Chapter 9: Mischief to be Made Here

The rain continued for several days. It seemed that the colder seasons had decided to start earlier this year. Gardens were drowning, harsh raindrops were beating down flowers, the river was overflowing and, to Frodo's delight, the roads were seen as unfit to travel upon. Unable to return to Bag End without being washed away, Bilbo remained at Brandy Hall for many days. The cold rainy weather sent a chill through Brandy Hall. A cold draft that did not go unnoticed by Esmeralda Brandybuck. Before Frodo had time to protest, he found himself in his bed, wrapped in blankets. Esmeralda believed that Frodo's injury would cause him to be more susceptible to illness. Frodo was positive that he would have died from boredom had his Uncle not been there with him.

At almost all times Bilbo was at Frodo's bedside telling him all kinds of wonderful stories. The tales allowed Frodo to forget that he was buried in blankets and forbidden from leaving his bed. Merry was also often found in Frodo's room. Merry enjoyed Bilbo's stories and came to listen to them as many times as he could.

Merry found himself getting into trouble more and more. However, he wasn't the only one. The rain kept all young hobbits inside and bored. Too many young lads and lasses all in the same place caused things to be broken, food to go missing and grownups' patience to wear thin.

Frodo was listening to one of his Uncle's stories one of the rainy days when he was interrupted by a sudden commotion. A group of little hobbit lasses ran screaming past Frodo's open door. Frodo then heard the distinct sound of Merry's voice.

"Frewin! Come back!"

Bilbo stood up and walked curiously to the door. Frodo attempted to sit up in his bed, but the weight of the blankets held him down. "Uncle Bilbo, what's going on?" Frodo asked. Bilbo shook his head in uncertainty and then more screaming erupted from somewhere in Brandy Hall. Suddenly, Frodo could hear his Aunt Esmeralda's voice.

"MERIADOC BRANDYBUCK! What is that?! She yelled in a shrill voice.

Merry's voice answered back, "It's a frog, Mama!"

There was more screaming and sounds of little hobbit lasses running.

"Why do you have a frog in here?!" Esmeralda yelled over the frightened screams.

"I saved him! He was all alone in the rain! I couldn't leave him outside! It's so cold in the rain, can't I keep Frewin inside?" Merry asked pleadingly.

"Get it off the floor, get it off the floor!" She shouted.

"Frewin, come back! Watch out! Don't step on him Mama!" Merry shouted. Frodo heard a loud thump and there was more screaming.

"You've killed him! You've killed Frewin!" Merry shrieked and then burst into tears. Bilbo turned and raised his eyebrow at Frodo. The only sound that could be heard now was Merry's sobbing. Bilbo walked back to Frodo's bedside and sat himself down.

"It would appear that young Merry found a very large frog…" Bilbo started saying slowly. However, more screaming cut him off.

"Frewin's alive! He's alive! He was only knocked out!" Merry was shouting gleefully.

"Put that thing outside right now!" Esmeralda shouted. Merry quietly agreed to do so and everything went quiet again. Bilbo smiled slightly and turned to Frodo.

"Now where were we? Ah, yes the trolls…." Bilbo continued his story only to be interrupted a moment later when Merry walked into the room. He was soaked as if he had taken a stroll outside in the rain. He was carrying his jacket bundled up in his arms. His feet were covered in mud and he looked very proud of himself.

"Hullo Frodo!" Merry said as he sat down on the edge of Frodo's bed. Before anything could be said, a very large frog emerged from Merry's jacket and was plopped onto Frodo's pillow. It wasn't that Frodo disliked frogs, but when Frewin was dropped onto his pillow he let out a yelp and fought to move himself as far away as possible. Frodo only ended up tangling himself up in his blankets and causing a horrible pain to shoot through his shoulder and neck. Bilbo rescued Frodo by removing the frog from his nephew's pillow.

"Merry, you're going to kill me before I can heal anything…" Frodo said through clenched teeth.

"I didn't mean to hurt you Frodo. I wanted you to see Frewin, I rescued him from the rain," Merry said proudly.

Bilbo suddenly cleared his throat, he had been holding Frewin in both his hands and the frog was beginning to struggle to get away. "That was a kind thing for you to do Meriadoc," Bilbo said, handing Merry his frog, "but I believe that Frewin was in no need of being rescued, and I believe he rather enjoys the water."

"It was raining really hard." Merry said looking sadly at his frog.

"Yes, it was. However, I think Frewin would rather be outside, than be inside where he could be stepped on."

Merry looked as if he was thinking very hard about something and he sighed and pouted and then sighed again.

"Then I suppose I should put him outside in the rain again."

"There's a smart lad." Bilbo said smiling. Merry nodded and walked quickly towards the door. He paused in the doorway and looked around.

"There is just one more thing I have to do…" With that, Merry sprinted from the room and down the hallway. A moment passed and Bilbo looked at Frodo curiously.

"Now what can he be up to?"

No sooner had Bilbo spoke when he heard more screaming and the distant laughter of Merry. A group of lasses went running by Frodo's door again and it wasn't long until Frodo heard his Aunt again.

"MERIADOC BRANDYBUCK! I told you to get rid of that frog!" There was a pause and then Merry came bursting into Frodo's room, carrying Frewin triumphantly over his head. Merry quickly opened Frodo's window and as carefully as he could he dropped the frog out the window. Esmeralda soon followed and she noticed that Merry had left muddy footprints all over the floor.

"MERIADOC!" She yelled. Seeing that he was cornered, Merry made a mad attempt to climb out Frodo's window. He began screaming as his Mother got hold of his legs and pulled him back inside. She shut the window and then dragged Merry kicking and screaming out of the room. Frodo could hear Merry's protests and his Aunt's threats of punishment as she dragged him through Brandy Hall. Once it was quiet again, Frodo turned to his exasperated Uncle.

"That seems to be happening more and more lately to poor Merry," Frodo said from his blankets.

Merry was punished with many chores that mostly involved cleaning mud off of the floors and he was not allowed to listen to Bilbo's stories anymore unless all of his chores were completely done. Merry was notified that if he got into any more trouble, he would spend the next few years doing nothing but chores.



To Be Continued…..



A/N: The funny thing is, this chapter was supposed to be about something entirely different, but Frewin suddenly hopped onto the page. Very strange indeed. I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter… Frodo gets out of bed! And into more mischief! Yay! Please R/R! Happy New Year and I hope you all enjoyed The Two Towers.