"Hullo Watson!" I heard the familiar voice of my good old friend, Sherlock Holmes, behind me.
There he was, in his grey overcoat and cigar pipe in mouth, grinning at me.
"It is not in character for you to have a smoke right in the morning….." I mentioned.
"I have been awake for the entire night, there is no distinction between a fresh morning and a
tiresome night, for, my sense of continuity doesn't let my brain accept that it is a new day." He
spoke all of that in one breath.
"Does the bright orb in the sky not offer you any assistance in accepting the fact that it is indeed
a start of yet another day in this case of ours?" I said.
"Is that sarcasm I detect Watson?" he enquired, still with that wide grin showing his glistening
white teeth with a cigar between them.
"That smile of yours is suggesting that you might have found a new lead over this case,
probably last night" I pointed out.
"Why, yes my dear friend! Come on now let's question that lady heading in our direction first" he
said, now in a little serious tone.
The lady looked like she was in her late thirties or early forties. She was dressed in quite a
modern sense of style and one could see by her pace that she was in a hurry.
"Hullo madam, would you mind telling me the direction to _______?" Asked Sherlock. This is a
technique he used, asking for directions and then getting whatever info he wanted.
Anyway, the lady didn't reply. "Excuse me, good madam" Sherlock called out again.
No answer, the lady just kept walking. She was ignoring us.
"Dear lady, as my friend was saying, we need help getting somewhere" I joined in a desperate
attempt to grab her attention. This time she actually turned to face us. She looked at me from
head to toe. And now I got a chance to observe her more clearly. Her face had a few wrinkles
which would not stop now. She looked tired, probably was going through a lot. Her lips were
pursed and she sighed before she spoke.
"Are you not taking your meds Henry?" She asked me in a monotonous tone of voice which
bore signs of irritation. Then she turned again and went along her way.
I didn't understand. Was she confused? Did she mistake me for someone else? I turned to
Sherlock, expecting an answer to my questions.
"What did she mean?" I asked him, in a state of confusion.
He smiled and said, "It is pretty elementary Watson. Have you not realized it yet?"
"No…." I replied, more confused than ever.
"Let me ask you a series of questions and you will understand. Where are we right now? Do you
even know how you got here?"
I didn't. I just stood there dumbstruck, all those questions resonating in my mind.
"What case are we investigating? I'm not even the correct portrayal of the Sherlock Holmes Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle described in his novels in so detail. Sherlock Holmes in the novels was
never this lively." He said in a grave tone.
"Take your meds Henry, the schizophrenia is getting the better of you" he said, before fading
away.
I started to feel weak, my vision dimmed and I collapsed onto the ground.
"Are you okay Master Wayne?" Asked Alfred.
"Wouldn't you help me get up Alfred?" I said jokingly.
"You have been fighting criminals all over Gotham I think you have learnt to pick yourself up" he
remarked.
"We still have a lot of mess to clean up Alfred" I said getting on my feet with.
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