113 & 111: Miss Marple: Gen
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vocab_drabblesTitle: Basil
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christe
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Characters/Pairing: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Prompt: Ostensible
Warning/Notes: Inspired by A Victorian Flower Dictionary: the Language of Flowers Companion by Mandy Kirby, murder, decapitation, references to A Body in the Library
Summary: Dolly finds something unexpected in a pot of basil.
“Jane?!”
“Dolly?! Whatever is the matter?!”
“Oh, you must come. It’s too, too, well, this is a public telephone, so I will simply say, too much for words. I’m at the call box by the post office, but I need you to come as quickly as you can to the Crawford cottage, around the back, near the greenhouse. If anyone asks, your ostensible purpose is to render aid to one in need, and it’s not a prevarication because I am gravely in want of assistance.”
“Dolly, by any chance, did you find something decidedly disagreeable in the very large pot of basil by the kitchen door?”
“Jane! I swear you would’ve been burnt at the stake a hundred years ago!”
“There’s still time, Dolly. I’m on my way.”
--
“Dolly, did you do your preparatory reading for the lecture tomorrow evening at the Women’s Institute?”
“I can’t say I did, Jane,” replied Dolly testily. “I was too worried about getting a proper joint for the stew I was going to serve the distinguished guests after the lecture. And now I shan’t ever read it, seeing as how I’ve just found the lecturer’s head in the Crawfords’ herb garden. You’d think a body in the library would be enough ghastly surprises for one lifetime, but apparently, Providence is not done with me yet.”
Miss Marple smiled at her friend’s vexation but soldiered on in her line of thought.
“If you’d read it, you would’ve encountered Keats’ “Isabella and the Pot of Basil.” In the poem, Isabella’s lover is murdered by her brothers. She finds her lover’s body in the forest and buries the head in a pot in which she plants basil. She waters the plant with her tears.”
Dolly frowned deeply. “I do remember something about a sprig of basil placed under a pot would breed a scorpion.”
Miss Marple hummed.
“But how ever did you guess that life would imitate art in this case?” asked Dolly.
“I remembered the, um, unfortunate incident with your previous housemaid and your herb garden.”
“Please don’t remind me. Servants, today,” said Dolly with a sigh.
“Quite,” agreed Miss Marple. “So, I supposed that you would be borrowing some basil for your stew, that recipe being the right note of satisfying and impressing, comfort and novelty.”
“Great minds think alike there.”
“And as the Crawfords have the most abundant herb garden on the lane, and as Mrs. Crawford is always so generous with her harvests, so to speak, and as you had to take the short cut back from the butcher’s…”
“Jane, I stand by my statement, earlier. You do have something like second sight.”
“I hope you’re right, Dolly, for I shall need it and more to find out who among the village is wicked enough to commit such a crime. And, of course, there’s finding the rest of the body. Basil is for hate.”
“Yes. Is it time to telephone the police or would you like to look for more clues?”
“It’s time.”
Title: Canterbury Bells
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Rating: Gen
Length: 300
Characters/Pairing: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Prompt: Finifugal
Notes: Inspired by A Victorian Flower Dictionary: the Language of Flowers Companion by Mandy Kirby, reference to murder, reference to Murder at the Vicarage
Summary: There's something the police don't know.
“Jane, is it in very poor taste for me to take back that pot of bells over there? I gave it to the curate’s wife three days ago. I thought it was just the thing for her, too. Pity.”
“It was a wholly appropriate gift for a curate’s wife. Canterbury bells mean ‘faith and constancy,’” said Miss Marple. “Named for the bells the pilgrims carried the shrine of Thomas à Becket.”
“Yes, just as you say, but I can’t imagine it’s going to fare well now that there’s been a murder in the house.”
“You may be right, Dolly, but I wouldn’t take it back. Not just yet, at least. I must find Inspector Slack.”
“Why? He won’t be pleased to be found by you!”
“Perhaps not, but do you remember the clock at the vicarage? And the role it played in the death of Colonel Prothero?”
“Yes, of course. It was always set fifteen minutes ahead of time, and that threw the police off the scent as to the time of the murder—at least in the beginning of the investigation.”
“Yes, there is something about the curate’s wife that the police don’t know, but we do because we were on committee with her. She was finifugal.”
“Fini—what? Oh, Arther had a powder for that. Or is it something you spray for in early May?”
“It means she avoided the ends of things. She never read the last chapter of a book. She always turned off the wireless before a programme finished. And…”
“Oh, she never stayed for the last bits of a film! You’re right, Jane. Oh, that is something, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Let’s track Inspector Slack down.”
“Yes,” said Dolly, scooping up the pot and hugging it to her chest while her friend led the way.
