Thirteen is a Bad, Bad Number

Chapter 4:

So Far, So Good



Frodo, Merry, and Pippin were sitting at the kitchen table with the other six children. Frodo now sat with Tolly and Primrose, one on each knee. Pippin still had Ruby, as well as Robin. Merry had Bilbo on his lap, and Daisy, being the oldest awake at this point, was sitting in a chair of his own.

"Well, this isn't so bad," said Merry. "My legs are starting to hurt... but, hey, I'm not complaining. You children certainly are getting big!"

"Merry, don't start. You've only got one! Look at me, I've got two," said Pippin, laughing.

"Will you too stop fooling around? I don't want to have to listen to this for a week! For the children's sake, knock it off," said Frodo.

At this, yet another set of footsteps came down the hallway. It was in fact, the next oldest, Hamfast, who had been named after the good old Gaffer himself, Hamfast Gamgee, his grandfather. "You guys sure are loud. You woke me up!" Hamfast said, with a look of disgust on his face.

"Sorry about that," said Merry. "It is a little hard to keep the little ones quiet."

"I wasn't talking about them, Uncle Merry. I was talking about you and Uncle Pippin!" Hamfast said with a giggle.

Frodo chuckled at this little joke and took another good look at his other nephew. He was taller than all his younger siblings were, and he looked older than they did as well. He resembled his father, Sam, very much, but like the rest of the children, the part they received of their mother always showed as well.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of another child coming down the hallway. As guessed, it was Goldilocks*, the next oldest. He came into the kitchen, looked around, blinked, and then sat down, rubbing her eyes.

She was the most beautiful of all the children, due to her lovely golden locks, hence her name. "Good morning, Goldilocks!" said Bilbo. She just looked at her brother and showed a small smile. She was really too tired to say anything.

"Five more to go!" said Pippin, who had started fidgeting with the tow children on his lap, either because his lap was beginning to hurt, or he was growing bored. The latter was a greater possibility.

"I can't wait," said Frodo. He knew that once all the children were up, this calm setting would be gone. Not just gone, but destroyed. Silence and peace would all be stripped away and the adorable little children would turn into the equivalent of hungry orcs on the hunt.

The nightmare in his mind was once again interrupted by even more footsteps. Here came little Pippin and Merry. Generally, this would not have been a problem, but these two, over time, had turned into the junior trouble-making duo. In other words, the newer, younger, more energetic, soon-to-be replacements of their uncles in the Shire.

They walked out took one look at their three uncles sitting at the kitchen table, remembering that their parents were gone for a week, looked back and forth between eachother and their uncles. They smiled, gave eachother a 'high five', and yelled, "Yes!"

"Don't you two go and get too excited about this. We intend on keeping everything nice and orderly, don't we boys?" asked Frodo. By the look Frodo gave them, Merry and Pippin knew how they should answer, if they liked their lives.

"Yes, sir!" they both said in unison.

The two boys sat down, sulking. They knew that if they tried later, they could get their uncles going, and it would be a blast.

"Two more down, three to go. Then the fun begins," said Pippin.





Well, there you go, chapter four. I've been having writers block lately, and as you also know I'm also working on 'My Burden', so my time is split down the middle. I'll try to finish this one ASAP, so I can please all my fans. BTW- thanks for the reviews!