, and a young man, presumably Carlo's understudy, entered. Nadir, who already knew what the two gentlemen were going to tell Erik, thought that his presence might be necessary to calm his friend and remained in the room as well.
Erik immediately noticed, that his two visitors were extremely nervous.
"Spill it out," he ordered. "There is obviously yet another problem, am I correct?"
"This is my fault," Cantucci tried to explain. "I probably should have informed both, you and signor Khan, a while ago, but I did not think it was important, I mean who could have foreseen what has happened this morning..."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Erik barked at him. "What should you have told us?"
"I cannot sing," the understudy whispered. "That is, not anytime soon. I am too stupid."
"No, you are not," Cantucci tried to reassure the nervous young man, while at the same time explaining the situation to Erik. "You are just a slow learner. You have a lovely voice, and once you will have mastered the whole part, your performance will be a great success.
"Are you gentlemen trying to tell me that you" - Erik looked at the understudy - "you have not learned the whole part yet?"
Cantucci nodded. "We are right now working on the finale of act I, Pollione does not have overly much to do in act II, but it is important. There is simply no way Giulio can learn that much in a few days."
"How long?" Erik's patience was about to wear really thin. "How long will it take for him to learn the rest, plus all the blocking?"
Cantucci looked down. "Three weeks – minimum, maybe four." He sighed. "If at least I had informed you that things are going slower than expected, you would have been prepared, you might have even tried to find a second understudy for the role. This really is all my fault..."
He suddenly realized the full impact of the fact that there was no tenor available to perform. "Oh my God, Sir, what are we going to do now?" he asked.
Erik sighed. "I will have to think. Most likely we will have to postpone opening night. Or maybe we can put up a concert of sorts instead. I will have to check with all my performers, who could do what. As for you two," he glared at Cantucci and the poor understudy, "you find yourself an empty rehearsal room and begin to study whatever it is that Giulio still needs to learn. At once! And, for the time being, no word to anybody. I don't want talk about what will or will not happen on opening night, before we have decided exactly how we will proceed. Once we have reached a decision, we will make an announcement for the whole staff."
Once the two had left the office, Erik put his head into his hands and sighed. "I am cursed," he groaned. "For once I try to work a decent job, and it ends in failure."
"Just because we will have to wait a bit longer with our opening does not mean it will be a failure," Nadir tried to comfort him. "And maybe we can put up a concert instead, I am sure Christine will be able to perform a few arias, haven't you worked on a few things with her? And maybe some of the others could contribute as well?"
Xxxx
Word of Carlo's injury had spread among the cast and crew like wildfire. Christine and Anna Lena heard about it during their final costume fitting. They both were shocked and concerned about Carlo's well-being. They liked the friendly tenor a lot.
"But what about opening night?" Anna Lena suddenly asked. "Do you think Giulio will sing now?"
Christine shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "I guess so."
She had a foreboding of doom, though, for she clearly remembered that Marietta, her own understudy, had recently told her how grateful she was to Carlo for rehearsing the final scene with her, since Giulio had not learned that scene yet.
Fortunately the costume-fitting did not require much of her attention, for now that she had begun to fear that opening night might not happen anytime soon, she was not able to concentrate. Her mind wandered, imagining all sorts of scenarios, from a cancellation to a truncated performance, to Giulio trying to sing the part but failing miserably towards the end, thus causing a scandal.
Fortunately costume-fitting was all she had on her schedule that morning and her aunt had therefore promised to come and see her earlier than usually.
"Oh mamma," Christine sighed, when aunt Ingrid arrived, "come to my room, we must talk."
Once the two of them were alone, Christine blurted out her fears.
"Carlo broke his leg," she announced.
Aunt Ingrid nodded. Word of the accident had spread throughout the town already.
"And I am fairly certain that Giulio, that is Carlo's understudy, is not ready," Christine continued, relaying to her aunt what Marietta had told her a few days earlier.
"If we cannot go ahead with the opening, that will be a huge drawback," she explained to her aunt. "For all of us, but mostly..."
"For Erik," aunt Ingrid agreed. "Yes, I think that would be a problem for everybody involved."
She thought for a few minutes. "Has there been any official information yet how this accident will impact the theater?" she asked. "Maybe there is somebody else who could sing the part if this Giulio is not ready yet?"
