The Girl in the Red Dress

Happy anniversary! said Pliny the Elder. Forty years! That's a very long time to be married.

Thank you Pliny, I replied. But it doesn't seem that long.

You must have been quite a young bride. I have never seen a photograph of your wedding. Why is that?

There isn't one.

Why not? I believe they had such things as cameras in those days?

They did. But no one thought to bring one.

That is mysterious. May I ask the circumstances of your wedding?

It was a Thursday afternoon. We changed into our best clothes in the change rooms and left school early.

By Jupiter! You were school children?

No no, we were teachers. But we had to sneak off.

Why?

To avoid a hullabaloo.

Did nobody notice you, leaving school in a long white dress?

Oh I wasn't in a long white dress Pliny. I was in a very short red one, with black and white trim. It was military in style, if I remember.

Military. I should like to have seen it.

Well you can't. Nobody can. You will have to imagine it.

I shall, said Pliny.