Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Here is part two of the chapter.
I dedicate this chapter to my beloved little friend and support when life got tough, my pet Hamster Patch, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge the night I finished writing this chapter.
Thank you for following me and I hope you will enjoy this instalment.
I do not own anything by Gaston Leroux, Susan Kay or Andrew Lloyd Webber everything else is my own work.
A Soggy SolutionA splitting headache roused a bleary Nadir from his drunken sleep. Nausea joined in along with a furry tongue, but what alarmed the Persian most of all was the strange inability to move his body. His arms moved but he could not turn, and his legs felt like they were encased in stone. Nadir took a peek around him and realised he was somehow strapped to some weird device that appeared to be a pole mounted on two sawhorses, looking under the blanket covering him told him the reason he was immobile, then a panicked look about his surroundings told him he was in the lake house sitting room. There could only be one cause for this seriously bizarre awakening.
ooo
Erik awoke with a rotten headache, made all the worse by the voice emitted from his sitting room yelling amongst other things, his name. After lighting the candle on his bedside table, he placed his mask on his face and rolling over he found Christine beside him, the set of ear plugs he had created for her obviously blocked out the shouting and the eye mask covered her closed eyes as she slept sweetly on.
ooo
Grumbling and stumbling, Erik gracelessly made his way down the hall whilst throwing his robe on, tying the belt around himself he lit the gaslights in the sitting room adding to the lamp he left lit overnight, and looked to the cause of his now pounding headache.
"Shout louder why not?" Erik groaned, "tell the whole opera house we live down here!" he added as Nadir glared at his soon to be ex friend.
"What have you done to me?" Nadir yelled, "Plaster bandages Erik? Seriously!" he continued as he pawed and thumped on the solid white jacket encasing his chest..
Erik grinned horribly, "Was it not your utmost heartfelt request from last night for me to take you out and get you completely plastered!" Erik replied starting to snigger.
"I meant drunk! Not incapacitated!" Nadir snapped back before clutching his thumping skull, "Ohh my head!" he groaned.
Erik continued chuckling, ignoring the venomous looks from his Persian Pal, "Ah, but with the help of your friends, you managed both; especially after you and Raoul sank nearly an entire bottle of Absinthe by yourselves!" He retorted as Nadir suddenly realised there was a major problem.
"As funny as you think this is, I need the little boys room!" Nadir blurted out urgently.
Erik's chuckles turned to full sniggers, as he reached for an oddly shaped glass bottle on the floor beside where Nadir was placed and handed it to his desperate friend. "We thought of that!" he replied smoothly, "There is a gap in the plaster cast that you will find gives ample access for bathroom needs." He added.
Grabbing the bottle with one hand, Nadir snuck the bottle and both hands under the blanket and sure enough to his relief there was indeed all his parts accessible through a smoothly crafted gap in the plaster. Having relieved himself, he then realised that there was something missing… Well rather there were several things missing… All his clothes for a start.
"Erik what did you do with my clothes you rotten swine!" Nadir enquired dangerously, as Erik carefully took the full bottle and went to empty it.
Returning quickly and setting the now clean and empty bottle down, Erik joyfully started clarifying the missing details of the night.
A slack jawed and slightly pale Daroga listened to the start of the tale, before asking the one burning question that came to his hung over mind. "Did Christine witness anything that happened when we got back here?" he asked horror in his voice.
"Well she saw as far as you stripping your jacket then your waistcoat off and pinging your trouser suspenders across the room, declaring that since you were such a fine specimen of Manly prowess you did not need clothing. At that point she sniggered and went to bed. Just as you stripped off your shirt and threw it at Jean."
"What else did I do?" Nadir weakly asked.
"Well you… erm…" Erik started before the sniggers took his voice for a moment.
"What did I do!" Nadir pleaded frantically.
Recovering himself, Erik managed to continue, "You grabbed and fervently kissed the Vicomte, then clutching him to your then bare chest you told him you loved him!" Erik added starting to laugh.
