Written for the watsons_woes JWP day 10 prompt: A Sporting Chance. Include one or more bits of sporting gear in your entry. What the gear is (bathing costume? Roller skates? Tennis racquet?) is entirely up to you.
The title should make it obvious which bit of gear I included. (It was too convenient, coming straight from the first movie and all.)
"You don't know where my rugby ball went, do you?"
"No, not a clue."
It was a falsehood, though not a bald-faced lie; Holmes had a strong suspicion the ball was behind the chair that stood beside the hearth. But he didn't know, so there was no harm done.
Besides, he rather liked that ball, despite the fact that his first glimpse of it was after it had connected with his thigh (Watson had taken exception to his violin playing at three in the morning, and evidently dug it out of his trunk for the sole purpose of making his displeasure known). Despite Watson's complaints about being out of shape for sport, his throwing arm was more than sufficient in both force and aim for that purpose. The ball was also useful for an experiment regarding the force of impact needed to wake a certain bulldog (who, after three throws, had lurched to his feet, given Holmes a baleful glare, and waddled from the room).
If Watson located the ball before he removed himself from the rooms, well, so be it. But Holmes wasn't going to assist him. Watson would call him absurd and selfish if he knew, but Holmes thought it only fair for Watson to leave a little bit of himself behind.
Even if it was just a ball.