Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    My Dear Watson
    My Dear Watson
    My Dear Watson
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    My Dear Watson

    By Rick Bramhall

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This is the story of Dr. John Watson's daughter to re-establish the reputation of her father to his glory days as Sherlock Holmes' sidekick. It begins as a murder mystery, evolves into a brief history of psychoanalysis in London in the early 1930s, and then spirals completely out of control into a work of science-fiction.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRick Bramhall
    Release dateMay 20, 2019
    ISBN9780463895757
    My Dear Watson
    Author

    Rick Bramhall

    I was born in 1952 and grew up, as much as possible, in Hawthorne California. Served in the US Air Force from 1975-79. My longest gig was working in Medical Information at the Loma Linda VA from 1979-89. Got my BA from Cal State San Bernardino in 1989. Taught 8th Grade Language Arts 1990-94. Volunteered at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve from about 1997-2004. I currently reside in San Diego.

    Read more from Rick Bramhall

    Related to My Dear Watson

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Rebecca

      Aug 18, 2021

      Rebecca
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Mystery Of The Winter Dress

      Mar 23, 2022

      The Mystery Of The Winter Dress
      7 min read

    • Article

      Gillian Anderson

      Dec 15, 2022

      Gillian Anderson
      14 min read

    • Article

      In Conversation With ELLY GRIFFITHS

      Sep 28, 2023

      This year, bestselling author Elly Griffiths retired her most famous character – for now. Set in Norfolk, the Ruth Galloway series blends intricate plots, great characters, vivid landscapes and a much-loved heroine. Elly has also written standalone c

      2 min read

    • Article

      THE greatest LOVE

      Oct 21, 2021

      THE greatest LOVE
      10 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk

      Jun 1, 2023

      Table Talk
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Book

      Oct 30, 2019

      The Book
      20 min read

    • Article

      Virginia Ironside

      Nov 15, 2023

      Q My granddaughter brought her boyfriend over to have lunch with us and he spent most of the time, between courses, texting. I felt this was very rude, but does this mean I'm an old fuddy-duddy as it's common behaviour these days? Or was he just bein

      3 min read

    • Article

      Seedlings

      May 6, 2021

      Seedlings
      9 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Jan 20, 2020

      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

      7 min read

    • Article

      It’s All Relative

      Aug 1, 2021

      It’s All Relative
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Jul 28, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      In the Beginning, In the End

      Sep 1, 2020

      In the Beginning, In the End
      10 min read

    • Article

      Dear Frankie

      Aug 1, 2021

      Dear Frankie
      19 min read

    • Article

      Lasting LOVE

      Feb 28, 2024

      Lasting LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Be There

      Oct 25, 2019

      I’ll Be There
      7 min read

    • Article

      Q&A with Bonnie

      Apr 21, 2023

      ◗ Elizabeth Zott is a character we would all love to know or even become. Where did such a personality spring from? Fury! I started Lessons in Chemistry about seven years ago. I’d just come out of a meeting, irritated by some garden variety sexism, a

      6 min read

    • Article

      Supportive Husband

      Sep 12, 2023

      There were less intimate places available, so it was odd when a woman took the seat directly facing mine across the subway aisle. I looked up from my book and right back down: a couple of months before, we’d gone home together. She had a Southern acc

      22 min read

    • Article

      Class Act

      Oct 27, 2020

      Class Act
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jul 23, 2021

      I am often moved by many of the human interest articles in YOU, but the one about the Tolkien brothers (YOU, 15 July), is particularly heart-wrenching. The poignant photo of Royd holding his terminally ill brother brought tears to my eyes. The bond

      2 min read

    • Article

      I Confronted My School Bullies

      Jul 3, 2019

      I Confronted My School Bullies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Adults Beware: On the Wisdom of the Goosebumps Books

      May 15, 2018

      R.L. Stine’s horror adventures for kids, Goosebumps, are apparently the second best selling book series in history, right behind the exploits of the world’s most famous wizard. As a lifelong Goosebumps fan, I find this endlessly puzzling. It is

      6 min read

    • Article

      You’ve Heard This Before, The Only Way Out Is Through.

      Jul 1, 2019

      When my family burnt it all, weeven burnt the dolls. I writeabout this all the time, but have youever seen anything like it? A pitof ashes and dozens of porcelainhands, sprouting up like girlishweeds. So far in this life, I haveheard a number of unac

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Small Talk

      May 26, 2023

      The Art Of Small Talk
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Stackpole Legend

      Mar 1, 2024

      The Stackpole Legend
      13 min read

    • Article

      How Dementia Saved Mum & Me

      Mar 31, 2021

      How Dementia Saved Mum & Me
      5 min read

    • Article

      60 Seconds That Changed My Life

      Feb 5, 2023

      DATE: December 2D, 1999, 8:15pm EVENT: Writer and broadcaster BENJAMIN LAW comes out to his mum about his sexuality. I GREW UP on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the last mainland state in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality. That meant for a

      3 min read

    • Article

      60 Seconds That Changed My Life

      Feb 5, 2023

      DATE: December 2D, 1999, 8:15pm EVENT: Writer and broadcaster BENJAMIN LAW comes out to his mum about his sexuality. I GREW UP on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the last mainland state in Australia to decriminalise homosexuality. That meant for a

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for My Dear Watson

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      My Dear Watson - Rick Bramhall

      My Dear Watson

      by Rick Bramhall

      Copyright 2019 by Rick Bramhall

      This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead (other than historical figures) is purely coincidental and completely unintended by the author. Historical figures include Dr. Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Dr. Joan Rivierre, Dr. Karen Horney and Dr. Ernest Jones. I have tried to describe these figures in an accurate manner, although specific actions and words are entirely imaginary, hopefully in keeping with their characters. Dr. Nenad Sestan is a real person and has successfully kept a pig's brain alive in 2019. I'm sure we can all expect great things from him in the future.

