Fic: The Gift of Luck: G

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Title: The Gift of Luck
Rating: Gen
Length: 300
Content Notes: Holmes & Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Bessie the maid, fluff
Summary: Christmas 1894. Mrs. Hudson makes a miniature plum pudding for the gentlemen upstairs. Who will get the bachelor's button and who will get the ring?
Author's Note: For the monthly prompt: gift

Holmes and I waited in the darkness.

The door opened. A blue flame appeared.

We sprang to our feet, clapping.

“Well done, Mrs. Hudson!”

“Thank you, Doctor. I told Bessie that I wanted to do something special for you and Mister Holmes this Christmas. It’s so good to have you both back.”

“Plum pudding for two,” said Holmes, “is a most thoughtful home-coming gift.”

The lights were turned up. Bessie swooped in with plates, spoons, and knife. In swift order, the miniature dessert was divided and tasted.

“Excellent!” I exclaimed.

“Indeed,” agreed Holmes. “My dear girl, would you mind lighting that lamp?”

“Certainly, Mister Holmes.”

What followed next was celebratory in its own way. The lamp sparked festively. The curtain began to smolder like ‘dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly.’ Bessie screamed and fled the room. Mrs. Hudson and I quickly responded.

With order restored, I returned to my pudding.

“Oh, my,” I said, pulling a round object from my mouth. “The bachelor’s button! Well, my future’s decided. I suppose that means you have the ring.”

“On the contrary, my dear man, Mrs. Hudson is astute and kind-hearted.” Holmes put two fingers to his lips and produced a second button.

I laughed. “Shall we remain tethered to one another as the years pass?”

“If it suits you.”

“It does. Admirably,” I replied.

“Happy Christmas, Mrs. Hudson.”

She flushed. “Happy Christmas, gentlemen.”

---

“…so the Doctor got the button?”

“Yes, my dear.”

“Oh, too bad. He’s such an unlucky fellow. Wait, Mister Holmes got the ring?” Bessie giggled.

“Mister Holmes fashions his own luck,” said Mrs. Hudson, “which he is out of if he supposes that I am going to sew that button back on his trousers. We’ll see the ring soon.”

“Where?”

“In a pot beneath his bed.”

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

A splendid Christmas Day ficlet, complete with smouldering curtains. The final outcome made me smile.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Good. I've been reading some Christmas mystery short stories and a plum pudding featured in an Agatha Christie one.

BTW, I didn't know (having never eat one) if the pudding is eaten with a fork or spoon.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Spoon, it's quite a heavy pudding. Plus possibly brandy butter, which would certainly need a spoon.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. Wouldn't be Christmas at 221b without incendiaries. (I've flamed a pudding or two myself.)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

True. This one Holmes caused by proxy instead of the usual direct method.

[hagstrom]

If I were the kind of person to keep a diary, I think you'd definitely make it in today's entry as "dear diary, today I learned something about about plum puddings and english traditions, thanks to okapi1895's lovely fic!"

But seriously, it's a great fic and your Mrs. Hudson seems like a delightfully clever woman.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ha! That's fabulous. The More You Know is tops in ACD world.

Yeah, Holmes's sleight of hand may fool Watson, but it doesn't fool her. She goes along with it because she has a soft spot for him (a mile wide if she'd put up with all the smoldering curtains, etc. throughout the years), but she knows what did not go in the pudding.

[debriswoman]

This is a great fic. I do like the matter of fact quenching of the curtains, and Holmes' sleight of hand not fooling Mrs H one bit:-)
Well done!

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Yes, something were probably second nature by that time, such as emergency response!

But she went along with it! Bless her.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Always wonderful to see Bessie playing a part in proceedings ^__^

What followed next was celebratory in its own way... What a great way of putting it ^_^ And what an appropriate quotation (though I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't place it and had to look it up ^^").

“Mister Holmes fashions his own luck,” said Mrs. Hudson, “which he is out of if he supposes that I am going to sew that button back on his trousers." ^__^ It was kind of Mrs. Hudson not to give him away though.

And just the perfect conclusion, of course ^__^


Btw, have you seen this rec (http://221b-recs.livejournal.com/500840.html) on 221b_recs? It's for a picture of MDBD's Shirley on Tumblr. The art is really nicely done.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Bessie is very useful. In this case, Holmes needed an unknowing accomplice.

Thank you. It's one of the more artful phrases of that poem.

Yeah, she goes along with it. She loves Holmes like a mother, a bit indulgent, a bit censorous.

No, I hadn't. The artist is right. Shirley's deducing face is as good as Brett's or Rathbone's any of them.