Chapter 12 Back to Greenwood
A/N: You all knew this was coming. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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After a bedtime snack, Little Pip brushes her teeth and gets ready for bed. I give Legolas a new toothbrush that I keep in the drawer for overnight guests who may have forgotten theirs. He imitates Little Pip perfectly, watching her every move. He's not too keen on the taste of the Listerine though.
I tuck Little Pip into bed, turning on her cassette tape with the singing dolphins on it. After all the hugs and kisses, I turn off the light and wave goodnight from the door. Turning to come back down the hallway, I run straight into Legolas, who has been standing silently behind me.
"Dang, Legolas, do you have to sneak up on people like that? You're gonna give me a heart attack!" I exclaim.
He stands his ground.
"What is it?" I ask.
"I wuz wundrin if u wuld tuek me een tu."
"I would be happy to. I put some pajamas on the bed in the blue room for you. Go put them on and climb under the covers, and I will be right there."
He bounds off happily down the hallway to his new room. There I find him, flat on his back, coverlet pulled up underneath his chin. He is grinning madly, mischief dancing in his eyes.
"What are you up to?" I ask him.
"Nuthin," comes his reply. The grin is still there. I see a movement under the covers between his legs.
"Legolas," I scold, "What are you hiding?"
He giggles, stalling. "Dis. . . " he finally answers, pulling back the covers.
Princess Elizabeth, Little Pip's brown and white longhaired cat, has nestled herself down between his thighs. She is purring contentedly, and her eyes dare me to try to move her. "Kin she sleap wid me?" he asks, using the puppy dog eyes.
"Sure," I say, pulling the covers back over them.
"Weel u seeng tu me, like u deed fur Leedle Peep?"
"Aren't you a little old for me to sing a lullaby to?" I inquire.
"My muther uzed tu seang tu me whin I wuz a leedle boiy," he says dreamily. "I mees her varie muech."
"What did she sing to you? Will you sing it for me?" I ask.
He begins in a very soft voice, so low I can barely hear him.
"Lisse' kaimel, amelamin,
I-du' na ot,
I' Iluvatar ar' Elbereth feith-le.
Aa' Valar tir-le,
Tenna' I-amrun tulya,
Iire aure panne-le re."
"That's beautiful, Legolas, " I tell him when he pauses.
"Wuld u like tu here it en Weastron?" he asks politely.
"Yes, very much."
He clears his throat, and begins again the haunting melody,
"Sweaet dreemz, my luv,
Da nite iz yueng,
Da muun an staers awate u.
Mae da Valar gard u
Unteel da moarneeng comz,
Whin suenlite feellz ur dae."
"Thank you, my dear Prance, " I say, deeply moved. "Now sweet dreams to you." I tuck the covers underneath his chin just as I did to Little Pip, and kiss him gently on the forehead. I rise from the bedside, reach to turn off the bedside lamp, and go to the door. I wave and blow him a kiss from there, which he returns, still grinning.
Yes Dear is waiting for me. We discuss our plans for tomorrow night. We will explain them to Legolas in the morning. As I pass his room on the way to my own bed, I cannot help but peek in. He is just as I left him, flat on his back, knees apart with a fuzzy cat snoozing contentedly between them. He is perfectly still, staring at the ceiling.
"Legolas," I call softly to him, "close your eyes and go to sleep." Then I remember. Elves in good health don't close their eyes when they sleep. I move a little closer, checking him out. His eyes are wide open, but there is nobody home inside. He sleeps on soundly, dreaming his elven dreams.
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We go through a rather uneventful day; Little Pip going off to school, and Yes Dear to the office. Legolas has learned how to turn the CD player on and off, so I leave him in the den listening to music and head to the library.
When I get home, I contemplate trying to clean up his clothing for him. I don't own a single piece of leather, with the exception of my suede boots, which I am very careful not to get dirty. I have no idea how to get Orc blood out of a forest green jerkin.
'Whut ar u thankin abot?" he interrupts my thoughts.
"I was just wondering if we should try to clean up your clothes today," I tell him. "I am afraid I will not be much help. Your clothes are very different from mine."
"I kin due it," he says. "Due u hav sum saend?"
At first my brain registers only that our property is made of the slimiest red clay, capable of permanently staining anything and everything. Then I remember Little Pip's sandbox. "Yes, right out here," I say.
