By four-thirty in the morning Legolas could no longer contain himself quietly. He roughly woke Gimli and after much grumbling they made their way to the dark bathroom. Both had fair night vision, but Gimli remembered where the light switch was and turned it on.
"Close the door!" whispered the Elf cautiously. Gimli humbly obeyed. "Do you remember that picture of the blonde young human in the window? I want my hair like that." Gimli snickered.
"Which one?" then "I thought you were above humanity,"
"Perhaps, but this humanity is very advanced!" answered Legolas defensively. "Now help me out. From what Alex said, we need this, and this, and this..." Rolling his eyes, the Dwarf assisted Legolas in the frivolous endeavor.
The next to wake up were Frodo and Pippin, but when Sam noticed his master's movements he promptly squirmed away from the snoring Boromir. Tripping over his beanbag, Pippin bumped into the TV set, and happened to hit the power button. A golf tournament rerun appeared, but luckily the volume was very low. Frodo was too fascinated to give Pippin his intended scolding.
"That looks vaguely familiar, doesn't it, Pippin?"
"It does look similar to the game my parents play a lot-golf, I think."
"What I want to know, is how do they get people into this little box?" Sam said. Frodo shrugged.
"We'll have to ask our hosts." Pippin played with the buttons, and hit the power again.
"Oops." Again Frodo was about to reprimand him, but Sam interrupted.
"Where are Legolas and Gimli?"he whispered.
"Oh, who cares?" No longer interested, Pippin yawned and stretched. "I want a hot bath."
"I do too!"
"I said so first."
"I'm older."
"So?" Pippin headed for the bathroom. Frodo and Sam followed, but Sam stumbled over Merry's empty beanbag. They found him at the door.
"I got here first." He grinned, and opened the door. The hobbits stared at the spectacle in front of them.
"Good grief!" Legolas turned from the mirror and glared at them severely.
"What are you doing here?"
"We want a hot bath," said Merry, who was the only hobbit to find his voice. "Wwwhy-are you putting SPIKES in your hair?" Suddenly the other three hobbits burst into a fit of hysterical giggling. Even more put out, Legolas demanded
"What is so funny?" but he might as well have asked the wall. Gimli and Merry joined in the hysterics. Furious, Legolas combed the last spike into perfection and pushed his way out the door. Instantly Merry took advantage of the situation and started the bathwater, which restored the other hobbits' senses.
The sun was quite awake by the time the Hobbits finished their baths. Chrysies stumbled groggily into the bathroom after they had gone back to bed and found a good deal of water on the floor, and many bottles scattered over the vanity table.
"Males," she muttered with annoyance. "My hair gel!" Before she started breakfast she would make them clean it up! But a yell from her husband brought her running to the living room.
"What's the matter?" Alex, torn between horror and amusement, pointed at Legolas, who was sitting sullenly in a corner. Chrysies snerted, then literally collapsed on the floor. A minute later she got up and handed the hobbits towels. Over breakfast Alex laid out the activities.
"We're going to a movie. We're going to a bar. We're going for a whole bunch of car rides. If you want we can go on a subway. Sorry airplanes aren't possible today. We're going shopping. Oh, and the county fair. What else did we say, Chry?"
"Well, now that I think about it, that sounds like enough for one day," Alex reflected.
"Okay, we can do the other stuff tomorrow. Shopping's first, because you need clothes!" with a pointed glance at Gimli.
"Hey, you have to work tomorrow!"
"Hmph. You just want them all to yourself," he replied, and made a face.
When they all went down to the garage Chrysies chuckled gleefully. She opened the door of her red Corvette. Merry couldn't believe his eyes at first.
"We're riding in that?" he cried.
"Umhum." Chrysies assented, grinning broadly. Fascinated, he crawled all over the mobile, and finally settled into the driver seat.
"Oh, no, you're not driving!" said Chrysies firmly. "Move over. The rest of you just sit in the back, and Boromir you're in the passenger seat. So with Merry between Chrysies and Boromir in front, and the other three hobbits in the back, Chrysies pulled out.
"The brakes were faulty, so I had to get it fixed. That's why, luckily, I had to take the bus yesterday. There was no way we could fit all eight of you in here!"
"And we would have been totally lost taking the bus by ourselves," added Frodo.
