What's in Your Attic?

It's nearly that time of year to haul out the ol' bucket and mop for spring cleaning. I know. Eew, right? I suspect that the only thing of value I might uncover is a few coins stuck in the couch cushions. Or maybe I'll find that earring I lost awhile ago. But I probably won't unearth anything like a fella over in Scotland recently found.

Eighty-year-old Walter Elliot was nosing around in his attic, rifling through things, and discovered a 48-page booklet he'd forgotten he'd even owned. No wonder. It had been up there for more than fifty years. But what a find . . . the first unseen Sherlock Holmes story since the last was published over eighty years ago.

Sherlock Holmes: Discovering the Border Burghs and, by deduction, the Brig Bazaar is a short story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote as a means to help build a bridge in the town of Selkirk, Scotland. The bridge was wiped out by a flood in 1902, and in 1904, locals banded together and organized a three-day event to raise funds to rebuild. Part of that event included selling a collection of short stories written by villagers called The Book o' the Brig. Conan Doyle loved visiting the area and agreed to contribute a 1300 word tale for their collection.

Along with a painting of the replaced bridge, the booklet will be on show at the Cross Keys Selkirk Pop-up Community Museum. Is anyone besides me getting a freakish cartoon bubble in their mind for that museum? What the heck is a "Pop-up" Museum? 

Whatever, I think I'll go poke around in my attic and see if I can find anything other than spiders.