Part III
Arrival of Hobbit
It was a pleasant day in the Shire. The sun was shining brightly, there was a slight breeze to cool down anyone who might be a bit sticky from the heat. The date was Astron 9, 3000 of the third age, by Shire Reckoning, of course; also known as February 8 by 'big people'. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were wandering around the borders of a wooded area, and talking of several different things, but the subject of Bilbo's coming birthday kept arising. "Can you believe it?" Frodo asked, "He's turning 110! I can't think of anyone who's older than he!" "He's making the Sackville-Bagginses wait for their turn in Bag End, isn't he?" Merry laughed. "Yes, and Lobelia is not happy about it! Not one bit!" Frodo snickered, shaking his head. "At least you won't be out of a home until old Bilbo's gone!" Pippin laughed, kicking a stone. The stone, seeming to have a mind of its own flew up and hit Sam square on the nose. "Hey! What was that for? Does my eye look like a good place for that boulder?" Sam asked, as he kicked the stone away. "Wha-" Pippin exclaimed, "That was my stone, and you shouldn't go kicking other people's things!" Frodo laughed as he ran in the direction in which the stone had flown, then kicked it back to the group. Merry then stole it from Frodo, and kicked it sending it whizzing millimeters over Pippin's head. Pippin yelled, and ducked. "That's my stone!" He repeated, "And none of ye's got any business trimming my hair with it!" Immediately a game was started. The rules were simple: kick the stone, and don't let anyone else kick it. The four Hobbits played for quite a while, when Sam kicked it a little harder than he'd meant to, and sent the rock soaring into the woods. "I'll get it!" Frodo, Merry, and Pippin called at once as they all ran into the forest, trying to beat each other to the stone. Sam followed a little more slowly, a bit awed that he'd been able to kick it so hard. The four Hobbits dispersed, each looking for the stone in a different clump of trees or another gathering of bushes; the idea of getting another stone from the road would have seemed preposterous to all. Thus it happened, that Frodo was running towards a massive bush, thinking that the all-important rock might have become entangled in its voluminous branches, when he tripped over a large object, and fell face-first into a puddle of mud and twigs. The thing that he had tripped over stirred a bit, but then resumed its dormant status. Frodo slowly stood, wiping bits of mud off of his face and gaping at the brightly clad lump. "Hey there." He said, poking the thing (to which it responded only be shifting its position slightly), his Hobbit's curiosity wondering what the thing was. "Sam, Merry, Pippin!" Frodo called, "Come over here!" Once the foursome of Hobbits had arranged themselves in a circle, Merry gently shook it. "Wake up!" He commanded. The object moved again, then slowly sat up, yawning as though it had just wakened from a long sleep, which it had. "What's going on?" It was Jean that sat there in the forest of the Shire, though she could not remember anything of what had been her past since she had been woken. "Well," Pippin started, quite matter-of-factly, "We WERE playing a very important game of 'Pip Stone', and then—" "Wait!" Merry interrupted, "'Pip Stone'? Who decided that it should be named after you! It was just as much your idea as mine, anyway!" Then Merry and Pippin began pointlessly arguing over who the game should be named after, Frodo and Sam leaned against trees to listen to the argument, and Jean (though she did not remember her name) simply sat up and looked around, quite confused. Finally Merry and Pippin agreed to call the game 'Mip Stone', and returned their attention to the strange visitor. "So what's your name?" Frodo asked wondering at Merry and Pippin's ability to completely forget everything else, but their fight. "I-" Jean faltered, "It's uh..." She ran her fingers through her hair... "It was something like Je-oh, I don't remember..." All of the Hobbits were surprised. "You mean you don't remember your own name?" Pippin prodded. "No..." She muttered miserably, putting her forehead in the