I watched the Halflings for some time before my curiosity got the best of me. This game they played had the lot of them intrigued, and it seemed to provide a great deal of amusement. Yet I could not see what delight knocking down a pile of pebbles with a larger stone could offer. Every few moments a whoop or holler would arise from the direction of the Halflings, when one had thrown a particularly good stone, I thought. Then, the stones that had fallen from the pile were hastily gathered by their mover, and shoved into one of his many pockets.

Thinking that this might be a good time to make acquaintance with the smallest members of the Fellowship, I walked across the somewhat unchanging turf to meet them.

"Hullo, Boromir," the youngest chided. He had a bit of a brogue, I noticed. I was caught off guard, as I had not expected any of the Halflings to remember my name, and truth be told, I was having some difficulty telling them apart. Was this Meriadoc? Or Peregrin? Frodo had nearly black hair, he was taking aim at the pile of stones, and Samwise…no, this wasn't Samwise –

My question was answered for me by the other Halfling. Meriadoc, I presumed. "Hoy, Pip! It's your turn!" Samwise would be keeping to the side, dodging stones as they flew from the pile. I took a seat next to him. He seemed reluctant to take his eye off Frodo, even when he spoke.

"Have you figured out this game of theirs, Mr. Boromir, sir?" Sam said as Pippin aimed his rock and launched it with astounding force. Three of the previously stationary stones were ejected from the pile. Pippin cheered and ran to pick them up. I guessed that he was winning from the look on Frodo's face. "The object," he continued at my questioning look, "is to get the most stones. You hit the pile with that rock, there," he pointed to the larger stone, now in Meriadoc's hand, "and you get to keep however many stones fall out of the pile, if you follow me. It's called Cherry-pit, it's a popular game, back in the Shire."

"I see," I said, watching Frodo carefully position his arm to throw, "and why do they call it Cherry-pit?"

"Well," said Sam, "usually the lads play it with the pits from cherries. Of course they work much better than rocks, but there don't seem to be any cherry trees around here." And there weren't. The land was all but barren, save for a few mingled branches uprooting from the soil.

"I won!" Merry yelled. The game was over, I presumed.

"No you didn't, Merry! You cheated!" Pippin said. "Frodo! Merry's being a bad hobbit! He's cheated!"

At this, Sam stood up. "Heavens above, that family gets into more arguments."

Family? Were they related? I would ask Gandalf later.

"Now, Pippin," I heard Sam say, "Merry's a decent hobbit, I'm sure he wouldn't cheat." I saw Merry wink in Pippin's direction.

"But he did, Sam! He used two stones instead of one, I saw him!"

"Merry!" Frodo chastised.

"Come on now, Pip, it's bedtime for you," Sam led the squirming hobbit away.

Frodo took Merry by the arm. "And you too, Merry."

A chuckle from Gandalf took me by surprise. I jumped up from my seat. "I see you've met the hobbits," he said with a smile.

TBC