I have changed the first two chapters very slightly so that they will fit
better with where the story is going. Thank you to Al for her beta work,
and to my hubby Burt for the ideas he extended.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I will be happy to time-share them with any qualified person who applies. Keep in mind that at least one extra eye and two more hands are needed to keep up with these loveable whirlwinds!
A/N: Thought appear between the ~ ~'s.
Chapter 3
Bubbles on the Floor
I suddenly realized as I was mopping the kitchen floor that the house was quiet. Too quiet! I decided I'd better find JJ, Pippin, and Frodo, and see how the washing was going.
"Lily, would you please finish mopping the floor? I think I'd better see what the boys are up to," I said, handing the mop to my reluctant daughter.
"Mom." she started to whine.
"Lily, stop right there. You are whining, and I'm not going to argue the point. Take the mop. When you're done, you and Brittany can go watch a video." I forced the mop handle into Lily's hands and took off toward JJ's bathroom, hoping against hope that they were just absorbed in the wonders of modern plumbing.
JJ's bathroom was in the same condition it had been when he left for school this morning. Obviously they hadn't been in this bathroom. That left the bathroom by the kitchen, and the two upstairs. ~They couldn't get to the one off the kitchen because of the broken glass on the floor~ I mused as I headed back toward the kitchen to see how the mopping was going.
Lily had finished in the kitchen, and was flopped on the living room floor watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone yet again. Brittany had taken up her favorite position: feet on a chair, head on the floor. ~Why that child doesn't have a permanent crick in her neck I'll never know.~
The further up the stairs I went the more ominous the silence became. The two hobbits had come very abruptly. What if they returned to Middle Earth just as abruptly, taking my son with them? My heartbeat quickened as I jumped up the last few stairs and skidded through the doorway to the girls' bathroom. Empty silence greeted me, which left the master bathroom.
I could faintly hear strange sounds coming from my bathroom as I headed at top speed down the hallway toward the master bedroom. It sounded like a cross between an asthmatic duck and a squeaky hinge! Just as my hand touched the doorknob I heard Frodo say:
"Pippin, I don't think that's how you use it! Stop!"
The sight that met my eyes was, well, chaotic to say the least! JJ had retreated to a position of relative safety on top of the toilet, while Frodo was standing on the rug in the middle of the floor. Various bath oils and beads from my collection reposed in reckless abandon on the floor, jumbled up in a hopeless mixture that would be quite impossible to sort. The hand soap container had tipped over and soap was dripping in a constant stream from the counter to the floor.
Pippin, however, was a sight to behold! Somehow he had managed to scale up the side of the tub until he was standing on top of the faucets. From there, he was able to reach the showerhead. How do I know this? He had the showerhead in one hand, and was peering with great interest into the end of the pipe. Someone had turned the water on in the tub, and it was half full, which explained the asthmatic duck sound. Without the showerhead on the pipes make the oddest sounds!
By the time I had taken in these sights, JJ noticed me standing in the doorway.
"Mommy, I didn't do it!. We were washing our hands, and then, Pippin opened the cabinet, and I told him you wouldn't like it, but he ignored me, and then he started opening all the bottles up. And then he put them on the counter, and Frodo slipped and knocked the bottles on the floor, and then the room was like this!" My poor son looked like he'd been caught in a tornado. Come to think of it, my poor bathroom looked like that too!
Pippin, hearing JJ's explanation to me, turned around too quickly, and fell into the tub with a loud 'splash', sending water cascading all over the floor and past my feet into the master bedroom. The fully carpeted master bedroom.
Frodo leaped forward to help his cousin out of the water. Unfortunately, the bath products on the floor made it very slippery. He did a break dance sequence worthy of Michael Jackson in his prime across the floor, ending with a magnificent belly flop into the tub on top of Pippin.
JJ stayed where he was watching the hobbit acrobatics with saucer-sized eyes. I really couldn't help laughing as I carefully helped the two soggy hobbits out of the tub. Who knew Frodo could dance like that, or that Pippin was such an accomplished faucet climber?
