What Frodo Did
Chapter 3/?
Angie
Bilbo and Hamfast sped along in the wake created in the dust by Sam's short, fat legs. Short and fat though they were, the two adult hobbits had a job to keep up with him.
Bell had come up to Bag end to report the missing Gamgee boy to her husband and found Bilbo about to head off in search of his own errant lad. Hobbit children missing meals was a thing to be taken very seriously - in fact it was almost unheard of.
"If I know Samwise he will be where Frodo is," said Bilbo.
"He do seem to have the knack for seeking Mr Frodo out. Like a terrier our Sam," confirmed the Gaffer.
"And here he comes now!" added Bell with a smile, which quickly became concern.
Sam barrelled into his mother, nearly knocking them both over and was hard pressed, between his distress and his breathlessness from the run, to get his tale out.
Bilbo's thoughts raced as he considered what to do, then after a moment he turned to Sam. "Lead on Master Samwise, quick as you can!" Sam was relieved to tear back along the road he had come.
Bilbo was feeling sick with unease. Frodo was to spend the whole summer with his eldest cousin, and for him to have come into mischief this early on did not bode well. Aside from the fact that the Brandybucks would be down on Bilbo like a whole hill of burrow delvings if he allowed any harm to come to the lad, Bilbo would certainly never forgive himself. Frodo was his only link to his dearest Drogo and Primula, and he would not lose their only son too. Still, no using in fretting yet, the lad had a fair amount of hobbit sense and his pranks and misdoings usually ran to nothing much worse than mushroom thieving.
Bilbo continued on, trying to convince himself that Sam had just exaggerated, or misread the situation, that everything would be fine. After all, the boy was accident prone, but as resilient as the next tweenager.
The sight of Frodo lying under the twisted apple tree almost caused Bilbo's heart to stop. The lad was deadly white, apart from the gory mess of his chin. Suddenly feeling dreadfully ancient, Bilbo dropped to his knees by Frodo's side and tried to find a pulse with fingers which shook terribly. The Gaffer eased him out of the way.
"He's alive. Knocked 'isself out most like." Muttering to himself as though overrun by an infestation of vine weevils in his flower beds Hamfast made an inspection of the lad. "I'd be first to admit I'm no doctor but he might have hurt his back like as not," said Hamfast. "I'll go back for a rail or summot to carry him flat on and send Hamson for the doctor. You bide by his side, Sir. I'll not be but a jiffy."
Feeling desperately inadequate Bilbo sat on the leaf strewn ground by Frodo's side and took up the boys hand to stroke, murmuring, "Oh, my lad. My dearest boy."
As he sat in the orchard watching twilight fall Bilbo became aware of an odd noise. It took him a moment or two to realise that it was Frodo's teeth chattering. Cursing himself for being every sort of a fool Bilbo stripped off his jacket and tucked it around the boy. Frodo felt horribly cold. He was probably going into shock. Bilbo tried to rub some warmth back into the chill hands and Frodo opened his eyes.
"Uncle Bilbo. Am I dreaming still? I had a horrid dream that a troll sat on me. My legs feel like they've been squished to jelly."
"Oh, Frodo! No, you are not dreaming. We are going to get you back to Bag end and have the doctor look at you." The old hobbit smoothed the unruly fringe out of Frodo's pain filled eyes and then got out his pocket handkerchief to dab away some of the encrusted blood which had formed a horrible mess down Frodo's neck. It almost looked as though a wild animal had torn his throat. No! Frodo was going to be fine. He was alive and talking.
"I am so sorry Bilbo. I never meant to fall."
"Hush lad. Can you tell me where it hurts?"
"My chin and my back. When Sam tried to help me to sit up it hurt awfully. What is wrong with it?"
"Probably just a very bad bruise or sprain, dear." Bilbo tried to reassure them both.
"Is it bleeding?"
"Not that I can see."
"I thought I had been stabbed right through." Frodo winced again and his eyes rolled out of focus. "Can I have pancakes for supper?"
"You can have whatever you like, my boy," said Bilbo, not realising that Frodo had lost consciousness again.
Frodo remained unaware all through the trip back to Bag end; for which Bilbo was truly grateful. With Hamfast Gamgee's assistance, Bilbo undressed the unconscious tween, trying to be as gentle as possible, and got him into a warmed bed just as the doctor arrived. The boy's chin he cleaned and put gauze on himself but he was dreading what the doctor was going to say about Frodo's back. He could see for himself the bruising low on Frodo's spine and feel the heated knot of swelling. Frodo had hurt himself badly this time.
