Shadow's Adventure's

Disclaimer: See Page One.

Two days have passed since Shadow was missing. Yesterday Bilbo and Saradoc went with Merry Frodo and Sam to look for Shadow. Esmeralda did not allow Pippin to go with them, and did not give in to his protests. She considered him too young to be spending so much time looking for him.

Merry sat at the table with the other hobbits during supper time picking at his food. He felt so sad, that he could hardly eat.

"Come on Merry, you need to eat more," said Esmeralda worriedly.

"I can't mama. I'm so worried about Shadow," Merry said sadly.

"But you need your strength," she argued.

"I can't."

"You need to eat more to keep up your strength," said Bilbo. "You need enough energy to look for Shadow again tomorrow, and I don't want you to collapse."

"Yes," said Saradoc. "I want you to eat more than this."

Merry obeyed his father and forced himself to eat more food. He didn't eat as much as they would have liked him to, but it was better than eating next to nothing.

"Can I be excused?" Merry asked.

Saradoc nodded. Merry got up from his chair and slowly walked into his room with a glum expression on his face. The other hobbit lads noticed this.

"I feel sorry for poor Merry, having lost his cat," said Sam.

"I feel sorry for him too," said Frodo. "I noticed how sad he looked when he was eating supper."

"Let's try and cheer him up after supper," Sam suggested.

"Good idea," said Frodo.

When supper was over Frodo, Sam, and Pippin walked down the hall into Merry's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Merry said quietly.

The three hobbit lads entered the room and saw Merry sitting on his bed holding an old stuffed cat in his hands.

"We came to cheer you up," said Pippin.

"Nothing can cheer me up," said Merry. "Shadow means everything to me."

Frodo sat next to Merry and put an arm around him in an effort to comfort him.

"I know Shadow means a lot to you, and I'm sorry that we haven't found him yet, but we haven't given up looking for him."

"But it's two days, and I miss him."

"I know he's special to you," said Sam. "My cousin once had a pet rabbit that went missing for a week, but when they found him he was the happiest lad in the Shire."

"I'm worried about Shadow. What if he gets hurt? What if an animal attacks him?"

"Shadow is quite capable of taking care of himself, and we will find him," said Frodo who tried to reassure him.

"Yes he can," Sam agreed.

Sam and Frodo were so busy trying to comfort Merry that they did not notice Pippin leaving the room. Pippin came back a few minutes later with his favorite teddy bear.

"Here Merry," Pippin said while he gave his favorite teddy bear to Merry. "I want to give you something to make you feel better."

"I can't take this from you," said Merry. "This is your favorite."

"I want you to have it," said Pippin. "He will make you feel less lonely."

"You have us too," said Frodo.

Merry put the toy cat down and took the stuffed bear. Then he put Pippin on his lap and hugged him while tears began to fall down the cheeks. Sam and Frodo wrapped their arms around Merry and Pippin and held them until Merry stopped crying. When the hobbits let go of each other, they sat silently together for a few hours. Merry felt a little better knowing that he has friends who care about him.

Shadow having eaten his fill of mice was resting comfortably on an old soft pillow. He spent two days with the hobbit family who fed him, petted him, and played with him. He missed the Brandybucks especially Merry and decided that it was time for him to head home. It was pitch black outside with twinkling lights in the sky when Shadow jumped out the window and began to head for home. The crescent moon lighted his way.

Shadow walked for a few miles until he entered a black and white cat's territory. The other cat looked at shadow. Then he arched his back stuck out his claws, and made his hair stand on edge. He growled low in his throat and hissed at Shadow, because he did not want Shadow in his territory. Shadow did likewise.

"Meorrrr!" they screamed loudly while they pounced on each other.

The two cats were wrestling with each other and trying to tear each other apart with their claws. After a few minutes they separated and cleaned their wounds. Shadow walked twenty feet away from the other cat's territory, and took another cat nap, the fight made him exhausted.

A few hours later, Shadow woke up again, and continued to head home. He went off his path again when he smelt some birds 20 feet away. He stalked them until he got close enough to chase them. Most of the birds flew away, but he pounced on one of them, tore it apart with his claws, and ate it.

He began to head back to his trail when he a mean hobbit man began to throw stones at Shadow.

"Get out of here!" he yelled.

Shadow, who did not want to get hit by a stone, began to run away. The mean hobbit man continued to chase after Shadow and throwing stones at him because he hates cats but he missed him. The mean hobbit man gave up and began to walk back to where he was and Shadow walked in another direction, after a few minutes he began to find his trail again, but another dog spotted him.

The dog began to chase him. Shadow quickly ran up another tree to escape from the dog. The dog sat underneath it for a half hour and barked at him, but when it saw a rabbit it forgot about the cat and began to run after the rabbit.

When Shadow saw that he was safe he climbed down the tree, and began to head for home again. It took him over three hours to pick up his trail again because he didn't want to encounter the mean hobbit man or the dog again, and he kept on being side tracked by different things.

The sun rose the next morning and Bilbo and the three hobbit lads were dressed and wearing their jackets. Bilbo picked up his walking stick.

"Here is some food for you," Esmeralda said while she handed Bilbo a picnic basket filled with food.

"Thank you," said Bilbo. "We are planning to go further today."

