In Dreams – Pippin
Rose G
Pippin laughed out loud in his sleep, a sound so surprising in the harsh surroundings that Gandalf started and nearly woke Aragorn, who was asleep next to him.
'Merry, Merry, look at this!'
'What, Pip?'
'Look.' The young hobbit showed his friend a double handful of fresh mushrooms.
'They look good. Are you going to share them?'
'Maybe.' Pippin smiled. 'Can you carry some yourself?' He crammed some into his pack, then looked pointedly at Merry. 'Well, could you?'
'Yes, yes, I can.' Merry loaded himself up, and stepped off after Pippin down the track. Pippin broke into a jog, cutting through a small copse of oaks with Merry panting along beside him
'Pip, what's the hurry?'
'No hurry. Come on.' They run on in hobbit silence, alerting only the wild creatures to their presence. Pippin, even in his dream, felt the remembered guilt making his face flush as they heard the baying of the dogs behind them.
'You didn't take those from Farmer Maggot, did you? Frodo got caught the other day, chased all the way home by the dogs. He still hasn't recovered.'
'N-No. I found them. In a field.'
'Who's field?'
'The field owned to whoever owns the dogs, I think.'
Pippin slowed down, dropped all the mushrooms he was carrying. Merry did the same. 'Was it Farmer Maggot's field, Pippin?'
'It-it might have been, I suppose.' They run on until Merry turned away for home, leaving Pippin running on his own. The dogs were in sight behind him when he reached his lane, and with growing terror, he saw his father standing in front of him, with Maggot by his side.
'Peregrine Took!' Maggot thundered, gesturing the dog to leave him alone.
Immersed in dreams of home and boyhood, even one that had an ending as painful as this, Pippin smiled. The look on his face eased Gandalf's heart.