Sherlock Holmes and John Watson occasionally liked to walk alongside the canals. Holmes liked them because they seemed to embody the 'spirit of human progress, Watson, making a way where there wasn't one,' which Watson would agree with. Then, Holmes would insist that 'one day we will transport supplies and people through the air and land at amazing speeds and all the world will be connected in by one mass transit system,' to which Watson would laugh and tell him there was a better chance of flying to the moon than convincing all the the countries of the world to open their borders to that kind of a thing. Holmes would push back, saying humanity certainly would make it to the moon, and by then there would be no reason his vision couldn't have come true. Watson would bring up nationalism and historical examples, and they'd lightly argue as they went.

It was along one of their walks one day they passed a woman who was dressed in clothes like she belonged in a gypsy caravan though there wasn't one nearby. She gave them an appraising look. "You are both correct," is all she said, and walked on. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson glanced at each other, and though they said nothing about it, they never did bring the argument back.


For the prompt from mrspencil: a canal side encounter.