Fantine

----We're in downtown Paris, several years before. A frazzled young mother, Fantine, is holding a beautiful child by the hand. She passes an inn, where two equally cute children are being cuddled by their mother. Fantine, sick and tired of trying to care for a child, promptly drops her daughter, Cosette, off with the woman- Madame Thernardier. She sends money every so often to care for her, like child support.

----Unknown to Fantine, Cosette is treated like Cinderella. She is made to do all the chores, treated like a slave, blah blah blah.

----Meanwhile, Fantine moves into Jean Valjean's town. (He is acting under a different name, Monsieur Madeleine, to keep from the prejudice against ex-convicts.) She works at the jewelry factory until someone realizes she has had a child out of wedlock, and she is fired. Fantine is bitter towards the mayor, Valjean, because she thinks he is responsible for her financial ruin.

----She goes downtown, racks up a debt, sells her hair and front teeth, and becomes a woman of ill repute all for her darling Cosette, who she hasn't seen in years. The Thernardiers are sending letters asking for more money, falsely claiming that her daughter is sick and needs expensive medicines.

----After a flailing altercation outside a tavern, Fantine is wrongly arrested for assault. The chief of police, Javert, lives to the letter of the law, and although he is fair, allows no mercy. He sentences her to prison for six months, which would probably kill her and Cosette, because the Thernardiers only keep her because of the money she brings. She grovels at his feet, trying to plead her case. All hope seems lost...

----And in a moment of trumpet fanfare and sunshine, in steps Mayor Madeleine, saying he saw the whole thing and politely demanding Fantine's release. Javert is forced to obey but is extremely annoyed, starting a domino reaction to be discussed in a later post. Fantine is infinitely relieved and thrilled. She brings the Mayor's hand to her lips in gratitude... and promptly passes out. That's gotta be embarrassing.

----She is rushed to the hospital (aka Valjean's basement) where she recieves around-the-clock care from some nuns. According to the doctor, her condition is deteriorating rapidly. She has always been frail, but ever since losing Cosette, her health has been bad. Mayor Madeleine (aka Jean Valjean, for those of you who didn't read the previous posts- go back and read them or nothing will make sense!) well, Mayor Madeleine stays constantly at her side, feeling responsible for her ruin- it was his factory that turned her away, after all. Throughout the illness, she keeps asking for Cosette, her darling. Valjean takes him upon himself to be her Make-A-Wish and let the mother see her daughter before she dies.