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holmes_minor2020-01-29 05:56 am
stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote in holmes_minor2020-01-29 05:56 am
Entry tags:
Fic: Puzzle Love: G
Title: Puzzle Love
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
Characters: Mycroft Holmes & Sherlock Holmes
Notes: Happy National Puzzle Day! The puzzle I imagine in the story is something like this.
Summary: Mycroft tests a young Sherlock's intelligence.
As Sherlock Holmes neared his third birthday, Mycroft began to wonder, with mixed disappointment and relief, if his younger brother were normal. As far as Mycroft could tell, Sherlock showed no signs of heightened intelligence, but Mycroft admitted that his own grasp of what a three-year-old should and should not be able to do was tenuous. Nevertheless, he decided to test Sherlock.
The most difficult part of the whole affair was hiding from Sherlock long enough to assemble the test. The little scamp was like Mycroft’s shadow! But Mycroft persisted and, at times resorting to frank subterfuge, managed to secure the necessary supplies and the time and privacy to put them together in a form which was most satisfactory.
Then he presented the test to Sherlock.
It was a puzzle.
The puzzle was made of a rectangle of wood with two holes through which were looped a rope on which was strung two wooden beads. The objective, or so Mycroft carefully explained, was to put to two wooden beads on the same side. The challenge was that the holes were too small for the beads to fit.
Sherlock took the puzzle. He stared at it for a long time, in which Mycroft’s anticipation grew. Then he looked up at Mycroft and asked,
“Can we feed ducks?”
Mycroft tried valiantly to hide his disappointment. He nodded and said gently,
“Yes, let’s go feed the ducks.”
Mycroft tried again when they returned from the pond, presenting Sherlock with the wooden puzzle and, once again, explain in even more simpler terms, what the aim was, but Sherlock just repeated his staring and made no attempt to solve it.
Oh, well, thought Mycroft. The hour chimed the arrival of his Latin tutor, and he drowned himself in his studies.
Indeed, by the time, Mycroft went to bed that evening, he’d forgot all about the puzzle.
Then he slid his hand beneath his pillow, and his fingers touched wood.
He drew it out.
The puzzle had been completely disassembled and reassembled in a more complicated form.
There was a giggling beneath Mycroft’s bed.
“Sherlock?”
Sherlock pushed himself halfway out. He laughed and pointed up at Mycroft.
“My’s turn! My’s turn!”
Mycroft looked at the puzzle and smiled and realised something very important:
Sherlock didn’t need tests. He needed games.
“You made this for me?” he asked.
Sherlock nodded, eyes shining.
Mycroft nodded. “Thank you. Let’s see.”
And damn if it didn’t take Mycroft a full sixty minutes to get the two wooden beads on the same side!
---
When the very important personages with the very furrowed brows had left Mycroft’s office, he reached down, opened a drawer of his desk, and drew out the puzzle. He fingered the wooden beads and the rope and smiled.
Sherlock didn’t need tests. He needed games.
Even decades later, Mycroft was always pleased when he had a new game, a new puzzle for his brother. This one was called ‘find the naval documents,’ but the principle was the same.
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
Characters: Mycroft Holmes & Sherlock Holmes
Notes: Happy National Puzzle Day! The puzzle I imagine in the story is something like this.
Summary: Mycroft tests a young Sherlock's intelligence.
As Sherlock Holmes neared his third birthday, Mycroft began to wonder, with mixed disappointment and relief, if his younger brother were normal. As far as Mycroft could tell, Sherlock showed no signs of heightened intelligence, but Mycroft admitted that his own grasp of what a three-year-old should and should not be able to do was tenuous. Nevertheless, he decided to test Sherlock.
The most difficult part of the whole affair was hiding from Sherlock long enough to assemble the test. The little scamp was like Mycroft’s shadow! But Mycroft persisted and, at times resorting to frank subterfuge, managed to secure the necessary supplies and the time and privacy to put them together in a form which was most satisfactory.
Then he presented the test to Sherlock.
It was a puzzle.
The puzzle was made of a rectangle of wood with two holes through which were looped a rope on which was strung two wooden beads. The objective, or so Mycroft carefully explained, was to put to two wooden beads on the same side. The challenge was that the holes were too small for the beads to fit.
Sherlock took the puzzle. He stared at it for a long time, in which Mycroft’s anticipation grew. Then he looked up at Mycroft and asked,
“Can we feed ducks?”
Mycroft tried valiantly to hide his disappointment. He nodded and said gently,
“Yes, let’s go feed the ducks.”
Mycroft tried again when they returned from the pond, presenting Sherlock with the wooden puzzle and, once again, explain in even more simpler terms, what the aim was, but Sherlock just repeated his staring and made no attempt to solve it.
Oh, well, thought Mycroft. The hour chimed the arrival of his Latin tutor, and he drowned himself in his studies.
Indeed, by the time, Mycroft went to bed that evening, he’d forgot all about the puzzle.
Then he slid his hand beneath his pillow, and his fingers touched wood.
He drew it out.
The puzzle had been completely disassembled and reassembled in a more complicated form.
There was a giggling beneath Mycroft’s bed.
“Sherlock?”
Sherlock pushed himself halfway out. He laughed and pointed up at Mycroft.
“My’s turn! My’s turn!”
Mycroft looked at the puzzle and smiled and realised something very important:
Sherlock didn’t need tests. He needed games.
“You made this for me?” he asked.
Sherlock nodded, eyes shining.
Mycroft nodded. “Thank you. Let’s see.”
And damn if it didn’t take Mycroft a full sixty minutes to get the two wooden beads on the same side!
---
When the very important personages with the very furrowed brows had left Mycroft’s office, he reached down, opened a drawer of his desk, and drew out the puzzle. He fingered the wooden beads and the rope and smiled.
Sherlock didn’t need tests. He needed games.
Even decades later, Mycroft was always pleased when he had a new game, a new puzzle for his brother. This one was called ‘find the naval documents,’ but the principle was the same.
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Sherlock didn’t need tests. He needed games. It's an interesting and well-made point.
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Right, I mean, Mycroft wants to see if he's smart but Sherlock has even gone to school yet to know what tests are. It just isn't going to work.