Ficlet: Sunset (Miss Marple)
19 Dec 2012 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritThe ficlet meme is not as dead as I thought! I don't seem to be able to retrieve the one I thought of for lolmac or yet come up with anything for seriesfive (sorry!), but for what it's worth, I've now managed one for everyone else. \o/ And here goes (in two posts):
For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lizzie_marie_23 who gave me the prompt: Miss Marple, sunset
Title: Sunset
Author:lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 535
Characters/Pairings: Jane Marple, Raymond West, Joan West
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: Small details are so often what counts.
***
Miss Marple leant forward and peered closely at the newly finished painting of yesterday’s sunset in front her. “Oh, now that’s very nice, dear.”
Joan pulled a face. “Nice is it exactly. Still, I suppose it might actually sell for a wonder.”
“Bourgeois sunset in mediocre watercolours?” Raymond suggested from the other side of the room, where he was lounging in a chair, reading. “Depressingly probable.”
Miss Marple shook her head at both of them. “There is one small detail, though.” She pointed to the depiction of a group of trees to the right side of the painting. “That – now, I don’t think that’s right, is it? I’m not quite sure but… Dear me, why wasn’t I paying attention? How careless.”
“Not like you, Aunt Jane,” Raymond said, glancing up from his book.
Joan followed Miss Marple’s finger. “Well, it’s a bird, in one of the trees – isn’t it? Or – no! I think in my original sketch, perhaps it was a little different –”
“So you corrected it to what you thought it must be,” Miss Marple said, and gave a small nod. “Yes. Very likely. People do have a regrettable tendency to see what they think ought to be there and not what actually is there.”
Joan finished rummaging around her papers and fished out the original pencil sketch and handed it over. “There you are, Aunt Jane.”
“Oh, yes,” she said, examining it carefully. “Yes, now, that is interesting, dear. I think that explains everything.”
Joan paused. “I don’t see –”
“Oh, but you did, my dear. A man’s walking stick, I shouldn’t wonder – the hooked part of it, hanging over the tree branch. And then, naturally, when you came to paint it –”
“I turned it into a bird. How funny.”
Miss Marple put the drawing down, and patted Joan’s hand. “Yes, but you caught it with your artist’s eye for detail – and that is very fortunate, my dear.”
“My dear Aunt Jane, the question remains – why the devil should it be a man’s cane and what does it mean?”
Miss Marple tutted at his mocking tone. “Oh, Raymond, if you would be so kind as to go and fetch it down – if it is still there. I do hope it is – well, then, I think perhaps we should let the Sergeant know down at the station.”
“Oh, really, Aunt Jane –”
Joan took his arm. “Well, darling, there is only one way to prove which of us is right or wrong.”
“It’s not terribly serious,” said Miss Marple, “but you never quite know – and I do think he should be stopped sooner rather than later.”
Raymond shrugged. “Touché. I’m off, then. But I’m damned if I see what this is about.”
As he left, Miss Marple turned back to the paint. “Yes,” she said, “attention to detail is, you see, so very important. Truthful attention to detail, I should say. Oh, yes, my dear.”
“And what has this mysterious gentleman done?” Joan enquired.
Miss Marple looked around at her. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly say. Not yet. I could be wrong, and it would be most unkind.”
“For what it’s worth,” said Joan, “I expect you’re right. You usually are, you know.”
***
lolmac or yet come up with anything for seriesfive (sorry!), but for what it's worth, I've now managed one for everyone else. \o/ And here goes (in two posts):For
lizzie_marie_23 who gave me the prompt: Miss Marple, sunsetTitle: Sunset
Author:
lost_spookRating: All ages
Word Count: 535
Characters/Pairings: Jane Marple, Raymond West, Joan West
Notes/Warnings: None.
Summary: Small details are so often what counts.
***
Miss Marple leant forward and peered closely at the newly finished painting of yesterday’s sunset in front her. “Oh, now that’s very nice, dear.”
Joan pulled a face. “Nice is it exactly. Still, I suppose it might actually sell for a wonder.”
“Bourgeois sunset in mediocre watercolours?” Raymond suggested from the other side of the room, where he was lounging in a chair, reading. “Depressingly probable.”
Miss Marple shook her head at both of them. “There is one small detail, though.” She pointed to the depiction of a group of trees to the right side of the painting. “That – now, I don’t think that’s right, is it? I’m not quite sure but… Dear me, why wasn’t I paying attention? How careless.”
“Not like you, Aunt Jane,” Raymond said, glancing up from his book.
Joan followed Miss Marple’s finger. “Well, it’s a bird, in one of the trees – isn’t it? Or – no! I think in my original sketch, perhaps it was a little different –”
“So you corrected it to what you thought it must be,” Miss Marple said, and gave a small nod. “Yes. Very likely. People do have a regrettable tendency to see what they think ought to be there and not what actually is there.”
Joan finished rummaging around her papers and fished out the original pencil sketch and handed it over. “There you are, Aunt Jane.”
“Oh, yes,” she said, examining it carefully. “Yes, now, that is interesting, dear. I think that explains everything.”
Joan paused. “I don’t see –”
“Oh, but you did, my dear. A man’s walking stick, I shouldn’t wonder – the hooked part of it, hanging over the tree branch. And then, naturally, when you came to paint it –”
“I turned it into a bird. How funny.”
Miss Marple put the drawing down, and patted Joan’s hand. “Yes, but you caught it with your artist’s eye for detail – and that is very fortunate, my dear.”
“My dear Aunt Jane, the question remains – why the devil should it be a man’s cane and what does it mean?”
Miss Marple tutted at his mocking tone. “Oh, Raymond, if you would be so kind as to go and fetch it down – if it is still there. I do hope it is – well, then, I think perhaps we should let the Sergeant know down at the station.”
“Oh, really, Aunt Jane –”
Joan took his arm. “Well, darling, there is only one way to prove which of us is right or wrong.”
“It’s not terribly serious,” said Miss Marple, “but you never quite know – and I do think he should be stopped sooner rather than later.”
Raymond shrugged. “Touché. I’m off, then. But I’m damned if I see what this is about.”
As he left, Miss Marple turned back to the paint. “Yes,” she said, “attention to detail is, you see, so very important. Truthful attention to detail, I should say. Oh, yes, my dear.”
“And what has this mysterious gentleman done?” Joan enquired.
Miss Marple looked around at her. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly say. Not yet. I could be wrong, and it would be most unkind.”
“For what it’s worth,” said Joan, “I expect you’re right. You usually are, you know.”
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 04:10 am (UTC)a crazy idea I knew it's a bit unfair to throw it at you. Maybe I should write it myself. :D
no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 05:20 pm (UTC)I just went very tired after doing that meme, that's all, but had a sudden rush of, I don't know, something last week and got the others scribbled out.
no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 12:00 am (UTC)This is very much in the flavor of the Hickson Marple episodes, not to mention Christie's original prose. Very in-character, with the phrasing that is so like her.
no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 05:56 pm (UTC)This is very much in the flavor of the Hickson Marple episodes, not to mention Christie's original prose. Very in-character, with the phrasing that is so like her.
That's good, I always think of the books first - and I think Joan Hickson just has the characterisation nailed, so one = the other. But I have finally been getting around to watching and rewatching the BBC ones, as well. (They terrified me when I was small!)
no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Dec 2012 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Dec 2012 10:29 am (UTC)