The doctor bustled in, all tweedy comfort and white hair. "What has the lad been up to now?"
"Falling out of trees," Bilbo replied. "He's hurt his back."
"If you put the kettle on I will have a look at the boy." Dr Bramble dismissed Bilbo, knowing his job would be a lot easier without the stricken older hobbit fussing round him. The doctor pulled back the bed covers. The boy was a slight enough weight for him to handle alone and he rolled Frodo onto his side with great care and pulled up his nightshirt. The damage was clearly evident but the full extent of it was not. This could be a sprain, bruising of the tissue around the spine, or it could be something much worse.
Bilbo all but dropped the teapot when the doctor walked into the kitchen. "How is he? Please tell me."
"There is not much I can tell you yet," said the doctor. "Backs are tricky things, though Frodo's at least doesn't appear to have been broken anywhere, which is very fortunate for all concerned! At best he is going to be laid up in bed for at least a week or two. He could just have bruised the area around his spine, or he could have done some deeper harm."
Bilbo sat down with a thud.
"Now, lets look on the bright side. Time can heal a lot of things. He is young and strong. He still has some growing left in him to do and this is most likely one of those things that can be grown out of."
Bilbo put his head in his hands and leant on the table.
Milo Bramble had been the Hobbiton doctor for many years now, though he hardly ever got called to Bag end. Bilbo's extended youth and hearty good health were legendary in The Shire. He opened his bag now and began to pull out bottles. "He will be in a lot of pain when he wakes up. Give him some over sweetened tea - a little Willowbark tea would be good every now and again, say half a cup in the morning, half a cup in the afternoon, and otherwise either your usual tea or peppermint tea - the fresh scent it gives to the air should help lighten his mind and his mood, which may be just as healing as anything else I could suggest just now. Though he will probably have a job keeping anything down for a while."
The doctor pulled a small pad from his bag and scribbled on it. "I'll send one of the Gamgee lads to the apothecary for this compress. He won't want you to touch his back but apply this as often as you can. Keep him warm and lying down flat. He will be laid up for at least a week or two. I will come again in a couple of days." Milo moved forwards to put a hand on Bilbo's slumped shoulder. "Don't worry too much, Mr Baggins. Hobbit lads are made of stern stuff. I am sure he will be up another tree by the end of the month."
But as he said it he knew in his heart of hearts that it would not be that simple.
Bilbo and Hamfast sped along in the wake created in the dust by Sam's short, fat legs. Short and fat though they were, the two adult hobbits had a job to keep up with him.
Bell had come up to Bag end to report the missing Gamgee boy to her husband and found Bilbo about to head off in search of his own errant lad. Hobbit children missing meals was a thing to be taken very seriously - in fact it was almost unheard of.
"If I know Samwise he will be where Frodo is," said Bilbo.
"He do seem to have the knack for seeking Mr Frodo out. Like a terrier our Sam," confirmed the Gaffer.
"And here he comes now!" added Bell with a smile, which quickly became concern.
Sam barrelled into his mother, nearly knocking them both over and was hard pressed, between his distress and his breathlessness from the run, to get his tale out.
Bilbo's thoughts raced as he considered what to do, then after a moment he turned to Sam. "Lead on Master Samwise, quick as you can!" Sam was relieved to tear back along the road he had come.
Bilbo was feeling sick with unease. Frodo was to spend the whole summer with his eldest cousin, and for him to have come into mischief this early on did not bode well. Aside from the fact that the Brandybucks would be down on Bilbo like a whole hill of burrow delvings if he allowed any harm to come to the lad, Bilbo would certainly never forgive himself. Frodo was his only link to his dearest Drogo and Primula, and he would not lose their only son too. Still, no using in fretting yet, the lad had a fair amount of hobbit sense and his pranks and misdoings usually ran to nothing much worse than mushroom thieving.
Bilbo continued on, trying to convince himself that Sam had just exaggerated, or misread the situation, that everything would be fine. After all, the boy was accident prone, but as resilient as the next tweenager.
The sight of Frodo lying under the twisted apple tree almost caused Bilbo's heart to stop. The lad was deadly white, apart from the gory mess of his chin. Suddenly feeling dreadfully ancient, Bilbo dropped to his knees by Frodo's side and tried to find a pulse with fingers which shook terribly. The Gaffer eased him out of the way.
"He's alive. Knocked 'isself out most like." Muttering to himself as though overrun by an infestation of vine weevils in his flower beds Hamfast made an inspection of the lad. "I'd be first to admit I'm no doctor but he might have hurt his back like as not," said Hamfast. "I'll go back for a rail or summot to carry him flat on and send Hamson for the doctor. You bide by his side, Sir. I'll not be but a jiffy."