"Oh, good grief!" Nadir shuddered.
"It did not end there!" Erik added smugly.
"You are really enjoying my misery!" Nadir whined, "What else?"
"Well then you decided that since your beloved could perform burlesque so could you!" Erik announced cheerfully, "you then proceeded to stumble around my sitting room struggling with your shoes still on but eventually removing and then throwing your trousers and undershorts over the couch followed by your shoes, you were doing fine until you got to your sock suspenders," Erik added helpfully.
Nadir's supine form groaned, then he placed his hand on his head, "What did I do with them?" he asked dreading the answer.
Erik was laughing hard at this point and it took a moment before he could speak again.
"You tried to ping them across the room!" Erik calmly informed his cringing friend, "Now Raoul has a nice black eye where you hit him in the face with your right sock suspender, then your left suspender gave Jean a cauliflower ear which I had to treat." Erik added, now ignoring his own headache as he started to laugh wickedly. "You finished with a grand flourish, flinging your socks in the fire; by the way they really made the house stink! And then you slowly slid to the floor and passed out naked and drooling same as the day you were born." Erik finished in between laughs.
"Oh no!" Nadir groaned, as he covered his now bright red face.
Erik had not finished torturing his oldest friend there. "So, I did as promised, with Jean and Raoul's help we started preparing to have you completely plastered, from neck to toe in the finest Plaster of Paris infused bandages!" Erik happily informed his incapacitated friend. An evil grin announced the addition of more information, "We started to plaster you up and then Jean had the most magnificent idea!" Erik declared, before stopping short for a moment, "Actually where are Jean and Raoul?" he asked looking around the room, to then be answered by groaning coming from the music room as two undead creatures emerged looking like Jean and Raoul.
"Urggh! Never again!" declared the deathlike moue with a brilliant black eye that resembled Raoul's face, as the body that supported it staggered forward to the couch, where it collapsed.
"I need a…" the ghastly image of Jean wearing a newly applied bandage that covered his left ear declared before locating what it needed and starting to throw up.
"Not my wastepaper bin again!" groaned Erik, as his friends in various states of disrepair, moaned and in Jean's case vomited from their current locations.
ooo
Christine rose from her bed feeling refreshed and positive, she headed across the hallway to her dressing room, stopping briefly to listen to the woeful moaning coming from the sitting room.
"I am never again going to try and keep up with Nadir drink for drink!" Raoul complained before taking a sip from the cup in his hand.
"Will I never learn?" Jean asked his own cup, "I really should not drink absinthe, it does not agree with me!"
"Are you quite sure it was not the half bottle of brandy you got through before the Absinthe?" Erik queried before downing the contents of his own cup in one go.
"What did you mean Jean came up with a magnificent idea? Is that the reason I am strapped to what looks like a giant rotisserie?" Nadir asked, before slurping the contents of his own cup through a silver straw that Erik had given him so he could drink laying flat.
At this point Christine shook her head and decided to leave the men to their own devices as she went to get washed and dressed.
ooo
Dressed and ready for the day Christine got quite the shock as she entered the sitting room; there apparently strapped to a metal rod, with a handle at each end, held in the upright position by a rope, mounted to two sawhorses was Nadir flat on his back, calmly sipping a cup of tea through a straw, covered in a blanket and a strange, thick, off white coating that started at his neck and appeared to travel under the blanket finishing at his toes.
"What on earth happened Nadir?" Christine squeaked as she shot towards the downed Daroga. "Why are you covered in plaster of Paris bandages? If Erik got you injured I will so slap him into next week!" she indignantly yelled.
It was so very tempting to tell a few lies, but Nadir knew that for the brief moment of amusement he would get as Christine chided Erik, he would pay so very dearly for it at a later date from both of them when the truth came out. "Christine, I am fine, just a stag night prank!" Nadir responded as Christine had to admit to herself at that point, that the evil ingenuity that lead to her discovery was impressive as she turned to see the three troublemakers, who were just conveniently hiding in the music room.