Legolas fetches his clothes from the laundry room where we have stored them, and together we head outside to the sandbox. "I weel nead sum wader an a bruesh, tu," he informs me.
Once I have returned with the requested items, he proceeds to carefully rub a little of the sand onto the spots on his coat, followed by a little of the water. Gently he scrubs the spots with the brush, and then rinses with just a touch of water again. He moves on to the other items of his clothing. When he has finished cleaning the worst of the stains away, he goes to the clothesline and drapes his things across it.
"Thear," he says, brushing his hands together to rid them of the rest of the sand. "Thaet weel du tu git me kleen. Noew I suspaeckt u hav a leedle kleenin of ur oen tu due."
As I reach for the bowl of water and the brush, he intercepts my hand with his own. I suddenly realize he knows. I cannot make eye contact with him.
He gently reaches out with his other hand, lifting my chin so that our eyes meet. "Tael me, al," he says softly. "I em noe fuul. I kin sea sumpthang iz boethring u."
"It's tonight, Legolas. Yes Dear is taking us back to Greenwood tonight. We will try to get you back home."
He watches me, silent. He holds eye contact for far longer than I can stand it. Finally, he says, "I hav eenjoed my stae hear. I wuld like tu stae loengr, but I muest goe bak."
"I know," I respond. "Then tonight it will be."
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When Yes Dear gets home, we all load into the car and head down the road to Greenwood. The last movie of the evening starts at 8:00 pm sharp, so we have just enough time to get a bite to eat beforehand.
"Kin we stoep at dat plaece we weant befour? Dat plaece dat haz da thangz wid all da hoelz een it?" He's talking about the waffle fries from Chic-fil- a.
Yes Dear gives me a look and says, "How does he know about waffle fries?"
"I was feeding them to him the night I brought him home. I was stuffing them through the hole in the top of my handbag."
"I thought you had an obsession with scratching yourself on the leg," Yes Dear answers.
"Kin we?" Legolas repeats.
"Yes, Legolas, we will eat at Chic-fil-a and you can have all the waffle fries you want," I tell him.
That turns out to be a mistake. He forgoes the sandwich, eating 4 orders of waffle fries. He leans back in his chair, rubbing his stomach.
I begin to wonder if he will go back in through the screen, with his belly swollen full of French-fries the way it is.
Turns out we didn't need to worry about the waffle fries anyway. When we arrive at the theater, we realize we've got a bigger problem.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is no longer playing at the Greenwood movie theater.
"Now what are you going to do?" Yes Dear hisses at me.
"I don't know!" I wail.
Legolas just sits in the backseat, looking lost.
When we get back to the house, Yes Dear begins an immediate Internet search for theaters in our state that still are playing LOTR. He finds a matinee, Saturday at 3:30 in Columbia, which is only about an hour away. "Even better," he says, "you can both get in for a dollar each." Penny-pincher.
Legolas is actually excited about the prospect of getting to see himself on the big screen. He likes the mirror so much that I wonder what it will take to get him out of his seat and down front at the appropriate moment. We have decided after much debate that the time to reinsert Legolas will be at the very end, right where he fell out. This time he has plans to duck when Gimli releases the tree branch in front of him. Or maybe it was Aragorn. Or maybe he stepped in a hole and fell, hitting his head on a rock. He doesn't remember. Either way, he will be on the alert this time.
Yes Dear and Little Pip drop us off in front of the theater. They are heading across town to another theater to see "Ice Age." Legolas is dressed in one of Yes Dear's extra large T-shirts and a pair of baggy jeans, with his own clothes carefully concealed beneath. He's got the bow unstrung, and has run it down his left pants leg with the quiver of arrows. It is hot as blue blazes today, and I am sweating bullets. The elf looks cool as a cucumber. Sometimes I want to pinch him to see if he is real.
I buy the tickets, and we enter the darkened theater, but not before Legolas hits the concession stand for a large buttered popcorn, a box of Junior Mints, a package of 4 Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups, and a large Mountain Dew.
He makes it to Rivendell, fascinated and enthralled, before the Mountain Dew becomes his 'Undewing." He starts to squirm right about the time Frodo does when waking up from being stabbed by the Nazgul.
"What's the matter?" I whisper to him.
"I hav tu goe tu da bafruum," he whispers back, a little too loud. Heads from about 4 rows down turn back to look at us.
"Now?" I ask, knowing his entrance on the white steed is fast approaching. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I deed nod hav tu goe dis baed erleer!" he says, louder.
