CHAPTER THREE



Rehearsals for "Spectacular Spectacular" began the following day.

Roxane dressed in her most respectable clothing, which were hard to find, now that she worked at the Moulin Rouge. But the financier, some Duke she'd only heard about, would be present for the announcement, so she knew she had to look decent.

She sat near the back, along with the other chorus girls. Satine, resplendent in a lovely white suit, sat in the front and occasionally made eyes at the Duke, whose reddish hair flopped in his face. Roxane could only assume that she was sleeping with him in order to secure his funding for the show.

But this was not necessarily so. For after she grinned at the Duke, she would glance somewhat surreptitiously to her right, and give someone over there a half smile and a wink. Roxane craned her neck to see whom Satine was so taken with and was astonished to see Christian shyly smiling back.

"And now!" Zidler exclaimed once he'd finished outlining the plot of 'Spectacular Spectacular,' "We announce the cast!" Polite applause greeted his exuberance.

"The Hindu Courtesan will be played by Mademoiselle Satine," he began. "The Penniless Sitar Player will be played by our friend the Argentinean, and his Magical Sitar will be played by—"

"Yours twuwy!" Toulouse yelled, interrupting Harold.

"Yes, thank you very much, Toulouse. Please sit down. And," Zidler continued, "the role of the colossally evil, unbelievably heartless, stupendously wicked, unabashedly sexual Maharajah will be played…by me!" Zidler almost giggled in excitement. "And the Evil Maharajah's harem girls will be portrayed by none other than Nini, Arabia, China Doll, Mome…and Roxane."

"And to celebrate the beginning of this fabulous play, we shall have a magnificent supper tonight, right here in the Moulin Rouge, for everyone involved!" Zidler announced.

There was more polite applause and a few people turned around to see who the five main harem girls would be. Roxane turned scarlet. She was not accustomed to actually seeing those who were clapping for her. At the Opéra, she only ever saw darkness when she peered out into the audience.

She looked away and noticed Christian looking directly at her. She glanced behind her to make sure Satine wasn't standing there. She wasn't. Roxane smiled shyly back at Christian.

Later, she mustered the courage to finally speak to him again.

"Good evening, Mademoiselle Roxane. I was wondering when we might again have the opportunity to speak to each other," Christian said as she approached him.

"Good evening," she replied.

"Well, I trust you will like the changes that have been made in the show. I know Toulouse had told you you'd be playing a Swiss milkmaid, but we all had a, uh, creative meeting last night and decided to make some changes!" Christian enthused awkwardly.

At that moment, Satine, clad in a splendid silk gown, casually approached the conversing pair.

"Hello Roxane," she said.

"Hello," Roxane returned.

"I see you have found the illustrious writer," Satine observed without a hint of irony or jealousy.

"We were just discussing the show," Christian interluded, a grin creeping to his lips.

"Ah yes," Satine smiled. "Well, Roxane, I know we haven't had the opportunity to talk yet , but I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is treating you well here, and if they aren't, please tell me, and I will speak to Harold about it," Satine said with a kindness that surprised Roxane.

"Yes, I certainly will. Thank you," Roxane stammered.

"Oh, and Christian, there are a few scenes that I would like to discuss with you. Would you mind stopping by later so that we can work on them?" she asked casually.

"Certainly, Mademoiselle Satine. I would be…delighted to," Christian replied, barely hiding his enthusiasm.

"Well," Satine said briskly. "I'll leave you two to your chat. Good evening!" and with that, Satine sauntered over to the Duke and began whispering sweet nothings in his eyes, although her eyes remained fixated on Christian the entire time. Roxane observed all this with some puzzlement

"Zidler tells me that you're quite a dancer," Christian began again suddenly. "Perhaps Satie and I could write a special, uh, dance. Dance of the Harem Girl or something like that. No, no, that sounds bad. Um, let's see…Dance of the…Dance of the…no, no wait, it will come to me…"

Roxane could not disguise her amusement.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it will come to you eventually. You are a very talented writer," she assured him.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me, but I'm not exactly sure. I really haven't written anything like this before, so I don't know how they know that. I think they all are a bit daft in hiring me!" he exclaimed. Roxane laughed.

"Well, we all will find out soon enough, won't we?" Roxane said gamely. "But you had better be good, because I don't think we have anyone to replace you."

Christian smiled and seemed to catch Satine's eye.

"Please excuse me, Mademoiselle Roxane, I must finish some work before tomorrow," he said politely. Roxane nodded and bid him good night.

She walked home in a euphoric state that night, still maintaining the hope that Christian would grow to love her as well, despite his dubious preoccupation with Satine.

* * * * * *

The next day, Roxane arrived at rehearsal early, hoping to catch a word with Christian before the others got there. But he was nowhere in sight. She casually asked Nini where he was.

"Where do you think 'e is, sweetheart? He's re'earsing with Satine!" Nini said, laughing wickedly with the other girls, as if they knew something Roxane didn't. Roxane brows furrowed in confusion.

"All right, all right!" Zidler called out, gathering the dancers around him. "We begin with the most sensuous of all our dances, in which the Maharajah's harem girls all display their feminine wiles and attempt to win his affection for the night. Arabia! Nini! China Doll! Places please! Roxane? Where is Roxane?"

"I'm here," she said, emerging from the crowd.

"Roxane, do you have your pointe shoes with you? I have a special dance in mind for you," Zidler said. Roxane could feel all the eyes in the room upon her. She did, in fact, keep a spare pair of shoes in her satchel, if only to remind her of what she used to be.

"Yes, I do," she replied. Zidler told her to put them on.

The entire company watched as the harem girls did their dance, turning seductively around the evil Maharajah, played with gusto by Zidler himself.

