The Blue and the Grey

Story Sent in by George:

Mid-way through my dinner date with Alexis, she pointed something out to me: "We're like the Civil War."

Then I noticed it. She was in a blue dress and I was in predominately grey. I smiled and joked, "We'd take first prize at a historical reenactment convention, for sure."

She replied, suddenly in a serious tone, "Why do you like slaves so much?"

Thinking she was joking, I said, "I don't, but a lot of my fellow plantation owners do."

But she was apparently serious. "I mean it. Why do you like slavery? The Civil War is over. You and your beliefs are over. It's the 21st century. Time to move on."

I said, "I don't like slavery at all."

"But you're in grey. That's total code."

"No it isn't."

She said, "Let's try it a different way: why do you like slaves?"

That wasn't different at all. And her voice was loud and there were other people around to hear this. Again, I said, "I don't," then I said, "You're in blue, so you must love being sad all the time."

"I do!" she snapped. "See? You love slaves!"

I realized this late in the game that no matter what I said, she'd probably jump down my throat. I spent the rest of dinner remaining as quiet as possible, although she felt inclined to call me a "slave-lover" and even said, "You probably still own slaves," at one point. It was too bad, as at first, she came across as very sweet. The only thing I could think of was that maybe she was right and wearing grey really was code for something that I didn't know.