"Seriously I know I stated no cats etc, but you three have really outdone yourselves this time.!" Christine pointed out.
"But Angel, he begged us to take him out and get him completely plastered!" Erik responded innocently, as Raoul and Jean tried to look like they were not part of this scheme, but failed, mainly due to the plaster of Paris that had stained their clothes.
Christine gave up trying to be cross, Erik had the most adorable innocent puppy dog eyes when he wanted to and she just could not be cross when he used them on her, like he was right now. "You are really going to have to go some distance to beat this prank!" She finally declared with a snigger, before thinking, "Are you rotter's proposing to leave him like this until the wedding?" Christine asked as Nadir's face fell.
"You… You surely are not going to leave me like this!" Nadir stammered in horror.
Erik grinned horribly, "Do not worry it will be gone by the wedding night!" he exclaimed evilly.
Then Nadir realised that little phrase was so remarkably similar to something he had said when Erik complained at his lack privacy for premarital intimate experimentation due to Nadir chaperoning him, just before he married Christine; and at this Nadir gulped. "You swine! You know very well I was shanghaied into my duties during those days."
"Ah but you agreed to do it! And I think this is fitting a return of the compliment, do you not think so Daroga?" Erik asked breezily, as Jean and Raoul listened in now with interest.
"Err, am I missing something Erik?" Christine questioned.
Erik realised there were two sets of additional ears to this sensitive subject and replied, "Nothing to worry about my sweet, I shall explain later."
"Well if you will explain that later to me." Christine started; can you at least explain why you are spit roasting Nadir?" she asked.
"Ah, that was Jean's magnificent idea!" Erik replied.
"I realised the problem!" Raoul interjected.
"And I solved it!" Jean declared.
"There were no problems until you swine's did this to me!" Nadir whined.
"Before we go into any further explanations, would my angel care for a morning cup of tea and some breakfast?" Erik enquired as he started to gather up the empty cups from everyone and placed them on the tea tray.
ooo
With Christine enjoying a light breakfast with her tea, Erik, Jean, and Raoul were eating a heartily cooked repast, Nadir lay there drinking a brownish liquid from the cup placed on his chest.
Taking his lips away from the straw he was using to drink, Nadir looked towards where Erik was sitting in his chair. "At least I know that you like me!" he exclaimed.
"Of course I like you!" Erik replied, "Where did that thought come from?" he enquired.
"Well you at least had the courtesy to strain the lumps from my invalid broth, so they did not block my straw!" Nadir answered simply as Jean sniggered and Raoul promptly choked on his tea.
ooo
With breakfast complete, Christine was placing her cloak and bonnet on ready to head up to the opera house for a short rehearsal, when her curiosity could no longer be held at bay.
"Erik, you still have not explained why you are spit roasting Nadir!" she asked tying the bow on her bonnet.
Erik stopped handing out yet another round of tea to the men and grinned at his wife, "Since it was Raoul that spotted the problem, I think he should explain that first then Jean can explain the solution." He replied as he carefully replaced the empty cup Nadir had with a full one and slipped the straw in it ready for him.
"Well," Raoul started, "as you are aware Plaster is flexible when wet until it dries, and with Nadir being unconscious we could not support the plaster to dry correctly so we required a frame to support both Nadir and the plaster bandages until they dried, otherwise Nadir would be a very funny shape." He added.
"So I have you to thank for this!" Nadir grumbled.
"Not all of it!" Raoul replied looking at Jean.
"Erik built the device, after I came up with the idea!" Jean started as Nadir glowered in Jean's direction. "You see plaster bandages are wet and cold, apart from drying in funny shapes when not supported, I also did not want Nadir spending the night wet and cold so I thought about a way we could support the bandages and let them dry evenly whilst keeping Nadir warm." Jean added.
"You are all heart… I think!" Nadir growled.
"So," Christine started, "You mounted Nadir on the pole to support the bandages and placed him in front of the fire to keep warm. How does this allow the bandages to dry evenly?" she pushed.
