2001 BIRTHDAY CHALLENGE

Each year we provide attendees of the BSI dinner and the Baskerville Bash with a “special edition” of the Muse which recaps the year’s events and challenges readers with a competition.

The Assignment

In SCAN, Holmes says: “When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most.” We would point out that this statement is equally true for the male of the species. In 200 words or less, if 221B Baker Street were on fire, what one item would Holmes and Mrs. Hudson each rush for and why?

Birthday Challenge Winners

As always, it was difficult to pick a winner from many clever entries. Certainly the Stradivarius was first choice for Holmes among the entrants. However, our winner, Sandy Kozinn, took an imaginative and humanistic approach to the problem in her sonnet. Our first runner-up was Sue Vizoskie, and our second runner-up was Laurie Fraser Manifold, a newcomer to the Muse and a new subscriber.

What Would Holmes and Mrs. Hudson Do if 221 Baker Street Were on Fire?

by Sandy Kozinn

What do they take, these two, when there’s a fire?
What is worth most? And yet they cannot tarry
As leaping up, the flames burn ever higher.
Of all, what few might Holmes or Hudson carry?
For him: the books, the papers, all his cases,
The records of his life, his quest, his work.
But which? The memory of a thousand faces
Makes choosing one a task from which he’d shirk.
For her, perhaps, the answer’s not so hard:
The history of her art, to which she clings.
But cooking’s in the heart, not on a card.
She runs to Holmes. “Leave now! They’re only things.”
Each thinks of great loss should there be great harm.
Each saves the other. They leave, arm in arm.

A Violin and a Beeton’s

by Sue Vizoskie

If fire threatened 221, Holmes would rush for his Stradivarius. All else could be replaced; he could even reconstruct his commonplace books, although it would be a laborious task, indeed. But his Stradivarius, ahhh, how could he ever replace such a unique work of art? Playing it soothed and distracted Holmes when London’s dullness oppressed his spirit. And, when the solution to a case was elusive, he played the Stradivarius as his ultimate method to focus. Could Holmes survive without his Stradivarius?

Mrs. Hudson, however, would rush for her Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Certainly she could purchase a new copy, but it wouldn’t have her personal notes, handwritten in the margins throughout her years of housekeeping. How had she shined the bear’s teeth and fluffed the bearskin rug? What was the best method to remove chemical residue from wallpaper? How had she cleaned the Wigmore Street mud from those 17 steps? Which was Watson’s favorite curried chicken? Wherever Mrs. Hudson resumed housekeeping, if Holmes and Watson were her tenants, she’d face the same challenging tasks again.

And, if Mrs. Hudson had her Beeton’s and Holmes had his Stradivarius, they’d both be back in business!

A Birthday Challenge Assignment
(as told by J.H Watson, M.D.)

by Laurie Fraser Manifold

I had been quite busy establishing my practice since my marriage, but I was eager to query Holmes as to a certain matter. So imagine my concern when, upon strolling to my erstwhile lodging through October evening fog, I was greeted by a hellish glow and fire bells’ din upon reaching Baker Street. At the outskirts of the gawking crowd was young Wiggins.
“Cor, blimey, sir! Hit’s the guvnor’s house, t’is!”
Dreadful possibilities raced through my brain. Could this be the work of Moriarty?
Imagine my grateful relief when I observed, amongst the fire brigade lads’ helmets, the noble head of my friend.
Smoke and flame mingled with the fog, but Holmes was safe! So, too, Mrs. Hudson, her maid, and Billy the page.
“Why Holmes, I’m pleased to see you unsinged.”
“Yes, Watson, I’m well, despite the inconvenience. I escaped with the dressing gown on my back & my violin. My pipes, alas, are gone.”
“The rest of the household evacuated successfully?”
“We nearly lost Mrs. Hudson. The silly woman returned to retrieve a cabinet photograph of her late husband!”