Title: A Study in Human Observation
Parings: Basil of Baker Street & David Dawson; Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Disclaimer: I own no rights. I make no profit.
A Study in Human Observation
By D. Q. Dawson, M.M.D. 221 ½ Baker Street, Marylebone, London, NW
If I had a crumpet for every time I had heard Mr. Sherlock Holmes say some variant of You see but you do not observe I would be so round of girth that I would scarce be able to move. However I, as usual, am getting ahead of myself.
It is common knowledge that most of the big folk, humans as they call themselves, are completely clueless about those of us who share their world. It is as if there is some sort of magic that makes them ignore an entire culture of sentient beings living in their basements, walls and in some cases literally under their feet. We know from history that humans have not always had this selective blindness. As any cat will tell you, felines were once worshiped as gods and they merely had to verbally express their desire before a human would be tasked to fulfill it. My friend and flat mate Basil has on occasion opined that in certain segments of London this remains the state of affairs, but once again I digress.
Regardless of whether or not our civilizations have interacted in the past, in the present day humans seem to lose the ability to see and communicate with what they call animals at some point between five and seven years of age. There are rare exceptions primarily those who are severely ill with fever or who are near death. Even rarer still are those humans who have somehow become immune to whatever it is that protects those of us with fur and feathers; which brings me to the subject of this writing Dr. John H. Watson. Dr. Watson is currently one the residents of 221B Baker Street and it is he, as opposed to the great detective with whom he resides, who appears to be well acquainted with the hidden world existing at the end of his shoe tips.
Upon my moving into 221 ½ with Basil warned me about a variety of dangers endemic to the household in addition to those afforded by his profession of premier mouse detective. Mrs. Hudson, the human landlady, kept a cat who from time to time would justify his existence to that good lady by presenting her with a mouse, bird or other small mammal. The perils of Mr. Holmes' experiments were explained in great detail along with a glowing report of his observational skills. However, what intrigued me most was what Basil said and didn't say about Dr. Watson.
Holmes and Watson had moved into 221B early in the year 18811 and their association in crime fighting had begun shortly thereafter. Basil had not resided at 221 ½ until the fall of 1893 but he had managed to piece together a rough timeline and some interesting tidbits of knowledge about the pair. He had determined from overheard conversations that Holmes and Watson had been introduced by a mutual friend and had taken the rooms together very shortly thereafter. Watson, like myself, had been in service in Afghanistan. He had also had the misfortune of being wounded in the shoulder and the leg developing a severe infection and enteric fever before finally being shipped home. In the early days of their collaboration his health was not good and he suffered several relapses of fever. Their partnership continued, despite Watson marrying and moving out in 1888, until Holmes was presumed dead in 1891. In April of 1894 Holmes returned to 221B and Watson, whose wife had perished in the interim, sold his medical practice and soon followed.
Basil told me that when Watson had moved back in he had in his possession a collection of mouse sided implements which he kept in a box in his wardrobe. I investigated myself and discovered a few copies of the Mouse Times, one dated as early as 1883, along with a set of drinking glasses and a small lantern packed carefully in a dusty box labeled Toys in a feminine hand. I deduced that his late wife had been the one to pack and label the box. Basil also mentioned in passing that one time when Watson had been lying on the sofa with a mild fever he'd contracted after being pushed out of a punt in Oxford that he was almost certain the man had seen him. Basil indicated that he had lived in fear for several weeks that Watson would mention his presence to Mrs. Hudson which would have severely curtailed his activities but it never happened.
By the time I observed him Watson was mostly hale and hearty and it was Holmes who seemed a bit worn around the edges so to speak. While he provided Holmes with a sounding board, a helping hand and back up there seemed to be nothing extraordinary about him. I knew this was probably inaccurate since Holmes himself called Watson his conductor of light upon occasion but I personally didn't notice until one particular afternoon.
Basil, as was his wont, had been listening to Mr. Holmes explain in detail the series of deductions which led him to conclude that the thumbprint had indeed been planted by someone of approximately the same size and build as the presumably dead Mr. Oldacre. I had joined him in our normal observation spot, sitting on the mantelpiece behind the clock next to the battered Persian slipper in which Mr. Holmes stored his tobacco. Dr. Watson was sitting in his chair occasionally jotting a note or two on a piece of foolscap that he'd balanced on a book. Mr. Holmes was pacing about gesturing as he told his tale and Basil had been unconsciously shifting to follow his movements.
So caught up in the story was I that I didn't immediately realize that where Basil was sitting, between the slipper and the jack-knife impaled correspondence, was well within Dr. Watson's line of sight. When I noticed I decided to move to get within paws reach of Basil just in case. It was a good thing that I did so. Holmes was gesticulating in punctuation of his narrative and suddenly clapped his hands together startling Basil who almost fell from his perch. I managed to grab Basil by the back of his smoking jacket and haul him bodily to safety behind the clock. As soon my heart stopped pounding out of my chest I peered around the clock edge to see if my rescue had been observed. Watson was smiling slightly, presumably at Holmes, but his eyes were slightly out of focus as if he were observing the mantelpiece. Holmes, of course, noticed his companion's abstraction and called him out about it. Watson replied that he was merely attempting to find the proper adjective to describe Holmes' deductive prowess. That lead to the inevitable discussion between the two regarding the overly romantic, according to Holmes, nature of Watson's literary endeavors during which Basil and I were able to escape back to our own abode. I couldn't decide if Dr. Watson had seen us or if he was truly abstracted by his literary composition.
