A/N: Well, even though no one felt like reviewing my last chapter, I'm
giving you another one, perhaps I'll get a couple then.
We told Aunt Eglantine that we were going out for a walk. She looked worried about the lateness of the hour, but reasoned that we were with Bilbo. Of course, that would mean nothing if Pippin decided to run away, but I trusted that he wouldn't.
Pippin was jumping up and down in excitement, again, as Bilbo got his thick woolly coat off the coat peg and put it on him. It was a little large for him, as it was a hand-me-down from one of his many cousins. No matter how rich or well bred you family is, you are always cursed by hand-me-downs. The vest I was wearing at the time happened to have once been my cousin Berilac's.
Pippin squirmed and protested at wearing his coat, he didn't like the way the sleeves fell past his hands but we persuaded him by threatening him with his newly acquired hat. By the time we got out the door, Pippin's pockets were heavy with biscuits from diversions into the kitchen, and we had half an hour less before sun set.
"I think I have space in my hood!" said Pippin as Bilbo pushed him firmly out the door.
"No you have not!" said Bilbo, "Pockets are for holding things, hoods are for keeping your head warm!" Bilbo rethought his words, "And identifying dwarves." He added. Pippin looked up at him, completely mystified by his words. I smiled, Bilbo would have a good time telling Pippin all his tales, and it was something he really loved, especially when they had never been heard before.
"Let's go across the field! I like the field."
"But it's not your field and there's not a path across it. You know that Pippin!" I said, knowing full well that Pippin was forbidden to go across the field for he would be trespassing and he always got especially dirty whenever he did.
"Well then, we can make a path across it!" Pippin stared in wonder at Bilbo. I could read his face easily, 'an adult who broke the rules!' It said. So we walked a little way down the road to a gap in the hedge and Bilbo readied himself to jump the ditch.
"Wait!" called Pippin, "There's someone at the window!" We had often been caught jumping this ditch by someone at the window. Pippin and I waved innocently and Bilbo smiled disarmingly. The shadow moved away from the window and Pippin gave Bilbo a nudge. Bilbo jumped and cleared the ditch with plenty of room left to spare.
"104 and still going strong!" I heard faintly from the other side of the ditch. Pippin held his arms up expectantly. We had done this often, I threw Pippin across because he couldn't make it himself and if he got a face-full of mud he was allowed to give me one. At least Bilbo was at the other side and so I didn't need to worry so much about getting a handful of mud in my mouth once I joined them.
I picked Pippin up off the ground and swung him once. Twice, and let go. He went sailing through the air, landing squarely on Bilbo, knocking him down in the mud.
"It's customary to tell your elderly relations when you are going to pelt him with the smaller relations you know!" Bilbo called to me.
"Don't worry Bilbo, You can push him in the mud once he gets over here, it's our agreement." Pippin informed Bilbo. Turning against me already!
"Yes Pippin, OUR agreement. It does not include certain complaining elderly relations who don't have the sense to catch the smaller relations!" I replied.
I decided to take a standing jump, rather than my usual running jump. If my 'elderly relation' of 104 was able to make it across then I should have been perfectly able. Not true. I would have made it across, I really would have, had the grass not been wet from a light shower earlier on in the day. My feet went right from under me down into the ditch. The rest of me fell with a soft 'whump' and followed my feet in the downward direction. I finally came to a stop in the gooey muck that tends to accumulate at the bottom of ditches. I looked up and Pippin was bent double laughing at my predicament, Bilbo looked amused but slightly concerned as well.
"Anything broken, bent or harmed? Any blood?" Bilbo called down between stifled giggles. I decided not to grace his question with an answer and went about pulling myself up using the grassy sides.
I made it to the top and accepted Bilbo's hand up with a small, begrudging smile. I felt small tugs at the back of my trousers and found Pippin trying to dust me down, though not making any real difference to my overall appearance, which could only be described as caked in mud.
"You've taken my job Merry!" Said Pippin in mock annoyance, "I'm the one who goes home and needs at least three baths before I'm clean." I clasped my hands together, as I didn't trust them not to push Pippin down into the ditch so we could have three baths together.
"Yes, yes, yes." I said absentmindedly, "Where to now?" Pippin thought for a little while, using a mockery of his fathers well known stance, and finally he chose a direction and we wordlessly took it.
Nothing much happened while we crossed the field, other than a pheasant suddenly leaping up and scaring the life and soul out of all three of us. We came finally to the far edge and the only thing between us and the road was the hedge. The ditch was thankfully shallow and didn't really deserve status as an obstacle. The hedge however looked nearly impassable. Unless of course you happened to be a four-year-old Took with an affinity for worming your way through hedges and brambles.
Pippin was through in a second, using the path of a hare, and came out the other side with barely a twig in his hair. I walked up and down the hedge and soon found a small opening that I had been looking for. It wasn't really an opening as such, more of a place of less density in the branches. I managed to push my way through, despite Bilbo telling me I'd not make it. I was more ruffled than Pippin was, admittedly, but I was on the right side of the hedge, which was more than I could say for Bilbo.