Pippin walked into the main room in his pajamas with barely opened eyes and tousled hair, and saw the others getting ready to leave.

"I want to go with you," said Pippin. "I want to help look for Shadow too."

"No," Esmeralda said. "You are too young."

"But I want to Aunt Esmeralda."

"Why can't he mama?" Merry asked.

"Because you will be walking a lot and it will be too much for Pippin."

"Aunt Esmeralda is right," said Frodo.

"I wish I wasn't so little," Pippin said sadly.

"Why can't we ride the carriage today?" Sam asked.

"Because we can't ride it through the woods; it is too thick for it to go through," Bilbo answered.

They walked out the door and began to look for Shadow again.

"I hope we find him today," Merry said while they walked to the forest.

"I hope so too," said Sam.

"Don't worry lads, we'll find him sooner or later," Bilbo said. He was trying to give the lads some encouragement.

They walked through the forest for a few hours looking through every bush and up every tree that they passed by.

Sam saw one of the bushes shaking and he realized that an animal was inside it. He bent down and looked through it, but found that it was only a badger who hissed at him before it scampered away. The other hobbits were watching him.

When he got out of the bush he said, sadly," that is not shadow."

They heard a meowing sound toward their left.

"Let's follow this sound," said Bilbo. "It might be shadow."

They followed the meows until they saw a black and white cat sitting near a spruce tree cleaning itself. It was the same cat that fought Shadow last night.

"That's not shadow either," said Frodo."

"Let's go by the river and eat our lunch," said Bilbo. "It's not too far from here."

The hobbits walked out of the forest and through the tall grass and some wild flowers dotted here and there until they came to the river bank. Bilbo spread the blanket on the ground and then opened up the picnic basket. The hobbit lads helped him put the food on the blanket. They were eating sandwiches, mushrooms, and scones, and drinking fruit juice.

"What if we never find Shadow?" Merry said. "He is such a good cat, I miss him."

"Don't give up hope," said Frodo. "We will find him sooner or later."

"But it's been three days," said Merry.

"We can't give up now," said Sam. "My Old Gaffer said that quitters never accomplish anything. Maybe we will find him today."

"I hope so," said Merry.

Frodo said a silent prayer asking Eru and the Vala to help them find Shadow today.

Merry picked up a scone to eat, and just as he was about to take a bite, he saw the dog that chased after Shadow a few days ago drinking water 20 feet away from them. When he saw the dog he became angry. He picked up a stone to throw at the dog, but Frodo held his hand.

"No Merry."

"But it is his fault that Shadow is missing," he said angrily.

"Throwing stones at the dog is not going to help Shadow; besides the dog might retaliate, and that is the last thing we need right now," said Bilbo.

Merry reluctantly agreed with them and dropped the stone. After they rested and ate their lunch they began to look for shadow again. They passed by the dog who was chasing a rabbit while they followed the river. They followed it a few miles, but saw no sign of Shadow. They walked into the forest again and continued to walk forward right for another half mile. The birds were twittering and flying on and off the branches, the squirrels were scampering around, and chattering to each other, the rabbits were also scampering all over the place eating grass, but there was no Shadow.

They came to the edge of the forest and saw an old simile. A hobbit woman was outside hanging the wash. Bilbo and the other hobbits approached her.

"Excuse me mam," Bilbo said trying to get her attention.

She looked at him while she was hanging Tulip's dress.

"Yes?" she enquired.

We are looking for a grey cat. Have you seen any?" Frodo asked.

"My children took him home a few days ago. He is very friendly and a good mouser."

Merry's eyes lit up with hope.

"That must be Shadow. Can we see him now?" Merry asked.

"He left last night. I'm sorry," the woman said when she saw the disappointed look on their faces.

"Thank you," Bilbo said sadly.

They continued to look for another two hours before Bilbo decided to head home.

"We should head home," now said Bilbo. "It is getting late."

They walked slowly home, all of them were in a somber mood especially Merry.

"It's hopeless," Merry said while tears began to fall down his face. "We'll never find him."

Frodo put his arm around Merry in a silent effort to comfort him.

"It's not hopeless," said Sam.

"Yes it is," said Merry.

"I'm going to ask Saradoc to send a search party tomorrow to look for Shadow," said Bilbo trying to cheer them up. "They will cover more ground."

They walked the rest of the way home in silence, but when they came to Brandy Hall, a wonderful surprise waited for them. Pippin was happily playing with Shadow while Merry's parents were watching them. When Merry saw Shadow, his eyes became bright and he began to run the rest of the way home.

"Shadow!" he yelled.

He picked up Shadow in his arms, and said to him. "Oh Shadow, I missed you so much, you naughty cat. Don't you ever run away again."

Of course Shadow did not understand what Merry was saying. He was only glad that he was in his arms again and began to purr while he carried him into the hall.

Bilbo and the other hobbits caught up with Saradoc and Esmeralda.

"He came home this morning after you left," said Saradoc.

"That's wonderful, Saradoc," said Bilbo. "Merry is so happy to see him again."

"He is," said Saradoc.

The rest of the time Merry enjoyed the visit from the other hobbits. They had a lot of fun playing games, and they had a big birthday party for Berilac.

The End.