"JJ, I'm going to carry you over to the door. I want you to go down to your room and get some of your clothes for Frodo and Pippin. Make sure you get pants and shirts for each of them. That means two shirts and two pairs of pants. Don't forget the underwear." I reached for JJ as I talked, and very carefully swung him over the mess on the floor, past the shivering hobbits, and to the door.
JJ just nodded as he left the room. I could here him thumping down the stairs as I turned and regarded Frodo and Pippin.
"Wait here, don't touch anything! I'll be right back with some towels", I said as I turned and went to the linen closet in the hall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they hadn't moved when I returned with several fluffy towels and a bath mat.
I handed each of them a towel, telling them to wrap up in the towels as I spread the mat on the floor. Now they could wipe their feet before they tracked bath salts all over the house. ~What a sight that would be. Big purpley-blue hobbit footprints all over the second floor of the house!~
Once both hobbits were reasonably dry and had wiped their feet, I led them to my walk in closet. JJ walked in, arms loaded down with clothes, as I opened the door and turned on the light.
"Bring the clothes in here JJ," I said, beckoning him to the closet. "Frodo, Pippin, come in, you can change in here."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Frodo whispering to Pippin as I sorted through the clothes JJ had brought. He'd done surprisingly well! There was a blue Bob the Builder shirt and a red Scooby Doo shirt, one pair of blue jeans with elastic waist, and one pair of black sweat pants. Ah, and two pairs of underwear. JJ was obviously impressed with the visitors, he'd chosen to gift them with his favorite Spiderman underwear! He watched with interest from the corner of the closet near the shoe rack as I laid out the clothing.
"Frodo, would you like to have the red shirt or the blue shirt?" I asked, figuring that age had its privileges.
"Blue please," he said quietly, eyeing the odd clothing with a bemused look on his face.
I handed the blue shirt and blue jeans to him, followed by a pair of underwear. That left the red for Pippin, who watched quietly, hands held together in front of him.
"When I leave you can take your wet clothes off and put these on." I held up the underwear and said "these go on first, with the picture in the back. Frodo, your pants," I paused as I held the jeans up, "snap in the front. "Pippin, the tag goes in back on your pants. Both the shirts have pictures on the front, and the tags go in the back. JJ, you stay here and help them if they need it." I turned to go, but paused as I put my hand on the doorknob. "I'll wait for you out here, I think we need to have a talk."
~Now what?~ I mused as I wandered across the bedroom to the door of the bathroom. I surveyed the damage again, and reaching for the door closed it gently on the disaster inside. I could deal with that later. My feet squelched on the wet carpet as I walked back to the linen closet and retrieved more towels. At least they would absorb some of the water on the carpeting.
There was still no sign of the hobbits when I finished blotting the carpet, just some odd thumps from the closet, and a sharp exclamation, quickly cut off.
"Is everything alright in there?" I asked as I knocked on the door.
"Yes Mommy." JJ's voice drifted through the door. He sounded as though he'd been laughing.
I retreated to the bed to think as I waited for Frodo and Pippin. ~How confused they must be, suddenly thrust into a completely different world.~
My thoughts were interrupted just then by the phone ringing. Yet another example of something the hobbits had no knowledge of.
"Hello?"
"Hi honey, I've just got one more sample to run, then I'm leaving. Do you still want me to pick up pizza on the way home?" My husband, Steve, is a chemist. One more sample to run could mean he'd be walking out the door of the lab anytime between 10 minutes from now and an hour from now.
"Yep! When should I call Pizza Palace to place the order?" I asked.
"The sample's just coming out now, why don't you call after we hang up." I could hear glassware clinking in the background as he answered. "Did you have a good day?"
"Uhm..I'll tell you about it when you get home." No way was I going to try and explain this afternoon's happenings over the phone! Being an analytical kind of guy, I think he'd find it hard to believe. Better to just confront him with the evidence before his eyes.
"Okay, love you!"
"Love you too." I hung up the phone slowly, mind occupied with confused thoughts. ~What is the best way to tell Ben about our hobbits. Line them up at the door as he walks in? Tell the tale and then introduce them? What type of topping does a hobbit like on their pizza? Mushrooms of course, but what else? One thing's for sure, whatever I order, there had better be plenty of them!~
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I will be happy to time-share them with any qualified person who applies. Keep in mind that at least one extra eye and two more hands are needed to keep up with these loveable whirlwinds!
