Fic: Mrs Hudson's Coping Mechanism

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Title: Mrs Hudson's Coping Mechanism
Form/Word Count: 321
Characters/Pairing: Mrs Hudson
Rating: G
Warning/Content: Mrs Hudson learns how to cope with her difficult tenant

At first Mrs Hudson had been delighted to find she had new tenants in 221B.  She did have her concerns as to one of them, the quiet doctor who had seen perhaps too much in the East and needed to recuperate.  But he steadily improved and proved to be a delightful man.

It was true he sometimes kept irregular hours, and his laundry occasionally had stains which were hard to remove, but she did not complain.  For late departures meant a patient in need, and early returns were inevitable if he were to care properly for those patients.  As for the stains – they were no more than could be expected on a medical man’s laundry.

No, after her initial concerns she realised it was the other tenant who would cause all the problems.  His hours were irregular too, but as far as Mrs Hudson could see, there was no particular reason for it.  He too had stains on his cuffs which refused her best laundry attempts, but she had no intention of enquiring what they might be.  Mrs Beeton might have useful suggestions regarding stain removal, but Mrs Hudson suspected even she would be defeated by some of the stains encountered.

Then there was the pipe smoke, the occasional singed curtain, and some extremely noxious odours.  Plus the violin.  Until her tenant had moved in, she had quite liked hearing a string quartet, but now the very thought of a violin playing was enough to make her tense.

But then Mrs Hudson discovered gin.  Her friend, Mrs Turner, had given her a quarter bottle, saying a small glass in the evening might help on her worst days.  It turned out that a medium glass was more appropriate, and there were some days which she referred to as her three tumbler days.

Even better she was able to charge her monthly bill from the off licence to her tenants as ‘essential expenses’. 

Comments

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Oh poor Mrs. Hudson, may the three-tumbler days be few!

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

She can but hope!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Odd how often the three-tumbler days coincide with three-pipe problems.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Really surprising!

[debriswoman]

Poor Mrs H...hoping the three tumbler days are few and far between:-p

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Sadly not few enough!

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Adding to the laughter for the three tumbler days ^___^ (Though poor Mrs. Hudson ^^")

And I'm rather taken with the idea that Mrs. Hudson has been slightly traumatised by Holmes' violin playing ^___^ Of course, she must be able to hear it too, and it's not as though Holmes will ever play a few of her favourite tunes to make up for it, like he does with Watson.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you - someone had to write it!

It's okay, Mrs Hudson is quite happy to hear as little of the violin as possible.