Title: Best Efforts
Author: Pompey
Rating: G
Universe: ACD Canon
Warnings: none
Word Count: 250
Summary: Sticks and stones may break my bones . . .
Challenge: July 4 – Whitman poem
It was an ambitious project for a man whose closest attempts at literature were his private diary entries. Nevertheless, he felt the abilities of his friend were so remarkable – and the glory-hogging of the police so unjust – that he simply must try.
It took a full six years to write up the account to his (and his agent's) satisfaction and to publish it. The publication itself was disappointing: paltry pay; cheap paper; a cover picture that failed to encompass anything integral to the plot; and to top it off, a serial poisoner was hardly a seasonal topic for Christmas. On the other hand, it was thrilling to see the fruits of his labor there in tangible form for all to see.
The response was also disappointing. The public took little note of it. The Yarders let him know in no uncertain terms they did not appreciate his portrayal of them. But the unkindest cut of all was from Sherlock Holmes himself, the man he had secretly tried so hard to please with his attempts.
"Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid."
Which was the last proverbial straw. "But the romance was there," Watson retorted. "I could not tamper with the facts."
