Synopsis: Vindolanda Voices: Anima Desideratissima

A summer morning in105 AD, the scene a fort on the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The garrison is getting ready to move on after four years in post. In the courtyard of the commanding officer's house, a clerk is feeding a bonfire with dead files from the office. A light drizzle is turning to steady rain. A young woman comes out of the house holding a bundle of wooden writing tablets. She gives some of them to the clerk and he throws them on the fire. When he holds out his hand for the rest, she withdraws them. "Not to worry," the clerk says, watching the rain falling on his upturned palm. "This lot won't burn much anyway." Nervously, the young woman smiles. "But orders is orders," she says before he does. And dropping her voice to a whisper, "Don't tell my husband." The clerk gives a conspiratorial wink and she scurries away, clutching the tablets to her breast.