A/N: Here is a story about my favorite hobbit, Fredegar Bolger. Good ol' Fatty, he's an odd duck but so adorable. I obviously do not own Lord of The Rings. Enjoy and review!
There are several things that a proper hobbit does not do. These rules, or guidelines, are not written, but everyone knows them. Hobbits tend to like to avoid adventures and any behavior that may seem to be "un-hobbit-like". One hobbit in particular seemed prone to strange ideas and pursuits. This is the story of his most passionate affair with a very un-hobbit-like behavior.
Estella Bolger and her mother Rosamunda returned home from a day of shopping carrying several bundles wrapped in brown paper. They stopped in the doorway to their Hobbit-Hole and looked in wonder at the young hobbit knitting in the chair directly opposite the door.
"Fatty, dear- What are you doing?" Rosamunda asked her son as she watched him mouth "knit two, purl one".
"I've taken up knitting as a hobby, I have some fantastic ideas of things I could make and I'm very excited to show you once they are finished," Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger replied to his mother's questioning, not noticing the odd looks both she and Estella were giving him.
"What kind of fantastic ideas?" Estella asked slowly. She was all too familiar with the sort of "fantastic" ideas her brother would think up. None ended well in her opinion. Her most painful memory of Fatty's "fantastic" ideas was when he had opened his own garden slug and snail racing track, building the track outside Estella's window without her knowledge. Many early snail gamblers had almost seen Estella change out of her nightgown right in front of them.
"You'll just have to wait and see what I'm making," Fatty said as he counted his stitches.
Estella opened her mouth to say something else but was hushed by her mother. "Come on Estella, let's put away our purchases," Rosamunda cheerily said as she bustled her daughter towards the bedrooms. "Leave him alone, this seems like one pursuit that could actually be good for him. Just be grateful he hasn't opened his mushroom juice business back up,"
Estella shuddered at the thought of mushroom juice. Every hobbit loved mushrooms, but somehow mushroom juice was just one culinary creation that should not be explored.
As the women of the household put away their packages, Fatty opened up his knitting bag to compare his current knitting project to an identical match. They both seemed to be coming out even and there were no noticeable differences. Pleased, Fatty put his current project away on top of several other similar finished projects and went outside to see if there was any mail in their box.
The mail box held nothing but a few spiders that did not acknowledge Fatty's presence. Fatty sighed, he had hoped there would be an invitation to some party. Parties seemed to always be held in the Shire, except just at the moment when Fatty wished to attend one. He wanted to make a grand entrance with his new project, he felt his current project would be his crowning acheivement and wanted all his friends and family to witness. As Fatty played the moment in his mind, another idea pushed its way past his fantasy. Many of his friends often regulated the local pub The Golden Perch, what better way to hear news of a party than from the horse's mouth? Fatty felt he could use a pint of ale anyways, after all the work he had done knitting today. Fatty set out to The Golden Perch, thirsty and hopeful to meet up with some of his friends.
Inside the Bolger's Hobbit Hole, Estella finished putting her things away and returned to inquire after Fatty's current project without their mother around. Fatty was nowhere to be seen, but his knitting bag was left in the chair he had been sitting in moments before. Glancing around to see if her mother, who would scold her for snooping, was not around Estella opened the knitting bag and looked at its contents.
A puzzled look overcame Estella's face as she tried to make sense of the contents. She could not figure out what these pairs of knitted- well, she had no idea what to call them. They were almost like mittens, but without a place for the thumb to go. Estella scratched her head in thought. Could Fatty be making mittens for hobbits that have lost their thumbs in wood-chopping accidents? Estella could not recall any sort of accident occurring but she did not consider herself to be a busybody so it was all-together possible that there had been such an accident. Estella replaced the thumb-less mittens and curious to hear her mother's opinion about thumb-less hobbits, ventured inside her parent's bedroom.
"I think I might have changed my mind about the cotton again," Rosamunda mused to her daughter as she laid some of her garments against fabric she had bought.
"I told you that you would change your mind once you saw it with your other things," Estella replied as she sat on a chest at the foot of her parent's bed.
"Oh well, it looked so nice on the shelf- No matter, your father could use some new shirts," Rosamunda said as she folded up the pink and white rose-bud patterned cotton.
Estella rolled her eyes, sometimes she did not have to wonder where her brother's eccentric side came from. "Mother, I was wondering- have you heard of any hobbits losing their thumbs?" finally bringing up the subject she had come into the bedroom for.
"No, dear why? You're brother isn't making thumb-less mittens or some such nonsense is he?"
"Actually, I thik that's exactly what he's making. I looked in his knitting bag and-"
"Oh, Estella! How many times have I told you to not snoop in your brother's things?"
"But- I was- Look, someone has to keep an eye on what he is doing!"
"Fatty is a grown boy, he can look after himself. He does not need you smothering him, Estella."
"Mother, I am not smothering my brother. I just want to make sure he does not do anything I will regret."
"He can make his own decisions, and besides I think it is good for your brother to try to help the poor thumb-less hobbits," Rosamunda said in a tone that made it sound like thumb-less hobbits were lining up in the streets.
"A minute ago you said you'd never heard of any thumb-less hobbits!" Estella cried, upset that her mother was not concerned about what Fatty was doing.
"Estella, unlike my daughter, I am not a busy-body. Perhaps Fatty's friends related a sad story of their thumb-less neighbors and Fatty is looking to help them out. I should think that would be a good thing,"
Estella sighed, there was no talking to her mother about what was going on with Fatty until he finally revealed his master plan. Which more often than not was a pleasant plan. Shaking her head at why her mother would choose to not stop the inevitable a head of time, Estella stood up and said to her mother. "I'm sorry Mother, I should not have looked in Fatty's knitting bag without asking. I'll go start dinner for you while you finish putting away your things,"
"Thank you, Estella. You're such a good girl, don't worry about your brother, I'm sure it is nothing to worry about," Rosamunda said cheerfully as she began to clean up the mess she had made of her room and Estella left to begin dinner.
