In this one, Merry is 23 and Pippin is 15.

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"A NASTY TURN OF EVENTS"

“I didn’t think it would work, Merry, but it really does, doesn’t it?” Pippin said, marveling at his older cousin’s handiwork.

“Yes, it does,” Merry growled, annoyed by Pippin’s enthusiasm.

“You said it would, but I really didn’t see how it could, until now,” Pippin admitted, not noticing or ignoring, Merry’s annoyance. “I didn’t quite understand how the rope would catch, but it really works very well. It was very smooth and very fast. I hardly had time to notice what was happening until it was already finished.”

Merry groaned and shifted his weight as best he could. “I’m ever so happy that you are impressed.”

“Well, of course I am, Merry,” Pippin said. “I certainly couldn’t have done this. I wouldn’t have even known how to begin it. If it weren’t for you being so patient and all and telling me every step of the way what it was that needed doing, well then, I suspect that it wouldn’t have worked at all.”

“No, likely it wouldn’t,“ Merry grumbled, shifting a bit again. This was ridiculous! How did things like this happen? He couldn’t even blame this one on Pippin. It would have felt so much better to be able to blame this all on Pippin. How had he let this happen?

“Well, I can’t imagine a better trick. Why I suspect that Garrett will be completely surprised just like I was, Merry,” Pippin said, proudly. “Why he won’t know what has happened to him until it’s too late and I suspect that he’ll never figure out how to get out of it without help, will he?”

“No, Pip,” Merry sighed. “No, he won’t have any idea how to get out of it.”

“Merry, how does one get out of it?” Pippin asked, curiously. Then just as quickly, before Merry could answer, he said, “Look down there on the ground! All of your change, Merry! It must be yours because I didn’t have any, remember? Isn’t that funny?” Pippin was pointing at Merry’s change below them and giggling.

“Yes, very funny,” Merry growled, looking at the change. “It always makes me laugh when I see all of my pocket change on the ground.”

“Merry?” Pippin said, sounding concerned. “Are you upset about something? I mean, did I do something, Merry?”

“Upset? Why would I be upset, Pip?” Merry roared. “No, you didn’t do anything. How could you have done anything from here?”

“That’s quite true, Merry,” Pippin said, reassured. “I don’t think I could do anything just now. I think my ankles are starting to go numb. I can’t altogether feel my toes anymore. I guess the blood is running to my head.”

“For a change,” Merry mumbled.

“What about the change, Merry?” Pippin asked, not hearing clearly. “You have to speak a wee bit louder since we’re back to back or I can’t hear you.”

“It was nothing, Pippin,” Merry said. “Certainly nothing helpful.” Merry folded his arms and winced.

“Are your toes numb too, Merry? I guess that would be part of this whole thing, wouldn’t it?” Pippin said, thinking as he went. “The rope tightens around your ankle and lifts you up in the air and then holds you there so I suppose it would be likely to happen to anyone in this position, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” Merry admitted, letting his hands drop so that they hung below his head a foot or so from the floor of the barn. “Anyone who was stupid enough to be in this position would have that problem in a while.”

“I really feel a bit sorry for poor Garrett, Merry,” Pippin said. “He has been very nasty lately, but we won’t leave him like this for very long will we?”

“I was planning on leaving him like this for an hour or so just to teach him a lesson, “ Merry admitted. “You think that’s too harsh?”

“Yes, Merry,” Pippin said. “It’s interesting at first, but it does make your toes numb and I think my head is starting to hurt a wee bit just now. Must be all of that blood rushing in there at once.”

“I suspect that’s what it is, “ Merry said, feeling himself began to sway back and forth a bit. “Pippin, what are you doing?”

Pippin giggled. “If I swing my arms, it makes us swing back and forth like, well, like we were on a swing only upside down of course!” He laughed. “Fun, isn’t it?”

“No, stop it,” Merry objected. “It’s making me a bit queasy. Quit it!”

Sorry, Merry,” Pippin said. “It passes the time though. If you’re feeling bad, maybe we should get down and reset the trap now. I know Garrett won’t be out here in the barn until in the morning, but I suppose that we should get everything ready in case he comes in early.”