Bilbo paced up and down, looking for his own way through but finding none.
"Perhaps I could climb over." He said, half to himself, half to us.
"It'll be quite a job, it is a hedge of hawthorn." I said.
"I can see quite clearly what it is, thank you master Brandybuck. But if I can climb mountains, I can climb this hedge!" Once again Pippin gave me a look that told me he didn't quite understand all that Bilbo had said, but soon looked back over to Bilbo when the trees began shaking, their leaves falling as though it were already Autumn.
Bilbo was halfway up one side of the hedge and I could feel Pippin beside me shaking with suppressed laughter.
"It's not quite that funny is it Pippin?" I asked him. He shook his head no, but pointed to the corner of the field where there was a perfectly good oak tree with low branches, almost perfect for climbing and here was Bilbo struggling to get over the bendy branches of the hawthorn. I could certainly see the funny side.
There was a snap and a crash as the trees sprung back into place and left Bilbo sprawled on the floor, still on the wrong side. Little Pippin couldn't control himself any longer and let his laughter ring out loud. I saw no harm in joining in.
"Confound it all!" Said Bilbo in frustration. "What is it that you two find so funny?" It took a little while before either of us could breathe enough to tell him. Once we did, he stared at us incredulously. "And you were intending on letting me prance about this hedge like a fool for how long?" Neither of us answered, we would have let it go on for as long as we could make it.
Bilbo set off towards the tree and I followed, but was held back by a hand holding the seat of my trousers. I turned and found Pippin waiting expectantly for me to pick him up. I hoisted him up onto my shoulders where he would sit for hours while I walked. He would sit still. He'd once fallen off his father's shoulders and had only just been caught by his ankles. It had severely shaken him though and he was more cautious than most around heights, more cautious than most Tooks anyway.
We strolled in a leisurely manner up to the tree and found Bilbo in trouble once again.
"Trolls and goblins!" He shouted out to no one in particular. "Confound this tree!" The tree was a very old tree and about two yards up it branched off into five different parts. In the centre was quite plainly a small puddle, or indeed a large puddle.
Bilbo flipped his feet over the edge and lowered himself down. From the knees down he was dripping with rotting leaves. He landed lightly on the floor, turned to us and gave us a look that told us to not mention a thing about mud or leaves lest he did something he regretted later.
The way this walk was going, Pippin was going to be the only one not needing a bath.
We told Aunt Eglantine that we were going out for a walk. She looked worried about the lateness of the hour, but reasoned that we were with Bilbo. Of course, that would mean nothing if Pippin decided to run away, but I trusted that he wouldn't.
Pippin was jumping up and down in excitement, again, as Bilbo got his thick woolly coat off the coat peg and put it on him. It was a little large for him, as it was a hand-me-down from one of his many cousins. No matter how rich or well bred you family is, you are always cursed by hand-me-downs. The vest I was wearing at the time happened to have once been my cousin Berilac's.
Pippin squirmed and protested at wearing his coat, he didn't like the way the sleeves fell past his hands but we persuaded him by threatening him with his newly acquired hat. By the time we got out the door, Pippin's pockets were heavy with biscuits from diversions into the kitchen, and we had half an hour less before sun set.
"I think I have space in my hood!" said Pippin as Bilbo pushed him firmly out the door.
"No you have not!" said Bilbo, "Pockets are for holding things, hoods are for keeping your head warm!" Bilbo rethought his words, "And identifying dwarves." He added. Pippin looked up at him, completely mystified by his words. I smiled, Bilbo would have a good time telling Pippin all his tales, and it was something he really loved, especially when they had never been heard before.
"Let's go across the field! I like the field."
"But it's not your field and there's not a path across it. You know that Pippin!" I said, knowing full well that Pippin was forbidden to go across the field for he would be trespassing and he always got especially dirty whenever he did.
"Well then, we can make a path across it!" Pippin stared in wonder at Bilbo. I could read his face easily, 'an adult who broke the rules!' It said. So we walked a little way down the road to a gap in the hedge and Bilbo readied himself to jump the ditch.
"Wait!" called Pippin, "There's someone at the window!" We had often been caught jumping this ditch by someone at the window. Pippin and I waved innocently and Bilbo smiled disarmingly. The shadow moved away from the window and Pippin gave Bilbo a nudge. Bilbo jumped and cleared the ditch with plenty of room left to spare.
"104 and still going strong!" I heard faintly from the other side of the ditch. Pippin held his arms up expectantly. We had done this often, I threw Pippin across because he couldn't make it himself and if he got a face-full of mud he was allowed to give me one. At least Bilbo was at the other side and so I didn't need to worry so much about getting a handful of mud in my mouth once I joined them.
