The Return of Sherlock James

by Gary D. Snyder

Epilogue:

That afternoon Jimmy sat by himself on a bench in Retroville Mall, sadly reflecting on the shambles of his life. The revelations in the courtroom had cleared both Cindy and Libby of all blame, but had also placed the fault for the situation clearly on Jimmy.

"I should have known this was all your fault," Cindy had seethed. "Just another dopey Neutron invention gone wrong."

"Yeah, Neutron," Nick had agreed. "You nearly had people thinking that Sheen was cooler than me. That is so uncool."

Butch had smacked his fist into his palm and poined an accusing finger. "That's right, Neutron. You're a…you're a…well, I don't know what kind of bully that makes you, but it's the worst kind!"

"It was pretty bad, Jimmy," Miss Fowl had clucked. "You're going to need to think about your inventions. I mean, not think about them. I mean…that is…" She had trailed off in confusion. "What were we talking about?"

"I know. I know. I'm sorry," Jimmy had sighed. "How many times have I told you that?"

"Not often enough," Cindy had snapped.

"But everything turned out okay," Jimmy had protested. "I've cancelled the command and Libby's fine now. Right?" He had turned to Libby for support.

"Actually, I'm with Cindy on this one," Libby had told him. "I mean, I know you don't intend to hurt anyone, but sometimes your ideas just don't fly the way you expect them to. And when they go down in flames, people below had better run for cover. Maybe it would be better if you didn't try thinking so much, sometimes."

"But it's what I do! I can't help thinking about these kinds of things. And sometimes, when you push the frontiers of science, there are always things that no one could anticipate."

Libby had shaken her head. "When I think about what I nearly did to poor Cindy…"

Cindy had also shaken her head in commiseration. "And how I actually thought how you were capable of something like that…" Without a further word she turned and hugged Libby tightly. "Forgotten?"

"So forgotten," Libby had agreed.

Cindy had smiled. "Great. Then let's get to the mall and pick up that pen for Miss Fowl."

Miss Fowl had smiled as well, as her eyes turned misty. "I can't believe that all you wonderful kids actually bought a pen for me when my other one was missing."

Cindy had give Jimmy a meaningful look as she replied, "Well, almost all of us." With that last shot Cindy and Libby had turned on their heels and marched off, leaving the other kids to drift away to their usual Saturday activities. Having nothing better to do Jimmy had also gone to the Mall, hoping to think of some way to apologize to Cndy and Libby. As he sat there deep in thought an excited voice roused him. "Hey, Jimmy!"

Jimmy looked up and saw Carl and Sheen approaching him. "Oh. Hi, Carl. Hey, Sheen. Aren't you ostracizing me, too?"

"Don't be silly, Jimmy," Sheen told him. "You're our best friend. Besides, everyone knows that ostracizes live in Aftrica. Is it true that one of their eggs can make an omelet big enough for twelve people?"

Carl broke in, unable to contain himself. "Forget that, Sheen. We have more important things to tell Jimmy. We solved the case!"

Jimmy's mind skipped a beat. "What case?"

"The Omnipedia Beige case, of course," Sheen answered. "We know why the giraffes couldn't have woken Mr. McDuff like he said they did."

This impressed Jimmy enough to bring him partly out of his funk. "Really? And why is that?"

"Because," Carl told him triumphantly, "although giraffes can make some noises, they can't make the loud screams that McDuff claimed woke him. Obviously he was lying to cover up the fact that he had accidentally started the fire himself."

"That's amazing!" Jimmy exclaimed. "And even more amazing, that's absolutely right. How did you figure it out?"

"Well, it was just like you said," replied Sheen. "The real clue was right there in front of us."

Carl vigorously nodded his head. "That's right. Right at the bottom of the page there was a note that said, 'See page 67 for solution'. So we did, and just like it said everything we needed to know was there."

Jimmy tried to figure out how to break the news to the two without dampening their high spirits. "Well, actually, guys…"

"And you know what else?" Sheen went on without noticing Jimmy's attempt to set him and Carl right. "We checked out every other story in that book and everyone one of them had the same kind of clue." He looked somewhat annoyed. "If you ask me that writer is really in a rut."

Jimmy gave up and gave the brightest smile he could as he gave a "thumb's up" sign with each hand. "Hey, that's great, guys. Well done." That said he turned his attention to the jewelry store where Cindy and Libby were picking up Miss Fowl's pen. As before, Rafael (if that was his real name) was there, but much to the girls' obvious annoyance seemed to be concentrating on an attractive young brunette much closer in age to himself. Curious, he moved to the store's doorway where he could hear what was going on.

"Oh, yes," the young lady was saying. "I'll be starting college next semester. I plan to study birds. I love birds."

