"Sometimes the Hare Wins" (Rated G, 2018 Monthly Prompt)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Title: Sometimes the Hare Wins
Author: gardnerhill
Form/Wordcount: 300
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Rating: G
Warnings/Content:    None
Summary: The point is, he got there.
Author’s Notes: For the Holmes Minor March 2018 prompt: The March of Time (modern technology, Victorian & Edwardian style)


Watson – The game &c. Am en route to Skitterton House in the Lake District. Join me when you awake. – Holmes

Watson smiled at the note on his stand. Sherlock Holmes had finally learned not to wake a soldier in the wee hours unless Watson’s revolver was needed or their digs were on fire.

Now his friend and business partner was away on a case since the wee hours of the night, and had considerately left Watson to finish his sleep and only then follow after him to catch up a half-day later, if not the next day.

That was where Sherlock Holmes was mistaken, for despite this Edwardian century and his own love of the conveniences of modern life, he was still Victorian in his outlook on certain things.

Watson shaved and dressed carefully, and picked up the telephone. “Yes, it is I. I’ll take you up on your offer. Oh, no, the pleasure’s all mine. Within the hour, then.”

#

Holmes stepped onto the platform in Windermere. He’d meet the police at the site where the family had vanished and get a head start on the case before heading to his lodgings at a nearby inn; with any luck Watson would join him by this evening.

So the sight of Watson waiting at the crime scene with Inspector Davies made him stop dead in his tracks and gape like a trout.

Watson grinned and indicated the rickety-looking contraption of linen and bicycle-chain on the grassy ground near the house, now surrounded by gawking children. “This American chap was visiting our city. He was kind enough to express appreciation for my stories and offered to give me a ride. I took him up on his offer.”

A mustachioed man in his thirties stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “Orville Wright.”

Comments

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

Cheeky, forward-looking Watson! Good for him :-D

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

It's not just forward-thinking but risky - those first aeroplanes really were made out of bicycle parts and linen - so I can see Holmes giving those things a wide berth whereas a dedicated danger-seeker like Watson would be all "Cool, where do I hang on?"

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! I had no idea which way this was heading until the end. Such a great thought.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much a rewrite of an earlier story of mine with the same premise (One Small Step (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7430133)), pared down to fit the Holmes Minor word-length.

I love the idea of the Wrights offering the retired sleuths a ride in their new invention, which a skeptical Holmes refuses and a thrilled Watson accepts (much to Holmes' apprehension).

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ha! I love it! Go, Watson!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

I can see a big fight when it's time to go home:

"You are NOT getting back on that rickety toy! ...No offense, Mr. Wright."

"Oh, so when we're waiting up all night to catch a poisonous snake you're fine with me risking my life because it's YOUR idea!"

And poor Orville is standing there like a kid watching his parents argue.

[debriswoman]

Excellent:-)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Thanks. This is actually a rewrite of a retirement!fic story, One Small Step (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7430133).

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I do remember One Small Step - but it's still a great twist ^___^ And I'll just give a special mention to Sherlock Holmes had finally learned not to wake a soldier in the wee hours unless Watson’s revolver was needed or their digs were on fire. ^____^

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Holmes finally got the point the morning he got a bitten hand.