A Spectacular Venture

An attempt to turn an old school essay into a story......

                It was a hot summer day and I was there sitting on an old armchair in my room gazing at an old magnifying glass. At the same time I was really bored. Life was so uneventful and monotonous for me. My work, studies and even the games I played now gave no delight.

            I gazed at the chipped frame of a lens which I had bought from an antique shop. It was of English make and the antique shop owner had told me that it once belonged to a great detective, many years ago. Suddenly tiny letters on the dull frame caught my eye. I observed them very closely. They read,

            “…elongs to Mr. Sh…”

            The first and the last part of the sentence were missing on account of part of the frame being chipped away. I knew that the first part would be ‘belongs’ and the last part would give me the name of its former owner. But who that might be I could not surmise.

            I turned the lens hoping to see more words. Surely, there were even finer words etched on this side of the frame. This time the sentence was complete. I recited the words aloud,

            “Far shall we go but remember to seek twin to return.”

            As soon as I said this strange sentence, something extraordinary happened- The old lens came to life! It leapt out of my hands onto my lap and rattled and danced in the most amusing manner imaginable! I was really horrified- A magnifying glass was not supposed to do that. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. I was not able to see for sometime but I felt a strong gush of air. Then all was still.

When my vision recovered I looked around and saw that I was no longer in my home but in an old-styled but well furnished English sitting room. Palpitating with fear, I looked around. Two men with faces as pale as death were staring at me as if they had just seen a ghost. Their faces seemed strangely familiar. My eyes ventured back on to my lap. I nearly shrieked with excitement, for there lay not an old, dull magnifying glass but a lens, as good as new, with a shining black frame and a well-polished surface. Curiosity then overwhelmed my faculties and I eagerly turned the lens over. I was even more surprised at what I saw, for there it was written in clear white letters,

            “Belongs to Mr. Sherlock Holmes”

            It was then I realized why the two men’s faces had seemed so familiar. They were Mr. Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson. They looked exactly as I had imagined- Mr. Holmes, having a pale, gaunt face and a thin, but athletic body and Dr. Watson, with a chubby face having an amiable smile and a body that cannot be described as being lean and thin. But they could not have been real, or can they? They were after all the characters of a book. I pinched myself in disbelief. It seemed just like an obscure dream. I said out aloud,

            “Bingo!” but nothing happened. It was certainly not a dream. My parched throat was so dry that it hurt. Trembling with fear, I barely managed to ask,

            “Where am I?”

            It was then the tense environment relaxed and the strange expression on the faces of the men seemed to ease. Dr. Watson was the one, who replied very casually,

            “You are at 221 B, Baker Street, London. The date is 19^th of July, 1890.”

            This was really unbelievable.

            “Incredible! You say that you were just fiddling with a magnifying glass and it was the year 2010 when all this happened. But, we have no choice but to believe in your story, owing to the fact that you just appeared out of nowhere right now in my sitting room. May I have a look at that magnifying glass, please?” said Mr. Holmes after he had listened to my story.

            “Perhaps, it really does belong to you, Sir” said I, handing the lens over to him.

            “Why, it certainly does belong to me! Lad, I do not know how you got this but I cannot tell you how glad I am to have it back. Do you need anything in return?”

            “Sir, May I spend a day with you and see you work and after that will you please find me my way back home” I asked impatiently. When I was reading the novel, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ I grew I liking towards him and seeing him in action in real life would be like a dream come true.

            Sometime later there was an impatient knock on the door. Dr. Watson opened the door. An old man came in. Despite of my poor knowledge of century-old English clothes, I saw that he was dressed with very expensive clothes. His old face was wrinkled and he looked very serious and nervous. I looked at his hands which were trembling.

            “I need your help, Mr. Holmes. I am in a terrible fix. The problem is really quite sophisticated…” he said grimly.

            Holmes offered him a seat and said,

            “Pray, tell us about your problems.”

            “It is something like this,” he began, “My name is John Whimsley and I have a lot of money. There was this beautiful crown which I had bought in an auction just the other day. It was studded with diamonds, rubies, garnets, emeralds and carbuncles and let me tell you it cost me   a fortune. I have a fancy for rich things and this was the sole reason I had bought it. My nephew gave me an ivory box, very richly decorated. It had a strong lock and last night I placed the crown in it. The box, I then placed in a closet near my bed. Today morning I opened the box and to my horror, there was no crown in it. It was gone- disappeared! Please do something about it.”

            “Are you sure nobody came to your room last night?” asked Holmes calmly.

            “Dead sure! My room was securely closed. My closet too was locked. Moreover I am a light sleeper” said this man in a despondent tone.

            “Okay, Sir, I will look into the matter. You need not worry. Can I have your address?”

            Mr. Whimsley took out a business card and handed it over to Mr. Holmes. Then he handed him an ivory case lined with silver, and left.

