CHAPTER Fifteen - Working On The Chain Gang

Merry woke him out of a deep slumber to hear knocking on his door. "Merry!", he heard someone say. Surely, this must be an error; it's still dark outside!, he thought. He turned over, then heard knocking again.

"Merry!! Time to get up!" came the harsh whisper from the other side of the door. Merry's eyes shot wide open. Get up?!

"Get up? Why?", he managed without too much sleep in his voice.

"Chores!", came the reply.

Chores?! Merry came more to his senses.

"This early?", he hoped the voice on the other side would realized the early hour, admit their mistake, and leave.

"We're late as it is, Merry! Quit jesting, and come on!", said the voice.

Jesting?! My brain doesn't function this early!, he thought. He got out of bed, since it didn't seem the voice would leave him alone. He limped over to the door and opened it. The hallway was dim with only a single candle in the bearer's hand; it was Pim.

"It's our turn to gather the eggs and feed the animals, Merry! Put your trousers on and lets go!!"

"What's going on, Pim?", asked Merry; either Pim was very bossy this morning, or...she wasn't making a mistake!

"Are you mad? Didn't Pearl tell you?" Merry shook his head. "Papa said it would be good for you to learn to farm, and decided to start you off with feeding and caring for the barn animals, first."

"That's nice, Pim, but I don't remember being a part of this conversation!", Merry said while pulling on his trousers.

"That's nice, Merry, but let's get a move on!", Pim replied as she grabbed

Merry's arm and led him stumbling down the hallway and out the door.

Merry pinched his nose at the stench. "You want me to reach under the hen and grab the egg, is that it?" Asked Merry, feigning ignorance.

Pim shook her head at her cousin; she walked over to Merry, shoved his fumbling hand away and snatched the egg. She held it up to his face, and narrowed her eyes at him in her annoyance. "Got it?!"

"Got it." Merry rolled his eyes--after she turned around, though.

He walked down the other row of hens, and did as Pim did, snatching up the egg supply for the day. Seeing that there were no more eggs to be had, they walked out to the barn to place all of the eggs in a single basket.

"Now what?", Merry ventured, "Do we plow the fields next?"

Pim was in no mood to laugh. She walked just inside the barn, and then over to Merry and handed him a shovel.

"What do I do with this?"

"Shovel the dung!"

Merry though for sure he saw Pim smile as she walked away from the stalls.

Merry was finished shoveling dung, and found Pim in the barn. He wiped the sweat from his face, and winced at the smell of himself. Merry stood in the doorway watching his cousin milking the cows with the greatest of ease.

"Can I do that?"

Pim startled at hearing a voice nearby. "What, do this?"

"Yes." Merry nodded.

"Come here."

Merry walked over to Pim and sat on the stool she offered. She went on to explain to Merry how to milk a cow, and she watched as Merry did as he was instructed. She nodded at Merry in satisfaction.

The sun had risen by the time they stepped outside of the barn with eggs and milk in tow. As they brought everything inside the house, Merry learned some of the milk would be made into butter, and the rest would sit to let the cream settle on top for scooping. All of this began to fascinate Merry. Before this morning, all he knew was that food was on the board, and he dug in.

"What took you so long?" Pim met with Pearl's eye at the kitchen door.

Pim looked at her now broken-in cousin--she thought he did well for his first day. "We, um, ran a bit behind, is all."

"If you need reminding of what time to get up, I can schedule you for tomorrow as well!"

"That won't be necessary, Pearl--it was my fault.", said Merry. "Were you not supposed to tell me something yesterday?" He winked at his cousin.

Pearl cocked an eye to Merry. "Very well, Merry! You get away with it this

time!", she smiled.

Merry sat exhausted in a chair. "Merry, come on!", cried Pim, "we're not done, yet!"

"No!"

"Yes!" Pim laughed, tugging at Merry's arm. "We have yet to feed the animals!"

"You mean they get to eat before I do?!" He noticed his foot started to throb a bit, but wanted to finish his chores.

Even Pippin was up by now. "I come, too!"

"You have to watch Pippin throw the chicken feed!" Pim chuckled in Merry's ear on their way out. Merry nodded and smiled.

As the three came near to the coop, Pippin held a large pail and gathered fistfuls of the feed and threw it--all of two feet or so. The chickens all came out at once and congregated in a crowd against the little boy. All the chickens were flying everywhere in front and back of Pippin. Merry thought for sure Pippin was trapped and would be terrified.

He almost ran to rescue Pippin when he heard him scream, but was surprised to hear Pippin's scream was actually laughter! Pippin was laughing so hard he fell down. Not one chicken pecked at him; they all flew for the pail. Relieved, Merry grabbed Pippin and took him away from what he considered to be danger.

"Pim! He could've been hurt!"

Pim only smiled; "I was here the entire time! Pip was fine, Merry; he must learn to feed and care for the animals as well. He's too young to do it by himself, but we must not discourage him, either."

All this was new to Merry. Farming and feeding--he didn't understand what brought him to this, and only after one morning of it, he was beginning to learn it and enjoy it.

Merry loved Pim--and really enjoyed bantering with her, he couldn't remember ever spending this much time with her. "Will we do this again?"

Pim stopped and turned to her cousin. "This?"

"Yes, this, and the chores we were doing earlier."

Pim squinted in the bright sun, and said, "Perhaps a few more times, but then, you'll be expected to do it on your own."

They sat in the dirt and watched the chickens gobble up the feed.

"And when you have all this in your head", she continued, "father will take you out to the fields."

Merry looked incredulous. "The fields?"

"Sure! All family learns to farm like this."

"Family? What do you mean?", now he was puzzled.

Pim looked at Merry, "Father hires farm hands to help tend the fields, or

to help with the harvest, and he even hired Mister Woodcot to help with disbursing wages to the other helpers. They're all fine helpers, Merry, but if you notice they're not family--well, not like you and me. Papa is preparing you to run the farm when he's not able to, and until Pippin is old enough for the responsibility. This only happens with family, Mer!"

Merry didn't know what to make of this revelation. "Run the farm? Family?"

Pim leaned over and kissed Merry on the cheek; "Family."