"The Great Mouse Detective"

Prologue {1/2}

{London, 1897}

I didn't think it'd get this far. I didn't think I would get this far. I'm a poet, I inspire people with poetry. I'm an artist, not a detective!

...Well, I thought so.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself, aren't I? Oh well. I'm Florence, Florence Chamberlain. I had just gotten home from a trip to America for work purposes. It was introspective, and I wanted to introspect. I met a man, Dr. David Q. Dawson, he was looking for a place to stay and I walked alongside him so I wasn't alone. Little did I know, this interaction and others would change my life forever. ...And my career path.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was the eve of our beautiful Queen Mousetoria's Diamond Jubilee, and the evening that our empire came to brink of disaster. Of course, I didn't know this yet..

"Oh! Hello there, Mr. Dawson! It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" I say as I hop up next to Dr. Dawson, a well-known man and someone who I've known for a while now. "Oh, Ms. Chamberlain!" Dawson looked up from his newspaper for just a moment, we locked eyes as I sat down across from him and set down my bag and umbrella.

I started writing new poems with the inspiration I got from America, "How was that lengthy service of yours, old chap?" "Decent enough, I suppose." He says with that gentle smile of his. He's a very kind man, and I'm glad to see him again.. "That's good. It's good to see you home.."

After that carriage ride and conversation ended, Dawson and I walked down the road until we came across a tall, black rain boot. Inside, there was a box of Liver Pills, a little girl with a blue coat and hat was sitting on it. The poor girl was bawling her eyes out, it tore my heart apart..

Dawson gasped quietly, "Oh! Oh my.." her sobs broke my heart a little more every second. He walks over to her and pulls a handkerchief out of his jacket, "Come now, come, come, dry your eyes." The little girl blew her nose with the pale pink handkerchief and handed it back to Dawson with a saddened expression on her face. "Ah, yes, that's better. Now, tell me, what's troubling you, my dear?" He sits down on the box near her as I crouch down infront of her. Of course, I stayed mindful of my dress.

The girl hesitated for a moment. "I.. I'm lost. I- I- I'm trying to find Basil of Baker Street." That name. I recognized that name. He and I knew each other for a while, but that was a phase..

"Now, let's see here.." Dawson's voice and his putting on of his bifocals snapped me out of my thoughts of how Basil must be doing now, he takes a small paper from the little girl and reads it aloud, "'Famous detective solves baffling disappearance.' Mmm, hmmm. But.. Where are your mother and father?"

The poor child got even more upset, "That's why I m- m- must find Basil!" She starts to cry, burying her little head into her scarf as she sobs. I got a little startled, but I figured I should try calming her down a little, "There there, there, there. Now, now, now, now. Well, I don't know any Basil.." That was a lie, I did know a Basil. But it seemed to satisfy the girl. As Dawson takes off his glasses and smiles at the two of us, I sigh a little and smile at her, "But, I do remember where Baker Street is."

{To be continued, with a new perspective or two.}