01-14-2002
Meet Jaell Brandybuck: Chapter Ten
I wonder where Frodo has been hiding. I sighed heavily. I hadn't seen Frodo since he took off from the window about a fortnight and a half ago. And while Frodo was 'away,' I saw much of Sam. Sam did love to bring me flowers, especially if they were cultivated from his own garden. I could see it in his eyes that he meant what he said and did, which did not help my guilt complex about it all.
Then one fortunate and lovely spring day, it dawned on me. What if I got Sam to meet her? Oh my… I leapt out of the house, nearly stumbling down the small hill and into the Brandywine then gained my balance and composure before heading off.
I went on my way, humming a song for my, albeit small, journey. Reaching the Cotton household, I knocked tentatively and heard a small voice from within.
"In a moment." I grinned, feeling my plan coming together. Then, after a bit of patience, the door creaked open and I saw her.
"Rosie! How do you do?" She smiled.
"Jaell, how wonderful to see you… it has been too long, sister. Do come in." I nodded and carefully stepped in.
"I came to talk to you about someone… a special person I feel you would like to become friends with. Perhaps you seem interested?" She nodded and handed me a cup of tea from the prepared table. She was always ready for the unexpected.
"Who, may I ask, are you referencing?"
"Samwise Gamgee." Her eyes widened and I saw her smile forming in her eyes rather than with her mouth.
"Really? He is a nice fellow. What exactly did you have in mind?" I told her my not as sly but quite decent plan and she laughed.
"Have me… do that? Are you sure?"
"Yes, Rosie, you must place effort on this, for my sake."
"Okay," she smiled. "I believe I will. You know, I have always like Sam but he never noticed me. Almost as if I were not there." Her smile faded a tad but came back. "Thank you."
"You are welcome… I must be on my way for I have more to do today." I stood up as I said this, gently placing my tea cup on the table before me. "Thank you for listening to me." She nodded and got up to see me out.
"Do come again sometime soon, Jaell. We do not speak enough." I looked back and nodded then waved and was on my way.
I found myself on the way to Bag End and hurriedly, at that. I also found myself standing at the large round door, ready to knock but then I put my ready fist down and sighed. I thought I heard some rustling on the inside and I do not know to this day if it was my imagination that out of the corner of my big brown eye, I saw a mop of curls disappear, more rustling, then silence. I laughed, assuming – of course – that Frodo may have been hiding from me.
"Frodo? Frodo, I know you are in there!" Silence. "Fro…?" I pouted sadly to myself and walked away, back down to the Brandywine and to my house.
The next day, I was walking along the usual paths Frodo and I would take with each other before he started avoiding me. I happened by Sam's house, and to my surprise, I saw Rosie and Sam chatting excitedly. Rosie saw me and flashed a wonderful smile. I had said that the way to Sam's heart was to ask him of his gardening and be interested in what he was doing. As I was still walking by, I saw Sam clip a beautiful flower and hand it to Rosie. They kept talking and not too far from that day, they were inseparable.
It was now midsummer and the days were warm and filled with ponderings of the things around and the people. I knew another year would be up soon but that never crossed my mind very much that summer.
One early morning, a bit after the sun came up, I took my book of history and went out to the forest, to find the usual area of mine. I settled myself among the moss and began to open my book when I felt an acorn hit my shoulder. I shrugged it off as an acorn that had been shaken from its home and then I felt another on my leg, another on my shoulder again, and another on my head. I looked up to see another acorn fall on my face.
"Hmph," I growled at the inanimate acorn. That's when I saw Frodo sitting up there, giggling like a little child that had just seen someone fall down in mud on the accident. "Frodo! What are you doing up there?"
He climbed down nimbly and placed himself next to me.
"I was reading and you intruded my area of preference!"
"I think not… this is my area. What do you care? You were in the tree."
"I was just seeing if you would come…" his voice turned soft. "Our spot." I smiled and he placed his arm over my shoulder, causing me to ponder other things than my book.
"Frodo, perhaps you should not do that."
"Do what?"
"This," I gently took his arm off me. "Distracting me from my focus." He nodded understandably and look at the page I was currently on.
"What are you reading, Jaell?"
"History of The Shire. This one of the few books on it and it interests me to no end." He was watching me with more intent on me than on my words describing my material.
"I just realized how you stick out your lips when you speak, as if trying to catch flies or something of the sort." I laughed.
"OH, you are one to speak!" Pushing him a bit, he laughed and I finally rested on his shoulder. "You know, my best times have been out here." I could feel him nodding and playing with the page on my book. He rested his chin on my head and after a big of reading aloud, I could feel him fall into a sleep on me. I felt drowsy myself but kept reading and eventually fell asleep on him.
More to come…