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at the end, while I did all the work!”
    I felt sorry for Aunt Harmonica as she told me her story. It must have been terrible to have to watch others getting all the praise for her singing.
    She dabbed a handkerchief at the corner of her eyes.
    “Still,” she went on, “there’s no point in complaining about our lot in life. It’s my job and … good heavens! Look at the time! I’m going to have to sing in five minutes. The leading lady has quite lost her voice and I’m to do her singing. So, come along, you can stand beside me and see how it’s done.”
    I was thrilled to be able to stand beside Aunt Harmonica and watch the preparation on the stage. Everybody was in position now, including the opera star who had lost her voice. Down in the orchestra pit, the orchestra was playing the overture, and on the other side of the stage they were preparing to raise the curtain. Aunt Harmonica looked at me, smiled, and reached into her bag for a throat lozenge.
    “I always suck one of these quickly beforeI sing,” she whispered. “It lubricates my vocal cords.”
    The curtain began to rise and the chorus of opera singers standing at the back of the stage burst into song. Aunt Harmonica was following what was going on very carefully, ready to begin her part when her cue came.
    Suddenly I noticed that there was something wrong with Aunt Harmonica. She had raised her hands to her throat and was clutching at it frantically. Her face was beginning to turn purple—more or less the color my father had turned when the elephant had coiled its trunk around him.
    I realized almost immediately what had happened. The throat lozenge which Aunt Harmonica had been sucking must have stuck in her throat and now she was not only breathless but voiceless. I turned to Aunt Veronica and tugged at her arm.
    “Oh my goodness!” muttered Aunt Veronica, slapping her sister on the back. “There’s something stuck in her throat.”
    She gave her a few more slaps on the back,but it did not seem to do any good. Aunt Veronica then did something which seemed very strange at the time but which was obviously the right thing to do. Reaching down, she picked Aunt Harmonica up by her legs and held her upside down. There was a strange wheezing sound and then a gasp. The lozenge had moved.
    Aunt Veronica placed Aunt Harmonica back on her feet, but unfortunately, this made the lozenge lodge again. Quickly she turned her upside down again, and the lozenge moved again.
    “Keep me like this,” Aunt Harmonica said. “It’s the only way I’m going to be able to sing.”
    And sing she did, all the time being held upside down by Aunt Veronica. It was a very strange thing to see—an aunt being held in such an unusual position, all the while throwing her voice over the stage to where the leading lady was merely opening her mouth and pretending to sing. I am sure it was the very strangest incident in the whole history of opera.
    But there was something even stranger. If you have ever heard anybody sing upside down (and you probably haven’t), then you might realize that the words come out … upside down! Yes! And this is exactly what happened. Although Aunt Harmonica’s voice sounded very tuneful, the song she was singing was definitely upside down.
    By craning my neck a little, I could just see the audience past the edge of the curtain. At first they appeared not to notice anything, but after a few moments I saw that some of them were looking a little bit puzzled. Then one or two of them began to twist their heads around, and soon most people were doing this. By getting their heads just about as close as they could to being upside down, they heard the words perfectly. It was all very strange indeed.
    At the end of the act, the curtain came down and Aunt Veronica was able to carry the upside down Aunt Harmonica back to her dressing room. There, with the aid of a glass of water, which Aunt Harmonica managed todrink, the lozenge was dislodged from its place