"Simple!" Jean declared brightly, "The two handles at either end of the pole allow it to be rotated, effectively spit roasting Nadir, ensuring the bandages are evenly heated to dry and keeping Nadir warm like this!" Jean added as he went up to the handle nearest the front door and released the rope holding it.
Several things happened at once, Erik yelled 'No!' too late, the Vicomte gasped and at the same time with a scream of 'Yahhhh!" the weight of the plaster cast spun Nadir's spit around, so he was now upside down, his tea landing on the floor. His nose was now several inches off the carpet.
But that was not the worst of it. Turning Nadir upside down meant that the blanket that was covering the carefully crafted bathroom gap in the plaster fell off.
Christine was suddenly presented with a most peculiar sight. A bizarre human imitation of a Christmas goose on a spit, two hairy buttocks were sticking up out of a hole in the plaster cast, they were segregated by a metal pole and at the other end of this sight a pair of arms were waving madly as the owner of the buttocks started yelling.
"Turn me over, turn me over right now!" Nadir yelled until a sudden draft caused a quick realisation, "NO! Do not turn me over… For heaven's sake do NOT turn me over, just cover me up right now!" he yelped as he flailed his arms madly.
That was it, Christine's lady like composure disintegrated instantaneously; with a loud whimper she slammed her hand against her mouth and with tears gathering in her eyes she ran for the front door, slamming it closed as she exited.
Erik looked at the scene before him, "Jean, Raoul, turn Nadir over, cover him up and give him a fresh cup of tea with a clean straw." He ordered, heading towards the front door "I am going to see how badly this little event has upset my angel."
ooo
Closing the front door behind himself, Erik was distressed to find Christine crouching on the dock in a ball, she was shaking.
"Angel I am so sorry for distressing you like that, I…" Erik started as Christine uncurled herself and looked at him with tear filled eyes. To Erik's relief however she was not crying as a very loud roar of unladylike laughter left her.
It took a few moments before Christine could stop laughing long enough to talk. "I am not distressed my love," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I could not laugh right in front of Nadir and his bare cheeks, so I had to run… I have never seen anything so funny in my life!" she squeaked before bursting into further giggles.
Erik could not help it, he wanted to scold her for laughing like that as it could affect her voice, but to see Christine in fits of laughter caused by Nadir's current situation, he gave up and started to snigger with her. As husband and wife then looked at each other, they both burst into gales of now hysterical laughter.
In fact, Erik and Christine were laughing so hard that they failed to hear the front door open, and Jean had to loudly clear his throat before they came to their senses. "Erm, I hate to say this, but both of you having operatically trained voices, laughing by the lake with fantastic acoustics!" Jean pointed out as Erik helped Christine to stand up.
"Ah!" Erik declared looking like he had just been caught raiding the biscuit barrel.
"Opps!" Christine remarked looking guilty.
Yup we could hear both of you laughing like you were still in the front room!" Jean informed them, with a grin on his face as an angry shout came out of the open door.
"Erik you git, get me out of this!" Nadir yelled.
"Jean, could you please inform the Daroga that I will be in shortly to release him, once I have ensured my angel is safely on her way to rehearsal." Erik instructed as he helped Christine into the boat and handed her the pole..
"Do not laugh and pole Angel, you will most likely fall in the lake!" Erik said as he kissed her.
"I shall be fine!" Christine said with a wicked smile. "You just wait until I tell Meg, she will wet herself laughing for sure!" she finished turning to concentrate, as Erik untied the boat.
ooo
Getting back into the house, Erik looked at the sight before him, one incredibly angry Daroga on a spit, one son of a Baronne and a Vicomte; both covered in plaster of Paris. Erik made a plan.
Right, I am going to get dressed then locate fresh clothes for You and Jean, I will also make my bathroom available for you both to wash and change in, whilst you are doing that I will start to extract Nadir." He declared heading towards the bedrooms.
ooo
Raoul was first in the shower in Erik's bathroom, Jean was washing Erik's wastepaper bin out in the kitchen as Erik sat holding a pair of terrifying looking blades mounted on a U shaped piece of metal, explaining to Nadir how they were going to release him.
