The Pug of the Opera

After finding out that Beau had the perfect pitch Erik decided to use that. He would visit the opera more often, just to find out if that would improve the quality. He was well aware that most people in the audience did not come here for the qulity of music.

As Garnier had explained his design for the Foyer with the grand marble staircase and the small boxes: This opera had two auditoriums and two stages. One stage was for the singers and the boxes for the patrons who enjoyed music - and the second stage was for the vain peacocky men and women. Aristocrats and bourgeoisie, the people who gave vanity a new meaning. It seemed the French Revolution had not taught humanity any lesson at all. They tried to present themselves, outshining each other, waiting for the applause. And there was applause, a kind of applause, as people really used the marble boxes in the Foyer to stand and watch the people who presented themselves on the staircaise. Of course the staircase was perfect for showing off.

But Erik loved music and wanted to hear it in the best possible quality. He had a strong disliking against everything that was less than perfect. Of course he knew that there was always some personal interpretation in the performance - each conductor had his own ideas, each soloist had his own ideas. So of course the performances weren't entirely the same. But they had to be true to what the composer originally created and laziness and lack of skill was something that made Erik cringe in pain. It could really cause him physical pain to hear a bad performance.

So visiting the opera and hearing the pug point out the mistakes with unfailing precision made him proud of his little friend. As long as Beau was snoring, everything was alright. And when Erik felt something was wrong, Beau would start howling immediately. Of course the managers were angry. It was not allowed to bring pets to the opera - unless these animals were needed on stage. So they began trying to find out who the man was who brought the dog - they could assume it was a dog but not the race - to the performances. They told the box keepers to pay attention to who would bring a bag with him that was large enough to hide a small dog. They kept watching the arrival of the guests themselves. But of course they never caught Erik who had his secret entrance through the column.

Erik really loved that. He loved to spy on them to hear them discussing how they could get rid of the howling dog that was interrupting too many performances. It was no problem to take Beau with him in the bag when they were watching the managers. Beau was happy to be with Erik and just curled up on his lap and snored away. Well, the snoring could be a problem because sometimes it was so loud the managers heard him and wondered wo was snoring in their office.

Erik faced another problem. He had a young healthy male dog - the pug needed at least three long walks a day or he would turn Erik's flat upside down more than Erik could tolerate. But leaving the opera was dangerous. He could be seen and someone might ask why he was there. Without the dog Erik had left the opera house mostly at night, but now he had to go for a walk with the dog at days. His solution to the problem was as easy as it was expensive: He knew where to break a wall and build in a hidden door to reach the catacombs. From there he knew he could even reach cellars under some normal buildings nearby. Erik picked a block of flats that was the closest and therefor the easiest to reach - a block of flats in the Boulevard des Capucines.

The idea was easy. Like most buildings there was a cellar and in that cellar were basement apartments. These were much cheaper than the normal flats, they could be rent or even bought. Buying such basement appartment and building in a hidden door to the catacombs was perfect. If he rent the basement flat officially, no one would ever wonder why he came out of that cellar regularly because he was supposed to live there. Unfortunately he would have to decorate the flat so it looked like a real flat, should some nosy people decide to look through the windows. There were windows, they were small and one could only see the feet of people on the sidewalk or in the backyard, depending on which appartment he would get. Upon further inspection of the catacombs and seeing the cellar - Erik just broke into one house to find out if his calculations were correct - he found the perfect basement flat. It was tiny, but the house was a modern one with indoor plumbing, with running water and gas. The basement appartment consisted of just one room, about sixteen squaremeters large and a tiny antechamber. In that chamber was a sink and running water. The toilet was on the other side of the corridor and the people living in the basement appartments would have to share the toilets, at least there was more than one. But this did not really matter, Erik had absolutely no intention of really living there.

As good as the idea was - the basement flat was already rented out to a family with three little children. Erik had to find a way to get them to move, but how? He could not simply kill them. Not that killing was out of option and he considered it, but eventually decided he would only kill if all other measures failed. The first attempt was to frighten them away by placing a human skull he stole from the catacombs before their door.

The police was called and found that it was a very old skull. They decided this was the immature prank of some teenage boys and told the people not to worry about that. Erik was angry for he hated it when his plan was a failure. That policeman had ruined it by convincing everybody that this was just a harmless prank by some boy.

His next attempt to frighten them away was to get a bucket full of dead rats from the ratcatcher and leave them in the cellar. But this failed too - the people who lived in the basement flats were far too happy to have a flat close to their workplaces to even consider moving out because of some pranks, they just cleaned the dead rats out and kept silent, not wanting the inhabitants of the flats in the upper floors to know about that little problem. In the flats in the first floor and above lived upper class families. These flats had windows that let sun in and were large, they had every luxury a family could hope for, and these flats were large, about 80 to 100 squaremeters.

