Kankshita'salarm went off ratherish more sibilating than the usual, piercing her ears; she indignantly reached out and turned it off, before sitting up on her bed and rubbing her eyes. Barely managing to keep her eyes open; she shambled herself towards shower to brush.She looked in the mirror and emphatic scream left her lips; effectively inducing her out of the daze, she realised abruptly that this was not her room at all. She heard a faint sound of phone ringing in her bedroom, coercing her to make quick exit from the shower..
She stared at her phone in disbelief for a second, before picking it up and answering it."Hello?" Her voice was deeper, rougher quite contrary to her natural baritone. Her subconscious mind quietly trying to grasp the fact that she was currently on the phone with a certain Mister Sherlock Holmes."John?" came the impatient voice from the other side. She stayed silent still trying to grasp the entire scenario.
"Are you there, or what? I left early because Lestrade called, and I am saddled with Anderson of all people, and... John, are you listening!" once again Mr. Holmes bellowed on receiving no response from this side...
"Hmm? Yes, I am Sh-Sherlock." Kankshita managed to shake herself out of her stupor in time to answer the question."Great! Now be at the address I sent you in 22 minutes. I need you to examine the corpse."She swallowed. Examine the corpse? "John!"
"Oops, sorry, Sherlock.""John, are you quite alright? You do not say 'oops' like it is a throwaway!""Yes, I am Sherlock," said Kankshita, a little too fast, but that seemed to convince him. He repeated his instructions and hung up.Kankshita quickly dressed inDr. John Hamish Watson's clothes and quickly hailed a taxi and reached the place Sherlock had asked her to.
Realising the gravity of the situation, she pondered what was she going to say when she examined the corpse! She DID NOT know what to do. Luckily for her, she was willingly supplied with details by Sherlock, Anderson, Sergeant Donovan and Lestrade, so much so that her head was spinning.
Acting like Dr Watson was no easy task! She knew it was her dream to meet Sherlock. She knew that she had dreamed of being Dr Watson, but this is a little too much! Argh, argh, argh! If only she could just GET BACK HOME!"John, the corpse!" said Sherlock without preamble.Kankshita sighed and knelt beside the corpse, trying to push the strong smell back. She carefully lifted the hand and looked around, like she had seen the real Waston do.
"Well?"
"The body is warm. And nothing unusual."
"I could have said that much, John."
"Yes, thank you for waking me up and expecting me to make logical assumptions 25 minutes, on an empty stomach."
"Ah, that explains the anger!"
"Sherlock, give me a MINUTE."
Sherlock made an impatient noise. Kankshita knelt and pretended she was looking over the corpse.
"What am I doing? I don't have the faintest idea about how to examine corpse . I cannot detect anything about this at all! AND I thought that being John is cool! YAYY for that!" she ranted to herself.
"Is he checking the corpse or what?"came Anderson's voice. Kankshita rolled her eyes and bit back a scoff.
"No, he put it there," said Sherlock, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Thank You, Sherlock. John, anything?" said Lestrade, stepping in quickly.
"No, nothing you haven't seen. Coming, Sherlock?"The two left the building.
"John?" She turned. It was Lestrade."Yes, Greg?" she said, in her best impression of John."Have you got anything to add about the corpse? I know we all looked at it, but you pick up stuff no one else does, and Sherlock-" he jerked his head in Sherlock's direction (who was hailing a taxi)"-will definitely take your opinion better than anyone else's.""There is literally nothing on that corpse that would interest Sherlock, Greg. It is way too plain a case for him."Lestrade didn't move a muscle but Kankshita saw the mirth in his eyes. He nodded and departed. For what seemed like the thousandth time that day, she thanked her lucky stars that she was so addicted to the show, and had seen it a million times.
By the end of the day, she was bone-tired, and Sherlock was convinced that something was bothering 'John', had decided to pack her off home for the day. Happily clutching a mug of steaming hot chocolate in her trembling hands, she leaned back in bed, and opened her laptop to watch something.
The half finished mug of hot chocolate lay on the bedside table, and John lay asleep on the bed, with laptop beside him on the bed.
Kankshita woke the following day, thankfully, in her own bed. She had endless missed calls from all the people who'd called her up the previous day.One after the other, she called them all. They all had the same question.
"Where were you yesterday?!"And she had the same answer. "It's a long story!"
Anupamaa
