THE GREEK INTERPRETERS

On Thursday evening, December 27th, the Greek interpreters met at the University Club to celebrate the holiday season and the one hundred and fourteenth anniversity of "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle". In lieu of a goose the members investigated a roast turkey, sans disjecta membra. The Woman I (Etta Abrahams) provided a quiz that reactivated mental processes dulled by seasonal surfeit. The quiz is reproduced here.
Issues raised in the spirited discussion of this classic adventure included: the significance of phrenology, the nature and composition of carbuncles, the question of whether geese have crops, and the possible punishment of Catherine Cusak (among other criminal persons).

     

The guttering candle sheds its waning light
Over a cloth now strewn with crumbs and stains,
So closely was the bird investigated
That on the platter only bones remain.
The port has gone to lees, and in the fire
Burn only embers, crumbling into ash.
Flame answers flame as lighted vestas hover
At meditative clay and calabash.

The two men settle deeper in their chairs
As cold and dark stand on the windowsill.
The tall man draws in smoke and then declares,
"I've missed you, Watson"; then the room is still.
It seems so little for a friend to say.
It was the greatest gift that holiday.

by Susan Rice