Prompt: Christmas Tree at St. Barts
From: cjnwriter
….
"Thank you for helping us set this up, Mrs. Hudson," Doctor Watson said warmly, as he and Mr. Holmes set down a small fir tree we had brought in for the patients and staff of St. Bartholomew's. The good doctor had volunteered to help provide a tree, and then recruited myself and Mr. Holmes to assist him in doing so, as it was awkward doing this sort of work with only one soul, and also, his injuries do bother him so.
I was carrying a box of decorations for the tree, which I set down to aid my tenants in righting the tree in its pot.
Once it was done, we set to work decorating it; out came miniature, smiling nutcrackers; silver stars and golden sleighs; shiny balls of red, green, gold, silver, purple and blue, hanging on threads as delicate as spider's webs; oranges and chocolates bound with curling ribbons…
For the top of the tree, we had a beautiful star, with swirling limbs, made from scrap metal by my good friend, Osbert Quinston, a most peculiar man who is partial to Earl Grey, and my shortbread, if I dare say so myself, and who is most exceptionally talented at recycling junk to create beautiful ornaments and items people could use. He was also exceptional at fixing furniture, which was how I made his acquaintance, in my own home at 221 Baker Street, after his services were rendered to fix a chair Mr. Holmes accidentally destroyed in a chemistry experiment.
…
The Doctor and I decorated, Mr. Holmes ended up being whisked away to give a very impromptu lecture on deduction from a pair of awestruck nurses, who fancied using his methods in their line of work, to observe what was happening with their patients, and perhaps even catch out hypochondriacs.
Many nurses and doctors complimented the work as we hurried on, and some even brought children to have a look. We took turns to speak with them whilst persevering with the decorating. Many were younger and missing their families due to their separation. Oh, how my poor heart broke for so many wee lads and lassies in these four walls!
We did, however, manage to cheer them up with stories and some cookies, and they skipped away with smiles on their cherubic faces.
…
Once we finished, we placed the candles in carefully, ensuring they were unable to burn anything but they could still be seen and enjoyed, and announced it was completed.