A/N: Thought appear between the ~ ~'s.
Chapter 3
Bubbles on the Floor
I suddenly realized as I was mopping the kitchen floor that the house was quiet. Too quiet! I decided I'd better find JJ, Pippin, and Frodo, and see how the washing was going.
"Lily, would you please finish mopping the floor? I think I'd better see what the boys are up to," I said, handing the mop to my reluctant daughter.
"Mom." she started to whine.
"Lily, stop right there. You are whining, and I'm not going to argue the point. Take the mop. When you're done, you and Brittany can go watch a video." I forced the mop handle into Lily's hands and took off toward JJ's bathroom, hoping against hope that they were just absorbed in the wonders of modern plumbing.
JJ's bathroom was in the same condition it had been when he left for school this morning. Obviously they hadn't been in this bathroom. That left the bathroom by the kitchen, and the two upstairs. ~They couldn't get to the one off the kitchen because of the broken glass on the floor~ I mused as I headed back toward the kitchen to see how the mopping was going.
Lily had finished in the kitchen, and was flopped on the living room floor watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone yet again. Brittany had taken up her favorite position: feet on a chair, head on the floor. ~Why that child doesn't have a permanent crick in her neck I'll never know.~
The further up the stairs I went the more ominous the silence became. The two hobbits had come very abruptly. What if they returned to Middle Earth just as abruptly, taking my son with them? My heartbeat quickened as I jumped up the last few stairs and skidded through the doorway to the girls' bathroom. Empty silence greeted me, which left the master bathroom.
I could faintly hear strange sounds coming from my bathroom as I headed at top speed down the hallway toward the master bedroom. It sounded like a cross between an asthmatic duck and a squeaky hinge! Just as my hand touched the doorknob I heard Frodo say:
"Pippin, I don't think that's how you use it! Stop!"
The sight that met my eyes was, well, chaotic to say the least! JJ had retreated to a position of relative safety on top of the toilet, while Frodo was standing on the rug in the middle of the floor. Various bath oils and beads from my collection reposed in reckless abandon on the floor, jumbled up in a hopeless mixture that would be quite impossible to sort. The hand soap container had tipped over and soap was dripping in a constant stream from the counter to the floor.
Pippin, however, was a sight to behold! Somehow he had managed to scale up the side of the tub until he was standing on top of the faucets. From there, he was able to reach the showerhead. How do I know this? He had the showerhead in one hand, and was peering with great interest into the end of the pipe. Someone had turned the water on in the tub, and it was half full, which explained the asthmatic duck sound. Without the showerhead on the pipes make the oddest sounds!
By the time I had taken in these sights, JJ noticed me standing in the doorway.
"Mommy, I didn't do it!. We were washing our hands, and then, Pippin opened the cabinet, and I told him you wouldn't like it, but he ignored me, and then he started opening all the bottles up. And then he put them on the counter, and Frodo slipped and knocked the bottles on the floor, and then the room was like this!" My poor son looked like he'd been caught in a tornado. Come to think of it, my poor bathroom looked like that too!
Pippin, hearing JJ's explanation to me, turned around too quickly, and fell into the tub with a loud 'splash', sending water cascading all over the floor and past my feet into the master bedroom. The fully carpeted master bedroom.
Frodo leaped forward to help his cousin out of the water. Unfortunately, the bath products on the floor made it very slippery. He did a break dance sequence worthy of Michael Jackson in his prime across the floor, ending with a magnificent belly flop into the tub on top of Pippin.
JJ stayed where he was watching the hobbit acrobatics with saucer-sized eyes. I really couldn't help laughing as I carefully helped the two soggy hobbits out of the tub. Who knew Frodo could dance like that, or that Pippin was such an accomplished faucet climber?
