DISCLAIMER: Oh, if only Lord of the Rings was mine! But, alas, it is not (falls dramatically off office chair and hits head). Whoops!
Merry's day was going well until he got out of bed. Then he ran into some trouble. First, he couldn't find any matching socks. He then discovered that his favorite pair of breeches had a hole in them. And, worst of all, he was out of butter.
" How am I supposed to have bread without butter?" he cried wildly as he tried to restrain himself from throwing the empty butter dish across the room. Actually, something like his lack of butter would not have normally bothered Merry. He would have just found something else to eat instead. But Merry had been unreasonably surly ever since his embarrassing episode with the flowers and the goat. The point is that Merry's pride lay in shreds at Estella Bolger's door and he had no idea how to get it back. As Merry was ruminating over this, a knock sounded at his door. He slammed the teapot down and stomped over to his entryway. He flung the door open and looked into the eyes of Pippin.
" Hello, Merry!" Pippin said, being annoyingly cheerful. Although he had been embarrassed just as badly as Merry, Pippin had a different way of dealing with his anger. He merely hid it until it all boiled over, then let it blow. But he was not yet at the boiling over point, so he was cheerful.
" Good day, Pippin," Merry grumbled.
" Oh, come on Merry, let's go for a walk. It will help relieve your stress," Pippin suggested. Merry thought for a moment, then nodded curtly as he followed Pippin down the walk.
" There, don't you feel better already?" Pippin asked as they headed down a little road.
" No," Merry stated bluntly. Pippin was silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say.
" Oh, look at the beautiful flowers!" he exclaimed at the sight of some lovely daisies.
" ARGH!" Merry screamed as he jumped on the flowers and proceeded to grind them back into the soil from which they sprang. Pippin watched the disturbing scene in silence, waving by a few passing hobbits that had stopped and were staring. Merry stopped abruptly and began walking down the road again.
" Ah, that felt good!" he said with a wicked grin. Pippin decided to not say anything more about flowers to prevent their mass genocide. Soon, they neared the market. Pippin stopped in his tracks.
" Merry, let's turn around," he said earnestly.
" I need some butter, Pip," Merry said as he kept on walking closer to the sight of Pippin's mass humiliation.
" Can't you get it later?" Pippin pleaded.
" No, Pippin, I am already here," Merry said firmly as he began to stroll about and look for the butter stand.
" Oh no, there's Diamond! Hide me!" Pippin whispered fiercely as he ducked behind a pumpkin. Merry ignored him and continued walking. Pippin followed, ducking behind barrels and other stands.
" Ah, here's the butter!" Merry said happily as he picked a tub of it and paid the hobbit woman working the stand.
" Okay, Pippin, now we can - Pippin?" Merry said as he looked around for the undercover hobbit. He spotted him hiding behind a rather irritated cow.
" Pippin, if you keep hiding like this, I won't be walking with you," Merry said lowly.
" Alright, al - (gasp!) There's Diamond's father, and he is headed this way!" Pippin squeaked as the hobbit drew nearer. Merry watched as he came closer.
" Master Peregrin - " he began, but was cut off by Pippin.
" I know sir, I am so sorry about the fruit, I swear! I can work for you to help pay for it all!" he pleaded. The hobbit laughed and patted Pippin's shoulder.
" It's okay, son, Diamond explained it all to me last night. It is I who owe you the apology. I should have kept my head and let you explain what happened. Upon seeing you on all my fruit, I automatically assumed that you had tripped, or something. You know, you being you," he said sheepishly. Pippin stared at him, his mouth gaping open. Merry nudged him.
" Oh, uh, that's okay, sir. I would have probably thought the same, what with me being me," Pippin stammered. The hobbit smiled at him.
" Come by and visit sometime, I think Diamond would like it!" he said with a wink before heading back to his stand. Both Merry and Pippin stared.
" Did you just see that?" Merry asked.