"Shhhh!" says a woman, 6 rows down and to the left.
"Come on," I hiss, grabbing him by the hand.
We run all the way there and all the way back. That in itself must be quite a spectacle, but the fact that I am now carrying Legolas' Modern Earth clothes and he is wearing his Middle Earth clothes does not help a thing. I am glad the theater is dark as we reenter while Aragorn and Arwen are making eyes at one another on the bridge.
I decide not to tell him he missed seeing himself riding a horse.
He sits awestruck through the rest of the movie. He pretends to fire an imaginary bow at every chance he gets. I make him leave the real one down the pants leg of the Modern Earth jeans until the fighting scene at Amon Hen is finished. As Sam runs after Frodo, I nudge him to get up. "It's time," I whisper.
At first he doesn't budge. I realize he does not yet know about Sam almost drowning. I grab him by the hands, physically pulling him along down the aisle. He is actually stumbling as he tries desperately not to miss a single second of the scene.
At the bottom right hand corner of the theater, I turn him toward me. "It's time," I say again. "When Aragorn says, 'Let's hunt some Orc,' and Gimli grunts, 'Yeah!' you must be ready. I don't know exactly what for, but be ready, ok?"
"Okae!" he says excitedly. He is ready to rejoin the Fellowship, to be with his friends again. He moves quickly right up to the edge of the screen.
I cannot watch. My heart is already in my throat. I turn away quickly and make my way back to my usual seat, left hand side, 7 rows up.
I watch the end credits roll as usual, wait until everyone else has left and the theater is empty. ~ Well, ~ I think, wiping away a tear, ~ now that is that. ~ I drag myself up out of my seat and head to the nearest exit, which fortunately for me is on the left hand side of the auditorium this time. I don't think I can stand to cross over to the right again.
Just as I reach the door to the foyer, I notice a figure standing in the shadows at the right hand side of the common exit for both sides of the room. He is looking expectantly down the right hand aisle, as if waiting for someone. He sees my movement, and turns to face me.
Legolas is still with me.
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Responses to Reviewers:
TreeHugger: I did not mean to make you cry more than one red hankie's worth! Here's another! No more hankies needed for awhile, unless you need one for the tears from laughing so hard. Thank you mellon-nin, for all you do for me! *Quit pushing, Legolas, I'm moving now!* Hae TreaHueggr! al luvz buebblez! Easpesially oen me! We due not hav a doeg houese. Eberybuddie livz eensiede hear. Won dae Peep weel let me uze da hoers toweal, I jest noe it! An I weel mees u tu. . . .
the_ringspell: I haed a guud weak. Hoew abot U? Noe, I due not skeer ezily. I em an elf worrier, u noe.
Katherine: Dat Nazguul haz bean bak! He keapz leevin maesagez oen my cumpuder.
Puter Patty: Hear it iz, jest fur u! *sheemy, sheemy* Deed u like it? Mmmmm. . . .noew I waent a Twickz. . . .
leail: Sea, U kin due it! It iz a Merry Sue, bud neethr me nor al iz haerdlie a teanajer. LEGOLAS! Speak for yourself! I deed! I em soe glaed u caem tu reed abot me. al sez she weel be tipin tu u suun, okae?
Arilyn: guud tu sea u! Thangz fur riting tu me. I em glaed u luv dis storee. We hav haed sum eentrestang aedvantuerz!
Elvea Aure aka Amanfalathiel: I wuld luv a neu boew! An sum aroz, tho al sez I doent nead dem. Deze paepr klip thangz ar fuen, u noe?
JastaElf: Hae Jaesta! Dat Orli doent noe a thang abot guud hare, duz he?! al haz tole me abot bandana spleatz. I bet Haldir wuld like won! Hae Ada! Doent due anithang I wuldnt due, okae? *sneekrz*
Skye Rocket: I hoep ur eyez ar bedder! I em glaed I neber nead kontakz. al used to hav dem, but she sez she had da mirakle lasikz and noew she truwly seaz like an elf!
Seal: al haz grate restraentz. U shuld sea dem! LEGOLAS! That is NOT what she is talking about! Ooeeehhhh. . . .soerree. Dose buebblez due tikel whin dey tuch u! An al sez I kinnot tael abot shuuting thangz wid aroz yeat.