Suddenly, Roxane burst through the group of three dancers and executed a series of pique turns toward the Maharajah, dancing just out of his reach. She felt life return to her legs as she leapt around him, performing jeté after jeté, and finally collapsing to the floor in an elaborate bow. The onlookers burst into spontaneous applause. Roxane looked up, startled.

As she left the stage when her number was finished, Christian grabbed her by the arm.

"Roxane," Christian said emphatically, taking her aside. "Your dancing, it's like…it's like poetry! It's…like being in love!" With that, Christian smiled broadly and stole away to one of the hallways, apparently to write down something for the show.

Roxane felt herself blush. She could hardly contain herself with Christian discussing such things around her. She slowly walked to the chairs where her things lay and began removing her pointe shoes, elated that in one day, she was able to dance again like she used to, and that she had heard such things from Christian.

But then she happened to look up. And she saw them. In the upstairs balcony, standing conspicuously behind a beam, were Christian and Satine, locked in a passionate kiss. Roxane looked away in horror. This could not be true. But a second glance confirmed it, and suddenly, Roxane began to feel that Christian's words were terribly empty, or at least, not directed at her.

It was all made painfully clear to her over the course of the next week. While the rest of the cast rehearsed, Roxane would notice that Christian and Satine often disappeared together, and when they did return to rehearsal, they always found a way to meet again later in the evening. Roxane knew that all her hopes had been in vain.

Nevertheless, Roxane loved Christian. She loved everything about him. She loved the way he looked giddy whenever he saw Satine, how his mouth was always on the verge of breaking into a huge grin when he came into her presence. His love for her was uncontainable. And Roxane longed for that. The earnestness in his eyes was something that Roxane had grown unaccustomed to after a few weeks working at the Moulin Rouge.

But the lovers encountered a snag when the Duke, the show's investor, began to feel that Satine's affections toward him were waning. No one would have cared, save for the fact that the Duke held the deeds to the Moulin Rouge as insurance, and threatened to take the club away from Zidler, should his demands not be met.

All this was whispered about on the dance floor among various people in the show. The night before the premiere of 'Spectacular Spectacular,' Satine had agreed to sleep with the Duke, as a sign of her contract binding her to him. Whether she carried through with it determined whether or not the show would go on. The dancers gathered in the main hall of the Moulin Rouge on the very night that the "deal" was to take place.

Roxane slumped down in a chair, her head in her hands. She could only imagine Christian's agony over this situation.

But then, she saw him appear in the Moulin Rouge, walking slowly toward the door. Was he going to try to stop Satine from going through with it, and jeopardize the whole production? Roxane had to convince him to stay away. She stood and started toward him, but the Argentinean reached him first.

"Never fall in love with a woman who sells herself, it always ends BAD!" the Argentinean thundered as Christian crossed the dance floor, clad in a long black coat. Roxane watched as the Argentinean and Nini began a seductive tango. Still, Christian edged closer to the door. Roxane began to run after Christian, hoping to stop him, but she suddenly found herself in the arms of the Argentinean, who threw her into an elaborate set of dance steps.

"Christian! Stop!" she called, but her pleas went unheeded. As Christian disappeared out the door, the Argentinean swept Roxane farther and farther away from him across the dance floor. She felt tears spring down her cheeks as her cries for Christian to stop fell upon deaf ears. Her sobs continued long after the music ended.

* * * * * *

The next day, as Zidler had promised, the show went on.

Roxane morosely applied her makeup and put on the harem girl costume that left little to the imagination. She broke in a new pair of pointe shoes and went through a few of her dance steps.

A sense of dread hung heavily in the air as the dancers took their places for the first number. No one knew for sure what had happened the night before, if Christian had successfully interrupted Satine's tryst with the Duke. Not that Roxane wished that floppy-haired boor on any woman, but she couldn't help but think of what would happen to her, as well as to all the other creatures of the underworld who would be out of a job if the Moulin Rouge fell into the Duke's hands. Roxane suspected they would find themselves that much closer to the street. She feared that she would no longer be a dancer who occasionally worked as a whore, but a whore who used to be a dancer.

As the curtain rose, Christian was nowhere in sight. Roxane glanced around anxiously backstage.

"Looking for your boyfriend again, lovey?" Nini asked tauntingly. "Don't worry, you won't be seeing the likes of 'im around 'ere. The Duke's set people at the door to keep 'im out. And someone told me that the Duke was going to kill 'im if he came 'round." With that, Nini walked away, laughing.

Christian had snuck into the theatre, but stayed out of sight until the final scene. Standing in for the Argentinean, Christian threw Satine to the floor, crying out,

"This woman is yours now. I've paid my whore!"

Satine, in tears, begged Christian with her eyes to stop.

Roxane attempted to remain perfectly still, as her role dictated, but couldn't help but notice the Duke's smarmy manservant, Warner, standing in the wings with a gun in his hand.

Christian, in tears of rage, tore off down the center aisle.

Satine didn't know what else to do, and began to sing the lover's secret song. Her breath was halting and thick. Roxane recognized the wheezing gasp. She heard it as consumption claimed her parents years earlier.

"Come back to me, and forgive everything!" Satine sang, summoning all the strength she could. Christian came running back down the aisle and embraced her.

As the curtain closed, Satine and Christian again fell into an embrace, and Roxane couldn't help but shed a tear for their happiness, even though it came at the expense of her own. But a deep, insistent cough suddenly seized Satine, and she fell into a fit of coughing that not even Christian could save her from.

She collapsed to the floor in Christian's arms. The others gathered around the two in disbelief. The secret Satine had hidden so well was coming to light, and Roxane and the others could only look on as Satine took her last gasping breaths.

Roxane no longer fought back the tears, as Christian came to realize that Satine was gone. His cry of grief nearly rivaled the thunderous applause that came from the other side of the curtain.