FIC: Order Araneae - JWP#17

[monkeybard]

Order Araneae
By MonkeyBard
Rating: G
Length: 221b
Universe: BBC
Warnings: Do not try this at home.
Summary: There's just something about humans and spiders.
Date: 17 July 2014
Prompt 17: Truth is stranger than: Use one of these articles as your inspiration for today's work.
A/N: I chose this bit of Victorian Strangeness and as a companion piece I chose this modern article.


John shook his head over his laptop screen. "All that drama over a spider."

Sherlock didn't look up from where he sat on the sofa with his own computer. "Arachnophobia can cause all sorts of irrational behaviour. Although I admit this fellow had a fair reason for his extreme reaction."

"You really think what he did was reasonable?"

"No. I said it was 'extreme,' but he couldn't control himself. Small-minded people simply don't have the capacity."

"I agree with you there. Sort of."

"Ah, but you do not have a fear of spiders."

"No."

"And as such, how would you expect to respond in the same circumstances?"

"With a shoe, probably. Or a rolled-up newspaper. Certainly not with an improvised blowtorch."

Sherlock looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about?"

"Some idiot in Seattle who nearly burned down his house with spray paint and a lighter just to get rid of a spider in the laundry room. What are you talking about?"

"A man who, in 1897, was trapped in a tarantula-filled train car and driven mad. He woke in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, where he was 'recovering from an attack of insanity.'"

"That's not nearly as ridiculous as this one." John fell to musing. "Was there anything else in that train car with your bloke?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Bananas."

Comments

[methylviolet10b]

*sporfle* It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I got to that last line. I can just hear Sherlock saying it, and see John losing it. Brilliant!

[monkeybard]

Yay! That's just what I was hoping for! :-D Thanks!

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

That last line IS brilliant! (It also explains the tarantulas, but the way you have set it up makes it funny instead of . . . idk, matter-of-fact?)

[monkeybard]

Thank you! I imagine that it is Sherlock's matter-of-fact tone, which I hear in my head, that makes it funny. Are you, too, listening to the voices in my head? ;-)

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

Perhaps our respective head-voices are similar? :)

[monkeybard]

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. (If you can tell me who just sang that in my head, we'll know for sure. ;-) )

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

My voice was John. who was yours?

[monkeybard]

Doris Day, in fact. Alas, not brain twins, then. Although that's lucky for you, I think. My brain can be a scary place to hang out. ;-)

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

There should be a movie... "Spiders on a Train".

[monkeybard]

That came to my mind, too, when I read the original Victorian Strangeness article. :-)