Roman Soldiers and Juggling

The two Roman soldiers raced around the bend in the road and caught sight of the tree, the finish line. The man on the left, with the little bit of strength he had left, pushed himself into a headlong sprint and made it to the tree a few seconds before his companion. As they panted and rested against the tree in the cool of the shade, they pulled their sudariums (sweat cloths) from their belts and wiped down their necks and faces. The sudarium that each man carried had become extremely popular recently and no sensible man exercised or went anywhere for that matter without one.
The roman sudariums inspired the Croatian military to develop scarves that tied around the throat, otherwise known as cravats. Cravats were used to distinguish rank among the troops. While making negotiations with France, the cravat caught the French king Lois XIV’s attention and he found it more practical then the French’s starched collars so he began wearing them. Once one of the most powerful kings in Europe started wearing a cravat the rest of the world was quick to follow. After the cravat, the style developed into stocks and then into scarves and bandanas.
I pulled out a scarf from the bag. It was pink and transparent and in a perfect square. When I touched it the material felt cool on my hand and very soft. In facet, it was so soft I felt like my hands must be coarse and dry in comparison. I threw it up in the air and it gently fluttered down and it reminded me of my P.E. class in elementary school. My teacher tried to teach us to juggle but instead of using ball we used light weight scarves like that one. When we threw them up they didn’t fall as quickly so we had time to catch them and throw them back up again before one of the scarves hit the floor.