Prompt from Agatha Doyle: Write about a time Holmes and Watson got drunk

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

During the adventure of the Blue Carbuncle it was necessary for me to make some adjustments to the chronicled case in order to protect the reputation of my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes.

The goose club was in fact a highly illegal organisation who would rustle geese from country breeders, kill them and distribute them to its members for a vast annual subscription. Because of the fact that they were always based in public houses the members got drunk a lot (leading to various indiscretions on their part). Therefore they had to frequently move between bars in order to avoid being caught or traced by the police. In tracing the source of the goose with the stone in its crop, we were compelled to visit several public houses before we hit upon the right one. And so as not to draw attention to ourselves, we had to drink something at each one of them.

Since we could not afford to waste any time what with a criminal on the loose, a stone in our care and an innocent man in prison, this led to us consuming no less than twelve pints of beer each, by the end of which, needless to say, we were in no position to continue the search.

Holmes remembers something about luring an unsuspecting passer-by who had arrived too late to buy a goose, back to 221B Baker Street and then spouting some nonsense about feeding the stone down the throat of one before chasing it around town…I struggle to recall the exact details and we had to think something up for the readers, who were clamouring for a 'Christmas Case'. In actual fact the only thing we can both agree on is that when we both became sober we were standing up to our knees in the Thames, with Toby standing on the bank. looking at us as though we had taken leave of our senses. Which, I suppose, we had.