Disclaimer: Not mine. Boy don't I wish. But no.
Learn To Be Your One Companion
For many years I spent my time alone in this my home. I learned what it was truly like to be my own companion. But I did enjoy myself. There was the opera to entertain me. I spent hours upon end watching the rehearsals and performances. And I also watched the various performers.
It seemed as if I was always looking for something. Something inside of those various performers. Maybe a kindred spirit that would be able to finally understand me. Someone just as alone as I was.
There were many performers. Leading men, pruning divas, gossiping ballet rats, but none seemed to be what I was searching for. They all seemed content to be in the world, as they knew it. They had parties. They had affairs. They had each other. And I had, me alone.
But I watched them, yearning to be one of them. Yearning to be accepted by them, by anyone. But anytime I was seen, the screams would begin. I was an apparition. I was a ghost. I was the Opera Ghost.
My anger got the best of me then, and I drew farther into myself, but I was always brought back by one thing, and one thing alone. The music was my one comfort. They would not allow me to be one of them, so I decided to use my status as Opera Ghost to my advantage. That was when the notes started. I demanded the use of box 5 and a modest salary to help supplement my needs. It was only fair. I had been there longer than most of the performers and the opera house had truly become my home. So why not demand a salary for the use of my home?
At first the management balked at my proposal, but a few well- planned accidents changed their minds.
So that is how I lived for many years. Part of the opera house, but only at a distance. I learned to be my one true companion, but always there was that yearning for more.
The Opera Ghost