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charleygirlTitle: Jottings from a Doctor's Journal 16/?
Author: charleygirl
Rating: G
Words: 536
Characters involved: Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson
Genre: Friendship, fluff
Disclaimer: These characters, while out of copyright, were created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and do not belong to me.
Summary: A collection of scenes and fragments that are too long to be drabbles and too undisciplined to be 221Bs.
PASSPORT TO PERPLEXITY
“I have it, Watson, I have it!”
I turned from my desk as Holmes burst into the sitting room. “Excellent! Let me see!”
He struggled out of his overcoat, leaving it in a pile on the floor where it fell, and hurried over to the table, a fat brown envelope in his hand. As I joined him, he withdrew a sheaf of papers and spread them out upon the tablecloth.
A forthcoming trip abroad at the behest of the Sicilian government had caused Holmes to discover that his passport had recently expired, necessitating the application for a new one. In the time since he had last gone through the procedure, a new means of identification by the addition of a photograph of the named individual had been introduced. We were both interested to see the effect that this would have upon criminals attempting to flee the country with forged documents, and naturally Holmes was eager to try this new innovation.
“Where is the picture, then?” I enquired, leafing through the usual descriptions of height, hair and eye colour. My friend was not one to allow himself to be photographed if he could help it, and I was curious to see the result, knowing that various photographic studios had begun to offer their services for specially posed passport images.
“Hmm?” Holmes was checking through the documents and only half paying attention to me. “Oh, I suppose it must be here somewhere…”
I lifted another page (the whole thing was the size of a small newspaper when unfolded), and discovered a small square picture affixed to the back. Turning it over, I was somewhat surprised to find, instead of the expected head and shoulders shot which invariably made the person in question look like an apprehended villain, something quite… different. I felt a frown creep onto my face.
“Holmes…” I said, holding the offending page at arm’s length and examining it critically.
“Yes, Watson?”
“I assume that the purpose of these pictures is to aid recognition and eradicate fraudulent use of travel documents.”
“That would be the logical explanation, indeed,” he agreed, distracted.
“Well, if that is the case, why have you used a full-length photograph? Not only that, but a photograph taken from a distance of at least ten feet? In the garden?” I asked incredulously.
At length the great detective lifted his head to look at me. “The instructions insisted on a photograph of two inches square,” he replied. “There was nothing to indicate how that picture should be posed.”
“That’s as may be, but…” I looked at the photograph again. “Holmes, one would be able to recognise Mrs Hudson’s prize azaleas more readily from this picture than you yourself!”
He gathered up the papers, taking the sheet with the photograph from my fingers and folding it away with the rest. “Then I will have to ensure I take a bunch with me on my next trip abroad,” he said, and vanished into his bedroom, leaving me to shake my head in astonished amusement.
I hoped that he would invite me along for this Sicilian trip, for I would not miss his first experience of customs with this new passport for the world…
A/N: The guy who took our photos yesterday told us about a passport from the early years of the last century he'd seen recently. It was the size of a newspaper, and the chap it belonged to really did have a photo of himself in the garden on it, complete with rosebushes. :)
Author: charleygirl
Rating: G
Words: 536
Characters involved: Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson
Genre: Friendship, fluff
Disclaimer: These characters, while out of copyright, were created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and do not belong to me.
Summary: A collection of scenes and fragments that are too long to be drabbles and too undisciplined to be 221Bs.
PASSPORT TO PERPLEXITY
“I have it, Watson, I have it!”
I turned from my desk as Holmes burst into the sitting room. “Excellent! Let me see!”
He struggled out of his overcoat, leaving it in a pile on the floor where it fell, and hurried over to the table, a fat brown envelope in his hand. As I joined him, he withdrew a sheaf of papers and spread them out upon the tablecloth.
A forthcoming trip abroad at the behest of the Sicilian government had caused Holmes to discover that his passport had recently expired, necessitating the application for a new one. In the time since he had last gone through the procedure, a new means of identification by the addition of a photograph of the named individual had been introduced. We were both interested to see the effect that this would have upon criminals attempting to flee the country with forged documents, and naturally Holmes was eager to try this new innovation.
“Where is the picture, then?” I enquired, leafing through the usual descriptions of height, hair and eye colour. My friend was not one to allow himself to be photographed if he could help it, and I was curious to see the result, knowing that various photographic studios had begun to offer their services for specially posed passport images.
“Hmm?” Holmes was checking through the documents and only half paying attention to me. “Oh, I suppose it must be here somewhere…”
I lifted another page (the whole thing was the size of a small newspaper when unfolded), and discovered a small square picture affixed to the back. Turning it over, I was somewhat surprised to find, instead of the expected head and shoulders shot which invariably made the person in question look like an apprehended villain, something quite… different. I felt a frown creep onto my face.
“Holmes…” I said, holding the offending page at arm’s length and examining it critically.
“Yes, Watson?”
“I assume that the purpose of these pictures is to aid recognition and eradicate fraudulent use of travel documents.”
“That would be the logical explanation, indeed,” he agreed, distracted.
“Well, if that is the case, why have you used a full-length photograph? Not only that, but a photograph taken from a distance of at least ten feet? In the garden?” I asked incredulously.
At length the great detective lifted his head to look at me. “The instructions insisted on a photograph of two inches square,” he replied. “There was nothing to indicate how that picture should be posed.”
“That’s as may be, but…” I looked at the photograph again. “Holmes, one would be able to recognise Mrs Hudson’s prize azaleas more readily from this picture than you yourself!”
He gathered up the papers, taking the sheet with the photograph from my fingers and folding it away with the rest. “Then I will have to ensure I take a bunch with me on my next trip abroad,” he said, and vanished into his bedroom, leaving me to shake my head in astonished amusement.
I hoped that he would invite me along for this Sicilian trip, for I would not miss his first experience of customs with this new passport for the world…
A/N: The guy who took our photos yesterday told us about a passport from the early years of the last century he'd seen recently. It was the size of a newspaper, and the chap it belonged to really did have a photo of himself in the garden on it, complete with rosebushes. :)