SarWolf Snape: Hae! *bloez a kees* Thangz fur da hueg. I neaded dat. I feal bedder noew!
Elven Princess-Gwenedh: I doen't noe eggsackly hoew oeld I wuld bea en moertal yeerz. Maebe Jaesta caen healp us. I weel ax her.
Loopy4_l: My Ada waernd me abot akting Noldor whin I git angree. It duz maek u smael a leedle fuennie. al sez she luvz it dat u thankz she rokz!! I due tu!!
aranel_elf: Glaed u joend us! An I em glaed u liked my Haelowean kostum. I luv tu draes up!
Sake: I muest goe bak, but noet yeat! I steal hav loetz of advantuerz tu tael u abot. Araporn kin sea okae, but he doent heer for skwat. He neadz me!
Magical Rachel: Thangs fur da huegz an keeses. I due luv al's hoet tueb. Thear iz dis beeg oaek trea dat haengz ovr da tueb, an at nite u kin sea all da staerz!
Newmoon: Thang u fur da kiend eenvitashun tu vizit an waelk een da snoew. I thank al rote da neckz chaeptr jest fur u, tu anser ur kwestshun abot klothez.
laure: Hae laure! Soundz like u hav da heet tuernd up tuu hiegh at ur houeze. Yes, al reedz "Elvis Leasunz" tu me whin she ritez dem. She neads tu rite anuthr won of dose storeez suun tu!
IRENA: I pud dis wae doewn hear beacuz I noe hoew muech u like tu wate fur it, A'maelamin. Vanimvys sila tiri. Iz dat Elbereth or Iluvatar I sea een ur eyez? I em wading bie da doar, but u weel hav tu git hear befoar Puder Paddy an Naencin Elf git me. I em not shure I wuld hav ennithang leaft aftr dat.
Stop that, Legolas! Don't make me say it in Elvish! *al cleans computer screen AGAIN after Legolas and Irena fog it all up* Honestly, you are just egging her on, and you will be in deep trouble if she ever gets here and calls you on all your bluffing!
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OK, you guys. If I haven't warned you yet, I will be updating frequently, as there is now only a little over a month left until The Two Towers. I have so many things to tell you about! Send Legolas a note; he prints them out and reads them every day, I swear. He loves all of you!
A/N: You all knew this was coming. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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After a bedtime snack, Little Pip brushes her teeth and gets ready for bed. I give Legolas a new toothbrush that I keep in the drawer for overnight guests who may have forgotten theirs. He imitates Little Pip perfectly, watching her every move. He's not too keen on the taste of the Listerine though.
I tuck Little Pip into bed, turning on her cassette tape with the singing dolphins on it. After all the hugs and kisses, I turn off the light and wave goodnight from the door. Turning to come back down the hallway, I run straight into Legolas, who has been standing silently behind me.
"Dang, Legolas, do you have to sneak up on people like that? You're gonna give me a heart attack!" I exclaim.
He stands his ground.
"What is it?" I ask.
"I wuz wundrin if u wuld tuek me een tu."
"I would be happy to. I put some pajamas on the bed in the blue room for you. Go put them on and climb under the covers, and I will be right there."
He bounds off happily down the hallway to his new room. There I find him, flat on his back, coverlet pulled up underneath his chin. He is grinning madly, mischief dancing in his eyes.
"What are you up to?" I ask him.
"Nuthin," comes his reply. The grin is still there. I see a movement under the covers between his legs.
"Legolas," I scold, "What are you hiding?"
He giggles, stalling. "Dis. . . " he finally answers, pulling back the covers.
Princess Elizabeth, Little Pip's brown and white longhaired cat, has nestled herself down between his thighs. She is purring contentedly, and her eyes dare me to try to move her. "Kin she sleap wid me?" he asks, using the puppy dog eyes.
"Sure," I say, pulling the covers back over them.
"Weel u seeng tu me, like u deed fur Leedle Peep?"
"Aren't you a little old for me to sing a lullaby to?" I inquire.
"My muther uzed tu seang tu me whin I wuz a leedle boiy," he says dreamily. "I mees her varie muech."
"What did she sing to you? Will you sing it for me?" I ask.
He begins in a very soft voice, so low I can barely hear him.
"Lisse' kaimel, amelamin,
I-du' na ot,
I' Iluvatar ar' Elbereth feith-le.
Aa' Valar tir-le,
Tenna' I-amrun tulya,
Iire aure panne-le re."
