When the Dwarf Came A-Visiting ~Míriel

Chapter 11 ~Homeward Bound

            “Here,” Frodo said, handing Rosemary the rose, which by now had wilted somewhat, and was rather squashed.

            “Oh,” he said, noticing the condition of the flower.  “I’m sorry.  It looked nicer earlier...”

            “That’s quite all right,” she said, accepting it with a smile.  “Thank you.”

            Frodo shrugged, embarrassed.  “I felt badly for what happened with the frog, and I remember you saying that you loved roses, so I thought that perhaps you might wish to plant your own.”

            She smiled. 

            “Rosemary!” came a call from another one of the booths.

            “I need to leave,” she said.  “It was splendid seeing both of you.  Thank you for the rose.  And the laughter.”

            “It was my pleasure,” said Frodo.

            “You’re welcome.” I said. 

            Then she was gone.

            Frodo and I wandered about the market for some time more, inspecting the various wares and begging food off of unsuspecting vendors.  I was beginning to feel a little ill after what must have been my fifteenth apple tart, and I could tell that Frodo was pretty much full as well.

            “Where do you think Bilbo is?” I wondered.

            Frodo shrugged.  “I’m not sure, but I hope he gets back soon.  It’s about 3 o’clock, and I think that he wanted to be back in time to make dinner.”

            “I hope so, too.” A thought occurred in my mind.  “Poor Merry and Bombur!  They must be starving by now!”  I was horrified to think of them home, wasting away from hunger, while Frodo and I sat here and stuffed ourselves.  I pushed away my tart, appetite gone.

            “I hope that Merry wasn’t terribly upset when he realized that we had gone without him.” Frodo said.

            I winced.  Merry would probably not be very happy at all.

            “Do you think that they’ll starve, Frodo?”

            “They shouldn’t.  Merry can get out the door; he could always run over to the Gamgees and borrow some food from them.”

            Borrow?  “I don’t think that the Gamgees would want it back when we were finished with it.”

            Frodo laughed.  “No, I don’t think they would.  All right then, we take food with the full intention of reimbursing them at a later date.”

            “Why didn’t we get some food from them for breakfast and second breakfast?”

            “I don’t know,” Frodo said thoughtfully.  “Perhaps Bilbo didn’t think that we would be away this long, or maybe he just didn’t want to disturb the Gamgees.”

            I nodded.  That made sense.  Bilbo hated to ask for anything from anyone, even if he did intend to pay them back.

            “Well, lads, are you ready to head back to Bag End?”

            Frodo and I jumped up at the sound of Bilbo’s voice.

            Bilbo smiled.  His hands were empty, I noticed with surprise.  Where was the food?

            “Well, lads, it’s time to go home.  Bombur’s probably going to have my head for leaving him hungry so long.” Bilbo rolled his eyes.

            He started walking down the path, leaving Frodo and me.  We looked at each other and hurried after Bilbo, whose pace was brisk and hurried, as if he had just remembered that he had left a fire burning with no supervision.  (Although, I suppose in a way he had done just that.) 

            “Bilbo,” I panted several minutes later; “Where is all of the food that you bought?”

            “You did buy it, didn’t you?” Frodo added worriedly. 

            Bilbo stopped walking and laughed.  “Turn around my lads,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

            We turned around.  Behind us, just coming over the hill, were ten carts.  These carts were filled, nay, overflowing with food.  Vegetables, flour, sugar, fruit, spices, meat, tea, jam; all of these filled the carts that were behind us.

            Frodo and I stared, open-mouthed.  “Come along, lads,” Bilbo said, “You’re murdering the flies.”

            Frodo and I closed our jaws and ran after Bilbo.  I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder every few seconds to make sure that this wasn’t a dream.  I had never seen so much food in my life!  Well, actually, I had seen that much, at the Smials, but never traveling!  And never in carts, and certainly never all for one household! 

             I shook my head in wonder.  Hobbits were coming out of their holes as we passed, pointing and whispering.  Some of the children even started to follow the wagons, waving handkerchiefs as if in a parade.

            “Merry will never believe this when we tell him,”I said to Frodo.  Would he ever be surprised when we arrived home! 

            Frodo nodded; his eyes wide in awe.  “He’ll be so upset that we didn’t take him.  It must be terribly boring, being alone with a hungry Bombur.”

            I nodded.  Unless Bombur was in a storytelling mood, and I didn’t think that he would be, as he was so very hungry, it would be quite boring indeed.

            “Mr. Merry!” Sam said in alarm.  “Don’t cry!  We can fix it.”

            Merry wiped the tears, embarrassed.  “We can?  How?”

            Sam scratched his head.  “I’m not really certain.  But I’m sure that we’ll find a way.”

            “Maybe Sam, but Bilbo’s going to be back any minute!  How can we clean it that fast?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Sam!  That’s not helping!”

            “Well, you aren’t gettin’ any ideas either!”

            Just then, Merry saw Bilbo come around the bend; and to his utter shock, behind him stretched a line of wagons laden with food.  Merry stared in shock, but also in fear. 

            “Sam?”

            “Yes?”

            “It has been a pleasure knowing you.”

            “Thank you, Merry.  It’s been a pleasure knowing you, too.  If Mr. Bilbo doesn’t kill me, then my Gaffer sure will.”

            They took a deep breath and turned to face Bilbo, who was just now coming up to Bag End.  Pippin and Frodo had hitched a ride on one of the carts and were still a ways behind.

            Bilbo first saw Merry and Sam.  “Hello lads!” he said cheerfully.

            Then his eyes beheld several things at once.  First, Merry was covered in egg yolk.  Odd, but after all, this was Merry.  Second...

            “Why is my furniture in the yard?!” he shrieked.

            Merry and Sam trembled in terror.

            “And why, pray tell, are there chickens on them?!”

            Merry closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him.  He wished that the ground would open up and engulf him and the hens.

            “And why, Sam, is there a milk cow in the yard?!”

            Bilbo took a step into the yard.  There was a squish, and Bilbo froze.  He lifted up his foot, and underneath it was one of the gifts from Sam’s pony.

            Merry was never very sure what happened next.  All he could remember was the look on Bilbo’s face as the world spun and turned black.

            Then, silence.  Blessed silence. 

Authors Notes:  Once again, Rosemary Whitfurrows is taken from Orangeblossom Took’s Rosemary For Remembrance. 

Reviewers: Hai: I’m glad that Mondays work for you.  If they didn’t, I would change the day I posted!  Thank you for your faithful reviewing!

~~~