" I keep expecting him to whirl around and try to stab me with a carrot," Pippin whispered in shock. Diamond's father was known to be stubborn and hard headed, so a public apology to Pippin had the entire market buzzing.
" Come on, Merry, let's get out of here," Pippin muttered as he felt many pairs of eyes looking him over.
" Wait!" Merry said as he headed over to a stand. Folded neatly on the counter of the stand were prettily embroidered handkerchiefs.
" Estella would love one of these!" he exclaimed as he gently fingered the fabric.
" Yes, considering the last one she had that was so pretty, you ended up spilling ale all over it while she was showing it to - ouch!" Pippin yelped as Merry stomped down n his foot. After a few moments, Merry decided on a pale pink one with delicate red blossoms embroidered around the edges. He paid for it and walked jauntily down the road, the gift tucked safely in his jacket pocket. Pippin limped along besides him.
" Did you here Diamond's father invite me to drop by?" he went on excitedly, asking Merry for the fifth time.
" Yes, Pippin I did," Merry said again for the fifth time. It was becoming automatic.
" Hey, when are you going to give that to Estella?" Pippin asked, changing the rhythm of the conversation.
" Yes, Pippin, I - oh, I don't know, maybe later on today," Merry said.
" Why don't you go give it to her now so you get rid of any possible chance of ruining it," Pippin suggested. Merry looked at him, slightly annoyed, but knowing that he was speaking the truth.
" That might be a good idea, Pip. I'll stop by your place later and tell you how it goes," Merry said as he turned up a side road to Estella's house.
" See you later," Pippin said as he limped down the road to his own home.
Merry walked up the path to Estella's house with a confidence that had been absent, thanks to a certain member of the goat family. Things were going good. The handkerchief had survived the five-minute walk to her hobbit hole and there were no spotted goats in sight. Merry raised his fist and knocked confidently on the round door. Estella's father answered.
" Oh, it's you. Hold on, I'll see if Estella will come to the door," he said through a mouthful of bread. He walked into his home.
" Estella, it's the hobbit who made you cry! He wants to talk to you!" he shouted. Merry winced at his words.
" Oh, does he!" Merry heard her yell as she stomped to the door.
" What do you want?" she asked, looking at Merry through narrow, flashing eyes.
" I wanted to give you this," he said, holding out the wrapped package. Estella looked at it warily.
" Is this another one of your jokes, Merry, because I am not laughing," she said icily.
" No, I just saw it and thought of you, because it's pretty and so are you," Merry said as he held it closer. Estella's cheeks colored lightly, but she still looked cautious.
" You open it," she demanded.
" Excuse me?" Merry said, a little taken aback.
" You open it. That way, if you have planned anything horrible, it will happen to you instead of me," she said simply.
" Okay," Merry said slowly as he carefully unwrapped her present. She drew her breath in as the beautiful thing floated gently on the wind as Merry held it.
" Oh, Merry, it's beautiful!" she breathed as she carefully took it from his hands.
" I thought you would like it," he said with a shy grin.
" So, you aren't going to trick me or anything?" she asked.
" Oh, no! I never meant half the stuff I ever said to you," he said, his eyes widening.
" What about the flowers?" she asked, hurt showing in her eyes.
" That was not my fault! You see, there was this goat, and I was petting him, and he ate your flowers while I was giving him a nice scratch!" Merry said. Estella looked at him for a long moment, then laughed. Merry smiled, then began laughing with her.
" Thank you so much, Merry," she said softly. He looked down in embarrassment.
" Why don't you come in and meet my family?" she asked. Merry smiled again as he followed her inside to one of the best dinners he ever had.
Pippin sat outside his hobbit hole, his pipe in his mouth.
" Well, either everything is all right, or Merry is out stomping flowers and shredding handkerchiefs," he muttered, then headed inside to his own dinner.
Ah, hobbit love(slaps face). Yeah, that's this chapter. Now go review. My threat of siccing my goat of abomination on you if you don't still stands.
