for bcb, because it was her bunny
There was a groove along Watson's left thumb, and faint chalk dust between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. And now Holmes had the perfect reason to bring up a question that had been pestering him for some time.
"Watson, you said you play billiards with Thurston. Was that the case tonight?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, it strikes me as odd that 'Thurston' is the maker of virtually every billiard table in England and yet you regularly play billiards with him. Now, either the man is so enraptured with the game he not only spends his career with it but also his spare time . . . or there is something you're not telling me."
Surprisingly, Watson blushed. "I used the phrase 'playing billiards with Thurston' out of habit the first time. Then I had to keep using it or you would have noticed the difference."
"It means something else entirely?"
"It is . . . slang. For standard billiards played on the table."
"It's possible to play billiards OFF the table?"
"One night, after some of us dipped too heavily into spirits, we tried playing it on the floor. The running joke now is to ask before each game if we'll be playing 'with or without Thurston.' "
"The FLOOR, Watson?"
Defensively Watson growled, "that was a most amusing game of billiards!"