Ch. 1: Happenings at the Party
As Bilbo got dressed the next morning, he tried to forget the horrible figure that had visited his home the previous afternoon. He turned to find Frodo standing in the doorway watching him.
"You're leaving." he said. It was not a question.
"You know I have to." Bilbo didn't look up. Frodo nodded solemnly then left the room without another word. He walked outside to find his dearest friend, Samwise Gamgee who had been a servant at Bag End since they were both in their teens.
That evening, Bag End looked magnificent. There were ribbons, lanterns, & banners hanging from every exposed limb of every tree in the yard. Tents were set up all through the vast field that was the back yard. Hobbits from all over the Shire came for the party of the century.
Gandalf was over to the side with some of the children amusing them with firecrackers. Frodo tried to convince Sam to ask Rosie Cotton to dance while Frodo's younger cousins Pippin and Merry caused all the trouble they possibly could.
"Sam, just ask her!" Frodo pushed Sam. "I know you want to."
"I can't, Mr. Frodo! I can't do it!" Sam protested. The two looked over to see Rosie smiling at Sam. Much to his horror, she danced over & took his hands.
"Dance with me, Sam!" she pleaded. Sam looked to Frodo for help, and was answered by a hard shove from his slyly smiling friend.
Frodo laughed then sighed as he watched Sam dance off with Rosie, laughing all the way. Looking around the field and back into the brush behind him, Frodo suddenly felt a sense of sadness. Bilbo would be leaving soon. His destination? Rivendell. He had said it was where he wanted to spend his last years, but Frodo couldn't help but think that there was something more to it.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Frodo caught a flash movement. Turning to look at it, Frodo found himself staring into a face that wasn't there. The hooded creature was dressed all in black, and where its face should have been, there was only darkness. Frodo jumped up, about to scream for help when Sam came back from dancing.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Frodo!" sang Sam, grabbing Frodo and turning him away from the creature. "That was the most fun I've had in a long time!"
"You're welcome, Sam…" said Frodo, slightly distracted. He turned again to the bushes, but the figure was gone. Frodo sighed, turning back to Sam. "I'm glad you had fun."
It was at this point that Frodo's cousins from Bree, on the Brandywine River, came running up.
"Frodo! We've brought you a special present for your birthday. Come see!" one of his younger cousins called. They took him by the arms and almost dragged him away to the pond. When they reached it, there was a small boat sitting on the shore. "tadah! We've brought you a boat! You used to love to go boating…" Frodo did, but he hardly remembered it. His parents had been killed in a boating accident when he was a small child. No one could be sure how he survived since it is uncommon for a Hobbit to be able to swim, and Frodo couldn't remember anything about the event.
"Well?" one of them asked. A crowd was slowly forming and Frodo didn't want to disappoint them, so he climbed unsteadily into the boat. Sam watched nervously from the shore. Frodo's other cousins, Pippin and Merry, came over as well. They stood next to Sam.
"I told them this wasn't a good idea…" Pippin shook his head.
"I don't like it…" Merry agreed. Sam was silent.
Frodo made it to the center of the lake with no problems. Sam sighed with relief, but his comfort was premature. Frodo waved nervously to show he was alright then started to turn the boat around…
There was a loud scraping noise, followed by a terrified scream from Frodo. To the horror of everyone watching, Frodo's tiny boat had struck a rock that lay beneath the surface and began to sink. Sam ran forward as if to jump in to help Frodo, but Pippin and Merry held him back.
"We don' need to lose the both a' ya!" Merry yelled at him. Sam struggled, but to no avail. Frodo was going to drown, and there was nothing he could do about it.
The boat was completely under the water and Frodo was struggling just to keep himself above it. The shore was complete chaos. Everyone was running and screaming-everyone but Sam, Pippin, and Merry. They were frozen on the shore line, watching their friend lose the battle for his life.
From out of nowhere, Sam saw a black blur as a dark figure bounded toward the water. Without hesitation, the hooded man ran into the water, the dove beneath the blackness. Silently, the trio on the shore watched as Frodo went under. Then, to their astonishment, the man in black broke the surface of the water. He was obviously carrying more than his own weight and upon closer inspection Sam could just make out Frodo's curly hair above the water's surface.
"He's got him! He's got him!" Sam called. The shore was now lined with silently awed Hobbits. They all watched as the dark man stumbled to the shore, carrying the lifeless Hobbit, he laid him down. Placing his head on Frodo's chest, he listened for a moment, then began breathing for him and pushing down on his chest. Within moments, the half drowned Hobbit was coughing. The dark man rolled Frodo to his side & rubbed his back. Sam ran over and crouched over his friend. He took over the man's job of rubbing Frodo's back.
"Are ya alright, Mr. Frodo? We thought we'd lost ya for sure!" Sam cried. He turned to thank the man in black, but when he did, the man was gone. No one knew where he had gone. Gandalf ran over.
"What's going on here? What's all this commotion?" he saw Frodo then, "Lad, what happened to you?" Sam explained in painful detail all that had happened. "Dressed all in black, you say? Could you see his face? Hmm…this complicates things…" he sent the rest of the hobbits on about their business, then ushered Frodo and Sam into the house.