A Seasonal Discussion Post

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

As was mentioned last week, we shall not be having a formal discussion on the second part of The Valley of Fear.  For those of you who wish to make any comments last week's discussion post is still open.

Since many of us are still full of goose and plum pudding we thought this would be the ideal opportunity to engage in a suitable parlour game.  There was some suggestion Mr Holmes might try on his various costumes and we could all guess who he was, but this would a little difficult for a written publication.

Therefore, we shall be playing the one sentence game.  I shall begin telling a story with the sentence: The exploding crackers were not quite the universal success Mr Sherlock Holmes had anticipated. The next player adds their own sentence and so on, until the story is told.  There will be no set order of players, who can add sentences whenever they wish, although please do not post two consecutive sentences.

It is important each participant adds their sentence as a new comment rather than as a reply to a comment.  In this way we should all be able to keep track of our story.

So, please feel free to join in and contribute to what I am confident will be a highly entertaining tale.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The exploding crackers were not quite the universal success Mr Holmes had expected.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Doctor Watson, for one, was extremely cross that his singed his carefully waxed moustache.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

For two, the ringing in the ears had led to half an hour of communicating in mime - and Mr. Holmes was hopeless at charades.

[debriswoman]

And a startled Mrs Hudson was left staring sadly at the shattered remains of her second best tea service.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

The visit from the fire brigade had been exciting though, of course.

[debriswoman]

And the long neglected aspidistra was grateful for an unexpected watering.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

The fire brigade itself was excited, too--once Lestrade translated Holmes' wild gesticulating--they'd never had such a handsome offer for their axes.

[debriswoman]

This transaction had unfortunate consequences, alas, for the Abernetty family trapped in a burning building which the brigade was subsequently called out to...the parsley never stood a chance.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

In fact, a whole collection of herbs was incinerated, including some which gave off some very interesting emissions.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

And, thus, after decades of experimenting, the now famous recipe for Abernatty's Herbal Soother was perfected.

Now the only one not surprised by the crackers was Hopkins.

[godsdaisiechain.livejournal.com]

And this, I was later to learn, proved vital to the plan Sherlock Holmes had been carrying out, unbeknownst to anyone, except Mycroft, who had, for motives mysterious even to himself, invited his slightly dimwitted brother for tea the previous day.

[debriswoman]

Hopkins was proceeding in a westerly direction along Baker Street at the time of the incident, playing the cymbals in the police band. The timing of the crescendo of their final festive piece, was perfect.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Occuring, as it did, at the exact same moment as the window blew out.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

In shock, Hopkins dashed up the stairs of 221B, the band close behind him and providing appropriate "chase music" accompaniment.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Mrs Hudson was heard to mutter "Twelve pipers piping, eleven drummers drumming, ten firemen fire-fighting"

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Of course, Hopkins' shock was feigned; the previous evening Holmes had been raving about his exploding cylinder and the dashing inspector had stopped by for a private preview.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Hopkins hadn't, however, expected quite such a dramatic public demonstration and felt slightly disappointed at not being shown the full effect the day before.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

At any point in the disaster, Moriarty could have taken advantage of the situation and vanquished his archenemy once and for all had he not been so engrossed in sibling squabbling, squabbling brought about by Mother Moriarty's tendency toward vague gift labeling: all the tags said For Jimmy; all those present were named Jimmy!

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Moriarty finally agreed his sister Jimmy (© gardnerhill) could have the frilly nightie but managed to grab the Greuze for himself (© okapi1895) :P

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Brother Jimmy was reasonably content with The Train Driver's Annual 1895 until he found someone had already completed the dot-to-dot puzzle.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Their guest "Fred Porlock" apologised but explained he had this strange compulsion to always at least partially solve puzzles for other people before they started.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

In his annoyance one of the Jimmy Moriartys threw the Almanac at Porlock, but it was okay as a new one had recently been issued.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

And in all the hubbub, none of the Moriartys noticed that the pamphlet 'How to Kill Your Arch-nemesis with a Paper Crown, a Shoe Horn, and a Proverb' had disappeared.

[debriswoman]

It had been an odd publication for Miss Jimmy to be handed at the recent church social, but it had looked interesting enough for her not to leave it on the vicar's sideboard.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

The tract also caught the eye of church newcomer, Deacon Sherringford, who stuffed two in his pocket when he thought no one was looking.