Disclaimer: I do not own "101 Dalmatians" or its characters. They are property of Dodie Smith and the Walt Disney Company.
"A Radcliffe Anniversary"
By TwilightSparkle3562
It had been one year since the lives of Roger Radcliffe and his wife, Anita, were changed forever. What began as a typical walk in the park turned into a random encounter thanks to Roger's dog, Pongo that resulted in both of them getting more than a little wet behind the ears. Now happily married and living on the Dalmatian Plantation that they had always wanted, Roger and Anita both knew that they were nearing their wedding anniversary and they were both thinking of ways to celebrate it.
"Roger dear," sighed Anita on one spring evening as she laid back in her chair while Roger sat at his piano. "You know that our anniversary is coming up soon and I was wondering what you wanted us to do."
"Well, I've been so busy with these new songs that I just haven't had the time," replied Roger, closing up his songbook. "I'm sure you have been feeling the same way at the art studios."
Anita remembered that she had been busy with her artwork. After all, she had an opening to prepare for in London that was to take place in several days where her artwork would be featured. Among those attending were several members of the royal family and possibly her highness, Queen Elizabeth II.
"I have been feeling the same way," remarked Anita. "But, we should at least plan for our anniversary. It is only one night out of the whole year and besides, I think I am due for a nice night out with my darling husband."
Roger knew that his wife indeed had a point. For the past year, a lot had happened in their lives. In addition to their private wedding, they witnessed their dogs, Pongo and Perdita, give birth to fifteen puppies which were stolen by associates of Anita's old schoolmate, Cruella De Vil. Of course, the puppies were rescued and not only did they return, but they gained 99 more puppies and moved out of London and into the countryside.
"Then its settled, my darling wife," announced Roger, rising from his piano. "We shall go out and celebrate the first year of our marriage. There is no better time for a celebration of our marriage than now."
Roger then walked over and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek before going up to their bedroom while Anita began to make plans to go and buy herself a dress to wear on their special date. However, when she went upstairs to bed that evening after doing some more preparations for her art show, Anita saw one of the puppies playing around with an old dishrag and it got her thinking.
"Oh, Oddball," she thought to herself. "You remind me a lot of how I was when I was younger: always playful without a care in the world."
Oddball then looked back up at Anita and after yipping to acknowledge her prescense, the clumsiest of the 101 Dalmatians went off to bed underneath one of the tables with the other puppies. Anita then walked back upstairs and as she watched her husband sleep, she opened her closet and began looking at what to wear on her date. After looking at her clothes, she came across her brown spring suit that she wore on that fateful day in Regent's Park. Now, it was cleaned and tailored after being soaking wet.
"Why should I go out and spend money on a dress?" Anita whispered to herself. "It would be nice for Roger to see me in the outfit from the first day we met."
So, Anita placed her suit on the door of the bedroom and later joined her husband in bed, where Roger got up early the next morning to go into town to look for something to give to Anita.
Throughout the day, Roger knew that he didn't want to spend a lot of money on Anita because she was not what he called a very pricy person. Anita had come from a not so rich family and he had to realize that. To this end, he walked into the town's floral shop and approached the florist, Mr. Curry.
"An anniversary, you say, Roger?" remarked Mr. Curry. "I only remember the day you and Anita came here with all those dogs. I commend you and your wife on stepping up on taking care of them."
"Well, thank you, Mr. Curry," said Roger, trying to focus on the task at hand. "What I need is some roses if you have any. It would be a decent gift for Anita."
Although Mr. Curry was open to offering Roger other choices for gifts to Anita, he gathered several red roses that had just bloomed and placed them into a bouquet.
"Are you sure I can't offer you some other choices?" asked Mr. Curry. "Maybe I can offer something to go with whatever Anita is planning to wear. By the way, what is she planning on wearing?"
"She did say that she was going into London to buy a dress," said Roger. "We don't usually have anything formal in our family. We don't make that much money."
