NOTE: This chapter has an accompanying photo posted on Tumblr, under the user name kindly-whisper-tolkien and the tag fleetwood.
June 23
Oh! The trip to Dís's place was awful! The problem with New England, I think, is that there are too many curvy roads and hills! And while the "sway control hitch" does stop some of the wobbling, it doesn't prevent all of it by any means! I know that Thorin had everything well taken care of, but still I worried. And for good reason! With people zooming around us as we shook and shimmied!
I even tried to use the coloring book that Thorin gave me, but I just couldn't concentrate on it. Oh, and who could? At one point, there was a big truck passing us, and a drop-off into the woods on the other, and the car just in front of us suddenly braked, so Thorin had to slam on our brakes, and it startled me so much that I jabbed the (thankfully not sharp) colored pencil into my leg!
But we are here now, and the boys will be heading out with us in the morning. My, they have grown so much! Kíli is, I think, almost a head taller than his brother now - and almost as tall as Thorin! Fíli is stronger, though, at least judging from the look of him. Either way, I feel so small next to them. They noticed this, themselves, and Fíli told me not to worry - that they will always "look up" to me!
One thing I hadn't thought of or planned on, though, is that their cat, Rolly, is coming with us, too! That cat has never liked me, and this time when I walked into their house he was waiting on the bookshelf by the door just to bop me on the head. Then, when I looked up, he swiped at me with his claws! Really, what have I ever done to him? Maybe Russian Blues are just temperamental. Though Kíli said it is because "cats can sense evil". His mother gave him a cuff in the shoulder for that jab!
At any rate, Fíli and Kíli will be sleeping in the back room of the trailer (where the kitty-litter will be, as well, you can be sure!). I don't really want Frodo sleeping on the top bunk (he might roll off!), and since he likes being near me and Thorin, anyway, we've decided to let him sleep on the fold-out couch just outside our bedroom. And, oh yes... we are going to buy and install the latch for our door tonight!