Title: The Clog Dance
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: G
Length: 590 words
Summary: A Diorama in a Dutch village

Mouselet stood nervously in the wings.  She smoothed down her dress and the little starched apron she wore on top and peered onto the stage.

She and Aemelia were performing in a diorama which Holmes had placed on top of a marble table in the wide entrance hall of a smart townhouse.  The scene was of a square in a Dutch village, which was dominated by a windmill with revolving sails.  When the music began Aemelia would come out and sit on a little bench, holding a bunch of tulips.  Aemelia was standing beside Mouselet in the wings, the tiny flowers in one of her paws, waiting for her cue.

Aemelia had the easy role.  Once she was seated, there would be a click and the tune would change to a more energetic one, at which point Mouselet would emerge and perform a dance.  Mouselet didn’t mind dancing, although she preferred not to do a solo, but this was a clog dance, and the tiny clogs felt very heavy on her paws.

It didn’t help that the Ferret, who was operating the machinery which provided the music still hadn’t managed to turn the handle at a regular speed.  It didn’t matter so much for Aemelia’s music, which was supposed to resemble the wind blowing through the windmill’s sails.  Although if the Ferret got over enthusiastic it tended to sound like a howling gale, at which point Aemelia would put a paw on her bonnet, as if holding it on her head, and the Ferret would slow down.

But doing a clog dance, with the music speeding up and slowing down at irregular intervals was really not easy.  Mouselet swallowed. 

The music began, and the people who were milling around in the vicinity of the table turned in some surprise to see what was happening.  They watched, enchanted, as Aemelia appeared and took her seat on the bench.

“Oh, how sweet!”

“I wonder how that’s done?”

“Those puppets are amazing.”

As the babble of voices quietened, the music changed to a jaunty tune.  Mouselet emerged and began to dance, her clogs clattering loudly on the base of the diorama.

Suddenly there was a shout, and the sound of even louder feet running down the stairs and into the hallway.  However, the number of people watching the events on the diorama prevented the runner from easily reaching the front door.

The music grew louder and faster, Mouselet tried her best to keep up, and the crowd began to clap along.  Someone muttered, “Let me through!” but no-one heard him.

Finally, Mouselet gave up and sat down.  The crowd applauded.  The runner made it to the front door, which he pulled open and walked straight into the welcoming arms of Inspector Lestrade.

The only person who observed this particular drama was Holmes, who was currently standing at the top of the stairs.  Everyone else continued to applaud as Aemelia and Mouselet stood up, curtseyed, and walked hand-in-hand back into the wings.

The excitement over, the crowd made their way into the room where tea was being served.  Holmes walked down the stairs and over to the diorama, where Watson, who had been stationed at the far end of the hall, in case the runner headed in that direction, joined him.

“I think that went very well,” Holmes said.

“I am not doing that again,” Mouselet squeaked, “Until the Ferret slows down!”

“I can’t see what your problem is,” the Ferret said.

Mouselet took off one of her clogs and threw it at him.