At the Opera House

Chapter 13: Carlotta

"I hate rain." Meg announced, she set a carpet bag on the floor, it squished.

Madame Giry looked up from scrubbing the floor. "Did you get everything on the list?" She asked, pulling her bucket closer to her.

Meg shook her head. "Everything but the food."

Christine looked up from her book and smiled softly. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Sure, but the rain is so annoying." Meg complained, pulling off her coat. "We used to have pretty snow, but then it had to rain, it's been raining off and on for three weeks."

"I'm just glad we got snow at all." Christine admitted. "We were lucky for a white Christmas."

"I wish it had stayed."

Madame Giry huffed, already working on the floor again. "Then it would have turned to brown sludge. Be careful not to drip on the floor." She added, as Meg came farther in the kitchen.

"You're are heartless maman." Said Meg, but grinned and held up the edges of her skirt until she reached the dining room.

"And get out of that soaking mess." Madame Giry called. "You'll catch your death of a cold."

But Meg was already running up into her room.

Madame Giry sighed and went back to scrubbing. "She has a boy that she doesn't want me to know about." She informed Christine. "I'll bet she spent too much time with him, and then the rain came and she didn't have time to get everything."

"We'll manage." Christine said, closing her book with a snap. "Do you want any help?" She asked, watching Madame Giry work at a stain.

"No no." She waved the cloth. "I'm fine."

"I can clean a floor quite well now you know." Christine informed her. "I'm not nearly as incompetent as I used to be."

"I know." She grumbled. "I wish Meg had gotten the food, I wanted to cook a chicken for Sunday."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with monsieur Khan would it?" Christine asked innocently.

"Shut up." Madame Giry snapped.

"He did say that he liked chicken in soy sauce last week, wasn't soy sauce on that list?"

"Not another word young lady." Madame Giry growled. "I may be old, but I'm still allowed a little romance."

"Meg is too." Christine said softly, tucking her book under her arm and standing. "She's seventeen. Soon she'll need to start thinking about getting married."

"She's a talented enough dancer to not need a husband to support her."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Christine replied. "I'm not saying that she needs to be a mother and start a family, I'm saying that her career will only take her so far, and after that, she'll be alone. You won't last forever."

Madame Giry looked over her shoulder. "Excuse me?"

Christine smile turned downward. "It happened to me." She revealed. "I had a career and my father. I wanted to get married, but thought there would be time later." She shook her head, rubbing her eyes. "Now my father is gone, and now it's too late."