Maria Beyond the Sea

Gala Experience

A large crowd began to gather as a nervous Maria sat in one of the rows at the back of the convrsatiry. Maria was now out of her green dress; in its place, she wore an embroidered Abaya Robe with a long dress. Sky-light blue with white lace on the sleeves, the dress reached down to her feet. On her feet (for the first time in her life, she wore shoes; richly embroidered with small gold beads, brightening the colour – which matched the dress. The Abaya Maria wore on her head was bright white; like the clouds in the sky.

Once she saw them, Tintin and the Captain came and sat in the row; with Tintin sitting next to Maria. He was spellbound by her beauty.

'You look beautiful, Maria', he smiled.

'Even though the clothes are com – com – Paul – army to wear?' She had difficulty trying to pronounce the word compulsory.

With a gentle response, Tintin told her the word, before he said, 'Compulsory or not, you are the light of the day. I wouldn't change you for anything. Not even for treasure. With beauty, religion and customs don't matter. What does is the beauty that comes from within'. Tintin wanted to kiss her like he did when they were in the Sarhai, but this kind of contact was forbidden. In return, Maria smiled.

Then, this moment was interrupted by a cough. Both of them turned around to their left where they saw a gentleman facing them. 'I apologise, Sahib, but the lady cannot sit here. She must sit in the back row'.

'Forgive me, Sir', Maria replied gently. 'I shall move'. She smiled to Tintin before the gentleman escorted her to the row behind her friends. She took to her seat next to a woman, dressed in a plum long evening dress. The woman smiled at Maria; she was very friendly.

'First time?' She asked.

Maria nodded.

'Don't worry, Opera is magical. You'll enjoy it'.

Gasps from the audience echoed the convrsatiry as Bianca Castifore; all dressed in her plum evening gown with her long white gloves. She walked to the audience, with poise and grace. At that moment, Ben Salaad smiled and lead the audience to stand and applause.

'It's her!' Maria heard the Captain say.

From a distance, Maria saw Bianca smiling and blushing. The applause was music to her ears (although she hadn't started yet). Maria smiled in return. She loved seeing people smile, wherever she was who she was looking at. From a small glance, Maria saw Tintin, looking at her with a smile on his face. She smiled in return once more.

Ben Salaad the led the audience to sit back to their seats. He proceeded with the gala, allowing Bianca to start singing.

Straight away, singing in soprano, Bianca began to perform. Quit, then louder; loud and then, quit again. With the way she was singing, she was making her voice walk up the stairs, reach to the top (in full celebration) and swirling back down. For the rest of the performance, Bianca was singing very quietly, but loud enough for the audience to hear.

'The song she's singing is from Romeo and Juliet', the lady told Maria. 'The song takes place when Juliet tries to tell her Nurse about Romeo, before secretly marrying him'.

'That's so sweet', Maria said warmly. 'Do you know what it's called?'

'Je Veux Vivre. It means, I Want to Live'.

The woman and Maria exchanged smiles for a third time; Maria was getting used to making new friends – and she was glad to sit down next to her. Both of them resumed to watch Bianca Castifore; however, half of the performance was interrupted by a sound of a head bashing against the chair.

It was the Captain; Maria understood why he was bashing his head against the chair. He hated Opera. It felt like he was trying to wake up from a horrible nightmare. Suddenly, Maria heard howling and yelping. It was Snowy. He was wiping his ears with his paws and rolling around on the floor. Maria guessed that he didn't like the music too. She felt sorry for Tintin; he must have been embarrassed. Maria tried not to look; luckily, she could hear Bianca but with the noise clashing in front of her, Maria couldn't help her emotions from within. She sensed the embarrassment filling up the room. She was surprised that Bianca didn't stop.

Well, she was a professional – so she must be used to noise.

'Oh, Christopher Columbus! It's every man for himself. Make way – medical emergency'. Leaving his seat, the Captain ran away from his seat and picked up a white sheet from the table to cover his ears. To his relief, he stood outside, away from the noise.

When the Captain left, all members of audience could continue to enjoy and watch the gala in peace. Maria enjoyed herself for a while when suddenly, she saw a dark shadow figure standing on the balcony above and behind the audience. The man had a falcon, resting on his arm. Maria watched Tintin as he looked through his binoculars, before realising in horror who it was. Maria looked at the figure and in an instant, she gasped at the figure.

'Sakharine!' they cried.