Posted originally on the indeedsir community at LiveJournal and later at the Archive of Our Own.
Rating: General Audiences
No warnings.
Published 2010-07-10
Words: 200
On coming into contact with Bertram Wooster’s exuberant aimlessness, some are infected by it and some try to serve as a corrective to it. Jeeves naturally chooses the latter. He has never risen so punctually as now, when he could easily sleep an hour later or even two. He writes down every appointment, even those that are made ten minutes before they occur. On visits to Brinkley, the staff feel his presence like a ticking metronome.
His occasional visits to the National Gallery are growing longer, however, and it is just possible a passer-by could tell which paintings he liked.
*
It is a privilege and an embarrassment to be Jeeves’ employer--a privilege to have a paragon of wisdom and industry in the household, an embarrassment to measure up to him so poorly. Acting as a valet delivery service for friends and relations in need, while pretending to be on a social call, only highlights Bertie’s own superfluity.
Usefulness is not a Wooster specialty. He knows golf, the piano; he would never consider entering an office and cannot summon opinions to write to the Mirror. He writes Jeeves down instead, working more steadily than he ever did at scripture knowledge.