These are not my character and so you are not reading anything terribly original here.  The characters are all Tolkien's and I was just in the mood to borrow them for another quick story.

Pippin is 16, Pervinca is 21, Pimpernell is 27, and Pearl is 30, oh and Merry who appears in the last chapter is 24

Hope you enjoy it. There may be future chapters of this at some point I have thought of adding to it as time permits, but for now this is all that there is. 

G.W.

Suddenly this small story is a bit longer.  It has grown and grown and now it will finish up at 5 chapters.  I thought I had managed a short little story and now this happens! 

G.W. 5/12

"Sisters"

Maintaining one’s dignity is very hard to manage when you are the youngest. Every time you turn around, you are caught in an embarrassing situation. Just now, Peregrin Took finds that he is washing the dishes for the third night in a row in one of his mum’s frilly aprons. It’s the sort with the lace all round the top and bottom with little birds and flowers embroidered into it everywhere. His mother does love to sew and is quite good at it, but sometimes she gets a bit carried away with the embroidery to Pippin’s way of thinking.

He protested the apron at first, but his mum had insisted because last night he had gotten completely soaked when he’d over-turned a bowl of water by accident. He’d had to mop the floor on top of everything else because of that incident. Pippin didn’t consider having to wash the dishes to be a fitting punishment for a lad of sixteen anyway. Why didn’t they make him chop extra fire wood or clean out the barn again?

He supposed that this was his punishment because they knew how he hated it and because he’d gotten himself into trouble in the kitchen this time. He’d been stealing the raisins out of his older sister, Pervinca’s muffin dough. Pippin loved raisins and Pervinca had refused to give him any, deciding instead to put all of them into the muffins. She was less likely to give into him than either Nell or Pearl. Pearl would have given him a few raisins and let him lick the bowl when she was finished. Nell would have at least given him the raisins. Pervinca was stubborn.

Pippin had been waiting for a chance to swipe some of the raisins. There had been nothing else to do at that point because it was raining. So, when Pervinca left for a few minutes to go see a new dress that Nell was making, Pippin slipped into the kitchen and began to fish the raisins out of the dough with his fingers and pop them into his mouth. He’d been enjoying the raisins so much that he had neglected to watch for Pervinca’s return and had been caught. Startled, he’d moved too quickly and over-turned the entire mixture onto the kitchen floor.

Pervinca was furious and had gotten him in some sort of a wrestling hold and rubbed his face in the dough on the floor before his mum had come in and caught them. To Pippin’s way of thinking, this whole thing could have been avoided if only Vince had been reasonable and given him the raisins or had not startled him when she returned. His mum, unfortunately, did not agree with this and so Pippin was doing the dishes for the week.

Sisters were a trial and Pippin had more than his share of sisters. Three older sisters could make one’s life miserable if they so chose. In fact, his sisters were responsible for many of his most undignified moments in his short life. They just didn’t seem to remember that he was a young lad and not a fourth sister. They were always doing things to him.

He was out-numbered and out-sized for the most part. He was, thankfully, taller than Pervinca just of late. He’d grown a whole half an inch this past winter and was now ever so slightly taller than her. For some reason she was still able to get the better of him most of the time. She was very strong for a lass and if need be, she would resort to hair pulling and tickling. Both of these things should be illegal in Pippin’s opinion. His sisters weren’t ticklish and so it wasn’t fair that they had this advantage over him. They had far too many advantages as it was.

He wasn’t allowed to out-right hit any of them. His father was very clear on this rule. You don’t hit lasses even if they are your sisters and even if they have just sucker-punched you and knocked all the wind out of you. You never hit them. Pippin had lost his temper once with Pervinca and had decked her good. They been outside and she had been teasing him about his hair. His other sister, Pearl, had given him a rather bad hair cut. It wasn’t on purpose but it was quite dreadful. Pervinca was teasing him about it and he had finally had enough, so he decked her. He’d pulled back his fist and clocked her a good one right in the jaw. She had fallen to the ground like a sack of flour leaving him standing there with his mouth open in surprise.

There had been a moment when he suspected that he might have killed her and in a panic he’d run into the house to get help. Pervinca had managed to get up and had followed him, a bit dizzily, into the house and then Pippin had gotten the worst strapping of his entire life from his father and the silent treatment from all three sisters for several days.

That was another thing. They would all join together against him if he had wronged one of their number, just because they were all lasses. He had no one on his side at times like this, being the only lad. His mum was very neutral in these arguments. She stayed out of them completely and his father was in charge of keeping the peace and so the punishments fell to him. His sisters knew that Pippin hated to be excluded and so they would ignore him and refuse to talk to him if he got out of line. This should also be illegal. If he ignored one of them, they had each other. All of the way out here in Whitall on their farm, that left Pippin totally on his own.

Sometimes he wished desperately that they would ignore him. Sometimes when he was with older lads, Pearl would come over to say hullo or to check on him and do something that would embarrass the life out of him. She would straighten his hair with the lick and spit method, she would see a spot of something he’d eaten on his face and go after it in full view of his friends with a handkerchief as Pearl always had a handkerchief at the ready, she would kiss him on the cheek and tell him to behave as if he were still five, or she would just say something like, "Have a nice time with your little friends, Peregrin." Pearl was fourteen years older than he was and so she often treated him like he were her child rather than her brother.

