Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson
Going Camping
translated by: Richard Kostelanetz
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, Holmes awakens Watson and says: “Watson, look up at the sky, and tell me what you see.”
Watson replies: “I see millions and millions of stars.”
Holmes says: “And what do you deduce from that?”
Watson replies: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there. And if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life.”
And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent.”
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Isolating themselves from the COVID plague of the early 2020s, several people who had never met each other before telling stories, many stories, some inventing while others recall, incidentally developing an essentially comic literary form that stands between the short story and a one-liner.
One constraint that they shared is that all stories must be told in less than one minute. This rule accounts for why, in their printed form, every story must fit within a single page.
Perhaps because the stories were told in various languages, one recurring theme is misunderstanding, which is perhaps more common in the 21st century than ever before.
Once the threat of COVID was declared over, the participants dispersed, never taking each other’s names and addresses, their authorships permanently forgotten.
- Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson - August 25, 2025
- The Longevity Loophole - March 5, 2025
