Chapter 5
That must have been one of the worst nights of my life. I just could not get tired or sleepy. I tried everything: not moving, reading for a little bit to get my eyes tired, talking to Dominic, counting sheep… everything.
I was finally startin' to doze off when at the crack of dawn, Pimpernel burst through the door. I closed my eyes with my back to her, pretending I was asleep. Even though I couldn't see a thing, I could tell Pimpernel was standing right above me. I could hear her huffin' and puffin' all angry-like. Why does she always have to be so frustrated? It really is too bad because Pimpernel is actually very pretty, but her constant anger contorts her features so that you can never see her true beauty unless she's laughin' or smilin' (which isn't very often). I wonder what made her that way?
She stomped over to my window and threw open the curtains. A tiny beam of blue light streamed in. Pimpernel grabbed my covers and tossed them off. I quickly curled up into a shivering ball like a rolly-polly bug.
"Pimilla Took," Pimpernel groaned and poked me hard with her slender finger. I frowned and opened my eyes a little, half squinting, half glaring at her. She put her hands on her hip and raised her naturally arched eyebrows.
"You know full well that you and Pippin brought this upon yourselves", she said. "Now get up! You have to go fetch the eggs."
With that, she walked out of the room in that funny way that always makes me laugh. Pippin, who was coming down the hall, heard me.
A little fluff of wild, rusty brown curls appeared from behind the door. Two sparkling green eyes followed and then an up-turned nose. I giggled out loud and fell back on my pillow. The eyes scanned the room as if looking for somethin' mischievous to do. He ran into my room and leaped onto my bed causing it to sway and shake violently. I squealed playfully and bounced, trying to imitate him. He laid with his elbows propping him up and a grave look on his face. It startled me for a moment.
His eyes sparkled merrily again as the dimples in his cheeks deepened and a large smile spread across his face. I smiled again. He was only jokin'. Pippin was always jokin', I should'a known.
"Hey, Chipmunk", he patted my back a bit more seriously. "We got quite a month ahead of us don't we?"
I rolled my eyes at the reminder and nodded, "No second breakfast..."
Pippin patted me again and stood up, sighing hard, "Well, let's get breakfast now." Then he added darkly as if we were about to be executed, "…our one and only."
I raised an eyebrow at him. He abruptly grabbed his neck and rolled his eyes back, making gagging noises as he fell to the ground. He writhed about on the floor for a few seconds, feigning a struggle with… something. He reached out to me desperately.
"Pimmy!" He gasped harder. "Go on without me... bring back second breakfast and save the world." Then his head dropped back dramatically and he lay motionless-- dead.
I grinned at his antics and peered down at his face. It was deathly still and a bit eerie. Pippin was always so good at playin' dead. He had me fooled a couple times when I was littler. I poked my pointer finger in between his eyebrows and giggled a little. He remained perfectly frozen. So, I poked him again, and again, and again.
Suddenly, his eyes popped open, twinkling, and full of playfulness. His hand shot up and grabbed my wrist and I yelped, trying to pull back, but he was much too strong. Pippin stood to his feet, laughing maliciously through his teeth. I had to stand on my tippy toes 'cause he's so tall. He's even taller than Pearl, our oldest sister! (Which actually isn't sayin' much because our family is rather on the short side anyway). He pulled me up with one arm (wow, Pippin's really strong!). Then he caught me with the other arm and looked me in the eye, very seriously, but with a hint of mischief. His stare made me want to laugh again because Pippin always looks weird when he's serious. But instead, I shot it right back.
"The world will suffer a great doom if we do not save second breakfast", he said in a low, sinister voice. I laughed as he shoved me under his arm and carried me around like a lame calf. I simply hung limp in his arm as we entered the kitchen. He continued his speech as if he were a king addressing his army before a mighty battle.
"It is up to you and I, the mightiest, the fastest, the most cunning knights of the Round Table of the Took Kitchen to push aside the walls of captivity, break the chains in injustice, and free the people of the Great Smials, bringing second breakfast back to all!"