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christe
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Characters/Pairing: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Prompt: Ostensible
Warning/Notes: Inspired by A Victorian Flower Dictionary: the Language of Flowers Companion by Mandy Kirby, murder, decapitation, references to A Body in the Library
Summary: Dolly finds something unexpected in a pot of basil.
“Jane?!”
“Dolly?! Whatever is the matter?!”
“Oh, you must come. It’s too, too, well, this is a public telephone, so I will simply say, too much for words. I’m at the call box by the post office, but I need you to come as quickly as you can to the Crawford cottage, around the back, near the greenhouse. If anyone asks, your ostensible purpose is to render aid to one in need, and it’s not a prevarication because I am gravely in want of assistance.”
“Dolly, by any chance, did you find something decidedly disagreeable in the very large pot of basil by the kitchen door?”
“Jane! I swear you would’ve been burnt at the stake a hundred years ago!”
“There’s still time, Dolly. I’m on my way.”
--
“Dolly, did you do your preparatory reading for the lecture tomorrow evening at the Women’s Institute?”
“I can’t say I did, Jane,” replied Dolly testily. “I was too worried about getting a proper joint for the stew I was going to serve the distinguished guests after the lecture. And now I shan’t ever read it, seeing as how I’ve just found the lecturer’s head in the Crawfords’ herb garden. You’d think a body in the library would be enough ghastly surprises for one lifetime, but apparently, Providence is not done with me yet.”
Miss Marple smiled at her friend’s vexation but soldiered on in her line of thought.
“If you’d read it, you would’ve encountered Keats’ “Isabella and the Pot of Basil.” In the poem, Isabella’s lover is murdered by her brothers. She finds her lover’s body in the forest and buries the head in a pot in which she plants basil. She waters the plant with her tears.”
Dolly frowned deeply. “I do remember something about a sprig of basil placed under a pot would breed a scorpion.”
Miss Marple hummed.
“But how ever did you guess that life would imitate art in this case?” asked Dolly.
“I remembered the, um, unfortunate incident with your previous housemaid and your herb garden.”
“Please don’t remind me. Servants, today,” said Dolly with a sigh.
“Quite,” agreed Miss Marple. “So, I supposed that you would be borrowing some basil for your stew, that recipe being the right note of satisfying and impressing, comfort and novelty.”
“Great minds think alike there.”
“And as the Crawfords have the most abundant herb garden on the lane, and as Mrs. Crawford is always so generous with her harvests, so to speak, and as you had to take the short cut back from the butcher’s…”
“Jane, I stand by my statement, earlier. You do have something like second sight.”
“I hope you’re right, Dolly, for I shall need it and more to find out who among the village is wicked enough to commit such a crime. And, of course, there’s finding the rest of the body. Basil is for hate.”
“Yes. Is it time to telephone the police or would you like to look for more clues?”
“It’s time.”
Title: Canterbury Bells
Fandom: Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Rating: Gen
Length: 300
Characters/Pairing: Miss Marple & Dolly Bantry
Prompt: Finifugal
Notes: Inspired by A Victorian Flower Dictionary: the Language of Flowers Companion by Mandy Kirby, reference to murder, reference to Murder at the Vicarage
Summary: There's something the police don't know.
“Jane, is it in very poor taste for me to take back that pot of bells over there? I gave it to the curate’s wife three days ago. I thought it was just the thing for her, too. Pity.”
“It was a wholly appropriate gift for a curate’s wife. Canterbury bells mean ‘faith and constancy,’” said Miss Marple. “Named for the bells the pilgrims carried the shrine of Thomas à Becket.”
“Yes, just as you say, but I can’t imagine it’s going to fare well now that there’s been a murder in the house.”
“You may be right, Dolly, but I wouldn’t take it back. Not just yet, at least. I must find Inspector Slack.”
“Why? He won’t be pleased to be found by you!”
“Perhaps not, but do you remember the clock at the vicarage? And the role it played in the death of Colonel Prothero?”
“Yes, of course. It was always set fifteen minutes ahead of time, and that threw the police off the scent as to the time of the murder—at least in the beginning of the investigation.”
“Yes, there is something about the curate’s wife that the police don’t know, but we do because we were on committee with her. She was finifugal.”
“Fini—what? Oh, Arther had a powder for that. Or is it something you spray for in early May?”
“It means she avoided the ends of things. She never read the last chapter of a book. She always turned off the wireless before a programme finished. And…”
“Oh, she never stayed for the last bits of a film! You’re right, Jane. Oh, that is something, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Let’s track Inspector Slack down.”
“Yes,” said Dolly, scooping up the pot and hugging it to her chest while her friend led the way.