"That's beautiful, Legolas, " I tell him when he pauses.
"Wuld u like tu here it en Weastron?" he asks politely.
"Yes, very much."
He clears his throat, and begins again the haunting melody,
"Sweaet dreemz, my luv,
Da nite iz yueng,
Da muun an staers awate u.
Mae da Valar gard u
Unteel da moarneeng comz,
Whin suenlite feellz ur dae."
"Thank you, my dear Prance, " I say, deeply moved. "Now sweet dreams to you." I tuck the covers underneath his chin just as I did to Little Pip, and kiss him gently on the forehead. I rise from the bedside, reach to turn off the bedside lamp, and go to the door. I wave and blow him a kiss from there, which he returns, still grinning.
Yes Dear is waiting for me. We discuss our plans for tomorrow night. We will explain them to Legolas in the morning. As I pass his room on the way to my own bed, I cannot help but peek in. He is just as I left him, flat on his back, knees apart with a fuzzy cat snoozing contentedly between them. He is perfectly still, staring at the ceiling.
"Legolas," I call softly to him, "close your eyes and go to sleep." Then I remember. Elves in good health don't close their eyes when they sleep. I move a little closer, checking him out. His eyes are wide open, but there is nobody home inside. He sleeps on soundly, dreaming his elven dreams.
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We go through a rather uneventful day; Little Pip going off to school, and Yes Dear to the office. Legolas has learned how to turn the CD player on and off, so I leave him in the den listening to music and head to the library.
When I get home, I contemplate trying to clean up his clothing for him. I don't own a single piece of leather, with the exception of my suede boots, which I am very careful not to get dirty. I have no idea how to get Orc blood out of a forest green jerkin.
'Whut ar u thankin abot?" he interrupts my thoughts.
"I was just wondering if we should try to clean up your clothes today," I tell him. "I am afraid I will not be much help. Your clothes are very different from mine."
"I kin due it," he says. "Due u hav sum saend?"
At first my brain registers only that our property is made of the slimiest red clay, capable of permanently staining anything and everything. Then I remember Little Pip's sandbox. "Yes, right out here," I say.
Legolas fetches his clothes from the laundry room where we have stored them, and together we head outside to the sandbox. "I weel nead sum wader an a bruesh, tu," he informs me.
Once I have returned with the requested items, he proceeds to carefully rub a little of the sand onto the spots on his coat, followed by a little of the water. Gently he scrubs the spots with the brush, and then rinses with just a touch of water again. He moves on to the other items of his clothing. When he has finished cleaning the worst of the stains away, he goes to the clothesline and drapes his things across it.
"Thear," he says, brushing his hands together to rid them of the rest of the sand. "Thaet weel du tu git me kleen. Noew I suspaeckt u hav a leedle kleenin of ur oen tu due."
As I reach for the bowl of water and the brush, he intercepts my hand with his own. I suddenly realize he knows. I cannot make eye contact with him.
He gently reaches out with his other hand, lifting my chin so that our eyes meet. "Tael me, al," he says softly. "I em noe fuul. I kin sea sumpthang iz boethring u."
"It's tonight, Legolas. Yes Dear is taking us back to Greenwood tonight. We will try to get you back home."
He watches me, silent. He holds eye contact for far longer than I can stand it. Finally, he says, "I hav eenjoed my stae hear. I wuld like tu stae loengr, but I muest goe bak."
"I know," I respond. "Then tonight it will be."
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When Yes Dear gets home, we all load into the car and head down the road to Greenwood. The last movie of the evening starts at 8:00 pm sharp, so we have just enough time to get a bite to eat beforehand.
"Kin we stoep at dat plaece we weant befour? Dat plaece dat haz da thangz wid all da hoelz een it?" He's talking about the waffle fries from Chic-fil- a.
Yes Dear gives me a look and says, "How does he know about waffle fries?"
"I was feeding them to him the night I brought him home. I was stuffing them through the hole in the top of my handbag."
"I thought you had an obsession with scratching yourself on the leg," Yes Dear answers.
"Kin we?" Legolas repeats.
"Yes, Legolas, we will eat at Chic-fil-a and you can have all the waffle fries you want," I tell him.
That turns out to be a mistake. He forgoes the sandwich, eating 4 orders of waffle fries. He leans back in his chair, rubbing his stomach.
I begin to wonder if he will go back in through the screen, with his belly swollen full of French-fries the way it is.