palm of her hands. Sam, mistaking the 'Je' for a 'G', suggested that perhaps her name began with the letter 'G' "Maybe...it might have..." Jean replied, taking her head out of her hands; her storm-gray eyes shining in hope. "Gretchen?" "Georgia?" "Gina?" "Glade?" To each of these Jean frowned, then shook her head. "Why couldn't her name have started with 'A'?" Pippin asked, "There are many more options with 'A'!" "At least it wasn't 'X'" Merry whispered back. "Grace?" Frodo finally suggested after all of the Hobbits had racked their brains, looking for almost anything that began with 'G'. Jean brightened. She vaguely remembered someone saying something about 'Grace I have given you' "Grace!" She repeated, glad that now she could refer to herself as something. Besides Grace sounded nice. Not flimsy, pretty name like 'Sally', but not too hard like 'Haroldine' or something such as that. "Then Grace it is!" Merry announced happily. Jean (or Grace as she must now be called) smiled, but then a shadow of doubt passed over her face. "Where'll I stay?" She asked. Everyone suddenly became silent. The only sound to be heard was a solitary crow calling in a voice that sounded almost like a cackle, as though laughing at their vain attempts. No body spoke for a while, but then Frodo had an idea. "Perhaps we should ask around the Shire and see if anyone knows her." He suggested. "It's too late for us so start now, though." Sam pointed out. He was right, the sun was slowly, but surely, dipping below the horizon. Grace simply looked around the circle, eyebrows raised in a slightly skeptical way. "Pip," Merry spoke out, "Perhaps your—" "No!" Pippin interrupted right away, "Three sisters is quite enough, thank you all!" "Well, she can't stay with me and my old Gaffer," Sam said glumly, "we've only a small place; and we have to share a room." "Don't look at me," Merry said quickly, "My mum and dad are off for the weekend, and I've to work at the Green Dragon in the morning!" For a moment no one spoke, then slowly all four of the heads (including Grace's) tuned to look at Frodo. "Well," Frodo sighed, "Bad End DOES have quite a few extra rooms, all of them nicely furnished, but first I'd have to ask Bilbo; I don't think he'll take kindly to the idea though." He warned. "Let's go." Merry said lightly as he sprang to his feet, as did everyone else, but they had not take three steps when Grace tripped over the hem of her long skirt (she was not accustomed to such things), and fell. She got back up, however, not seeming the least embarrassed, laughed at her own clumsiness, and continued walking. Pippin, slightly smirking scooted over to Frodo, and whispered: "Grace, eh? Great name for her, Frodo."
Upon arrival at Bag End, it turned out that Frodo's prediction ended up being wrong. When the situation had been explained, Bilbo welcomed Grace into Bag End as though she had been some long-lost cousin.
The next day, Sam and Frodo took Grace to almost all of the homes in the Shire, asking if anyone knew her; and the next day they took her to all the ones that they hadn't been able to go to. All replied that they'd never seen her in their lives.
"Well, Mr. Frodo," Sam said quietly to Frodo on the second evening, "We've been to every place in the Shire, and still haven't found whose family she's a part of." "I know Sam, but what are we going to do? Say, 'Good luck to you' and send her out? I couldn't do it, and Bilbo wouldn't stand for it." Frodo and Sam then walked along in silence, unaware that Grace, standing slightly behind them, heard every word. As she followed them, a tear slid down her cheek. She did not bother to wipe it away.
"Still no luck?" Bilbo asked when Frodo and Grace came back into Bag End. "No." Grace replied glumly, the evidence of any tear upon her cheek had dried, leaving no trace. "We'll look around more tomorrow; perhaps a bit over towards Bree." Frodo said, his brow furrowed thinking of a plan. "Why don't we sleep on it?" Bilbo asked, "It's nearly midnight, and you both look like you'd happily fall asleep on your feet." Grace tried to stifle a yawn, then agreed "I suppose I am a bit tired." And with that, all three Hobbits went off to their respective rooms.