"What are those things?" Nadir nervously asked.
"These are extremely sharp Medieval sheep shears!" Erik calmly explained, they are the only thing sharp enough to cut the dried plaster bandages and not cut you, which would most likely occur if I used a knife." He pointed out.
"Well as long as…" Nadir started to say as he was interrupted by one of Erik's alarms going off.
Erik listened and grinned, "I believe we have help for you!" he brightly declared, standing up. "Ten to one that is Darius." Erik added, "I am just going to let him in." he finished as he placed the shears on the couch then grabbed his cloak and fedora and went to exit the house.
ooo
By the time Erik had returned with Darius in tow, Raoul had returned to the sitting room, and was holding the sheep shears as he chatted to Nadir. "I say!" Raoul remarked as Erik entered the sitting room, "I nearly sat on these!" he declared as he waved the shears in the air.
Erik went to reply when a ghastly wail rent the air, "Master!" Darius cried, "Master please do not die!" he cried as he flung himself over Nadir's chest and started sobbing.
Erik and Raoul just stood there, Nadir looked very embarrassed as he brought his arms around his distraught servant and hugged him.
"There, there I am not dying." Nadir soothed, "This is just a … Just a… Urm." Nadir thought for a moment, knowing Darius would take offense if he thought the prank was aimed at him, "Just a rite of passage for getting married in France." He weakly finished.
"Really?" Darius sniffed, still hugging Nadir.
"Err, yes really." Raoul explained, "For my rite of passage I was stripped naked and tied to a lamp post outside of the opera house." He finished.
"I had the whole floor of my apartment turned into a fishpond!" Jean added as he came out of the kitchen and placed the now clean wastepaper bin back in the sitting room.
"Please we can chat later!" Nadir pleaded, "I would really like to be able to move soon!" he all but begged.
Before another word could be said, Darius had grabbed the sheep shears from Raoul's hand and was now trying to line them up to the plaster bandages around Nadir's foot. "Do not cut anything off I might need later!" Nadir begged as Darius slipped one of the blades of the shears between Nadir's foot and the plaster and then squeezed the shears shut.
A loud snip sound followed by a loud crack and Darius was wrenching the cast off of Nadir's left foot. The men held their breath as Darius then started to cut the cast that ran up Nadir's left leg. Reaching Nadir's knee, Darius then put the shears down, took both sides of the cut plaster and forced it open and then grabbing the shears again cut the remaining bandage that held the plaster to the rest of the cast, then ripped it off Nadir's leg.
"OUCH!" Nadir shouted, "that hurt!" as Erik saw the inside of the plaster and realised something rather important.
"Darius, stop!" Erik barked as Nadir's servant dropped the piece of plaster cast like it was red hot.
"Have I been skinned?" Nadir asked nervously.
"No," Erik replied carefully, "but if we carry on removing the plaster this way, there will not be much of a fluffy tiger for a while!" he added cryptically.
"What do you mean no fluffy tiger?" Nadir questioned getting annoyed again, as Erik picked up the piece of plaster cast Darius had removed from Nadir's leg.
"Do you recognise these?" Erik asked glibly as he showed Nadir the inside of the cast.
Nadir gasped loudly as Raoul and Jean craned their necks to see what it was before they started to snigger. "You bastard!" Nadir yelled, "Those are my leg hairs!"
Erik placed the piece of cast in the wastebin and looked at the floor guiltily, "I did wonder why there was a large full jar of skin balm by my chair this morning, and now I have remembered." He said as Nadir's eyebrows shot to the back of his head.
"You mean that my body hair is dried into this cast!" Nadir yelped.
"It appears so!" Erik replied remorsefully.
"How will we free Master Nadir?" Darius asked worriedly.
"We have two options." Erik announced as Darius sat in Erik's reading chair and listened.
