Study in Red

The lady in red was approaching... okay, let's begin from the beginning.

A friend of mine was going to Philadelphia yesterday, to attend a silent auction there and he invited me to join him. We leaved Fairfax by six o'clock in the evening, and the auction was scheduled to start at seven. Well, at eight o'clock we were still stuck in traffic somewhere near Bethesda. Finally we arrived at the auction at nine.

The auction was organized by a class from one of the business schools of University of Pennsylvania, as part of the curriculum, so there were a lot of young people.

I was looking to find whether there was someone that I knew. Impossible. All figures were new for me. At that moment I noticed her, the lady in red.

I didn't know her either, but a memory of my childhood came quickly in my mind. She had no hood at all, that was true, but she was all in red, and she was carrying a small basket. Oh, my, and the guy near, with sparkling eyes, like a wolf!

The Little Red Riding Hood, could that be possible? So the fairy tale was true? Was it not just a story, imagined by Charles Perrault and then re-imagined by Brothers Grim?

It's true that the Red Riding Hood was no more a little one, but, you know, after so many years, even she should have grown up!

She came to greet us. I showed her the guy with sparkling eyes. She smiled and told me to relax: the guy near her was one of the main organizers of the event. As for the lady in black who was talking to the two other guys, well, she was no more no lest than Miss Philadelphia! Wow!



There was plenty of food and drinks, and a small jazz band was keeping the atmosphere warm. Suddenly the Red Riding Hood took the mike to announce the close of the bid. We had arrived too late, however my friend was able to make a bid for one of the items. He told me that, very excited. I got an elephant!

How could that be? I asked him.

Yeah, an elephant, that's it.

And how will you manage to take him with you?

In the trunk.

Then I realized: it was a dwarf elephant. Things happen. Elephants can be also dwarfs, sometimes. Besides, it was a porcelain elephant.



As for me, I looked again for the Red Riding Hood and I asked the permission to take some pictures of her. She agreed with a great smile.

I tried also a long shot - only I wasn't careful, so the Red Riding Hood got a bit beheaded. Luckily for me there was no hunter around.





(Philadelphia)