            Sherlock Holmes then felt an urgent need to test the box with a wide array of chemicals in his personal laboratory. Dr. Watson and I left him in peace and as we both were hungry, none of us was able to say no to the delicious lunch that was brought to us by the landlady of the house.

            After sometime when Holmes had finished his work, he decided to visit Mr. Whimsley. So we all went out and hailed a cab. I enjoyed the ride in a cab, all through London. We stopped before a large manor which was probably the most expensive part of London.

            As soon as we got there we were cordially welcomed by Mr. Whimsley. But when he asked us to come up to his bedroom, Holmes, to my great surprise, refused. He asked in a serious tone instead,

            “Mr. Whimsley, have you given the ivory box to anyone after the crown disappeared?”

            “Yes Sir. My nephew wanted to examine the box, but he returned it to me after sometime”. Mr. Whimsley replied.

            “So my theory was correct after all. I think the case is solved. Give me some time and I will retrieve your fortune Mr. Whimsley.”

            I was astounded �" the case is solved? He did not even go to the room of Mr. Whimsley and had a look at the closet. I saw a similar look at the faces of Mr. Whimsley and Dr. Watson. We had to wait exactly an hour by the dial of Dr. Watson’s watch. The sun was already setting when Mr. Homes arrived. His face gleamed, and he now looked even more amiable than ever.

            “I have got the two birds I was looking for. Firstly, I have solved your case Mr. Whimsley. When you first gave me the box I performed various chemicals tests on it and I came to a surprising conclusion- the box had never contained any crown at all! The possibility of another box, a facsimile of this one then came to my mind. I am sorry to tell you that your nephew was the real culprit and had given you such a box that had a secret cavity which only opened when the box was locked. When you closed the box last night the crown fell into this cavity and when you opened the box this morning, the secret compartment again got closed and therefore your crown ‘disappeared’.  Your nephew then took this box from you on the pretext of examining it and he secretly replaced the box with one which had no secret cavity. Just now the police officers are noting his account of the incident. But look, here is the crown,” saying so he took out the crown, holding it very gingerly.

            The crown was surely a marvel but I was amazed, not at the beauty of the crown but the cleverness of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

            “But what is the second bird you caught, Sir?” I asked.

            I think I can get you back home. The words by which you came here said, “…seek twin to return…” and I did just that. I had a pair of these lenses given to me by a rich nobleman. Here, have a look at this,” saying so he gave me another lens.

            After saying goodbye to my newly acquired friends, I recited the words written on this lens,

            “From where comes my brother, there must I go.”

            There was another flash of light and at last I was back at home . Strangely no time had passed while I was enjoying with Mr. Sherlock Holmes. An old chipped magnifying glass was at my lap. It was after this incident I realized that my life was not really so uneventful after all. It certainly had some action, some adventure with the favourite character of a book that lies even now on top of all other novels in my bookshelf.

 

 

 

 

    

                       

 

 

Author's Note

Hello friends,
This is an attempt to write a story. To be frank, I wrote it long ago for my school essay. I have now just rewritten it in a new style and using different words. While it may seem a bit absurd at first but you 'may' enjoy reading it depending upon the genres you like. Any help in improving this will surely be entertained.
Thanking you,
Mehul

Reviews

[msharma]

Very gripping story. Each woven word to carries a person to the old days of Sherlock Homes. A fantastic story indeed.

[Aravind]

Magical! Sorry bro! I have no other words to express this. No word can express this work. Elegant through out!

Best BEST end ever... Being a Sherlock fan myself, this was very relatable. I wish this so happens to me too :D An eclectic mix of different genres here. A clever spin. One of the best ever!

[Dearantlers]

Well, I've never read Sherlock Holmes before, but it was really good! Though I thought that the nephew had tooken the box a while ago, not recently, but the crown was put in it the night before, so when did the nephew borrow it? I wasn't very sure about that. There were a few punctuation mark errors, like you needed a question mark, or places that I felt needed an exclamation mark. But other than that, it was really good, and really interesting.

[Red Raven]

I never use to believe in magic living among us but after reading your story...might be its possible to create magic and bring it alive from its slumber to live with us.Its interesting,simple and can be read without age bar.Please try to rework and springle more adventure, excitement here and there.It's great and might come out more polish for readers because as a reader i felt that it become draggish and lost somehwere in the middle,apart from that its great!
Thanks for sharing.

[Violeta]

Wow! What a dream you've created, I've always wanted to shadow Mr. Holmes and Watson... But sadly they are book characters. I love to live in my books :) Thank you so much for sharing this, you've got quite an imagination friend! :)

[Eric Cox]

I enjoyed this fantasy story, great job. :) I found it a unique fantasy with a bit of cleverness thrown in and entertainingly penned.