Arwen's Paper Route
"Arrie! Arrie! Wake up!" "Labo vi Orodruin." Arwen mumbled and jammed her pillow over her ears. "Arrie, you're starting that paper route today, remember?" Arwen jumped off the bed, yanking off the covers and exclaiming, "Jumping Jiminy Crickets, I forgot!" She tumbled to her armoire and yanked open the top drawer. Her brother gasped. "Look at the state of your sock drawer! Mom's going to be awful mad." Arwen scowled like a thunder cloud and pulled two mismatched socks out of the mess. She pulled them on, and then opened the other drawers in the armoire, producing a tunic, thin leather belt, and a pair of leggings. After all these had been put on, Arwen thumped down the hall to the kitchen. "Arwen!" her mother called faintly, "you sound like a herd of Oliphants! Slow down." Arwen grumbled under her breath and skidded to a halt in front of a cupboard in the kitchen. It swung open at her touch, and she grabbed a cereal box, slamming the cupboard after her. Arwen snatched a ceramic bowl and a jug of milk and made herself a quick bowl of Kellogg's® Corn flakes, her favorite cereal.
After she had finished, she ran down to the end of the hall, where the bathroom was. Arwen gathered her wavy brown locks into two unruly pigtails with two green hair ribbons, and gave her teeth a quick scrub before heading out. She hurried out of the kitchen door into the garage, where her baby-blue, 50's style bike leaned against a white cupboard. Next to the bike, a yellow mailbag slumped on the ground. Arwen grabbed the mailbag and swung it onto her shoulder, thrusting her leg over the side of her bike and pedaling out a side door.
Arwen panted hard, although the air was cold and frost still covered the grassy lawns in her neighborhood. This was harder work than she had expected. "This isn't what I signed up for." She murmured. Arwen had taken the job because she had needed a quick and easy way to earn some extra money. Although her aim was excellent, the papers always hitting the doorsteps, she was wearied by pedaling hard around her large neighborhood. She stopped by a tree to rest. Having nothing at all with which to occupy herself, she lazily took one of the many newspapers still in her bag, and folded it purposefully. The result of her efforts was a beautifully folded origami frog that jumped when you pressed its backside. Arwen was so busy admiring her work that she did not notice that someone else was also examining it just as carefully, until she heard, "Hi, Arwen! That's a beautiful frog. I'll trade you my bat-and-ball for it."
Arwen jumped with surprise, and wheeled around to behold the speaker. It was twelve-year-old Legolas, her neighbor who lived down the street. In his hand, he held a homemade bat-and-ball with which he had been playing earlier. He held it out to Arwen. "C'mon! It's worth your while." She considered a moment. Then, deciding that the trade was fair enough, the bat-and-ball being of very good quality, she stuck out her hand and shook with Legolas, sealing the agreement. Both parted very satisfied indeed, each having a new toy, and feeling very good about the shrewdness of the deal.
It was now mid-morning. Arwen slumped against a tree and sighed. It had seemed like such a good idea when she started. Now, her bag of papers was empty, and she had half a block more to deliver to. She had thought, based on the success of her trade with Legolas, that she could ask some more people to give her things for her folded newspapers. She had met up with Strider and his sister Manwathiel, who had given her the biggest toad she had ever seen for two of her pieces. She had traded off the rest of her folded newspapers to others and ended up with a ball of used bubble-gum, a good slingshot crotch, a foreign coin, 2 of Galadriel's best shooters, the toad mentioned before, an old thimble, a tiny ball of string, 5 pieces of candy, a guitar string, a copper door-handle, and other treasures. Unfortunately, though, she traded off her remaining newspapers and now had none to deliver.
Arwen walked, ashamed, toward the door of the newspaper office, and opening it, stepped in.
We shall draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene