Chapter 4: Mayoral duties

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Rosie Cotton was now well on her way with her fourth child. Sam and Rosie had been deciding on names. It was just a few weeks until the birth. Rosie was rather large and doctor Pomperty had been a few times and he suspected that Rosie might be carrying twins. This was a very rare case in hobbits. Only about three or four cases through out all the existence of hobbits had a case of twins been found.

Frodo, Elanor and Rose were all very excited and were looking forward to the birth of their new sibling. All three of them slept in the one room that was starting to get a bit crowded. If the new baby was to be a boy, Frodo would move out and into the smaller spare room in number two, but if the new born was to be a girl, well, were trying to figure out something to do. Number Two was crowded enough as it was.

Rosie and Sam had often had talks about moving when their family became too bit for the small hole. Rosie had brought up one day what Frodo had said just before he left for The Grey Havens. 'He said that you were his heir to Bag End, Sam, and that you could use it as you please. I think that now is a time where a big smial like that would come in handy.'

'I know, Rosie, I know it's just, I know Mr Frodo left years ago but I still feel like I would be protruding on his territory, so to speak. I know that we must get a bigger home. This one is falling to bits and it won't last much longer.' Sam was looking out of the window and down the lane to Bag End. The vines around the windows had grown wild and were looking rather ragged. Frodo had told Sam to stop gardening at Bag End when he left as there would be no one else living there unless Sam took up Frodo's offer. Sam had continued to garden Bag End until he finally started to let his job there go. He took up gardening else where and though the new hobbits that Sam worked for were nice, none of them cared for Sam as Frodo had done.

None of them got down on there hands and knees and helped him such as Frodo had done. They all just treated him as a gardener and nothing more. They rarely spoke to him which made him sad. Merry and Pippin didn't come to visit as much as they used to now that they had taken up other jobs; Pippin had become the Thain of Tookland and Merry was now master of Brandyhall.

Soon, Sam turned around and looked at Rosie. 'When the new baby is born, we will move into Bag End. We should be able to make everything fit. I remember getting lost the first day I ever went in there as a small lad.' There were tears in Sam's eyes that he hadn't cried for a long time, tears that he didn't understand; tears for Frodo maybe and Sam's love for him.

He moved away from the window and held Rosie's waist. 'I love you.' Rosie turned around and kissed him sweetly. They shared a passionate kiss before having to break away when they heard 'ew' from Elanor. Sam strided over and picked her up and smothered her in kisses. She fought until Sam put her down and she ran away. 'I bet she won't run away when she falls in love.' Sam said as he walked back over to Rosie, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her.

The next day pained Sam, as it always did. The date was September twenty second; Frodo's birthday. Sam always felt sad on this day. He had tried many times to get over it but he just couldn't. And Rosie knew that this day was special to Sam so she would tend to leave him to his thoughts. But today was different. Rosie had been experiencing stomach pains since early in the morning. Both Sam and Rosie had the feeling that their new baby was going to be born today.

Sam sent for a messenger to send word to the Gamgee's family doctor dr Pomperty. He too suspected that today was the day of the new baby. He helped with the birth and after a few hours, young Merry was born.

'Well I did say that it could be twins but it seems that I was wrong, Merry was just a rather large baby.' Pomperty said. He said good bye to the Gamgee's after checking to make sure that Merry was healthy. But before he left he did say one thing.

'Are you still going to live here? I don't mean to be rude but this hole is rather cluttered.' He said looking around at the small space.

'No doctor, we are planning to move into Bag End. Frodo Baggins made me his heir and he said that I can move in whenever I fancy. Now that number two is rather cluttered, we are to move. Bag End is much bigger so it will be rather roomy.' Sam said.

'You're moving into Bag End? That will be an awful lot of work to be done to fix it up don't you think?' The doctor asked as he stared out the window and down to Bag End.

'Well I used to be gardener there, you see, I have been a gardener my whole life. And I was Mr Frodo's gardener and that is why he made me his heir.'

'Yes well I hope that it all works out for you. Good day.' And with that Pomperty left to go back to Bree.

That night when Rosie and Sam had gone to bed and Rosie was cradling Merry in her arms Sam said something. 'This marks the third important birthday for this day; Mr Bilbo's, Mr Frodo's and now little Merry's.'