"That is truly amazing," Rafael oozed as he wrapped a small box. "I'm also interested in bird-watching, Kimberly."

"Yeah, but what kind?" Libby muttered.

"I think baby birds are so cute," the girl (whose name was apparently Kimberly) went on. "Like the ugly duckling that was actually a baby swan."

"'Cygnet'," Rafael corrected just as Cindy mouthed the word in contempt.

Kimberly blinked. "I beg pardon?"

"Forgive me. I'm the president of the Retroville Ornithology Society and it distresses me greatly when people use the wrong terms about birds. A baby swan is called a cygnet."

"Oh, I am so sorry," Kimberly apologized. "I must seem like such a dunce."

"You sure do," Cindy grunted under her breath.

If Rafael heard he gave no sign as he carefully wrapped a length of ribbon around the package. "Not at all. I would be happy to spend time with you and discuss ornithology."

Kimberly looked confused. "You want to talk about teeth?"

Rafael laughed while Cindy rolled her eyes and Libby mimed putting a finger down her throat. "No, no. 'Ornithology' means the study of birds. There are many around here. Perhaps we could go birding together."

"Well…" Kimberly looked apprehensive. "I don't know…we hardly know each other." She paused, wavering. "What kind of birds?"

"The usual kinds – sparrows, jays, and so on. But I did see an extraordinarily large flock of crows roosting in the woods just east of town. And once I saw a bald eagle in the country about ten miles from here."

"Did you see a nest?"

"'Aerie', not 'nest'." Rafael looked sad. "No, I didn't, unfortunately. But a year ago, when I was in Alaska, I saw a group of eagles near one of the large lakes there. I'm sure that some of the eagles were nesting there. I only wish I had the time to take some pictures."

"I thought eagles lived alone."

Rafael shook his head. "If food is plentiful they gather together, sometimes."

"How fascinating!" gushed Kimberly.

"Yes." Rafael finished his gift-wrapping and handed the parcel to Cindy. "Thank you, Suzie. Please come again."

Cindy glared at him. "It's Cindy!"

"Oh, yes. Cindy. Please come again." He smiled thinly as he turned away and gave his full attention to Kimberly again. "So, would you be interested in spending some time next Saturday with me? Or would you prefer to have dinner sometime this week first so that you can get to know me better?"

Cindy and Libby turned and stalked away nearly running into Jimmy. "Jerk!" Cindy growled savagely. "All men are jerks!"

"Word that, girlfriend," answered Libby. "I just wish there were some way that Miss Teen Queen could see that."

Jimmy watched the two pass by and sighed before heading into the store. The two girls noticed this and turned to observe him, wondering what was going to happen. Jimmy approached Kimberly and waited for an opportune moment.

"Well…if you really are only interested in discussing birds…" Kimberly was saying thoughtfully.

"Miss?" Jimmy asked.

The young woman looked down. "Yes?"

"Excuse me, but there's something I think you should know." He beckoned to her and Kimberly leaned down so that Jimmy could whisper in her ear. As he spoke softly the expression on her face changed first from curiosity to indignation and then to anger. When he finished she straightened and slapped Rafael across the face.

"Jerk!" she spat, and then stormed from the store, leaving Rafael stunned and speechless. As he watched her go and then turned to Jimmy in confusion, wondering what had gone wrong with his plan, Jimmy simply shrugged at him and walked away. Cindy and Libby met him outside the store, joined by Carl and Sheen.

Sheen watched as Rafael rubbed his stinging cheek and gave a low whistle. "That's going to leave a mark," he commented.

"As happy as I am to see a lounge lizard like him get his come-uppance," Cindy told him, "why did you bother?"

Jimmy sounded nonchalant. "It's what I do."

"And what did you tell her?" Libby wanted to know, unable to conceal her delight.

"Just an observation," he replied. "When it comes to birding, Rafael's story just didn't fly."

See Below for Solution

THE END

Author's Notes:

Some readers have noted that many of my stories deal with Jimmy's inventions going wrong or the unfortunate circumstances that unfold being his fault. In most of the official episodes this seems to be the case. As Jimmy noted, when you push the frontiers of science you can't always know how everything will turn out. The thing that makes Jimmy exceptional is trying to set things right when things do go wrong as well as his amazing breakthroughs. It's what he does.

SOLUTION TO THE CASE OF THE BOGUS BIRDER

Rafael professed to being the president of the Retroville Ornithology Society and objecting to the use of incorrect terms when referring to birds. Yet in his story he referred to a "flock of crows" and a "group of eagles". A genuine birder would have correctly referred to them as a "murder of crows" and a "convocation of eagles". As a result Rafael's bird got away, and Cindy and Libby forgave Jimmy (after collecting his share for the cost of Miss Fowl's pen and a soda each at Sam's Candy Bar).