Chapter 3: The Decision
"Tipper, of all the hobbits in the shire, you are the last one I would let go!" said the mayor, Gimble Proudfoot. "You're much too young! You have never been farther than Hobbiton. Why you've never even been in any other part of the shire. You've never seen Bywater, Buckland, or even Tuckbourough. What makes you think that I'd let you go out and look for a missing hobbit?" he asked.
"I... uh... well..." he stammered.
"Well... speak up. If you can give me three good reasons why I should let you go, when all our search parties have turned up nothing, I'll let you have a go."
Tipper couldn't think of any, so he stomped out of the mayor's hobbit hole onto the street. "I've got five good reasons right here," he said making a fist and wishing he'd been brave enough to say so to the mayor's face. "I should go, because Willow needs me. She's always been good to me. She was kind to me when no one else would be. I've just got to help her. What if Master Bilbo was right? What if something awful has happened to her? I can't just abandon her and trust to luck that she'll be fine. She could be in danger or hurt. I've got to do something whether the mayor likes it or not!"
Tipper had made up his mind. He would go home and get a pack and some supplies. He'd find a cloak and borrow his sister's for Willow when he found her. He'd set off just like Mister Frodo did so long ago.
As his thoughts drifted to Frodo and his companions from generations ago, he realized he was standing at his own door. "Mum, mum," he called excitedly, "Mum, pack me some food and an extra set of clothes. I'm going to look for Willow."
"What?" his mother shrieked. "Tipper Gamgee, you are not leaving the shire! I don't care if the good King Elessar, himself, was lost out there! You're not going!"
"But Mum, you don't understand. I've got to find her! She's my friend!"
"I don't care! You're much too small. You are my youngest, my baby. I'm not going to lose you out there, and that's that!"
"But what about Willow?" Tipper said in despair.
"Someone else will find her. Besides, she's a big girl. She can take care of herself. She's a Baggins, remember?"
"And I'm a Gamgee," Tipper yelled. "If Mister Samwise could travel all that way, fight orcs, help destroy the Ring of Doom, and live to tell about it, then I ought to be able to find a lost friend!"
"No, and that's final," his mother said firmly and crossed her arms on her chest, which was her sign that she wouldn't change her mind, even if Sauron himself were chasing her.
Well that did it. Tipper ran to his room, flung himself on his bed, and let his tears of anger, sorrow, and loneliness fall. "I will find you Willow! Somehow, I'll find you, even if it's the last thing I ever do," he vowed. Then Tipper made the decision that would change his life forever, he decided to go to Old Bilbo Gamgee and get a map and some advice.