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“Holmes, what exactly is it you’re thinking about?” asked Dr. Yuujin Mikotoba.
There was no doubt that with living with Mr. Sherlock Holmes – the self proclaimed “great detective of the foggy city” – had taught Yuujin when something was up with Holmes. Then again, you didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to work that out. Especially as he had been staring at him over the course of breakfast as though he was some form of accompanying show.
“I’m wondering about your skills in logic and deductions,” Holmes replied. “I mean, of course, I’m flattered that you’re learning from me, doctor, and that you’re interested in my trade. However, I’m sad to say that there is no way that you are greater than the true great detective.”
“I think I should choose to doubt that question, Holmes,” replied Yuujin. “Though surely you should choose to prove that remark.”
“You’re on!” said Holmes with a finger snap and the energy of a gambler with a free bet at the Grand National.
“For starters, Mikotoba. You were preoccupied this morning.”
“And how could you tell that, Holmes?”
“You have forgotten to shave. You’re an ordinarily tidy man, and you rarely forget to do so.”
“Ah yes, I’d forgotten about that. Thank you for the reminder. But what was I preoccupied with?”
“You have a patient whose name is ‘BARLOW’. As evidenced from the telegram you shoved in your trouser pocket this morning. May I? Thank you. ‘I shall be seeing you this morning at nine o’clock. Yours, Barlow’. You’re not looking forward to his meeting, presumably because he is a hypochondriac who continues to pester you.”
“Any other points?”
“You’ve also taken to financial speculation. This morning when you came down stairs, you rushed to open the paper to the financial section of the newspaper, before you gave an exclamation of ‘Ah, Kuso!’ which shows you may have lost some of your doctor’s wages betting on the stock market.”
“Yes, yes. Anything else?”
“You dressed remarkably early this morning, which proves that you may have early appointments at St. Bartholomew’s this morning, or that Dr. Watson asked for your immediate assistance this morning.”
“Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Well I’m sorry to say that your deductions haven’t been as accurate as you hoped them to be,” replied Yuujin.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You see, I don’t have my razor with me at the moment, because I sent it away to the shop to be sharpened. I put on my coat because, it’s true, I have an early appointment with Barlow. However, his name is Dr. Kenneth Barlow, and he’s a dentist in particular. His letter was to confirm that he would see me at ten o’clock this morning about my wisdom teeth.”
“But surely I’m right about the financial pages?”
“Not at all. Inspector Jones seems to have got me rather into cricket of late. I rushed down this morning to find if Sussex were holding against Kent in the match held yesterday. I cursed when I found that they haven’t, sadly.”
“Drat!”
“But don’t worry Holmes, we can’t be right all the time.” He rested an arm on Holmes’s shoulder before he left. “Maybe you’ll get it right one of these days.”
“Maybe I will…Hey, what are you trying to say, Mikotoba?!”