"JJ, I'm going to carry you over to the door. I want you to go down to your room and get some of your clothes for Frodo and Pippin. Make sure you get pants and shirts for each of them. That means two shirts and two pairs of pants. Don't forget the underwear." I reached for JJ as I talked, and very carefully swung him over the mess on the floor, past the shivering hobbits, and to the door.
JJ just nodded as he left the room. I could here him thumping down the stairs as I turned and regarded Frodo and Pippin.
"Wait here, don't touch anything! I'll be right back with some towels", I said as I turned and went to the linen closet in the hall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they hadn't moved when I returned with several fluffy towels and a bath mat.
I handed each of them a towel, telling them to wrap up in the towels as I spread the mat on the floor. Now they could wipe their feet before they tracked bath salts all over the house. ~What a sight that would be. Big purpley-blue hobbit footprints all over the second floor of the house!~
Once both hobbits were reasonably dry and had wiped their feet, I led them to my walk in closet. JJ walked in, arms loaded down with clothes, as I opened the door and turned on the light.
"Bring the clothes in here JJ," I said, beckoning him to the closet. "Frodo, Pippin, come in, you can change in here."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Frodo whispering to Pippin as I sorted through the clothes JJ had brought. He'd done surprisingly well! There was a blue Bob the Builder shirt and a red Scooby Doo shirt, one pair of blue jeans with elastic waist, and one pair of black sweat pants. Ah, and two pairs of underwear. JJ was obviously impressed with the visitors, he'd chosen to gift them with his favorite Spiderman underwear! He watched with interest from the corner of the closet near the shoe rack as I laid out the clothing.
"Frodo, would you like to have the red shirt or the blue shirt?" I asked, figuring that age had its privileges.
"Blue please," he said quietly, eyeing the odd clothing with a bemused look on his face.
I handed the blue shirt and blue jeans to him, followed by a pair of underwear. That left the red for Pippin, who watched quietly, hands held together in front of him.
"When I leave you can take your wet clothes off and put these on." I held up the underwear and said "these go on first, with the picture in the back. Frodo, your pants," I paused as I held the jeans up, "snap in the front. "Pippin, the tag goes in back on your pants. Both the shirts have pictures on the front, and the tags go in the back. JJ, you stay here and help them if they need it." I turned to go, but paused as I put my hand on the doorknob. "I'll wait for you out here, I think we need to have a talk."
~Now what?~ I mused as I wandered across the bedroom to the door of the bathroom. I surveyed the damage again, and reaching for the door closed it gently on the disaster inside. I could deal with that later. My feet squelched on the wet carpet as I walked back to the linen closet and retrieved more towels. At least they would absorb some of the water on the carpeting.
There was still no sign of the hobbits when I finished blotting the carpet, just some odd thumps from the closet, and a sharp exclamation, quickly cut off.
"Is everything alright in there?" I asked as I knocked on the door.
"Yes Mommy." JJ's voice drifted through the door. He sounded as though he'd been laughing.
I retreated to the bed to think as I waited for Frodo and Pippin. ~How confused they must be, suddenly thrust into a completely different world.~
My thoughts were interrupted just then by the phone ringing. Yet another example of something the hobbits had no knowledge of.
"Hello?"
"Hi honey, I've just got one more sample to run, then I'm leaving. Do you still want me to pick up pizza on the way home?" My husband, Steve, is a chemist. One more sample to run could mean he'd be walking out the door of the lab anytime between 10 minutes from now and an hour from now.
"Yep! When should I call Pizza Palace to place the order?" I asked.
"The sample's just coming out now, why don't you call after we hang up." I could hear glassware clinking in the background as he answered. "Did you have a good day?"
"Uhm..I'll tell you about it when you get home." No way was I going to try and explain this afternoon's happenings over the phone! Being an analytical kind of guy, I think he'd find it hard to believe. Better to just confront him with the evidence before his eyes.
"Okay, love you!"
"Love you too." I hung up the phone slowly, mind occupied with confused thoughts. ~What is the best way to tell Ben about our hobbits. Line them up at the door as he walks in? Tell the tale and then introduce them? What type of topping does a hobbit like on their pizza? Mushrooms of course, but what else? One thing's for sure, whatever I order, there had better be plenty of them!~
