Fic: Make up: Gen
Sep. 18th, 2024 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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holmes_minorTitle: Make up
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Summary: Sussex AU. Watson comes across a book while on a shopping trip in London.
“Ah-ha!” cried Holmes, startling me out of my contemplation. “The tables have finally turned. Normally, it is me who is mired in some curious shop and you who is urging me to get along and aid you in seeing to our humble but necessary domestic purchases on our infrequent sojourns in the metropolis. But now it is you, good doctor, who is fallen to distraction. What have you there?”
“A book,” I said, dumbly as Holmes had found me in a bookshop. “I was searching for something new to present for my turn at Storytime. I was looking for something with attractive illustrations, and I came across this.”
“Oh,” said Holmes, reacting to the presented page. “A rather unflattering caricature of you and me.”
“This one is Mister Frog, and this one is his friend, Doctor Toad.”
“Dear me,” remarked Holmes. “And just who has found us so inspiring—oh.”
I showed him the cover.
“J. Randolph,” he read. Then his eyes flitted to the wall to do a simple calculation. “Yes. Time has flown. She is doing well, our Joyce.”
“She was never ‘our Joyce,’ I replied.
--
“I can’t believe you have the temerity to accuse my Joyce of making up such an outlandish story!”
“Calm yourself, Mrs. Randolph. I am not claiming that Joyce made the story up. I am claiming that she stole it from one of her schoolmates and presented it as her own, as something that happened to her, and what I would like to know—and what I would like you to assist me in finding out—is which of her schoolmates told her the story because that child, like Joyce, is in grave danger.”
A moment of silence passed while Holmes’ words sank in. Finally, the lady relented.
“Very well.”
“Doctor Watson has a pocket full of confections if that would ease matters,” added Holmes soothingly.
One corner of the lady’s mouth twitched. “Raising strong-willed children is not easy.”
Holmes smiled. “You have my mother’s full empathy.
--
“Joyce has put her vivid imagination to good use,” observed Holmes. “So, Watson, are you going to buy the book?”
“Yes, but…”
Holmes hummed. “Might I suggest that one about the talking horse for Storytime? I think it would be more suitable. This we can add to our cottage library. Now, please, let get on with the shopping so we can return to our rural life.”
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Summary: Sussex AU. Watson comes across a book while on a shopping trip in London.
“Ah-ha!” cried Holmes, startling me out of my contemplation. “The tables have finally turned. Normally, it is me who is mired in some curious shop and you who is urging me to get along and aid you in seeing to our humble but necessary domestic purchases on our infrequent sojourns in the metropolis. But now it is you, good doctor, who is fallen to distraction. What have you there?”
“A book,” I said, dumbly as Holmes had found me in a bookshop. “I was searching for something new to present for my turn at Storytime. I was looking for something with attractive illustrations, and I came across this.”
“Oh,” said Holmes, reacting to the presented page. “A rather unflattering caricature of you and me.”
“This one is Mister Frog, and this one is his friend, Doctor Toad.”
“Dear me,” remarked Holmes. “And just who has found us so inspiring—oh.”
I showed him the cover.
“J. Randolph,” he read. Then his eyes flitted to the wall to do a simple calculation. “Yes. Time has flown. She is doing well, our Joyce.”
“She was never ‘our Joyce,’ I replied.
--
“I can’t believe you have the temerity to accuse my Joyce of making up such an outlandish story!”
“Calm yourself, Mrs. Randolph. I am not claiming that Joyce made the story up. I am claiming that she stole it from one of her schoolmates and presented it as her own, as something that happened to her, and what I would like to know—and what I would like you to assist me in finding out—is which of her schoolmates told her the story because that child, like Joyce, is in grave danger.”
A moment of silence passed while Holmes’ words sank in. Finally, the lady relented.
“Very well.”
“Doctor Watson has a pocket full of confections if that would ease matters,” added Holmes soothingly.
One corner of the lady’s mouth twitched. “Raising strong-willed children is not easy.”
Holmes smiled. “You have my mother’s full empathy.
--
“Joyce has put her vivid imagination to good use,” observed Holmes. “So, Watson, are you going to buy the book?”
“Yes, but…”
Holmes hummed. “Might I suggest that one about the talking horse for Storytime? I think it would be more suitable. This we can add to our cottage library. Now, please, let get on with the shopping so we can return to our rural life.”