A second incident occurred less than a week later. Basil was returning the small glass pipette he had nicked from Holmes' chemistry equipment. It should have been less than a two minute job with little danger of observation as Watson was fully engaged in reading the paper and Mr. Holmes was out on some errand or another. Unfortunately Mr. Holmes had been working on updating his tobacco ash index and had left a couple of samples on the worktable. Basil paused a moment to peruse them before returning to floor level where he encountered some stray ash from Holmes' cigarillo of the night before. That resulted in Basil whipping out his magnifying glass to take a closer look. If I had let him he would have clambered back up to the table top to perform a closer comparison between Holmes' preferred brand and the samples upon which the detective was currently working. Thankfully this did not occur primarily because Dr. Watson made a rather strange sound, something between a snort and a cough, from behind his paper. Basil had in his excitement forgotten the good Doctor's presence in the room and upon being reminded of the potential for discovery happily accompanied me back to the relative safety of the walls.
If you asked me, the axiom best expressing Mr. Holmes' view of life I would have said If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth. With his keen eye for detail and encyclopedic knowledge, albeit in rather narrow fields of study, I suspected that one of his cases would lead him to either deduce or flat out discover the existence of mouse society. I was highly surprised when the disappearance of the Darling children did not do so. The refusal of the dog in the case to cease wearing a hat and the handprints on the ceiling should have caused him to look beyond the obvious but surprisingly he came up with a completely mundane if somewhat unlikely explanation. When the children were returned the next evening everyone assumed the kidnappers had, once they heard the great Sherlock Holmes was on the case, gave up their nefarious scheme as a bad job. Watson merely smiled and nodded his head, once again he could have been responding to a Holmesian pronouncement but I observed a distinct twinkle in his eye and the hint of a wink that could have been aimed in my direction.
That particular case had a side effect on Basil. He, much to my dismay, started a series of experiments testing the limits nature of the human obliviousness. Of course his test subject was Holmes. Watson, in Basil's opinion, was like myself too unobservant to be anything but a control. I of course was beginning to suspect otherwise but I didn't express any opinion other than to warn Basil to be careful.
Over the next several months Basil engaged in what I could only call stalking behavior. If Mr. Holmes was engaged in chemical experiments Basil could be found nearby observing and taking notes. Often when Holmes went out Basil would too in an vain attempt to keep up with him. If Holmes expounded on a case or even if he was just pacing talking to thin air, as he did at times in an attempt to puzzle something out, Basil was there to listen.
I too became bolder during this time. Once I even found myself locking gazes with Dr. Watson in mutual exasperation as we both attempted to get our respective genius' to stop mucking about with the chemicals and eat something. It was around this time that Dr. Watson started leaving the occasional manuscript out on his desk. I found them fascinating. The man had a wonderful way with words that I could only envy. There were times I found myself pulling out my own notebook to copy down a particularly delightful turn of phrase or description for further study.
I wondered if my human counterpart would ever deign to peruse my poor attempts at chronicling the investigations upon which Basil and I embarked. He most likely would need to use Holmes' microscope to clearly read my script. Would he tell Holmes just why he was looking at a tiny scrap of paper? Would Holmes believe him if he did?
I think, however, that Dr. Watson may not need to keep quiet about what he sees much longer. You see Basil shares another trait with the great consulting detective. They both play violin quite beautifully. I don't know how many times I have been lulled to sleep by the tones of Holmes' Stradivarius accompanied by Basil on his own violin; the higher tones interweaving and improvising a pleasant descant around the melodies echoing throughout the house.
Last night it was Holmes playing descant.
Author's Note: This was the result of a plot bunny which attacked me after I read Moustry by Rabidsamfan. That wonderful piece of work can be found on both AO3 and under the same title/author name. Thanks very much to Rabidsamfan for letting me play with their idea.
Holmes Canon References: One of the best Canon timelines I have found on the web is located here: 2010/03/sherlock-holmes-a-complete-chronology/ . The following is a list of references I used in the text:
1. The case portion of A Study in Scarlet begins in March of 1881.
2. Watson's marriage is mentioned in The Stockbroker's Clerk which occurred in June of 1888.
3. Holmes' demise at the Reichenbach Falls is chronicled in The Final Problem and occurred May 4, 1891.
4. Holmes' return occurs in April 1894 and is chronicled in The Adventure of the Empty House.
5. Holmes' and Watson had a case involving a university in May of 1895 titled The Adventure of the Three Students.
6. In 1895 Holmes was exceedingly busy with 6 chronicled cases and at least 3 that were too sensitive and/or sensational for Watson to put to paper.
7. Mr. Oldacre is the antagonist in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder which occurred in August 1895.
8. Watson notes Holmes expressing that once the impossible has been eliminated the remaining explanation must be true in various recorded cases and times specifically: The Sign of the Four (Sep. 1887); The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (Feb. 1886); Silver Blaze (Autumn 1887); The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans (Nov. 1, 1895); The Adventure of the Priory School (May 1901); and The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (Jan. 1903).
*Update* As this is complete I'll close with apologies to the Bard:
If this writer has offended,
Think but this and all is mended,
That you have but tarried here,
While each chapter did appear,
And these words upon this screen,
Are of no import, only my dream.
It has been an honor to share my dream with you.
K2N2