19 Personalities apart?
Mary had booked a spot near
Baker Street to watch what was going on there. She had learned from her
experiences that if she was near there, she might be seen or reported to the
prey. She got herself a seat by the roadside cafe that served tea and tiny pastries
on the three-level tray. She had taken a vantage spot and dressed in the dark
dress with the tight bodice; she blended in like any other lady that was there,
but her long stay there required her to consume more than two pots of tea. It
was a necessity to appease the proprietor while she took up the table but gave
her more reason to use the privy.
Mary had brought along her
dainty-looking glasses designed for the opera houses, but hers was modified the
lens, and the latest edition of Bram Stoker's The Judge’s House. "The
Judge's House" is a classic ghost story by the Irish author Bram Stoker.
The story was first published in the December 5, 1891, special Christmas issue
of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News weekly magazine. With Uncle’s
assistance, she got the earlier edition before it was on sale.
Mary also has with her the
small vase bag on the table.
“Another pot, Missy?” Mary
looked up with the glasses propped on her nose. The image that she saw was a
set of huge eyes and a rounded nose staring at her. That expression reminded
her of the character from The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll that she enjoyed
reading when younger. The character was March Hare, the mad rabbit with the
quote, “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I
get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”
But the proprietor was to
her could be one of the twins from the book, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, or with
the third, it would be Tweedledamn.
Profanity, my dear, Mary
smiled.
“I like that.” Mary nodded,
and the pot was set for her after she exchanged the needed coins.
“The privy is still at the
rear if you need it.”
Mary smiled at the older man
and focused her eyes on the house on Baker Street. She was interrupted by the
presence of a young man waving the cane.
“I say good day to you, my
lady. Are you alone? Or waiting for someone?” The young man dressed in tweeds
stood before her with the hips forward to express his desire. Mary looked at
him and then at the lady standing nearby.
“I may be, but I doubt you
are the one I am waiting for. So, bugger off before I used that cane on you up
your butt.” Mary did not hesitate in her words.
“Wow! A lady of taste.” The
younger man was still adamant on making the advances.
“Hey, bud. I am not keen on
whatever you may have. Do me a favour and scram off before I offer you two more
orifices in your groin.” Mary opened the valise bag to show the set of Colt
Peacemaker. “It may give your friend more depth than yours.”
The gentleman took his
leave, pulling the lady along. Finally, Mary was alone once more.
Or was it?
“May I share your table?”
The man dressed in the Ulster coat and deer starker hat asked of her. She
looked up and smiled. He nodded and called out his order for Lapsang Souchong,
which is a rather exotic black tea, smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. The proprietor
nodded and proceeded to prepare one pot.
“Mr. Vinnie Jones, make a
fine pot of that tea.” Holmes smiled. “My apologies; my name is Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes.”
“Mary Reid, of... Kansas.”
Mary shook the hand offered by the other with her drawl of the accent.
“Kansas? Are you not far
from home?” Holmes smiled. “Not being there... yet.”
“Yup, fell into the hole
there and ended up here.” Mary smiled. “I am on...”
“Holiday, I presumed. I can
assure you that the city is safer than Kansas. We do not carry guns here.” Holmes
smiled. He had observed her antic with the younger man.
“I would not know, and
neither would you since you have never been to Kansas. I was born and bred
there, and we wore the gun belt before we even learned to undo one.”
“Most interesting. I must
visit Kansas soon.” Holmes smiled. “I could do with a change of weather.”
“Come over in the summer to
autumn. I am sure you will love it. We do have the occasional gun fights, but
keep your hat on and run when the streets are empty at noon.” Mary smiled.
“Tell me, Mr.... Holes, what do you do besides have the chat with ladies?”
“Holmes, is the name.
Irish-Scottish by birth.” Holmes smiled. “I do not have any sizeable
inheritance, but I can make do with my share of work.”
“And what that be?” Mary
asked.
“I am an entrepreneur in the
trade of criminology.” Holmes smiled. “And yourself besides watching the people
on Baker Street?”
“I am... a purveyor of
people. I am doing research on the peculiarities of people here.” Mary smiled.
“The mode of their behaviour and...”
“Peculiarities? Mankind is a
peculiar living organism.” Holmes smiled. “Among all the living organisms, we
inhibit the quality to terminate another living for selfish reasons.”
“I thought it was the
survival of the fittest.” Mary looked hard at Holmes.
“That is a necessity, but
mankind’s rationale could be irrational at most times.” Holmes explained. “We
are at the apex of the survival tier, and yet we kill for... pleasure.”
“Tell me more, Mr. Holmes.
Does your work include the recent murders?”
“Absolutely. For one to take
another person’s life is the ultimate aggression of the mind. You can be in
rage and hurt someone, but hardly to kill that person, and when you do cross
the threshold, it is total madness.”
“Are you implying that
murderers are mad, Mr. Holmes?”
“I have put my findings to
the test there many times and found acts are acts of madness driven by anger,
greed, or even jealousy.”
“I may not stand for all of
that. I believed murders, or rather the act of killing, can be... inflicted on
by other factors that are uncontrollable. Like a rabid dog, it may kill, but
that dog was diseased; hence, do we conclude the dog is a murderer or victim?”
“A good argument there.” Holmes
smiled. It was a rarity for him to smile, nor did he have the wrong affinity in
his orientation, but he was drawn to smile at Mary that day.
“I find our discussion most
interesting. May we discuss the findings at my unit there? You may have known
of the address. We could share notes.” Holmes smiled. “I am a decent gentleman
in the house.”
“And I am a perfect shot at
the groin area.” Mary smiled.
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