But Erik needed the basement flat because of its access to the catacombs! Directly behind the wall was a forgotten passageway, it was perfect, so he wanted this flat and nothing else. But how to get rid of the family there? They didn't move out of their own accord. They couldn't - they were far too happy to have that flat!

Erik sat in his underground home, busy constructing a small wooden chair that would allow Beau to climb in and out of his bed-coffin whenever he wanted. Erik was tired of being woken several times at night because the pug wanted him to lift him out of the bed or into the bed. He would just build a wooden staircase and then Beau would come and go as he wanted to without disturbing Erik's sleep - at least Erik hoped it would be like this.

"And what are we to do now?" he asked Beau who was sitting on a pile of dirty laundry Erik had put aside to wash eventually. Beau loved to sit on dirty laundry and turned his head looking at Erik curiously. The pug always gave the impression of listening to his master and understanding every word, especially when he was looking at him and turning his head from time to time. "My idea was to annoy them enough, but that seems quite difficult, and I do not want to hurt them. So what can I do?"

The pug gave a whine and went to Erik, scratching on his leg, clearly wanting to be picked up and sleep on Erik's lap. Erik bent down to pet the pug. "I have no time for that now," he explained, "Go to sleep."

The pug went back to the pile of laundry, began to dig in it like he was digging a hole in the ground, then turned round several times and lied down with a grunt. "I can't just ask, can I?" Erik asked to dog. Beau yawned and grunted. "Well... maybe I can ask. Maybe I can ask the landlord to throw them out and give me the flat. That would do the least harm, I guess."

The landlord was startled when his servant announced a strange man with a funny dog wanted to see him. Erik was dressed in an expensive suit, indicating he was a rather wealthy man, he wore a false nose and a false beard to make his appearance acceptable. He still looked like an overdressed scarecrow. Erik hated talking to people, he really hated that. He never knew how to introduce himself, how to behave so they would agree to do what he wanted to ask - he knew he lacked social skills. So he decided to greet the man with a slight bow, taking off his hat and introducing himself with the alias he currently used. He was "Erik Cordier" now. Cordier is just the french word for ropemaker, an unsuspicious name, everyone expected him to be from a family of ropemakers like many others with similar names.

Erik knew better than to offer his hand - usually people who saw him avoided touching him, suspecting him to suffer from some illness they didn't want to catch. He knew that usually he should be offered a seat but that too was something he was already used to - people didn't want him to touch their furniture more than necessary.

That moment the landlord's daughters came into his parlor and all they saw was Beau. "A PUUUUUG!" they exclaimed happily and ran to Beau who was tearing at his leash, trying to get to the children. He loved children even more than adults because playing was fun.

"You could have asked if you are allowed..." their father tried to berate them but he had to smile at the girls who just took off the collar from Beau and the pug jumped up and down in excitement.

Within moments the pug had snatched a ribbon from one of the girls and they were chasing him around. Erik and the landlord could only stand by and watch, both men laughing, not knowing who should apologize to whom for the behavior of the dog and the girls.

It took some time until the girls and the dog were tired enough that Erik and their father could have any kind of normal conversation. While the girls sat on the couch with Beau and dressed him in a doll's dress, which he endured patiently, Erik was offered a seat and a glass of water. It was an alien experience for Erik to be offered any kind of hospitality and he accepted awkwardly, giving the impression of being extremely shy.

"I understand that you want to rent one of my flats. But why this one? Surely you could afford another? I have one in the second floor..."

That was what Erik had been afraid of. He couldn't tell the truth that it was perfect because he needed access to the catacombs. "Actually... I am a musician and in the past lost some flats because the neighbors didn't appreciate me practicing all day long. I thought that a basement appartment would be better because the tennants wouldn't hear me play."

"The tennants in the basement appartments... Monsieur, you know they are... well, lower working class. Maids, servants, workers. And all of them reproduce at a rate that puts rabbits to shame."

Erik didn't know how to reply to this. He just sat there and looked at Beau who now wore many colorful ribbons and was lying on his back enjoying a belly rub from the girls happily. "I know. But they seldom complain about me playing all day long," he replied, "They are far too loud themselves."

The landlord laughed. "On that we agree. But Monsieur, the basement appartment you want is not free now. The tennants have a contract for two more years unless they fail to pay. I can't just throw them out."

"Not even if I agree to pay more than they do?"

"Well... legally no. I can't. But maybe they accept to move out if you pay for the... relocation? These people can't handle money and are always broke. Usually money does the trick and then I'd gladly give you that appartment."

That moment the pug farted and the girls made a show of being disgusted. Erik couldn't help laughing. "I am so sorry, Monsieur. The constant belly-rubbing does that to him..."

XXXXXXX

I said I'd update irregularly...

So now Erik is happy to have a pug and faced with completely different problems.