Feeling desperately inadequate Bilbo sat on the leaf strewn ground by Frodo's side and took up the boys hand to stroke, murmuring, "Oh, my lad. My dearest boy."
As he sat in the orchard watching twilight fall Bilbo became aware of an odd noise. It took him a moment or two to realise that it was Frodo's teeth chattering. Cursing himself for being every sort of a fool Bilbo stripped off his jacket and tucked it around the boy. Frodo felt horribly cold. He was probably going into shock. Bilbo tried to rub some warmth back into the chill hands and Frodo opened his eyes.
"Uncle Bilbo. Am I dreaming still? I had a horrid dream that a troll sat on me. My legs feel like they've been squished to jelly."
"Oh, Frodo! No, you are not dreaming. We are going to get you back to Bag end and have the doctor look at you." The old hobbit smoothed the unruly fringe out of Frodo's pain filled eyes and then got out his pocket handkerchief to dab away some of the encrusted blood which had formed a horrible mess down Frodo's neck. It almost looked as though a wild animal had torn his throat. No! Frodo was going to be fine. He was alive and talking.
"I am so sorry Bilbo. I never meant to fall."
"Hush lad. Can you tell me where it hurts?"
"My chin and my back. When Sam tried to help me to sit up it hurt awfully. What is wrong with it?"
"Probably just a very bad bruise or sprain, dear." Bilbo tried to reassure them both.
"Is it bleeding?"
"Not that I can see."
"I thought I had been stabbed right through." Frodo winced again and his eyes rolled out of focus. "Can I have pancakes for supper?"
"You can have whatever you like, my boy," said Bilbo, not realising that Frodo had lost consciousness again.
Frodo remained unaware all through the trip back to Bag end; for which Bilbo was truly grateful. With Hamfast Gamgee's assistance, Bilbo undressed the unconscious tween, trying to be as gentle as possible, and got him into a warmed bed just as the doctor arrived. The boy's chin he cleaned and put gauze on himself but he was dreading what the doctor was going to say about Frodo's back. He could see for himself the bruising low on Frodo's spine and feel the heated knot of swelling. Frodo had hurt himself badly this time.
The doctor bustled in, all tweedy comfort and white hair. "What has the lad been up to now?"
"Falling out of trees," Bilbo replied. "He's hurt his back."
"If you put the kettle on I will have a look at the boy." Dr Bramble dismissed Bilbo, knowing his job would be a lot easier without the stricken older hobbit fussing round him. The doctor pulled back the bed covers. The boy was a slight enough weight for him to handle alone and he rolled Frodo onto his side with great care and pulled up his nightshirt. The damage was clearly evident but the full extent of it was not. This could be a sprain, bruising of the tissue around the spine, or it could be something much worse.
Bilbo all but dropped the teapot when the doctor walked into the kitchen. "How is he? Please tell me."
"There is not much I can tell you yet," said the doctor. "Backs are tricky things, though Frodo's at least doesn't appear to have been broken anywhere, which is very fortunate for all concerned! At best he is going to be laid up in bed for at least a week or two. He could just have bruised the area around his spine, or he could have done some deeper harm."
Bilbo sat down with a thud.
"Now, lets look on the bright side. Time can heal a lot of things. He is young and strong. He still has some growing left in him to do and this is most likely one of those things that can be grown out of."
Bilbo put his head in his hands and leant on the table.
Milo Bramble had been the Hobbiton doctor for many years now, though he hardly ever got called to Bag end. Bilbo's extended youth and hearty good health were legendary in The Shire. He opened his bag now and began to pull out bottles. "He will be in a lot of pain when he wakes up. Give him some over sweetened tea - a little Willowbark tea would be good every now and again, say half a cup in the morning, half a cup in the afternoon, and otherwise either your usual tea or peppermint tea - the fresh scent it gives to the air should help lighten his mind and his mood, which may be just as healing as anything else I could suggest just now. Though he will probably have a job keeping anything down for a while."
The doctor pulled a small pad from his bag and scribbled on it. "I'll send one of the Gamgee lads to the apothecary for this compress. He won't want you to touch his back but apply this as often as you can. Keep him warm and lying down flat. He will be laid up for at least a week or two. I will come again in a couple of days." Milo moved forwards to put a hand on Bilbo's slumped shoulder. "Don't worry too much, Mr Baggins. Hobbit lads are made of stern stuff. I am sure he will be up another tree by the end of the month."
But as he said it he knew in his heart of hearts that it would not be that simple.