Christine shook her head. "None that I know of," she mumbled, "that is..."
"What?" aunt Ingrid asked. "What were you going to say?"
"Erik," Christine whispered. "I am sure he knows the part well enough and as to the blocking – he designed it all, but you know why he cannot … he can't wear his lifelike mask that long."
"I see,..." aunt Ingrid agreed, then inspiration struck. "Do you know where we can find Erik right now?" she asked. "If he truly knows the part well enough we might still be able to save opening night!"
"He is probably in his office, planning what we can do now," Christine explained.
"Then show me to his office, I need to talk to him at once," her aunt commanded.
Xxxx
Erik was fighting an onslaught of depression. He was assaulted by the feeling that he was doomed, that it was his destiny to fail at whatever he tried, that his mere presence would taint and ruin everything.
Nadir was getting concerned. His friend had not been that miserable in a very long time, and right now it was of the utmost importance that Erik concentrate on the problem at hand, in order to minimize the damage that Carlo's accident was going to cause for the theater.
"Erik, stop it," he tried to admonish his friend. "The theater needs you now, we must reach a decision. Of course we will have to delay the opening, but for how long? Can we maybe borrow a singer from another city so that we can at least perform next week? Can we put on something instead of opening night on Sunday, a concert of sorts, or maybe just a few scenes from the opera, like the overture, Norma's big aria, the duet of the two ladies, or something! These are the questions you must concentrate on now, if you handle them well, we may still end up being successful!"
He paused as there was a knock at the door.
"Erik, let us in," they heard Christine whisper from outside, "it is me and min mamma, we want to talk to you!"
Nadir beamed. Christine! Why had he not thought of her earlier! If anybody could talk sense into Erik, surely it would be her?
He quickly let the two women in.
Once they realized the state Erik was in, both Christine and Ingrid knew that Christine's suspicion had been right. There was no tenor for opening night.
"Erik, listen to me," aunt Ingrid began. "Christine has had an inkling that Carlo's accident could mean cancellation of the premiere, since his understudy is not ready yet. But..."
She paused for effect, facing Erik directly, then added. "Erik, is Christine right, when she thinks you know the part well enough that you could step in?"
Erik stared at her as if she had just said the most stupid thing in the world. "Of course I could sing it," he said, sounding slightly irritated, "but I am sure I do not have to explain to you, why I cannot do it!" He pointed at his face.
"But maybe you can," aunt Ingrid continued. "Correct me if I am wrong, but from what Christine has told me this Pollione character is a Roman soldier?"
"He is the leader of the Roman occupation forces," Erik confirmed, "what does that have to do with our current situation?"
"So he should wear a Roman helmet?" aunt Ingrid continued her interrogation.
"Of course," Erik mumbled, "but I still don't understand..."
Aunt Ingrid smiled. "Put on the normal leather mask you are wearing right now, make it very obvious that there is leather on your cheek, put a similar patch of leather on your other cheek, it may or may not look symmetrical, then put on the helmet and sing the part. And if anybody asks you about the leather, just blame it on the helmet. Say that the thing is chafing and that therefore you had to put in a protective layer, or say that the thing is too big and would fall off your head without the additional padding or something..."
Erik's eyes widened. He turned to Nadir, who had not been able to follow their conversation, since they had used the Swedish language. He quickly spoke to his friend in what Christine could only guess was Nadir's native tongue, apparently explaining to him what aunt Ingrid had just suggested.
When Erik ended, Nadir broke into a wide grin and he said something to Erik, which the latter translated for aunt Ingrid.
"He says you are a genius, Madame," Erik said.
She smiled. "And here I thought you were supposed to be the genius here, son!" she said.
Christine looked from her aunt to Erik and back at her aunt. Had she heard correctly? Had aunt Ingrid just called Erik "son"?
She did not have time to think about this too long, though, for Nadir now announced in Italian, so that she could understand him: "I will immediately fetch the helmet and the complete costume, we will have to adjust that too, and I will send Darius for the leather, then we can experiment. But I am fairly certain that we will soon be able to announce that tomorrow's dress rehearsal as well as the opening night will go ahead as planned, and that the part of Pollione will be performed by signor Planchet himself!"