The mall was an adventure unto itself, but Alex and Chrysies managed to keep them in line. The Company was at first aghast when they saw the outfits all hanging on racks instead of being tailored to fit the customer. The hobbits were of course obliged to look in the little boy's section. Chrysies considered this very embarrassing. In the end Alex took Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas (still bespiked) and Gimli to the Men's section and left Chrysies with the smallest members of the party. It took 3 hours. Next they all went to an IMAX theater across the street and watched a thriller on big screen. Later Aragorn said that he wasn't too thrilled: once you've met the Nazgul AND a Balrog everything else seems insignificant. Sam got his wish and Alex explained partially how a screen works. Unfortunately, he didn't understand a word. By then it was lunchtime, so they went to the Cheesecake Factory. Hanging out at the bar for the better part of an hour, the connoisseur hobbits declared the beer better than back home-except for Sam, who with a patriotic effort refused to admit such blasphemy. He still drank more than anybody else; he got sick over the raspberry cheesecake. Legolas proudly refused any beer, preferring wine. His superior expression coupled with the preposterous hairstyle caused Chrysies to choke on her scampi, as well as made the barkeeper neglect his work.
Determined to complete the agenda, Alex pushed the Fellowship out of the restaurant and into the cars. Though he didn't have to push Merry, who was dying for another ride. Immediately they set off for the county fair. On the way Alex further impressed on Aragorn, Legolas and Boromir and Frodo (who preferred their company) the danger of attracting the attention of rabid fangirls. It would be safe to say the poor Fellows were thoroughly scared. It being a weekday there wasn't a huge crowd yet on the fairgrounds, so Alex had no trouble buying a few yards of tickets. With a knowing grin at Chrysies he led the unsuspecting party straight to the Ferris wheel, handed the attendant three tickets each, and ushered them in the enclosure.
'What are we doing?" Frodo queried respectfully. Wickedly, Alex grinned wider.
"Going up. In you go!" and placed him on the nearest bench. Sam was soon beside his master, with Aragorn forced to sit between because of size complications. The inevitable Merry, Pippin and Boromir, and the more inevitable Legolas/Gimli combination were systematically loaded on. Alex and Chrysies decided not to go on themselves. Far above them Sam had his eyes tightly closed and was chanting "cruel, cruel, cruel". Frodo ventured one peep at the bird's eye view and followed suit. While the wheel was moving Chrysies had a twinge of conscience.
"They really don't like heights," she commented repentantly.
"Wait'll The Two Towers. They'll have plenty of heights. This is just a warm-up!" answered Alex.
Contrary to Chrysies' secret fears the Ferris wheel did not get stuck; and the Fellowship disembarked unsteady but safe. As a conciliatory gesture Alex bought hot dogs and cotton candy. Only Boromir enjoyed the candy. For the next three hours they engaged in many games of skill, at which the Fellowship won dozens of goldfish, stuffed toys, and other such memorabilia. Legolas and the hobbits proved to have the most skill at darts and ring tossing. Aragorn showed amazing ability with the water guns once he understood the concept. He solemnly swore to himself that no such weapon would ever be introduced to his future kingdom. Pippin, on the other hand, walked through The House of Mirrors and declared a burning desire to build such a wonder in the Smials. Unwilling to carry the loads, Alex bought three large wagons off a few mystified 4H kids hauling feed to their respective animals. At one point the party passed a stage where a country singer was singing his lungs out.
"Sounds a lot like Gimli," Aragorn observed. Chrysies stared at him.
"Why, he's considered one of the best singers in the country!" she exclaimed. Aragorn shook his head.
"If it wasn't rude I'd say the country has poor taste," Grimacing, Chrysies swallowed her feelings and moved on.
The sun was low in the west when the exhausted companions turned their footsteps towards the gates. Halfway there Chrysies thought she heard someone call her name. She was right. A young lady with a stroller and a five-year-old at her side hurried to catch up with them. Alex's reaction was to whisper "rabid fan girl" to the Fellowship. Which may be classified as a mistake: the Fellowship started to run. While Alex frantically tried to get them under control, Chrysies turned with a frozen smile only because she could not escape from the iron hand on her shoulder. The woman got to her point quickly.
"Where are they?"
"Who? How are you, Amanda? Thought you came yesterday!"
"Don't play games. I have thirty others behind me. Turn them over!" Chrysies wondered if she was bluffing.
"Wow, how did you all get here...?" Amanda smiled smugly.
"Cell phones, darlin', cell phones. Come on girls!" Out of the milling crowd, females of all ages came running and surrounded Chrysies.
"Where are they?" "Where's Frodo?" "Strider!" "Legolas!" "No, Strider!" "What are you talking about? Pippin's da man-er-hobbit!" Chrysies stared about her helplessly. Her husband and the Fellowship were nowhere to be seen. All she could hope was they had had the sense to get a bus and run for home. The noisy fans were getting noisier.
"Here!"she had to shout to be heard. "They won all that stuff in the wagons themselves!" Thirty-one fans demolished the wagons in seconds, but those seconds were enough for Chrysies to run for her life.