her nose

Let me tell you about my friend’s horrible experience. It happened when I was in Senior High School. I was active in the school theatre and the teachers entrusted me to manage a number of public shows in the town theatre. I was proud and honored to hold such position, since our school was quite famous for its high reputation, both on education and extra curricular. It was in my last year as the student and we decided to perform an opera, something that we rarely did as a show. The idea came out from our principle, who was an opera maniac and keen to know whether we could handle it. The main problem was we, the players, didn’t have a great voice to sing in the performance. However, since it was only a for-fun opera, we didn’t bother that much. Every one agreed that it’s not going to be a life-and-death show.

Napoleon's Nose by Salvador Dali (1945)

After having a long debate of choosing the right opera for us, all people who got involved in the preparation finally agreed that we would perform ‘The Nose’, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich, written between 1927-1928. The script was made based on Nikolai Gogol’s short story under the same title. The story itself tastes light, rather satirical, and the plot is easy to act. Besides that, it only has three scenes in it, which made it more perfect – it’s about someone who has lost its nose and his quest on attaching it back on his nose again.

We’d been practicing for one month or so, when suddenly this girl showed up in the theatre and asked me to get a position in the opera. I frowned on her proposition and decided to ask her back, ‘Do you realize that we’ve been practicing about one month?’
She nodded firmly and replied, ‘I also know that you’re only have about three more weeks to go.’
‘There you go,’ I said, ‘It’s impossible to have you now.’
But she insisted, ‘I have a great voice.’
I shook my head, folded my arms on my chest, ‘Nah. Should there be any replacement, it would be only boys. You know most of the characters in this opera are men. Besides that, we already have female players for female characters in this opera.’
She looked very disappointed. But I decided to go on practicing, instead of pacifying her. I already took some steps towards the stage, when she called me again. I turned around.
‘Yes?’
‘Umm… can I watch here? I can learn by watching and maybe one of these days you’ll need a substitution too. We’ll never know it, right?’
I looked at her hesitating with the idea for a moment. But she seemed to look fine.
‘Alright, you could sit there,’ I pointed out some seats near the stage.
She’s blushed and gave me her biggest smile, ‘Thank you!’

I never knew whether she cast a spell or maybe we weren’t so lucky this time. About one hour later, one of my girl crew suddenly lost her voice and couldn’t sing. She’d been having fever for the past few days, but we all thought she’s just too tired. I already showed my concern several times during our practices and in the class, but she always replied, ‘I’m here for work, not for you.’ I knew her reply was totally out of the conversation line, but I got it. She’s really excited about this performance and by taking a role in this opera, she could have a very convincing resumé for her theatrical career. So I stopped bugging her. And now this thing happened. After she left home, I asked the new girl to help us with the practicing. I didn’t have hope too much on her, since she’s just a new comer.

However, she proved me wrong.

Her clear voice was like a clear crystal reflecting a thousand of color spectrums when she sang as Madam Podtochina, the character played with my female fellow. For a moment, everyone in that hall was utterly silent. Disbelieving expression was written clearly on their faces, and I guess on mine as well. After she finished, we all welcomed her with applause. She looked very happy.
While all of my friends gathered around her to get to know her, my sick friend called me on my mobilephone. It was her mother who spoke to me, saying that her doctor asked her daughter to rest for at least two weeks. She’s not allowed to produce any sounds and therefore it’s almost impossible for her to take part in this opera. She told me that my friend was really brokenhearted and I told her that I was disappointed myself, however we should do for her best. I took a deep sigh as I hung up the phone and made a quick decision.

I climbed up on the stage and went toward the little crowd. They were all still laughing and chattering.
‘A-hem! Guys, there’s something I want to tell you.’
The hall became soundless immediately, making me think that I was in the outer space already.
‘I’m afraid C can’t join us. She’s having a serious illness dealing with her throat and that put her in a risky situation of losing her voice. Therefore, I’m here also to announce that she,’ I pointed at the new girl, ‘will replace her position and join us for the rest of our practice until the performance da-…’
Before I shut my mouth, she suddenly yelled happily, ‘Hurraaahh!!!’ she jumped and jumped and jumped so enthusiastically that she slipped and fell down. She tried to hold on to my other friend, but he also tripped by her foot. His big body brushed against another friend that she toppled too with her face downward. It happened so fast that we couldn’t stop it. However, this time something worse happened. The last friend who fell suddenly cried. She cried so hard that I approached her fast and lifted her up.
Whatta…??!! I gasped. The scene before my eyes gave me a fright that I collapsed at once with my back on the floor and with her on my chest: she lost her nose!

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[Fiction] Friday Challenge for August 7th, 2009:

Set your story at the Opera.