I picked Pippin up off the ground and swung him once. Twice, and let go. He went sailing through the air, landing squarely on Bilbo, knocking him down in the mud.
"It's customary to tell your elderly relations when you are going to pelt him with the smaller relations you know!" Bilbo called to me.
"Don't worry Bilbo, You can push him in the mud once he gets over here, it's our agreement." Pippin informed Bilbo. Turning against me already!
"Yes Pippin, OUR agreement. It does not include certain complaining elderly relations who don't have the sense to catch the smaller relations!" I replied.
I decided to take a standing jump, rather than my usual running jump. If my 'elderly relation' of 104 was able to make it across then I should have been perfectly able. Not true. I would have made it across, I really would have, had the grass not been wet from a light shower earlier on in the day. My feet went right from under me down into the ditch. The rest of me fell with a soft 'whump' and followed my feet in the downward direction. I finally came to a stop in the gooey muck that tends to accumulate at the bottom of ditches. I looked up and Pippin was bent double laughing at my predicament, Bilbo looked amused but slightly concerned as well.
"Anything broken, bent or harmed? Any blood?" Bilbo called down between stifled giggles. I decided not to grace his question with an answer and went about pulling myself up using the grassy sides.
I made it to the top and accepted Bilbo's hand up with a small, begrudging smile. I felt small tugs at the back of my trousers and found Pippin trying to dust me down, though not making any real difference to my overall appearance, which could only be described as caked in mud.
"You've taken my job Merry!" Said Pippin in mock annoyance, "I'm the one who goes home and needs at least three baths before I'm clean." I clasped my hands together, as I didn't trust them not to push Pippin down into the ditch so we could have three baths together.
"Yes, yes, yes." I said absentmindedly, "Where to now?" Pippin thought for a little while, using a mockery of his fathers well known stance, and finally he chose a direction and we wordlessly took it.
Nothing much happened while we crossed the field, other than a pheasant suddenly leaping up and scaring the life and soul out of all three of us. We came finally to the far edge and the only thing between us and the road was the hedge. The ditch was thankfully shallow and didn't really deserve status as an obstacle. The hedge however looked nearly impassable. Unless of course you happened to be a four-year-old Took with an affinity for worming your way through hedges and brambles.
Pippin was through in a second, using the path of a hare, and came out the other side with barely a twig in his hair. I walked up and down the hedge and soon found a small opening that I had been looking for. It wasn't really an opening as such, more of a place of less density in the branches. I managed to push my way through, despite Bilbo telling me I'd not make it. I was more ruffled than Pippin was, admittedly, but I was on the right side of the hedge, which was more than I could say for Bilbo.
Bilbo paced up and down, looking for his own way through but finding none.
"Perhaps I could climb over." He said, half to himself, half to us.
"It'll be quite a job, it is a hedge of hawthorn." I said.
"I can see quite clearly what it is, thank you master Brandybuck. But if I can climb mountains, I can climb this hedge!" Once again Pippin gave me a look that told me he didn't quite understand all that Bilbo had said, but soon looked back over to Bilbo when the trees began shaking, their leaves falling as though it were already Autumn.
Bilbo was halfway up one side of the hedge and I could feel Pippin beside me shaking with suppressed laughter.
"It's not quite that funny is it Pippin?" I asked him. He shook his head no, but pointed to the corner of the field where there was a perfectly good oak tree with low branches, almost perfect for climbing and here was Bilbo struggling to get over the bendy branches of the hawthorn. I could certainly see the funny side.
There was a snap and a crash as the trees sprung back into place and left Bilbo sprawled on the floor, still on the wrong side. Little Pippin couldn't control himself any longer and let his laughter ring out loud. I saw no harm in joining in.
"Confound it all!" Said Bilbo in frustration. "What is it that you two find so funny?" It took a little while before either of us could breathe enough to tell him. Once we did, he stared at us incredulously. "And you were intending on letting me prance about this hedge like a fool for how long?" Neither of us answered, we would have let it go on for as long as we could make it.
Bilbo set off towards the tree and I followed, but was held back by a hand holding the seat of my trousers. I turned and found Pippin waiting expectantly for me to pick him up. I hoisted him up onto my shoulders where he would sit for hours while I walked. He would sit still. He'd once fallen off his father's shoulders and had only just been caught by his ankles. It had severely shaken him though and he was more cautious than most around heights, more cautious than most Tooks anyway.
We strolled in a leisurely manner up to the tree and found Bilbo in trouble once again.
"Trolls and goblins!" He shouted out to no one in particular. "Confound this tree!" The tree was a very old tree and about two yards up it branched off into five different parts. In the centre was quite plainly a small puddle, or indeed a large puddle.
Bilbo flipped his feet over the edge and lowered himself down. From the knees down he was dripping with rotting leaves. He landed lightly on the floor, turned to us and gave us a look that told us to not mention a thing about mud or leaves lest he did something he regretted later.
The way this walk was going, Pippin was going to be the only one not needing a bath.