When we entered the kitchen, Mum was flinging open the curtains, letting the sunrise pour into the room and glanced over her shoulder at our act. She hid a small chuckle (obviously she had heard Pippin's speech) and then turned to face us, trying her best to look serious.
Pervinca stepped in, carrying the egg basket. She laughed softly at us but quickly tucked her head into her shoulders when Mum shot her a restraining glare.
"Peregrin", Mum said. "Go outside and fetch some herbs and vegetables. Pimilla, you fetch a dozen eggs." She took the egg basket from Pervinca and handed it to me. Her cold stare nearly pushed me out the door and into the orange-tainted outdoors. (I could hear Pippin behind me, "This is your first task: Go! Go forth and bring back a dozen eggs. Do not fail me!").
I hate looking for eggs. Ivan the Terrible, the "Devil Rooster", is always picking on me and clucking' in my face. When I push him away, he screeches and flutters to get Mum's attention and then I get in trouble for "hurting" him. I took a deep, determined breath and bravely marched over to the chicken coop, armed with my basket. Pippin stumbled out of the hole giggling about something he and Pervinca were talking about inside and then went skipping off like a fairy princess, making up a song about how green the grass was, how blue the sky seemed, and how white the fence looked while rubbing his nose into random flowers.
I stuck my head into the musty chicken coop (it always smelt SO bad). All the hens were fast asleep and there were plenty of eggs. I bit my lip as I slowly, cautiously stretched out my arm, delicately picked up an egg, and laid it in the basket. Yes! They didn't wake up.
I grabbed about five more eggs without any trouble. But just as I was reaching for the sixth, Ivan the Terrible was strutting past outside and whirled on me. He scampered so fast after my bent over figure it was frightening.
He crowed what he thought was majestically and launched a full force attack on my nose.
"Ouch!" I squealed as my head sprang up only to hit it on the roof of the coop. I glared at Ivan, rubbing my scalp, and growled sinisterly. I was determined not to let him get the best of me this time.
I rolled up my sleeves and reached around him, grabbing some more eggs with him still pecking at my arm. I kept reaching for more and more, not relenting one bit, and he kept squawking louder and louder. I was sure he would peck my arm clear to the bone! He had already poked a few holes in my sleeves. Fiddlesticks! Mum would be really angry.
Just as Ivan gave up on my arm and proceeded to peck at my head, I heard him squawk and get yanked away. As the dust cleared, I spotted Pippin's head pop in through the other end of the coop. He chuckled a little and smiled.
"You have defeated the Enemy", he said with a deep voice.
I heaved a relieved and thankful sigh.
"You should have seen Ivan's face," I said chuckling, a bit weary after the fight. Pippin came around the coop with a majestic swagger and a powerful smirk.
"You have done well", he said. "But this is not the end… only the beginning. There shall be many more battles between you and Ivan the Terrible. He shall return."
I ignored his act. "Did you hear him? I've never heard anything so—ACK!" Pippin cut me off grabbing me by my feet and dangling me upside down.
"Did he sound something like that?" Pippin laughed, his cheeks painted a light shade of red. I giggled wildly and continued to squirm around for freedom. And I got it: the hard way.
"Oof!" I landed on a small haystack headfirst (itchy!). I growled and lifted my head up, glaring at Pippin who was about to wet himself with laughter. I spit out a few straws and lunged for him with my hair fuller of hay than an actual haystack. But just as I was ready to punch him in the stomach--
"Peregrin and Pimilla Took!" Mum shouted from the kitchen. We immediately stopped and looked up at her, guilt sparkling merrily in our eyes: Pippin's hand grasping my hair and my foot in his gut. We must have been a funny sight to see.
"Get back to work immediately! I don't want to see any more of this or you'll loose FIRST breakfast as well!" With that, she whirled away from the window in a huff (but we could still hear her rambling off to herself angrily in the kitchen).
Fiddlesticks! Pippin and I stared at each other for a split second, terrified at the thought of loosing yet ANOTHER meal. I think we'd die! Instantly, we scrambled to our feet clumsily, kicking up more dust, and scampered back to our chores.
There was no way we would survive this.