Mushrooms

Lotho Sackville-baggins was bored. His usual mischief loving self was in short supply. He wandered around his mother's garden aimlessly. Something along-side the fence caught his eye: it was a dirty white and covered a large amount of ground. "Mushrooms!" Lotho ran into the Smial and grabbed the largest sack he could find. He began putting all of the mushrooms into the sack, and counted as he did so.
The task took him nearly all Afternoon. By the time he finished he had picked a total of 97 mushrooms. Lotho was overjoyed at this discovery, but, being the mischievous Hobbit he was, no longer wished to eat the mushrooms. He had a much better plan then that.
It was finally time. it seemed to Lotho that evening would never come, but it was here at last. He put on his blue jacket, hid the sack of mushrooms underneath it, and ran out the door. When he arrived at the Green Dragon it was filled with Hobbits. "Perfect" thought Lotho, "the more the merrier!" He spotted Frodo and his friends sitting at a small table near the back of the pub. He quickly made his way over to them. "Hullo Frodo" said Lotho as cheerfully as he could.
"Hullo Lotho" said Frodo, although he was curious as to what put Lotho in such a kind mood. The Sackville-bagginses had always hated Bilbo and Frodo, and for those feelings to change so suddenly would be too good to be true.
"Frodo.." Lotho began, and bit his lip to keep from laughing, "i'll bet you 10 mushrooms that you cant keep your friend, Pippin, from getting drunk." Frodo frowned. He knew the task wouldn't be easy and he wasn't exactly happy to give up a good amount of mushrooms for his lack of thought, before agreeing to such a bet. but then again..."10 mushrooms did you say?" He was extremely tempted by Lotho's generous offer.
"Frodo, my lad. if you need proof that i have the said mushrooms, see for yourself." Lotho pulled out the sack of mushrooms. Frodo's mouth dropped open, and any thoughts of refusal were now gone. Frodo smiled, "Lotho, how long do I need to keep Pip sober?" "Until the Green Dragon closes" replied, a now laughing, Lotho, "Deal?" "Deal" Frodo replied. The two Hobbits shook hands.
From the moment Frodo agreed to Lotho's bet a plan had begun to form in his mind. The only thing Pippin liked more than Ale was food. As long as he could keep Pippin's mouth full, the barmaids and bartenders away, and keep Merry from challenging Pip to a drinking game, Frodo was confident he would have 10 nice mushrooms by the end of the night.
Lotho slid into a seat at the table facing Frodo's. He couldn't help but laugh. He knew how much Pippin loved to drink, and the thought of Frodo trying to prevent it was too funny. Not any other form of mischief, out of all of his tricks and pranks, had Lotho been so excited to watch. "And just think" Lotho thought to himself, "I'll have 10 more mushrooms by the end of the night"
Sam, Merry, and Pippin had been sitting only a few feet away from Frodo and Lotho when the conversation took place. Unfortunately, they had not heard a word of it, due to the loud roar of voices all around. Finally Sam's curiosity got the better of him. "What do you think that Lotho wants? He'd better not be bothering Mr. Frodo about Bag End again." Sam, being Frodo's gardener, had overheard several encounters with the Sackville- bagginses, none of them pleasant. "I don't know," said Merry, "But I think i'd like another Ale. Anyone else?" Pippin opened his mouth to say, "I'd like one, Merry" but before he could even make a sound Frodo interrupted him. "That has to be the biggest apple pie i've ever seen!" Pippin forgot about the Ale, for a few minutes at least, and made his way over to get a piece. Frodo was surprised at how easy that had been. Little did he know what lay ahead.
Lotho was a bit disappointed with the first save. It hadn't been nearly as hard for Frodo as he had wished. He was tempted to interfere, although that was against the rules of a fair bet, but he resisted for the time being. He knew that Frodo's job would become much more difficult soon enough.