"One we continue this way and remove the plaster and with it most of your body hair, Nadir." Erik explained.
"Thank heavens you did not plaster anywhere personal!" Nadir retorted, before adding "No! Find another way!"
"The only option left is to soak the plaster, when wet it will come off easily." Erik responded.
ooo
Forty minutes later saw Nadir being carried out of the front door of the lake house like a dead deer during hunting season, with Erik and Darius holding one end of the pole and Jean and Raoul the other. The four carrying the pole were all wearing swimming costumes borrowed from Erik.
"So tell me again how this works?" Raoul asked as the friends arrived at the dock.
"Simple," Erik replied, "The lake has holes in it's bed that allow for natural springs under the foundations to flow so they do not build up and undermine the foundations and collapse the opera house, there is one of the springs just beside the dock, so we simply insert the pole Nadir is attached to into the hole in the bed of the lake and the water will then come up to his chest, we leave him for an hour and…"
"An Hour!" Nadir interrupted; "I shall freeze my assets off!" he complained.
Erik sighed, "I will admit, we are doing this as I made a rather important omission, however we cannot fit you into the bath as the pole is too long and the same for my shower. So the only option left is to use the water in the lake to soak the bandages enough so we can remove them and leave your body hair intact." Erik explained, manner of factly.
"Will we be providing Nadir with hot drinks to keep him warm?" Jean asked.
"Absolutely, that is where the faithful Darius comes in!" Erik replied as Darius took the full weight on his and Erik's end of the pole so Erik could climb into the water ready to support Nadir.
"Why do I have the feeling I should be doing something else this morning?" Raoul asked no one in particular as He and Jean helped Darius hand one end of the pole over to Erik so Darius could climb in the lake.
ooo
It took quite a while and a few swear words on Nadir's part before he was vertical again and the pole was slotted into the hole, leaving the Persian, standing chest deep in the icy water of the lake.
Raoul had climbed out first and was already using Erik's shower again to warm up and wash the lake water off, as Jean, Darius and Erik ensured Nadir was secure, had a hot drink and Darius then placed a towel over Nadir's shoulders to help keep him warm.
"I have a question," Nadir started, he had a worried look on his face suddenly, "How big are the catfish in this lake?"
"Why are you asking?" Erik replied.
"I have certain exposed areas I do not want bitten!" Nadir pointed out.
"I would not worry!" Jean piped up, "Erik says they do not eat junk!"
At the expression on Nadir's face after Jean made that remark; Even Darius had to hide a snigger.
"Thank you for your reassurance… I think!" Nadir remarked coldly, as Darius and Erik got their sniggers under control.
Little did he know but Nadir's day was only going to get worse.
ooo
Meanwhile, up in the opera house, Christine was correct, Meg did indeed have to change her clothing after her hysterical laughter got the better of her, when told about what Erik, Jean and Raoul had done to Nadir. Even Madame Giry had a little snigger.
ooo
The clock in Erik's sitting room chimed the half hour past ten in the morning, and Darius was taking the fourth large cup of hot tea out to his stricken master, Erik, Jean, and Raoul had taken several dining chairs out to the lake side and were sitting chatting with Nadir when a light shone from across the lake.
"What was that?" Nadir asked as the light reflected off the water.
"That will be Christine on her way home, she only had a short rehearsal this morning." Erik answered as from across the lake, feminine giggling was heard, followed by hollowed footsteps and Nadir yelping as several small waves washed against him.
"That is strange?" Erik commented, "Christine getting into the boat on her own should not make waves that big." He remarked.
"You mean Meg is with her?" Jean asked happily.
"Oh no!" Nadir moaned.
The sound of the boat being poled across the lake followed shortly, along with a continuous stream of giggling. Then as everyone except for Nadir watched the boat came into view, a very familiar voice rang out.
"I love the new statue in the lake!" it called out then giggled.
"Oh heavens!" Nadir groaned, "That is my betrothed.!" He sighed, as Christine poled the boat to the other side of the dock and waited as Erik tied the boat up then helped both Meg and Delphine out before taking the pole from his wife and assisting her onto the dock.
