Soon they were back in the study of Bag End, returned to the present. The ghost looked at Gandalf very disappointed. "So, it looks like I didn't change your mind! That was a shame! But the next ghost will help with that! Goodbye!"he said and clapped once.
"Wait, what next ghost?"called Gandalf after him. But the ghost had already vanished from in front of him.
"I'm starting to think I've gone mad again! All these ghosts suddenly started appearing! But, what next ghost was Bilbo's ghost talking about?"he said to himself.
"Perhaps I could help you answer that question!" said a voice behind him.
Gandalf nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around, and there was another hobbit. And that hobbit was Pippin Took. "What are you doing here you Fool of a Took?" said Gandalf quite annoyed that Pippin scared him.
"I'm the ghost of Christmas Present, not a Fool of a Took!" said Pippin "And don't you call me like that again, because now I can do something very bad to you!". With that the ghost clicked his fingers and suddenly a pile of plates appeared in Gandalf's hands. "Now you have to wash them!" said the ghost. It was of course what Gandalf had done to Pippin and Merry on Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party. It was terribly amusing to the ghost to make Gandalf wash dishes, but Gandalf was very annoyed by the ghost's behavior. "I won't wash plates!"he said and dropped the pile of plates in the ghost's hands. But the plates fell to the ground and broke into many pieces. The ghost laughed. "And something great about being a ghost is that I can't touch or hold real life things. They just pass through me!"he said. Gandalf looked at him angrily "I hope you're not here to take me on a journey like the last ghost?"he said.
"Well, bad luck to you! That's what I'm here to do!" said the ghost "I'm going to take you to see how you are making everybody sad in the present. I hope you don't mind the 'appearing in smoke' effect!"
"The what?" said Gandalf, but even before he had finished saying this, the ghost had clicked its fingers.
The next thing Gandalf knew was that in the speed of a blinking eyelid they were outside Merry's hobbit-hole. They had appeared there surrounded by smoke. Gandalf coughed and waved away the smoke. "Don't do that again!"he said sharply to the ghost.
"I'm sorry, smoke appearances are my thing!" said the ghost and took some steps forward. To Gandalf's surprise, he walked straight through the door. It was not until five seconds later when he remembered that they were ghosts. He walked in as well.
The ghost was waiting for him in the living room where a big tree, like the one Gandalf had seen with the ghost of Bilbo, was standing in the centre. In front of the tree, were three hobbits. Gandalf immediately recognized Frodo and the rest of the hobbits were Pippin and Merry. "Look at that one on Frodo's right, he's a charming young hobbit!" said the ghost of Pippin pointing at Pippin. Gandalf rolled his eyes at the ghost and focused on the hobbits and what they said. They were talking about his plan.
"Not celebrate Christmas?"cried Pippin "Old Gandalf must have stolen my 'most terrible year ever' notes! Number 2: No Christmas celebration. Number 1 is: No food and drink. This has gone too far!"
"It's not that I never agree with you Pip, but you're right this time!" said Merry "Gandalf can think of the plan, but he has to think of the hobbits in the plan as well! We want help you Frodo, even for our small part in your plan, but we also want our Christmas! But on the other hand, it isn't your terrible idea, it's Gandalf's."
"Then I would like Gandalf to come here himself and apologize to me for ruining my Christmas plans!"
"I also had plans for Christmas." said Frodo who hadn't spoken all this time "I actually wanted to spend Christmas with you two. It's been something being without Bilbo for the last seventeen years! It's been lonely." Nobody said something for a while. Then Merry spoke again. "And we want to spend Christmas with you Frodo. But, by the looks of it we won't be able to do that."
he said "What do you think Bilbo would have said?"
"He would have agreed with us! He loved Christmas! I would very much like to see him again! I can still remember my first Christmas in Bag End with him." said Frodo "And I'll never forget it!"
"What was so special about it?" asked Pippin.
"It was with Bilbo. That was enough to make it special!" said Frodo.
"I'm sure a Christmas with Bilbo would be worth to remember for an entire lifetime!" said Merry.
"I wish I could go back to that Christmas! But it's about 28 years ago. I was only twenty-two at the time." said Frodo.
"The same year you came to Hobbiton! Do you remember the day we met you?" said Merry.
"I can't forget it; and, I think, neither can Frodo!" said Pippin.
"Of course I can remember it!" said Frodo "You were my first friends in Hobbiton."
"And you were a great friend as well." said Merry "And Bilbo must have been a great uncle!"
"Bilbo was more than my uncle! He was like a second father!" said Frodo a tear rolling down his face. "I'm sorry! I'm just getting a bit emotional!"he said and wiped it away.
"It was a thought, wasn't it?" said Merry. Frodo nodded "Of my father and mother and then of Bilbo!"he said. All three of the hobbits were silent for a while and then first Pippin then Merry and then Frodo got closer to each other and hugged.
The ghost turned around and looked at Gandalf. To its amazement, he was also crying. "Gandalf, are you crying?"it asked him. Gandalf wiped away his own tears. "No,"he said "there's something in my eye."
"Oh, and I was starting to think you understood what you're doing to the hobbits." said the ghost.
"I have actually, but just a bit." said Gandalf.
"And you see how sad you're making everybody?" asked the ghost.
"I didn't know how much Christmas meant to them!" said Gandalf "I had no idea they wanted to spend it all together! If I had known..."
"Would you have let them celebrate?" asked the ghost with a sudden tone of excitement and smile on his face.
"I would have thought of it seriously to go with them so they won't be all alone." said Gandalf. The ghost's smile vanished and he kicked the air with his foot. "Oh, come on now! We were so close to making you regret your plan."he said and clicked his fingers again.
Author's Note: Can you see the little button you press to go to the next chapter? Before you press that button, press the other one marked "review" Enjoy the next chapter!