      Smashwords Edition

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter One: The Meeting

      Chapter Two: The Crime

      Chapter Three: The Doctors

      Chapter Four: Observations

      Chapter Five: The Observer Observed

      Chapter Six: Goodbyes

      Chapter Seven: My Brief Life of Crime

      Chapter Eight: A Death and a Cocktail

      Chapter Nine: Into the We

      Chapter Ten: To the Sun

      Chapter Eleven: Coda

      Other Smashwords.com Ebooks by the Author

      About the Author

      Chapter One

      The Meeting

      Although Holmes and I had kept up a steady correspondence since he'd retired and moved to Sussex, I had not seen him in several years. As a result it was purely logical that I should be a little nervous. My daughter, who was accompanying me on the trip, tried her best to assure me that my anxiety was anything but logical.

      It doesn't matter that your limp has gotten much worse, said she, and he certainly won't care that you've put on a bit more flesh.

      It's not that, My Dear, I answered. It's more that since we have gone our separate ways, we have naturally become something more like strangers to each other. He has his bees and I have my opthalmology practice, and neither of us has the slightest interest in the other's business.

      Nonsense, Father, she replied in that prim manner of hers that brooked no opposition, you two have a lifetime of shared experiences to reminisce upon. Besides, she added, you have me to talk about.

      She had a point there. Although I of course had kept Holmes apprised of the birth of my daughter and the basic facts of her growth in the ten years since then, I had not been as completely honest with my friend as I had routinely done when we were roommates. I had persuaded myself that what I had left out was merely trivialities, small details of her young life that I was sure Sherlock Holmes would have no interest in.

      For example, I saw no reason to tell him that by the time she was one year old she insisted that the only bedtime stories she cared to hear about were my stories of him. And while I faithfully reported that she was top of her form ever since she started school, I did not mention that several times her teachers had recommended that she skip ahead into forms beyond her chronological years. After all, she and I had agreed that it would not be a good idea.

      Dear Papa, she would remind me each time, I remember your stories of that one year you were advanced ahead and how much you were picked on for being smaller and more innocent than your new classmates.

      I still internally wince at that memory. As usual, my daughter had a good point. Although she was mature beyond her years and had a lack of innocence that continually flabbergasted both my wife and me, she was only of average height for her age. Perhaps we spoiled our only child a bit but I would do anything to protect her.

      Also, in my letters and in his replies, we referred to my daughter by her given, Christian name: Samantha. However, approximately two years ago, Samantha decided that she preferred to be addressed as My Dear. My wife and I humor her, as did her teachers since they respected her as a top-notch student. Her peers however, were often persuaded only after a very unladylike-like display of fisticuffs.

      How could I explain this to my old friend? I haven't been able to even begin an explanation by paper and pen. So I brought my daughter, My Dear Watson nee Samantha Watson, along so she could give her own explanation in person.

      I was also worried that we wouldn't catch Holmes at home. But my daughter has Holmes' fondness for train schedules and we arrived at the nearest station just about 11:30 in the morning, which would leave us a half hour to catch my friend at home during dinner, which he now religiously ate at noon, exactly. My Dear was also rather excessively attuned to the daily weather throughout England and assured me that the dirt lane to our destination would be completely dry, as it hadn't rained in this part of the country in the past two weeks.

      We were shown into the modest kitchen where Holmes daily dined just as he was sitting down to eat. A hearty bowl of soup made fresh from his own vegetable garden, bread and a mild cheese were offered to us and we accepted. My daughter, though, was rather tardy in making it through her meal, as she somewhat stared at my old friend through the repast.

      I knew he was just as keenly studying her. However, he was able to pull it off much more surreptitiously than she. I could tell that her open staring didn't bother him, although I thought it quite impolite and shot her several disapproving glances. There was a twinkle in his eyes and the slightest curve to his lips that told me he found the incident amusing.

      As the remains of the meal were removed by a neighbor woman who cooked and cleaned for him, apples from his small orchard were offered us. I tried to observe my own daughter in the manner in which Holmes had daily drilled me on for all the years we had lived together. Before me I saw a rather average-looking lass who looked her age. She had medium brown eyes and medium brown hair. She had on one of the frocks she normally wore to school. She had freckles, probably the result of spending as much time out of doors as possible. Other than that, I could not reconcile her appearance with what I knew about her personality and daily habits. There was the wooden box, but she had tactfully left that in the hallway and I was sure Holmes had not seen it.

      I gather, began Holmes, that your father has told you of my methods and habit of drawing conclusions about newly introduced people based on nothing more than their appearance.

      Yes, My Dear replied, and I'm dying to hear your appraisal of me.

      Ah, but ladies and welcome guests first, my dear.

      I reflexively jumped at hearing him calling her that. It took a moment's reflection for me to realize that he had not somehow guessed her name. My Dear didn't bat an eyelash.

      She nodded. That seems fair, she decided. But please keep in mind that I am at a disadvantage here. While you saw me walk into the room and then be seated, I have only seen you in your chair.

      The audacity of the girl, I thought. Of course she was at a disadvantage. Holmes had many years of experience meeting a wide range of individuals.

      I can see that you have gained an inch about the waist, My Dear began, although you still look in remarkably good shape for your years. You must have gotten up quite early this morning. You have walked quite a distance, over a variety of terrain. I hope you don't mind me worrying about you taking the risk of climbing down a steep cliff side. After all, you are not as young as you used to be and I'd be a lot less worried if you wore your spectacles while undertaking such a jaunt.

      Holmes' eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Is that all? he

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1