The next day the whole of Hobbiton was called into the Green Dragon for a new mayor election. It was nearing the end of Will Whitfoot's time as mayor and it was time for a new election to decide if Will would continue to be mayor. There was just one other nominee; Samwise Gamgee had been nominated. Sam was flabbergasted when he found this out and he quickly started preparing his speech.

Soon it came time for the election. Out the front of the Dragon there was a small sign. "Mayor Election today; Will Whitfoot or Samwise Gamgee." Underneath there was a small picture of each hobbit.

Sam walked in and took his seat up at the back of the small stage next to Will. 'Good luck, Sam. I hope you win.'

Soon everyone was seated. Rosie and the children were seated in the front row.

Before long the two candidates were told to come up. Will's speech was relatively the same as it had been when he was previously nominated. Soon it was time for Sam to make his speech.

'Er, I have never really been good at speaking in public. But anyway I will do my best.' Just as Sam was about to begin his speech, Rose ran up onto stage screaming 'Daddy'. Everyone laughed and Sam soon picked her up and set her down in Rosie's lap.

'Now to begin.' Sam then plundered into a rather short speech. Soon it was over and people were told to go up to the podium, row by row and in single file to write down their vote and place it in the box. This took some time as it usually did.

Soon the hobbit that was hosting the election stood up again. 'Thank you everyone for your votes. The election will be held here again in a few weeks time when all the votes have been counted. There will be a ceremony here for the winner. This might be the most anticipated election we have had yet. Thank you for your time and I will see you all here again next week. Good day.'

The next week everyone was gathered in the Green Dragon again. Sam was very nervous. His heart had been pounding in his throat all day and the night before. He didn't mind if he wasn't elected. Either way he was happy. Will on the other hand was rather placid. He had been through this before so it wasn't really all that exciting.

Again there was a small banner on the door of the Dragon showing the two pictures of Will and Sam, but there was something a little different. There was another small script that said "The votes are in; who will win?"

'Welcome back everyone.' The same hobbit as before had stood up to take host for the event. 'I hope that you have all had a good week. The votes are close and I thought it better to just get on with the point than rather drag it out.' There were a few rehearsed laughs from down the back. 'Now I would like to call up our candidates, Samwise Gamgee and Will Whitfoot.' There was a loud, thunderous applause and cheers from everyone in the place.

Sam nervously got up onto the small stage and stood next to will who shook his hand. 'Good luck Will.' Sam said with a smile and a pat on the back. 'Yes and good luck to you too, Sam. You will make a fine mayor.'

'Thank you Will.' And with that, Sam turned and faced the audience.

'And now.' The host started again when the noise had died down. 'The votes have been counted many times and it is my very great pleasure to announce that the new mayor of the Shire will be Samwise Gamgee!' There was a huge round of applause and congratulations from people coming to Rosie and Sam's ways. Will shook Sam's hand and whispered in his ear 'I knew you would win.'

Sam was smiling broadly and he looked over at Rosie who blew him a kiss. Frodo wriggled out of his mother's arms and ran up to his father, who scooped him up. Sam was soon joined by the rest of the family and he walked over with them all to where the host was standing just to make a short thank you speech. He was holding Rosie's hand.

'I would just like to thank you all for voting for me and that I will do my best as mayor.'

There was another huge applause and cheers. Sam walked out of the Dragon after a few ales and congratulations from various hobbits. Soon the Gamgee's were back at home and enjoying the quietness.

'Rosie I think we should move into Bag End in a few weeks. I can fix it up a bit more before we actually move in. Get rid of the vines and such.'

'Sam that does sound like a good plan, I shall go and tell the others.' Rosie went into the kitchen and out of sight.

Sam was looking out at Bag End. Over the years it had turned from being a nice and welcoming home to an abandoned little green door in the hillside. The windows had been boarded up and it no longer looked like Bag End; but more of a haunted house ever since Sam had discontinued his gardening on the property.

Sam sighed and tilted his head up. In his head he said 'Well Mr Frodo. The time of your offer is now coming. Thank you.' He turned around and was greeted by his children and Rosie. Merry was crawling to him and he had his arms raised so that Sam could pick him up. He started playing with Sam's nose.

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