The next morning, Grace arose earliest, and wandered about the house, wondering what to do. She spotted a large mess of papers, and began arranging them neatly on the shelf. 'Bilbo's' She guessed correctly. She then, from lack of other things to do, dusted and swept. She noticed that the dust on the shelves and floor must have been millimeters thick! After sorting the papers, she heard Bilbo getting up, and decided that she might as well put water on the boil. "It's not like a have anything else to do..." She mumbled while adding a few spices to the boiling water to make herbal tea. Even after she had poured the tea into three porcelain tea-cups, no one had come into the dining room yet. So Grace shrugged and continued to prepare a breakfast of two-minute eggs, toast with jam, and a bit of oatmeal with a strawberry on the top of each. After that she arranged all of the dish-ware nicely, putting an elaborately folded napkin in the center of each plate. For some reason she simply knew how to do it. Grace couldn't have known, but Jean had been taught to fold napkins in such a manner at a restaurant. "What's the occasion?" Someone behind Grace asked. Grace jumped, before turning to see Frodo smiling mischievously. Grace answered with a shrug. "Frodo, after breakfast you need to go draw some water from the—Good Gracious me..." Bilbo had walked into the dining room while he was buttoning his sleeve, but when he had finished and looked up he was very surprised. "Frodo did you—?" Bilbo began pointing at Frodo. Frodo vigorously shook his head no. "Grace? What did you go and do all that for?" Bilbo asked very surprised. "She also swept." Frodo noticed, looking at the floor as though he had not seen it in a long time. 'The floor was so dusty he probably hasn't' Grace thought smiling. "And she's dusted!" Bilbo exclaimed, running a finger of the mantelpiece. "Forgive us, the two untidy bachelors." Frodo laughed. "Well, I had to thank you somehow for letting me stay here for two days!" Grace exclaimed. "This is payment enough for two weeks!" Bilbo exclaimed. "Well," Grace said, blushing from such praise, "Let's eat."
Breakfast was a silent affair, each enjoying the food, and only commenting to praise Grace, or ask "Please pass the butter" or some such thing. After breakfast, Frodo leaned back in his chair, brow furrowed in a thoughtful way. After another moment, Frodo looked straight up at Bilbo and suddenly began speaking. "Bilbo, why can't Grace stay at Bag End? She's not been any trouble, and has made Bag End cleaner than I think it's ever been! Also we've more than enough room." Grace and Bilbo looked up surprisedly. Then slowly both began to smile. "Why not!" Bilbo exclaimed, "You've always wanted a sibling, haven't you, Frodo?" he laughed, putting a strangely strong arm for a Hobbit his age over Grace's shoulder. "Yes," Frodo said, then added mischievously, "and I believe Grace is odd enough to be considered a Baggins." Grace looked over at the wizened old Hobbit, thanks shining in her eyes, then when she looked over at Frodo deep gratitude was revealed. And so it was, that Grace stayed in Bag End for a bit over a year, before an incident occurred that neither she nor anyone involved forgot about.
Arrival of Hobbit
It was a pleasant day in the Shire. The sun was shining brightly, there was a slight breeze to cool down anyone who might be a bit sticky from the heat. The date was Astron 9, 3000 of the third age, by Shire Reckoning, of course; also known as February 8 by 'big people'. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were wandering around the borders of a wooded area, and talking of several different things, but the subject of Bilbo's coming birthday kept arising. "Can you believe it?" Frodo asked, "He's turning 110! I can't think of anyone who's older than he!" "He's making the Sackville-Bagginses wait for their turn in Bag End, isn't he?" Merry laughed. "Yes, and Lobelia is not happy about it! Not one bit!" Frodo snickered, shaking his head. "At least you won't be out of a home until old Bilbo's gone!" Pippin laughed, kicking a stone. The stone, seeming to have a mind of its own flew up and hit Sam square on the nose. "Hey! What was that for? Does my eye look like a good place for that boulder?" Sam asked, as he kicked the stone away. "Wha-" Pippin exclaimed, "That was my stone, and you shouldn't go kicking other people's things!" Frodo laughed as he ran in the direction in which the stone had flown, then kicked it back to the group. Merry then stole it from Frodo, and kicked it sending it whizzing millimeters over Pippin's head. Pippin yelled, and ducked. "That's my stone!" He repeated, "And none of ye's got any business trimming my hair with it!" Immediately a game was started. The rules were simple: kick the stone, and don't let anyone else kick it. The four Hobbits played for quite a while, when Sam kicked it a little harder than he'd meant to, and sent the rock soaring into the woods. "I'll get it!" Frodo, Merry, and Pippin called at once as they all ran into the forest, trying to beat each other to the stone. Sam followed a little more slowly, a bit awed that he'd been able to kick