Chapter 90. Remembering Love

Samwise stopped in the doorway to the parlour. Another hobbit was there before him, standing before the portrait of Frodo. After a time, he moved forward, clearing his throat softly to let the other know of his presence.

'What are you doing out of bed?' he said as he reached Pippin.

The Thain did not turn from the portrait, simply said, 'I could ask the same of you.'

'You know what Frodo would have done,' Sam said, a smile in his voice.

Pippin sighed and shook his head. 'No, Sam,' he said quietly. 'I don't.' He locked gazes with the painted face. 'I'm forgetting him... his smile, his voice. He is fading into a mist of memory. I know who he was, what he did, but Frodo himself... is gone from me. However could I have let him slip away?'

'Do you remember the love?' Sam asked. Pippin did not answer. Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

'I remember weeding in the garden at Bag End, of a summer's day,' he began reflectively. 'Hearing giggles and peals of laughter. "You come back here and get washed up now!" Mr Frodo was yelling, but there was no anger in his voice. And you, Pippin, shouting back, "But I'm not dirty enough yet!" He smiled in recollection. 'Do you know what happened next?'

Pippin shook his head.

Sam went on, 'Mr Frodo, he caught hold of you, scooped you up, carried you struggling and yelling over to last year's compost pile, all nicely cooked down to rich dirt and earthworms, and proceeded to give you a dirt bath!'

'A dirt bath!' Pippin said softly.

'From head to toe. I thought he had lost his senses, but the two of you were laughing fit to waken the old owl from his daytime rest. And when he'd smeared you head to toe with dirt, he asked, "Now are you dirty enough?" and you were having so much fun, you shouted, "No!" and so he went at it again.'

Pippin was silent, but Sam ploughed ahead. 'Well, Mr Bilbo, he called out the window, "Frodo? Have you got that rapscallion washed up yet? Tea's going cold!" and the two of you popped up from the dirt, and he looked as bad as you did, if not worse. And do you know what Mr Frodo said?'

Pippin's head shook slightly.

'He said, "Be there in a moment, Bilbo! Pip and I were just getting washed up!" ' Sam shook with laughter at the memory, and from the corner of his eye he saw a smile crack the Thain's countenance.

'I remember another time...' he said. 'O how your cousin loved you, Pippin, and how you loved him. I remember a time you lost yourself, and we were all off looking for you, and Mr Frodo was the one to find you. I never did hear all that story; all he said was, "He's had a bad fright, Samwise. Go tell all the others he's found, and safe, but not to bother us for a bit until I get him calmed down." And he was carrying you wrapped up in his cloak, and all I could see was the curls atop your head to know that you were in the bundle he held. But there weren't no gainsaying him, he just repeated himself. "Go tell them he's safe," he said, and he nearly got stern with me, can you imagine it? Mr Frodo, stern.' He shook his head.

Pippin remembered Frodo, stern, standing up to the ruffians.

'I went off like he said, and when I came back, he was in the hammock, holding you atop his chest, still wrapped up in his cloak, and the two of you were fast asleep. Mr Bilbo said to let you sleep until teatime, that you'd waken Frodo for sure when your belly awakened, and that is indeed what happened. Though I never did hear what you got yourself into. I s'posed it was so bad that the Thain--well, your da wasn't the Thain, yet, but he was stern enough to be--might never let you visit Hobbiton again should he find out.'

Pippin nodded, remembering that fearful day. 'He would have said my cousins could not keep watch over me, and that I was safest at home.'

'And I recollect the time that Bilbo had set aside the last piece of seedcake, and someone took it, and he was thundering and threatening a beating for the culprit. And Mr Frodo stepped up to say he was the one, and he'd have his beating right away, thank you, for he'd promised to take you fishing. You should have seen Mr Bilbo's face! "You expect me to lay you over my lap and give you a whack?" he said. "A great tween like you?" And then he laughed, and said, "Be off with you! And don't come back until you've caught enough fish for supper!"

'But Frodo did take the seedcake,' Pippin murmured.

'He did?' Sam said.

'He took it for me,' Pippin said. 'He didn't know Bilbo was keeping it back for his own, and he knew I liked seedcake, so he wrapped it up in a handkerchief and gave it to me when we were fishing.'

'He had it in his pocket the whole time Bilbo was threatening and blustering?' Sam said, thunderstruck.

'Well, he figured Bilbo wouldn't want it after it had been crumbled up in his pocket,' Pippin said reasonably. 'And he knew I would not mind. And I didn't.'

'You're remembering,' Sam said quietly.

'Yes...' Pippin answered. 'He's not so dim as he was.' He looked again at the portrait.

'There's no shame when people see him in your face, you know,' Sam said. 'The two of you being cousins, some family resemblance should not be a surprise.'

'Shame?' Pippin said, then dropped his head. 'O Sam...' He was silent for several breaths. 'I could never do what he did. Never in all the world. 'Tis a good thing there are no more Rings in Middle-earth.'

'You don't have to do what he did,' Sam said. 'We've each been given our own row to hoe, you know. If we start looking at the weeds in the other fellow's row, we're likely to miss our own weeds, or start chopping out the good plants.' He looked at the other in silence, then added, 'I'd say you've been doing a fair job with the row you've been given.'

A smile lifted one corner of Pippin's mouth. 'Thanks,' he said quietly. 'Coming from you that's high praise.'

Sam patted the shoulder beneath his hand. 'Anytime you have trouble remembering Frodo, you just come down to Bag End. I'll be happy to help you out.' Pippin nodded, and Sam gave the shoulder a squeeze. 'Now off to bed with you, before one of the "grown-ups" comes along and notices you're missing...' Pippin chuckled, and the two of them slowly walked from the parlour.