Work Text:
Friendship is a marvellous thing. I am currently sitting on the bench in our garden talking with Seth, while we enjoy the spring sunshine. We are supposed to be planning the planting of this year’s annuals in the flower beds, but it is a shame to waste this glorious sunshine. And after all, now we have a sketch we can finish our discussion another day, when the spring rains return, which cannot be but a matter of time. No, far better to talk of days past, perhaps long past, and days to come, for Seth’s grandson William is to have a second child.
And what of that companion of my heart, Mr Sherlock Holmes? He is currently next door, sitting in the back garden of our neighbour, Inspector Stanley Hopkins, and watching while Hopkins digs his vegetable garden, aided, or abetted, by his young son Edward. They will no doubt be discussing Hopkins’ latest cases, for Holmes can still provide some insight, and he has a lively interest in the new scientific discoveries which aid detection.
Meanwhile, Annie, Hopkins’ wife, has gone down into the village, where she will meet friends of her own, and their youngest, James, will be able to play with his small friends, under careful supervision so that they neither fall into the stream or the nettles.
After a while, Seth rises and says he will set off home, for although it is now spring it still grows chillier as the afternoon progresses and I agree that it is a good idea, for we are both prey to rheumatism. As I stand at the gate bidding Seth farewell, I see Annie returning and Lizzie runs over to pass on her mother’s invitation to come to tea, which I accept gratefully.
We are all sitting round the table when the last of the Hopkins arrives, slightly breathless from cycling up the hill.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Mamma,” Florrie says. “I thought I’d left Clara’s in time.”
“You are not late,” Annie says with a smile. “But the gardeners had worked up an appetite, so I thought we would start. And don’t worry, I have made sure to save you your favourite sandwiches.”
We all laugh, and Florrie soon joins us at the table. Later, when Holmes and I return home, I reflect again on the wonders of friendship, and how each having friends of their own makes the Hopkins family so much happier when they are together, and how much more our individual friendships bring to Holmes and I when we are together again of an evening.