Turns out we didn't need to worry about the waffle fries anyway. When we arrive at the theater, we realize we've got a bigger problem.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is no longer playing at the Greenwood movie theater.
"Now what are you going to do?" Yes Dear hisses at me.
"I don't know!" I wail.
Legolas just sits in the backseat, looking lost.
When we get back to the house, Yes Dear begins an immediate Internet search for theaters in our state that still are playing LOTR. He finds a matinee, Saturday at 3:30 in Columbia, which is only about an hour away. "Even better," he says, "you can both get in for a dollar each." Penny-pincher.
Legolas is actually excited about the prospect of getting to see himself on the big screen. He likes the mirror so much that I wonder what it will take to get him out of his seat and down front at the appropriate moment. We have decided after much debate that the time to reinsert Legolas will be at the very end, right where he fell out. This time he has plans to duck when Gimli releases the tree branch in front of him. Or maybe it was Aragorn. Or maybe he stepped in a hole and fell, hitting his head on a rock. He doesn't remember. Either way, he will be on the alert this time.
Yes Dear and Little Pip drop us off in front of the theater. They are heading across town to another theater to see "Ice Age." Legolas is dressed in one of Yes Dear's extra large T-shirts and a pair of baggy jeans, with his own clothes carefully concealed beneath. He's got the bow unstrung, and has run it down his left pants leg with the quiver of arrows. It is hot as blue blazes today, and I am sweating bullets. The elf looks cool as a cucumber. Sometimes I want to pinch him to see if he is real.
I buy the tickets, and we enter the darkened theater, but not before Legolas hits the concession stand for a large buttered popcorn, a box of Junior Mints, a package of 4 Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups, and a large Mountain Dew.
He makes it to Rivendell, fascinated and enthralled, before the Mountain Dew becomes his 'Undewing." He starts to squirm right about the time Frodo does when waking up from being stabbed by the Nazgul.
"What's the matter?" I whisper to him.
"I hav tu goe tu da bafruum," he whispers back, a little too loud. Heads from about 4 rows down turn back to look at us.
"Now?" I ask, knowing his entrance on the white steed is fast approaching. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I deed nod hav tu goe dis baed erleer!" he says, louder.
"Shhhh!" says a woman, 6 rows down and to the left.
"Come on," I hiss, grabbing him by the hand.
We run all the way there and all the way back. That in itself must be quite a spectacle, but the fact that I am now carrying Legolas' Modern Earth clothes and he is wearing his Middle Earth clothes does not help a thing. I am glad the theater is dark as we reenter while Aragorn and Arwen are making eyes at one another on the bridge.
I decide not to tell him he missed seeing himself riding a horse.
He sits awestruck through the rest of the movie. He pretends to fire an imaginary bow at every chance he gets. I make him leave the real one down the pants leg of the Modern Earth jeans until the fighting scene at Amon Hen is finished. As Sam runs after Frodo, I nudge him to get up. "It's time," I whisper.
At first he doesn't budge. I realize he does not yet know about Sam almost drowning. I grab him by the hands, physically pulling him along down the aisle. He is actually stumbling as he tries desperately not to miss a single second of the scene.
At the bottom right hand corner of the theater, I turn him toward me. "It's time," I say again. "When Aragorn says, 'Let's hunt some Orc,' and Gimli grunts, 'Yeah!' you must be ready. I don't know exactly what for, but be ready, ok?"
"Okae!" he says excitedly. He is ready to rejoin the Fellowship, to be with his friends again. He moves quickly right up to the edge of the screen.
I cannot watch. My heart is already in my throat. I turn away quickly and make my way back to my usual seat, left hand side, 7 rows up.
I watch the end credits roll as usual, wait until everyone else has left and the theater is empty. ~ Well, ~ I think, wiping away a tear, ~ now that is that. ~ I drag myself up out of my seat and head to the nearest exit, which fortunately for me is on the left hand side of the auditorium this time. I don't think I can stand to cross over to the right again.
Just as I reach the door to the foyer, I notice a figure standing in the shadows at the right hand side of the common exit for both sides of the room. He is looking expectantly down the right hand aisle, as if waiting for someone. He sees my movement, and turns to face me.
Legolas is still with me.