it so hard. The four Hobbits dispersed, each looking for the stone in a different clump of trees or another gathering of bushes; the idea of getting another stone from the road would have seemed preposterous to all. Thus it happened, that Frodo was running towards a massive bush, thinking that the all-important rock might have become entangled in its voluminous branches, when he tripped over a large object, and fell face-first into a puddle of mud and twigs. The thing that he had tripped over stirred a bit, but then resumed its dormant status. Frodo slowly stood, wiping bits of mud off of his face and gaping at the brightly clad lump. "Hey there." He said, poking the thing (to which it responded only be shifting its position slightly), his Hobbit's curiosity wondering what the thing was. "Sam, Merry, Pippin!" Frodo called, "Come over here!" Once the foursome of Hobbits had arranged themselves in a circle, Merry gently shook it. "Wake up!" He commanded. The object moved again, then slowly sat up, yawning as though it had just wakened from a long sleep, which it had. "What's going on?" It was Jean that sat there in the forest of the Shire, though she could not remember anything of what had been her past since she had been woken. "Well," Pippin started, quite matter-of-factly, "We WERE playing a very important game of 'Pip Stone', and then—" "Wait!" Merry interrupted, "'Pip Stone'? Who decided that it should be named after you! It was just as much your idea as mine, anyway!" Then Merry and Pippin began pointlessly arguing over who the game should be named after, Frodo and Sam leaned against trees to listen to the argument, and Jean (though she did not remember her name) simply sat up and looked around, quite confused. Finally Merry and Pippin agreed to call the game 'Mip Stone', and returned their attention to the strange visitor. "So what's your name?" Frodo asked wondering at Merry and Pippin's ability to completely forget everything else, but their fight. "I-" Jean faltered, "It's uh..." She ran her fingers through her hair... "It was something like Je-oh, I don't remember..." All of the Hobbits were surprised. "You mean you don't remember your own name?" Pippin prodded. "No..." She muttered miserably, putting her forehead in the palm of her hands. Sam, mistaking the 'Je' for a 'G', suggested that perhaps her name began with the letter 'G' "Maybe...it might have..." Jean replied, taking her head out of her hands; her storm-gray eyes shining in hope. "Gretchen?" "Georgia?" "Gina?" "Glade?" To each of these Jean frowned, then shook her head. "Why couldn't her name have started with 'A'?" Pippin asked, "There are many more options with 'A'!" "At least it wasn't 'X'" Merry whispered back. "Grace?" Frodo finally suggested after all of the Hobbits had racked their brains, looking for almost anything that began with 'G'. Jean brightened. She vaguely remembered someone saying something about 'Grace I have given you' "Grace!" She repeated, glad that now she could refer to herself as something. Besides Grace sounded nice. Not flimsy, pretty name like 'Sally', but not too hard like 'Haroldine' or something such as that. "Then Grace it is!" Merry announced happily. Jean (or Grace as she must now be called) smiled, but then a shadow of doubt passed over her face. "Where'll I stay?" She asked. Everyone suddenly became silent. The only sound to be heard was a solitary crow calling in a voice that sounded almost like a cackle, as though laughing at their vain attempts. No body spoke for a while, but then Frodo had an idea. "Perhaps we should ask around the Shire and see if anyone knows her." He suggested. "It's too late for us so start now, though." Sam pointed out. He was right, the sun was slowly, but surely, dipping below the horizon. Grace simply looked around the circle, eyebrows raised in a slightly skeptical way. "Pip," Merry spoke out, "Perhaps your—" "No!" Pippin interrupted right away, "Three sisters is quite enough, thank you all!" "Well, she can't stay with me and my old Gaffer," Sam said glumly, "we've only a small place; and we have to share a room." "Don't look at me," Merry said quickly, "My mum and dad are off for the weekend, and I've to work at the Green Dragon in the morning!" For a moment no one spoke, then slowly all four of the heads (including Grace's) tuned to look at Frodo. "Well," Frodo sighed, "Bad End DOES have quite a few extra rooms, all of them nicely furnished, but first I'd have to ask Bilbo; I don't think he'll take kindly to the idea though." He warned. "Let's go." Merry said lightly as he sprang to his feet, as did everyone else, but they had not take three steps when Grace tripped over the hem of her long skirt (she was not accustomed to such things), and fell. She got back up, however, not seeming the least embarrassed, laughed at her own clumsiness, and continued walking. Pippin, slightly smirking scooted over to Frodo, and whispered: "Grace, eh? Great name for her, Frodo."
Upon arrival at Bag End, it turned out that Frodo's prediction ended up being wrong. When the situation had been explained, Bilbo welcomed Grace into Bag End as though she had been some long-lost cousin.
