Birdie, chocoholic, Rufferto, eve n. worse, Tathar, MarigoldG, EleoCira, and Obelia, I love you all! Thank you so much for the reviews and thank you, Birdie, for putting me on your favorites list!
I'm sorry I haven't written anything for a while, I've been really busy with rehearsals and memorizing a monologue to audition for a Shakespeare play at my high school (I am so stressed about that!).
And now the feature presentation: Chapter 3 "It's just Cousin Merry"
"Mr. Bilbo really says the men play this game?" Sam asked while looking at the racket skeptically.
"And many others. They call this one tennis and we are suppose to hit the ball over the net before it hits the ground."
Sam believed anything Mr. Frodo said was true, but this seemed kind of pointless to the younger hobbit. "Why?"
"For the fun of it, I suppose."
Both boys turned to Bilbo when he stepped outside with a broom and began dusting the front steps to the smial. Bilbo had been acting strange like that a lot lately. Normally, the smial had what Frodo liked to call a nice "lived in" look to it, it wasn't filthy, but they didn't go out of their way to keep it perfect, but now his uncle seemed to be doing just that. He had been dusting every time he found a spare moment and polishing furniture as well.
"So you lads found the old tennis set," Bilbo said, with a hand in his jacket pocket, almost reminiscing. "Well, why don't you two go in and clean up and I'll get something to eat."
The two were growing hobbit boys, so they dropped the racket and raced into the house to wash their hands. Lunch was chicken sandwiches and applesauce; it was wonderful, but Frodo couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in the spotless kitchen and was glad when they were called outside
"Frodo, Samwise! Could you come out here for a moment?"
"Coming, Mr. Bilbo," Sam replied and then stared in shock as Frodo was suddenly tackled by another boy. "You get off him!" He snapped as he pulled the larger boy up. Sam was small, but he was strong for his size.
"Don't worry, Sam. It's just my Cousin Merry," Frodo explained while he dusted himself off.
"Oh, I'm just your cousin?" Merry asked Frodo and then turned to Sam. "I'm just his cousin. Meriadoc Brandybuck, but everyone calls me Merry. How I got a girl's name, I don't know," he held out his hand and grinned. He was about Sam's age with light brown hair and freckles across his nose.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Merry," Sam said, shaking hands. "I'm Samwise, or Sam, Gamgee."
"I'm a mister? Mama, why didn't you tell me?" Merry asked. "Well, hello Samwiseorsamgamgee."
Sam had recognized the joke from when he had first met Frodo and supposed it had been a rather old one that the cousins told. He would have felt slightly left out, but neither boy gave him the opportunity.
"…so then, we sneak back into Farmer Maggot's crops and he really let the dogs go. I thought it was only an empty threat." Merry said.
"And guess who they decided to chase," Frodo muttered under his breath.
"Well, why would they chase a sweet, innocent, and very attractive boy like myself?" Merry wondered aloud and grinned again. Sam was beginning to understand why people called him Merry and immediately liked the other boy almost as much as he liked Frodo.
For the rest of the afternoon, Sam listened to Frodo and Merry's tales of Buckland and the trouble they got into there. To the young hobbit, they seemed as incredible as any of Mr. Bilbo's adventures and Merry plotted more schemes for Sam to help with.
"Hello, Sam," Rosie said from behind them and all three lads jumped a foot in the air.
"Um, hello. How are you, Rosie?" Sam said, stuttering slightly.
"Very well, thank you. I just wanted to thank you for the flower and the lovely poem," Rosie replied and kissed Sam on the cheek before running back to her friends.
Sam stood there after she was gone, with his hand on his cheek, deciding he would never wash his face again.
