stonepicnicking_okapi

This is a nice puzzle. Unfortunately, it is missing two pieces. This is one of the puzzles I got at the swap at the library. I am not saying I didn't lose them myself, but it is possible that the puzzle itself wasn't complete. But all life is fodder, so I wrote a Sherlock Holmes ficlet for

spring_renewal for it. Ridley's Jigsaw Puzzles. Gin Lover's Jigsaw Puzzle. 500 pieces. It was not a well-constructed puzzle. The pieces didn't lock together as nicely/snugly as I prefer. I shan't be purchasing any from this company.

Title: Missing Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Mrs. Hudson, Mrs. Turner, Watson, Holmes
Content Notes: domestic fluff
Prompt Being Filled: Any, Any, creative uses of [choice]
Length: 400
Rating: Gen
Summary: Mrs. Hudson is missing two jigsaw puzzle pieces.

“I just don’t see what could’ve happened to them,” repeated Mrs. Turner, adding in a whisper, “I even checked the chamber pot.”

“Marie, I don’t think we were so full of the, ahem, spirit of life, that we ate two jigsaw puzzle pieces.”

The look Mrs. Hudson’s friend gave her said she wasn’t so certain.

“It was a very pretty puzzle.”

‘And a very pretty bottle to go with it,’ Mrs. Hudson did not say aloud. She huffed. “Well, I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find those, ahem, pieces. Perhaps they were never in the box at all.”

“Yes, yes,” murmured her friend. “Well, we had a lovely night, didn’t we?”

“Yes,” agreed Mrs. Huson, but the gaps in the frame, like missing teeth, did rankle.

Well, there was nothing for it, she would have to go upstairs and consult her tenant. After all, what was the point of offering lodgings to a detective if one couldn’t partake of his expertise from time to time?

Mrs. Hudson entered the sitting room to find Doctor Watson alone. It seemed Mister Holmes was out.

The bubbling noise emanating from the apparatus on the chemical bench would have been concerning to any landlady, and Mrs. Hudson gave voice to this concern.

“I’m supposed to be minding it while Holmes visiting the tobacconist’s,” confessed Doctor Watson. “Watched pot not boiling and the like.”

Mrs. Hudson hummed her dissatisfaction with this stratagem then started when she spotted something.

Two somethings.

In the apparatus.

Two small shapes of wood. One was white and one was orange.

“What are those?” asked Mrs. Hudson, pointing, though she knew very well the answer.

“Oh, Holmes found those on the landing this morning. He said they were just the thing for, I don’t know, the angle of the, uh, hmm…”

Mrs. Hudson sniffed and did a quick calculation. In the end, pride won over safety.

She reached into the arrangement and jerked the pieces of wood out from where they’d been lodged.

Just then, there were boots on the steps. The heavy scent of tobacco permeated the room just before the door burst open.

“Ah, perfect timing!” declared Sherlock Holmes. “Thank you, Mrs. Hudson, I was just about to perform that act myself.”

WHOOSH!

Mrs. Hudson escaped downstairs, the two jigsaw puzzle pieces clasped firmly in her fist, after hurtling the invective, “Next month’s rent, young man! Next month’s rent!”