The next day, Sam and Frodo took Grace to almost all of the homes in the Shire, asking if anyone knew her; and the next day they took her to all the ones that they hadn't been able to go to. All replied that they'd never seen her in their lives.
"Well, Mr. Frodo," Sam said quietly to Frodo on the second evening, "We've been to every place in the Shire, and still haven't found whose family she's a part of." "I know Sam, but what are we going to do? Say, 'Good luck to you' and send her out? I couldn't do it, and Bilbo wouldn't stand for it." Frodo and Sam then walked along in silence, unaware that Grace, standing slightly behind them, heard every word. As she followed them, a tear slid down her cheek. She did not bother to wipe it away.
"Still no luck?" Bilbo asked when Frodo and Grace came back into Bag End. "No." Grace replied glumly, the evidence of any tear upon her cheek had dried, leaving no trace. "We'll look around more tomorrow; perhaps a bit over towards Bree." Frodo said, his brow furrowed thinking of a plan. "Why don't we sleep on it?" Bilbo asked, "It's nearly midnight, and you both look like you'd happily fall asleep on your feet." Grace tried to stifle a yawn, then agreed "I suppose I am a bit tired." And with that, all three Hobbits went off to their respective rooms.
The next morning, Grace arose earliest, and wandered about the house, wondering what to do. She spotted a large mess of papers, and began arranging them neatly on the shelf. 'Bilbo's' She guessed correctly. She then, from lack of other things to do, dusted and swept. She noticed that the dust on the shelves and floor must have been millimeters thick! After sorting the papers, she heard Bilbo getting up, and decided that she might as well put water on the boil. "It's not like a have anything else to do..." She mumbled while adding a few spices to the boiling water to make herbal tea. Even after she had poured the tea into three porcelain tea-cups, no one had come into the dining room yet. So Grace shrugged and continued to prepare a breakfast of two-minute eggs, toast with jam, and a bit of oatmeal with a strawberry on the top of each. After that she arranged all of the dish-ware nicely, putting an elaborately folded napkin in the center of each plate. For some reason she simply knew how to do it. Grace couldn't have known, but Jean had been taught to fold napkins in such a manner at a restaurant. "What's the occasion?" Someone behind Grace asked. Grace jumped, before turning to see Frodo smiling mischievously. Grace answered with a shrug. "Frodo, after breakfast you need to go draw some water from the—Good Gracious me..." Bilbo had walked into the dining room while he was buttoning his sleeve, but when he had finished and looked up he was very surprised. "Frodo did you—?" Bilbo began pointing at Frodo. Frodo vigorously shook his head no. "Grace? What did you go and do all that for?" Bilbo asked very surprised. "She also swept." Frodo noticed, looking at the floor as though he had not seen it in a long time. 'The floor was so dusty he probably hasn't' Grace thought smiling. "And she's dusted!" Bilbo exclaimed, running a finger of the mantelpiece. "Forgive us, the two untidy bachelors." Frodo laughed. "Well, I had to thank you somehow for letting me stay here for two days!" Grace exclaimed. "This is payment enough for two weeks!" Bilbo exclaimed. "Well," Grace said, blushing from such praise, "Let's eat."
Breakfast was a silent affair, each enjoying the food, and only commenting to praise Grace, or ask "Please pass the butter" or some such thing. After breakfast, Frodo leaned back in his chair, brow furrowed in a thoughtful way. After another moment, Frodo looked straight up at Bilbo and suddenly began speaking. "Bilbo, why can't Grace stay at Bag End? She's not been any trouble, and has made Bag End cleaner than I think it's ever been! Also we've more than enough room." Grace and Bilbo looked up surprisedly. Then slowly both began to smile. "Why not!" Bilbo exclaimed, "You've always wanted a sibling, haven't you, Frodo?" he laughed, putting a strangely strong arm for a Hobbit his age over Grace's shoulder. "Yes," Frodo said, then added mischievously, "and I believe Grace is odd enough to be considered a Baggins." Grace looked over at the wizened old Hobbit, thanks shining in her eyes, then when she looked over at Frodo deep gratitude was revealed. And so it was, that Grace stayed in Bag End for a bit over a year, before an incident occurred that neither she nor anyone involved forgot about.