THE MISSING SLIPPER

AUTHOR'S NOTES: All GMD characters are property of Disney; Victoria is mine.


Basil Of Baker Street paced the floor with great agitation, placing his paws behind his limber back as his face sported a look of restlessness. The case that he & his beloved family had been assigned last week had just come to a standstill, with promising clues leading only to dead ends; the detective was desperate to solve the mystery, & even after many days of solitude within his study room & much assistance from his loved ones, he couldn't find a single break. It didn't help that he hadn't had a good smoke for just as long...

"Wait a minute!" Basil cried in enlightenment, his green eyes twinkling merrily in their sockets. "That's just what I need to help me think about the case at hand!" Without wasting a moment, Basil quickly rushed to his fireplace, but when he looked on the mantel, his face fell as he couldn't find the subject of his search. "Oh, drat," Basil grumbled to himself, before calling out, "Has anyone seen my slipper?"

"The one with your pipe tobacco?" his wife Victoria asked, scuttling in.

"Yes, dear," the detective replied, rooting beneath the cushions of the living room furniture for his slipper. When his search was unsuccessful, he sighed in irritation, before going over to check every other nook & cranny to see if it was there. Again, his efforts had failed; with this, Basil slumped in his favorite red chair & stifled a moan of dismay. "It's all right, Basil, dear," Victoria said reassuringly as she placed a paw on her husband's shoulder, "I'm sure you can find a new one."

"But Victoria," Basil complained, "I've had that slipper for as long as I can remember, ever since I snatched it from my late father's feet! That very slipper not only serves as a makeshift holder for my tobacco, but it is just as much a priceless treasure, an heirloom that I simply cannot live without!"

"Very well," Victoria finally said, making her way upstairs. "I'll see if Olivia or the other children may know where it is." No sooner had she spoken this, though, than the Baker Street Kids came down the stairs, gathering around their patriarch-figure with concerned looks on their faces.

"What's wrong, Basil?" asked little Olivia.

"Have any of you seen my tobacco slipper?" Basil asked again, looking a bit anxious to hear a reply from them. To his surprise, the Baker Street Kids immediately started laughing; Basil didn't know what to make of it all. "Might I ask," the detective said with an annoyed glare, "why all of you little rascals are laughing when you know I'm missing one of my most prized possessions?"

Olivia could hardly stop her laughter, but still, she managed to say between giggles, "That's because it's not missing at all! You're sitting on it!" With that, Basil looked down to verify Olivia's words, & he, too, had to give a few amused chuckles when he saw his bum planted upon the slipper he had spent so much time looking for. Sporting a sheepish smile, Basil couldn't help but blush at his faux pas, before finally shushing his children's giggles as he tapped out some snuff from his slipper into his pipe & went into the meditative habit he had maintained for so many years.