It was in 1905. An auction was happening in the old Paris Opera House. The auctioneer was selling off several items, many props used in numerous productions, down some 45 years before. The auctioneer banged his gavel against the podium. "Sold! Lot number 665: a paper-mâché music box, in the shape of a barrel organ. Attached is a Persian monkey dressed in robes, playing cymbals. This item was discovered in the vaults of the Opera House, still in working order. The bidding will start at 20 francs. 20? 15, then."
The assistant played a small part of the music box. When it ended, an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair raised his number. "Sold, for 30 francs to the Vicomte de Chagny. Thank you, sir." The assistant handed the box to the elderly man. The man, named Xander, held it up to examine it. Half to himself, half to the box, he talk a low tone.
"A collector's piece indeed
Every detail, exactly as she said
She often spoke of you, my friend.
Your velvet lining and your figurine of lead.
Will you still play,
when the rest of us are dead?"
Xander handed the music box to a nurse next to him. Every one's attention turned back to the auctioneer. "Lot number 666: a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Angel of the Opera: a mystery never fully explained. We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops had repaired it so that we may get a glimpse of it's original fixture. Perhaps we may be able to scare away the ghost of the past with a little illumination. Shall we, gentlemen?"
Three men ripped off the sheet covering the chandelier. In a blaze of lights and music, the chandelier rose above the Opera House to it's old position. The auction slowly melted away, revealing the Opera House as it was 45 years earlier, in 1850 . . .
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