Armand Moncharmin sat in his office. He stared into his empty cup of ice and decided on another drink. As he rose to pour some more brandy his compainion Firmin entered with the morning newspaper tucked under his arm. Armand poured the brandy and offered some to Firmin who declined it asking how he could drink this early in the morning, but then sumising that Armand had never stopped. Armand sat down heavily in his chair and began sipping his refreshed cup.
"What do you have there, Firmin?" Asked Armand as he brushed back a lock of his dark black hair that had fallen down, tickling his nose.
"The morning news." Answered Firmin. His dark brown eyes almost swelled with tears.
"And?" asked Armand while squeezing his bright blue eyes shut in order to see the tall, thin man in his early forties standing before him opening the paper. It took one more blink to bring his long face and sandy blonde hair into focus.
"It's official....we're finished. The headline reads: Managers manage to lose best diva, who brought down the house." Firmin closed the paper and stared at his plump, younger friend of thirty-eight whose square face was set to red by the massive amounts of liquor consumed that night.
"If only they knew that she brought down the house literally!" Armand noted with a chuckle. "Damn that Phantom! Richard we'll have to sell if we want to make any money at all."
"Those were the words I didn't want to hear, Moncharmin. When we entered this business, we decided that I would handle the theatre, you the finance. As my finacial advisor, Armand, is this what we've come to?" Firmin watched angered as Armand began sipping his liquor again. He grabbed the glass from Armand's hand and finished it for him. Armand raised a hand to protest, but instead sunk lower into his chair and blew out his cheeks.
"I'm afraid so old friend." He sighed once, which was joined with Firmin's. "God, could you please tell me why we decided to get into this ridiculous idea of running an opera house?" Armand shouted in a fit of angry drunkedness.
"It makes me wonder why we even tried this. You know nothing of music!" Firmin sneered, trying to find a scapegoat. Armand jumped out of the chair.
"What? Excuse me? You're blaming me for this....as I clearly recall it was your decision to even begin this and I was apposed to it saying it would never work out." He fell, once again, back into the overstuffed armchair.
"Actually, if you recall everything so clearly then you would surely remember that you wanted on board so that you could hasle the poor chorus girls and get closer to your favorite diva....oh, poor Charlotta!" Firmin sat on the edge of the desk and faced Armand.
"How is she fairring?" He asked with a concerned, loving look in his eyes.
"She's been committed, and taken to Bedlem in London. She continues to scream and take fright of this Phantom." Firmin stared out the window as Armand stared blankly at the floor.
"Ohh." He said with little enthusiasm. "I will have to make a trip to my homeland to pay her a visit." The words sounded promising, but would not be kept. "Firmin?"
"Yes?"
"How did we get into this mess?" Armand sat there still staring, nonchalantly at the ground.
"I believe it began when we both were young pups and able to handle anything that came our way. I'll bet we never would of dreamed of this happening." Firmin turned away and opened the paper once more reading the title over and over again, making sure it was real. He was interrupted by Armand's tenor voice saying,
"Oh, yes....now I remember...college. Those years were the greatest years of our lives. And that was the year we made that fatal decision...."
Armand ran through the small cafe, passing all his friends who beconed him for one cup of tea. He waved them away and continued his course to the college book store. He was twenty five, muscular and intelligent. He ran quickly, not stopping even for the prettiest girls. He was like a bullet on a mission, stopping only at the master list of all the books in the store. His bright blue eyes searched the list feverently for any sign of the name Dante. Suddenly the list was grabbed from his clutches. He looked up furiously at his best friend Firmin.
"Give it back...my report for composition is due in one hour!!!!" Armand said struggling to get the list which Firmin held over his head. Being a good deal shorter than Firmin, it was impossible for Armand to reach.
"Sorry, but I believe I was looking at it when you barged in....besides, I thought your paper on Dante was finished a week ago?" Firmin added with a slight grin.
"No, well, yes it was, but when I searched for it today it was gone, now I only have....52 minutes to write a new one, or I fail the course!" Armand spoke while staggering his breath. "Heh, wait...how did you know I was looking for Dante?" Armand cast a suspicious glance at his 4 year friend.
"Oh, I just thought that you'd want to spend some time in Inferno, seeing as how that's where you're going when you're older....you waster!" Armand's eyes went crazy with delight and anger.
"Then I suppose you'd join me in the third circle....you hoarder, you have my paper!!!" Firmin presented the twenty page report with a grin. Armand grabbed it from him and tackled him to the ground, trying to wrestle him under.
Armand Moncharmin was a handsome boy, studying finance at Oxford college. He had met Firmin in his freshman year. Firmin Richard was the total opposite of Armand. Firmin was tall and overweight with short sandy colored hair which complimented his mustache and small gotie. Firmin was a couple years older than Armand, but his maturity was far less. Firmin enjoyed playing practical jokes on everyone. He especially like his new friend Armand, because he was so easy to get. Firmin was a music major, specializing in performance. His goal was to become, oneday, the manager of an Opera house. He loved opera and introduced Armand to the art. The first show that they ever saw was a traveling show of La Boheme. Armand loved in and fell in love with a young diva who was bound for talent. Her name was Charlotta, and she was from Spain. Armand fell in love with her voice, and immidiately following the show, ran to buy her flowers. Once he finally found a shop open at that time of night he returned to the theatre only to find that the musicians had gone to their next city leaving at a record breaking pace. Armand just shrugged and thought he'd see her again once she returned with another company. After a couple of years he read that she had recieved a permanant position as diva at the Paris Opera House. He fell into despair, for being in England he thought he would never get to France. Besides, he had plenty of girls to keep him company.
Firmin Richard met a young girl named Cecile who helped out at the college by cleaning the library. One evening Firmin was in the mood for a change of music. He went deep into the depths of the library to find where the music was stored. As he approached the bottom, he discovered a light shinning. He blew out his own and proceeded into the room. There sat Cecile at the desk...reading.
"Wow!" Firmin began, startling the girl. "I never knew you were able to read?" She closed the book abashed and put it onto the shelf. She began to pass by Firmin when he grabbed her arm stopping her. "Please, I'm sorry. I mean you no harm and promise that no one will know of this." He smiled. They were the truest words he's ever spoken. She broke into smiles.
"I know you...your Firmin Richards. I've always admired your work as a musician." She smiled and lowered her eyes. "Here!" she bringing out a package, which she handed to Firmin. "Go on, please open it!" He did so and discovered it to be music sheets. He hummed a bit of the music and quickly turned to her.
"Who wrote this? It is beautiful music, and I've never heard of it!" She smiled.
"I-i-it's mine. No one must know. You may print it as your own, though." He smiled with a raidant idea.
"Well, if you'd be my wife we could sign it Richard only and that way no one would have a clue!" She smiled strongly with her bright green eyes raidiating. Firmin reached up to her hair pin and removed it...watching as the bright blonde hair fell to her waist. He was in love from that point on.
Armand stayed single only because he enjoyed dating women, but never settling down.
After graduation, the two drifted apart. Armand worked as a dedicated financier to a highly regarded shipping service. He was treated with less than no respect, but he was earning alot of money. Firmin married Cecile and went to Austria to better his music. He made very little money, and Cecile wanted a child soon. Firmin worked many hours trying just to find a job, and therefore was never home for his wife. Both of their lives had turned from fun to misery, until one day which was supposed to be their "Big break." And for sometime it was. Until they refused to follow orders.