“No, he’s not likely to be out here before dawn,” Merry said, sickly. “I suspect that no one will be out here before morning.”

“Well, then we do have plenty of time,” Pippin said, brightly. “What time is it?”

“I don’t know, Pip, “ Merry said. “My watch is on the ground next to my change, see.” He pointed to his pocket watch and Pippin turned his head to look.

“Oh, I see it,” Pippin crowed. “It’s over there and I can’t make out the numbers from up here. I wonder what time it is?”

“Not close enough to morning to do us much good,” Merry sighed.

“I guess you ‘re looking forward to seeing Garrett’s face, aren’t you Merry?” Pippin asked.

“Not now, really,” Merry admitted. “I was looking forward to that earlier, but now, I don’t suppose that I will enjoy it much at all.”

“You’re starting to feel sorry for him too, aren’t you?” Pippin said, knowingly. “It is a very good trick, but it might be a bit too mean, Merry. Maybe we shouldn’t do this after all.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be doing much of anything for a while, Pip,” Merry sighed, as he looked over toward the open doors of the barn and out into the night. “I suspect that we’ll just be hanging around here.”

Pippin laughed. “That’s funny, Merry. Now, let’s get down and go to bed.”

“We can’t get down, Pippin,” Merry said. “We’re trapped.”

“Don’t tease, Merry,” Pippin said. “I know I’m not as old as you are, but don’t tease me. After all, I’m not an idiot you know. I know that you couldn’t have built this trap if you didn’t know how it works. I know , that you know how to get us down so don’t pretend you don’t know, Merry. I know you know and you know it!”

“Don’t do that, Pip,” Merry moaned. “Don’t talk in circles while I’m hanging upside down from a rope. It makes my head hurt.”

“Fine, but I know,” Pippin said, firmly. “Now, just get us down from here. I think I’m dizzy.”

“Peregrin, this is a trap. It’s a type of a snare. You connect the rope so that when whatever or whom-ever you are trying to catch steps into the loop, it springs the trap, the rope loops around their ankles, tightens and pulls them upside down and-“

“I know, I know, already, you’ve explained it a hundred times at least while we were building it,” Pippin sighed, exasperated. “It pulls them upside down and hangs them up like a side of pork in a smoke house. They then hang there, by their ankles until someone finds them and cuts them down. Now, will you please get us down, Merry?”

“Pippin, I would love to get us down. You have no idea how very much that idea appeals to me just now,” Merry said. “In fact, it sounds wonderful to me and I would be more than happy to do it, but I can’t.”

“You can’t? What do you mean you can’t?” Pippin said in a rather small voice.

“Well, I am hanging by my ankles in just the same way that you are, Pippin and so I can’t reach the rope to cut us down just now, can I?” Merry asked.

“No,” Pippin said, softly.

“So, tomorrow morning when Garrett Brandybuck, my most evil of cousins comes in here early before everyone else so that he can get started cleaning this barn, which he wouldn’t have to be doing, by the way, if he and I hadn’t gotten into that big fight the other day,” Merry sighed. “If Garrett and I hadn’t been caught fighting in the great Hall by my mum, then Garrett wouldn’t be the first one to come out here at the break of day to meet me so that he and I can muck out the stalls!” Merry paused for effect, letting this sink in a bit and then continued. “That was why this was the perfect place to put the trap, remember?”

“Because we knew that Garrett would get here before anyone else and so we wouldn’t be hanging anyone else upside down, just Garrett. Also, we would get to watch him,” Pippin paused in thought. “What was it you said, Merry?”

“We will get to watch him twist in the wind and beg for mercy,” Merry groaned.

“I guess now, he will get to watch us twist in the wind and beg for mercy, won’t he, Merry?” Pippin said.

“I’m not begging,” Merry growled, folding his arms over his chest again in defiance.

“You don’t mind if I try begging a bit when he comes, do you?’ Pippin asked a bit mournfully as the two of them hung there, suspended by their ankles from Merry's wonderfully well-built snare.

The End