Mr. Curry was taken aback by this as he had heard Roger's songs after all and thought that Roger had made a decent amount of money.
"You are probably saying that because you are nervous, is that it?" suggested Mr. Curry, looking over at Roger with one eye on him. "Are you worried that you might do something foolish?"
"Well, I…" stuttered Roger, trying to come up with words to say to Mr. Curry.
"You see, Roger," explained Mr. Curry. "One thing that I had learned from my first wedding anniversary with my darling wife is that you must never try to be something you are not. You both love each other and you both know your tastes in each other. Just because Anita is saying that she is going to buy a dress, it doesn't mean that she is going to wear one."
Roger knew that Mr. Curry did have a point. Ever since they met on that fateful day in Regent's park, Roger had been trying to go the extra mile for Anita, even going as far as taking her out for a romantic dinner at Claridge's before taking an evening stroll through Regent's Park.
"Just be yourself, Roger," continued Mr. Curry. "You are both who you are and that's all there is to it. Why, take her down to the village pub tonight and I am sure that Tony and Joe will cook you something that will be to your liking."
So, Roger bought the flowers and thanked Mr. Curry for the advice before setting back off for the farm to start preparing for his night out with Anita. Meanwhile, Anita was back at the farm, having just finished ironing her spring suit and was now about to do her makeup when Oddball came in and started to chew on the white slip that Anita would wear under her suit.
"Oddball, you silly thing," laughed Anita as the clumsy puppy looked back at her. "That is mine to wear, you know. Now, why don't you chew on something that your mother may have provided you."
Oddball then spotted a toy bone and began to chew on it and this allowed Anita to take her shower and start her delicate preparation for her night out with Roger. A little while later, Anita grabbed her white slip and undergarments and went back into the bathroom to put them on. Once her undergarments and makeup were on, she slid on her tan pantyhose and then slid on her suit with the skirt first and then the jacket. Finally, she tied a brown scarf around her neck and placed her long red hair into its usual bun.
"Do I look lovely, Oddball?" asked Anita as the puppy yipped happily. "I hope Roger thinks I look nice."
Just then, Anita heard the door open and she called down to Roger, who at that moment, walked into the house holding the bouquet of red roses he had gotten for his wife.
"I wasn't expecting you until later, Roger, dear," remarked Anita. "I mean, I was upstairs getting dressed and…"
"You must have been planning to go into London to look for a dress for our night out," said Roger, handing her the flowers. "I wasn't planning on giving these to you until later, but here you go."
Anita accepted the flowers and smiled back at her husband, however, a crestfallen look fell on her face when she realized that she didn't get a gift for Roger.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, taking note of Anita's worried expression. "You look you forgot something, my dear."
"It's just that I was meaning to buy you something for our, you know…" began Anita but Roger, remembering what Mr. Curry had told him, stopped his wife from saying another word.
"I know what you are going to say," interrupted Roger. "You were trying to go into London to buy the most expensive dress to wear and buy me the most expensive gift possible from Harrods."
Anita could guess immediately that her husband was trying to get her to back out of going into the fray of finding a gift.
"But, I went into Mr. Curry's shop," continued Roger. "And he explained to me that those things are not important to an anniversary. What's important is you, Anita, the woman that I chose to spend the rest of my life with."
"For that, thank you Roger," replied Anita, smiling warmly. "I guess we should just stay here in town for our anniversary, I suppose."
So, with their eyes locked upon one another, they walked out of the house and into the village where they would begin their anniversary celebration. After a long day of spending together, they made their way to the village pub where they were treated to a warm evening dinner with the two owners, Tony and Joe, looking after them.
"Happy anniversary, my love," said Roger. "You look very beautiful tonight."
"Happy anniversary, my love," replied Anita. "You look very handsome tonight."
And at that point, they leaned towards each other and gave each other a passionate kiss over their dinner, realizing that their anniversary would not be defined by their gifts or their looks, but for their love for each other.
