“There won’t be any pickpockets either,” Julia pointed out.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said Miss Z. “There were plenty of bad people in Pompeii back in the year 79 too, I bet. Maybe worse people. As always, I’ll need you to stay together at all times and work as a team.”
“We always work as a team,” David said. “We’re the Flashback Four.”
David, Luke, Julia, and Isabel went home with instructions to familiarize themselves with Pompeii and the Roman Empire at the time of the Mount Vesuvius eruption. The better prepared they were, the better they would be at handling any unexpected situations. Two days later they came back to Miss Z’s office, armed with information and excited to get started on their next mission.
“Well, what have you kids learned?” Miss Z said, clapping her hands together. “How did you conduct your research?”
“I read a book for adults,” Isabel said. “It was called The Fires of Vesuvius, by Mary Beard.”
“Me too,” said David. “I think mine was just called Pompeii or something.”
“I went online,” Julia reported. “There are like a zillion websites all about the Roman Empire.”
“Good. How about you, Luke?” asked Miss Z. “What did you do?”
“I watched a movie,” Luke replied.
“Oh, which one? I love film,” said Miss Z. “Was it The Last Days of Pompeii? That was marvelous. Alan Hale was in it. Did you know that his son played the Skipper in that silly TV series Gilligan’s Island?”
“The movie I watched was Animal House,” said Luke.
“Animal House?” said David, puzzled. “I saw that movie when I was little. What does it have to do with Pompeii?”
“Not a whole lot,” replied Luke. “But there was one scene where all the frat guys dressed up in togas. Will we get to wear togas?”
“To-ga! To-ga! To-ga!” Luke and David began chanting until Miss Z held up her hand.
For those of you who don’t know, a toga is a long, loose piece of clothing that was sort of like a bedsheet wrapped around your body.
“I’m sorry,” Miss Z told the boys, bringing their chant to a halt. “Only the noblemen in ancient Rome wore togas.”
“Oh man,” grumbled David. “Togas are cool.”
“So what did everybody else wear?” asked Julia.
“I’m glad you asked,” replied Miss Z. “Mrs. Vader, will you please go get the clothes we discussed?”
Mrs. Vader went out in the hall.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Julia whispered to Isabel. “We’re going to be the most fashionable ladies in all of Pompeii!”
Julia loved fashion. Shopping was her favorite thing to do in the world. Nothing made her happier than trying on new clothes.
Mrs. Vader wheeled in a rack of clothes. They were identical formless, shapeless, full-length cotton frocks. Rags, really. It would be almost like wearing a garbage bag with armholes and a hole for the head cut out of it. And they were all the same color—beige. Some had stains on them.
“Those are for the boys, right?” Julia asked hopefully. “After this, you’re going to bring out the ladies’ clothes for Isabel and me.”
“No, these are the clothes for all of you,” said Mrs. Vader.
Julia couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“They’re not very fashionable,” she said, feeling the material. David and Luke rolled their eyes.
“It’s not about being fashionable,” Miss Z said. “This is not about making you look good. It’s about blending in with the everyday people of Pompeii. This is what regular people wore. Remember, you’re going to the year 79. They didn’t have factories or sewing machines back then. They didn’t have machines of any sort.”
Each of the kids picked an outfit off the rack and went to the little changing rooms adjoining Miss Z’s office. A few minutes later, David was the first to emerge.
“I’m looking good!” he said, showing off for Miss Z and Mrs. Vader. “Hey, we should walk around Boston like this and blow everyone’s mind.”
Luke came out next, looking pretty much the same as David.
“Well,” he said, “it’s better than that sailor suit you made me wear on the Titanic. That was humiliating.”
Isabel was next to emerge from the changing room. She spun around, struck a pose, and pointed one finger in the air.
“‘Friends, Romans, countrymen!’” she bellowed. “‘Lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him!’”
Miss Z and Mrs. Vader clapped. The boys just stared at Isabel blankly.
“That’s Shakespeare!” Isabel told them. “It’s one of the most famous speeches ever given! Didn’t you guys read Julius Caesar in fifth grade?”
“Julius who?” asked David.
“I had a Caesar salad in fifth grade,” added Luke.
One-fourth of the Flashback Four had yet to emerge from the changing room.
“Come on out, Julia!” called Miss Z.
“No!” Julia shouted back. “This is horrible. I’m staying in here forever.”
“Don’t be a baby,” Isabel said. “We all look the same.”
Finally, Julia came out, hiding her face in her hands.
“You look fine,” said Mrs. Vader.
“I look like I’m homeless,” Julia complained. “If any of my friends saw me dressed like this, I’d have to change schools.”
Miss Z informed the kids that even though they were dressed in rags, the people of the Roman Empire considered keeping their clothes clean to be a high priority. When Pompeii was finally unearthed in the 1800s, a dozen laundries were discovered among the ruins.
At that point, Mrs. Vader brought in a tray with bread, cheese, and pastries for the kids to munch on. Julia asked about what foods they should expect to find in Pompeii, but Miss Z told her it shouldn’t be an issue.
“I’m sending you there for just two hours,” she said. “You shouldn’t need to eat a meal. When you get back, I’ll give you lunch and you can tell me all about your adventure.”
While
