SHERLOCK I, II, III & IV • #wattys2016

The Encounter of Seth Mullen

“How did you know that?” John asked, awed by Sherlock’s knowledge.

“Just like I know the sounds on the What Sound is This? game on the radio,” Sherlock replied.

At the memory of the game, John closed his eyes and groaned. “God! That was an awful season. You should’ve let other people ring in and guess.”

“There was no limit on how many times I could phone in. The lady just got annoyed with me winning. That was all. It was all so obvious, too! If anyone listened closely, they would have heard that it was water pouring on sand; an empty glass scraping across brick; a rubber band hitting paper; Oh! And the one that humored me the most was the bloke walking around in lady’s heels.”

“Don’t forget that I got two right!” John said firmly, hoping that if he said it in a serious tone, Sherlock would remember it forever.

“They were easy, John. A towel being shook in the wind and a chair falling over.”

Sighing, John murmured under his breath, “They weren’t easy to me.”

“It’s broken through!” Sonia declared as she went forward to pull away the cracked concrete. Sherlock and John joined her and it wasn’t long before they had torn out a four by four hole in the wall. Stepping back, Sonia began crying. “Finally! We can get them out.” She turned towards her little friends and ran to them with arms opened in sublime bliss.

“How do we know the other side is open?” John asked, brushing the dust off his clothes and hands.

Nodding his head towards the gaping hole, Sherlock replied, “There’s wind traveling down, they’ll make it through.”

Sonia returned with the children and told them what they’d be doing. “You all must crawl through and get out, all right?”

The girls nodded their heads eagerly. Sonia formed them in a line and then began, one at a time, helping them through. They started with the largest girl—as Sherlock said she’d be “their gauge.” The girl cautiously stepped onto John and Sherlock’s offering knee and climbed in. In seconds, she disappeared. Another girl walked up and stepped into the hole. She disappeared as well. The process continued until all sixteen girls were inside.

Sherlock turned to Sonia and said in his sweetest voice, “And you? Aren’t you going through?”

Sonia gave him a small smile and reached up and gave him a slow kiss on the jaw.  Pulling back, she said, “I’ve never kissed—,”

“How’s your neck?” Sherlock interrupted brusquely.

“Shouldn’t we fill this up?” John asked, oblivious to the conversation going on between the two.

“It’s fine,” Sonia replied to Sherlock, rubbing her still tender shoulder.

“Are you sure it’s fine?” John questioned, looking the hole up and down. “I’m sure it’ll be discovered.”

“She wasn’t talking to you,” Sherlock growled, his eyes remaining on Sonia. “Oh, but, John, do fill it up. The largest chunks will fill it up nicely.”

“There’s concrete mixture in the back. We’ve used it to seal the cracks to keep drainage out,” Sonia noted.

John pursed his lips and held his hands out, palms up. “Is anyone going to help the poor bloke out?”

Sonia and Sherlock ignored him.

“Fine. That’s brilliant, I’ll do it all by myself. Shouldn’t have asked,” John muttered to himself as he busily set to work.