Delphine stood on the dock in front of her fiancée and cocked her head. "How have you affixed my sweetheart to that pole?" she asked.
"Large leather straps." Erik answered as Raoul than flicked his gaze at Christine, a look of bewildered horror on his face. Christine cocked her eyebrow back at Raoul as Erik caught the unspoken question in Raoul's expression.
"No they are not used for that!" Erik growled, "They are normally used for securing stone sections to a pack horse for transportation, I simply thought they would chaff Nadir less than if I had secured him with Rope." He pointed out as Christine blushed and Raoul looked relieved.
Meg had walked over to where Jean stood. "If we ask nicely do you think Erik would let us borrow them?" she stage whispered saucily.
Even Nadir had to snigger at the dropped jaw and wide eyes that could be seen on Erik's face, Christine laughed, she could visualize the look of horror at Meg's words, that was currently hidden under Erik's mask.
Delphine winked at her fiancée, then turned to Meg, "You have a good point, those are something I should add to the apparatus for helping married couples that I sell!" she declared as Erik's mask moved, indicating his eyebrows were almost vanishing under his wig, Christine started to laugh harder. Raoul and Jean just looked at each other.
With Erik recovering from his bout of the vapours and the laughter amongst the friends settling down, Delphine smiled at her Nadir. "Are you truly alright?" she asked.
"Yes I will live." Nadir replied stoically, trying to shrug his shoulders. "This is not the craziest thing Erik has done to me by a long chalk." He added, as Delphine blew him a kiss.
"Jean what happened to your ear?" Meg cried as she finally noticed the bandage that covered Jean's left ear.
"Nadir hit me last night with a sock suspender!" Jean replied as Meg then noticed Raoul's black eye.
"And you?" she enquired.
Raoul sighed, "Nadir hit me with his other sock suspender!" he answered flatly.
"Why have you no injuries?" Meg asked Erik.
"I ducked until he ran out of sock suspenders!" Erik replied with a grin.
"I have so got to hear about what went on last night!" Delphine declared as Nadir hung his head and groaned.
"Darius, help me get a few more chairs for the ladies, a couple of blankets to keep them warm and some tea and I shall tell all.
"Oh, I nearly forgot!" Christine called, "Raoul, Meredith dropped by the rehearsal and asked me to remind you that you should be on your way to the Chateau, her parents are arriving back today." Christine added.
Raoul sighed, "That is what I was supposed to be doing this morning!" he groaned, "Have you anything to cover this black eye, I shall never hear the end of it from my Mother in law if she see it." He asked hopefully.
ooo
With Raoul made up and on his way to the Chateau, the remaining friends got comfortable as Erik told the tale of the Plastered Persian.
ooo
The following morning, freed from his plaster prison, Nadir and his scruples decided to see Christine to apologise for the inadvertent exposure of his private anatomy to her the morning before. He was just about to knock on Christine's dressing room door in the opera house when Madame Giry spied him.
"Good Morning Monsieur Cheeky!" she called as she walked up grinning to a now slack jawed Daroga.
"Please do not tell me, Meg told you?" Nadir asked faintly.
"No, Christine told me!" Madame Giry replied as several of the Corps de Ballet walked past them both on the way from rehearsal to their morning class.
Suddenly the girls stopped and grinned at Nadir saucily, "Good Morning Monsieur Cheeky!" they chorused before carrying on giggling all the way.
"However, that is confirmation that my daughter has at least told the Corps de Ballet what happened!" Madame Giry explained as Nadir's face lit up a brilliant scarlet.
"Oh no! That means that by now the whole opera house knows! I shall never be able to show my face again!" Nadir whined. Holding his head in his hands.
Madame Giry patted his shoulder companionably, "I would not worry." She soothed, "As long as you only show your face from now on everyone will forget in a month or so." She added as she headed off to start the ballet class, leaving a very embarrassed Nadir alone in the corridor.
