A Night Like a Victor Hugo Novel

With the backstage crew of Notre Dame de Paris. It was like a Victor Hugo novel. I had left my favorite hat at the theater a week before - I called but could not reach a lost & found. I called again to ask if anyone  had the hat. The office? The security department? The Information desk? Frustrated, I decided to go back to the theater - a half hour metro ride. I arrived at 4:00 pm before the offices of the venue, the Palais des Congress would be closed for the day. They closed early! The information desk did not have the hat. I decided to wait until the theater opened at 7:30 pm. What to do with three hours? There was a movie theater inside the complex, too. A huge one! What better way to kill the time than to see Napoleon which I have wanted to see since my arrival in France. So, I walked to the theater - quite a stroll - it’s a huge place - to learn that Napoleon’s last day was the day before. I asked if there were any English films playing at the moment. None! But, as I departed with a long face, the ticket seller said a new movie had arrived that day - not in English or in French - no dialogue at all - an animation called Mon Ami Robot - Robot Dreams. It was just starting and would be over just as the gates for Notre Dame de Paris would open at 7:30 pm! So I walked to Movie Room Ten to find two fathers with their young daughters watching the film. I joined them and was delighted by the movie - a colorful, heart warming tale about loyalty and friendship. It was an unplanned moment of enjoyment. After, I walked back to the entrance to Notre Dame de Paris. I told my tale to the guard about the lost hat. He told me to wait and disappeared inside the theater. A few minutes later, he emerged but was not carrying the hat. I thought no luck, but he proceeded to explain I needed to go to the stage entrance for crew - a somewhat convoluted and incomprehensible instruction involving back doors, security codes, special intercoms. I felt the hat slipping further away. I didn’t have a clue how to follow the instruction. Then, as if cued by grace and good fortune, the man standing next to me - listening to my tale, tapped me on the shoulder. “No worries,” he said. “I’ll take you there.” He was the Director of Scenery for the show, a veteran theater professional, and together we navigated the back stage passages to the interior of the stage. He happily introduced me to the colleagues, and announced, “ He’s come for the hat!” Another stage hand disappeared into the entrails of the scenery mechanisms and emerged carrying - you guessed it, MY HAT. Hurrah! The crew knew it was a special hat - made from cork in Auvergne - and they guarded it for whomever might return to fetch it. ME! The kindness of the French. The honesty and integrity of theater crew. We took a quick photo and I departed a happy man, wearing my favorite hat. Vive La France!