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Responses to Reviewers:
TreeHugger: I did not mean to make you cry more than one red hankie's worth! Here's another! No more hankies needed for awhile, unless you need one for the tears from laughing so hard. Thank you mellon-nin, for all you do for me! *Quit pushing, Legolas, I'm moving now!* Hae TreaHueggr! al luvz buebblez! Easpesially oen me! We due not hav a doeg houese. Eberybuddie livz eensiede hear. Won dae Peep weel let me uze da hoers toweal, I jest noe it! An I weel mees u tu. . . .
the_ringspell: I haed a guud weak. Hoew abot U? Noe, I due not skeer ezily. I em an elf worrier, u noe.
Katherine: Dat Nazguul haz bean bak! He keapz leevin maesagez oen my cumpuder.
Puter Patty: Hear it iz, jest fur u! *sheemy, sheemy* Deed u like it? Mmmmm. . . .noew I waent a Twickz. . . .
leail: Sea, U kin due it! It iz a Merry Sue, bud neethr me nor al iz haerdlie a teanajer. LEGOLAS! Speak for yourself! I deed! I em soe glaed u caem tu reed abot me. al sez she weel be tipin tu u suun, okae?
Arilyn: guud tu sea u! Thangz fur riting tu me. I em glaed u luv dis storee. We hav haed sum eentrestang aedvantuerz!
Elvea Aure aka Amanfalathiel: I wuld luv a neu boew! An sum aroz, tho al sez I doent nead dem. Deze paepr klip thangz ar fuen, u noe?
JastaElf: Hae Jaesta! Dat Orli doent noe a thang abot guud hare, duz he?! al haz tole me abot bandana spleatz. I bet Haldir wuld like won! Hae Ada! Doent due anithang I wuldnt due, okae? *sneekrz*
Skye Rocket: I hoep ur eyez ar bedder! I em glaed I neber nead kontakz. al used to hav dem, but she sez she had da mirakle lasikz and noew she truwly seaz like an elf!
Seal: al haz grate restraentz. U shuld sea dem! LEGOLAS! That is NOT what she is talking about! Ooeeehhhh. . . .soerree. Dose buebblez due tikel whin dey tuch u! An al sez I kinnot tael abot shuuting thangz wid aroz yeat.
SarWolf Snape: Hae! *bloez a kees* Thangz fur da hueg. I neaded dat. I feal bedder noew!
Elven Princess-Gwenedh: I doen't noe eggsackly hoew oeld I wuld bea en moertal yeerz. Maebe Jaesta caen healp us. I weel ax her.
Loopy4_l: My Ada waernd me abot akting Noldor whin I git angree. It duz maek u smael a leedle fuennie. al sez she luvz it dat u thankz she rokz!! I due tu!!
aranel_elf: Glaed u joend us! An I em glaed u liked my Haelowean kostum. I luv tu draes up!
Sake: I muest goe bak, but noet yeat! I steal hav loetz of advantuerz tu tael u abot. Araporn kin sea okae, but he doent heer for skwat. He neadz me!
Magical Rachel: Thangs fur da huegz an keeses. I due luv al's hoet tueb. Thear iz dis beeg oaek trea dat haengz ovr da tueb, an at nite u kin sea all da staerz!
Newmoon: Thang u fur da kiend eenvitashun tu vizit an waelk een da snoew. I thank al rote da neckz chaeptr jest fur u, tu anser ur kwestshun abot klothez.
laure: Hae laure! Soundz like u hav da heet tuernd up tuu hiegh at ur houeze. Yes, al reedz "Elvis Leasunz" tu me whin she ritez dem. She neads tu rite anuthr won of dose storeez suun tu!
IRENA: I pud dis wae doewn hear beacuz I noe hoew muech u like tu wate fur it, A'maelamin. Vanimvys sila tiri. Iz dat Elbereth or Iluvatar I sea een ur eyez? I em wading bie da doar, but u weel hav tu git hear befoar Puder Paddy an Naencin Elf git me. I em not shure I wuld hav ennithang leaft aftr dat.
Stop that, Legolas! Don't make me say it in Elvish! *al cleans computer screen AGAIN after Legolas and Irena fog it all up* Honestly, you are just egging her on, and you will be in deep trouble if she ever gets here and calls you on all your bluffing!
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OK, you guys. If I haven't warned you yet, I will be updating frequently, as there is now only a little over a month left until The Two Towers. I have so many things to tell you about! Send Legolas a note; he prints them out and reads them every day, I swear. He loves all of you!