Pimpernell, or Nell as he always called her, was the most easy-going of the three and also the most adventurous.  Though she was eleven years older than he was, she had been the one that would rough-house with him when he was small. She taught him everything he knew about wrestling holds and even had showed him how to spit. The most embarrassing thing that Nell ever did to him was that she would often best him in things that lads were supposed to be better at than their sisters. Nell could out-run him. She could throw further than he could and she could lift heavier things than he could. His cousins, Merry in particular, found this very amusing. Pippin did not.

All three of them would wrangle him into doing the worst things for them. He had often been a dress-maker’s dummy for them. He’d find himself in one of their frocks while they hemmed it or pinned it up in some fashion. He had become an expert hair-braider thanks to Pearl, who had taught him to do this when he’d been about eight or nine. Back then it hadn’t seemed to be such a bad thing, but now, well, now it just seemed like something he shouldn’t be able to do. Lads shouldn’t be able to braid a lasses hair, but Pippin could.

Merry had teased him endlessly after walking in and catching Pippin helping to dress one of Pervinca’s stuffed bears. Pervinca collected bears and all of them had names and clothes and sadly, Pippin knew the bear’s names. When he’d been small, he’d played with them when Pervinca would allow it. At the time in question, Pervinca had hurt her arm and was in need of some assistance with the dressing of one of her cherished bears. Pippin had allowed himself to be talked into this only to have Merry walk in and see him trying to button the bear into a tiny pink frock.

Having sisters did have its advantages at times. Pippin had to admit that on several occasions they had each come in handy. It wasn’t all bad. They could be very nice to him if they were in the right mood.

Just a month ago, when Pippin had been sick with a bad cold, Pearl had sat with him and kept him company, commiserating with him because he was missing out on a fishing trip with Merry. She had read to him even though he was too old for this and had brought him tea and cakes. She had even stayed with him and shared the tea so that he wouldn’t be lonely. Pearl was good at spoiling him when he was sick.

Nell had helped him clean out the barn last week so that he would be finished in time to go into Tuckborough. He would never have managed it without her. She could have left him to do it on his own, but she’d felt sorry for him and pitched in. The work had gone faster and had been much more fun with Nell helping out.

Pervinca had saved him from ruin just recently by helping him escape from Astor Bracegridle at a picnic. Astor, for some reason, seemed to fancy Pippin of late and her affection was, in no way, returned. Astor was very giggley and very clingy. She was also a head taller than him and he looked quite silly beside her. Astor had been following him around all day and making him miserable. He’d tried to get Merry to help him, but his older cousin was taking some sort of perverse pleasure in his predicament and was also busy trying to get Clover Chubb to kiss him. The food at picnics was wonderful, but often, the rest of the afternoon would be dreadful. Pippin didn’t yet care much for the lasses attentions and some lasses seemed to think that picnics were for pairing up. Pippin was not ready to be paired up. Thankfully, Pervinca noticed his situation and insisted that he help her gather up the plates and do some general cleaning. Pippin didn’t much like cleaning either, but he much preferred it to spending time with moon-eyed Astor giggling in his ear.

The three of his sisters had also taught him to dance. It was a skill that was starting to come in handy at parties and Pippin enjoyed dancing. Granted you had to do this with a lass, but there was music and you moved about and it was fun. It was embarrassing if you weren’t very good, but thanks to his three sisters, Pippin was a wonderful dancer. He knew all of the really fast ones and even a few of the slow ones should he get caught out on the floor when the music changed.

"You are making a terrible mess of that as always," Pervinca sighed, coming into the kitchen.

"I’m doing the best that I can," Pippin objected, dripping water on the floor as he turned, dish in hand, to face his older sister.

"That, little brother, is the really sad part of it," Pervinca smiled as she walked over to him.  She was five years older and could always make him feel like a little child if she wanted to do so.

"Lads aren't supposed to be good at dishes," Pippin said.

Pervinca giggled. "In that apron, you don’t look much like a lad."

Pippin wrinkled up his nose at her and returned to his washing. "Is it part of my punishment that you are allowed to come in here and tease me?"  He tried to sounded put-upon, but Pervinca was seldom impressed with his attempts to gain sympathy.

"It should be," Pervinca said. "You did ruin my muffins, you little thief."

"I just wanted some raisins, Vince," Pippin said. "If you’d have given me some, then I wouldn’t have had to steal them."

She laughed at her brother’s logic. "If I had given you some, then there wouldn’t have been enough for my muffins."

"We should keep more raisins about," Pippin said.

"Mum and dad should have had one less child and then there would be plenty of raisins and a great deal less mess," Pervinca said.

"I’m not that messy," Pippin said, as he wiped soap bubbles from his nose. "It’s water and soap and it gets things clean. It’s not messy." He was completely soaked at this point. No one had any idea how he managed it, but he always got more water on himself than on the dishes. He also had managed to get a considerable amount of water on the floor.  He was, just now standing in a rather large puddle.  He’d have to mop again tonight.

"You are hopeless, Pippin," Pervinca said, turning to go. "I don’t know why we’ve kept you this long."

Pippin turned to respond to this and slid on the water underneath his feet. He went down quickly, striking his head on the table behind him and twisting his arm as he tried to catch himself.

"Ouch," he moaned, cradling his arm in front of him. He was now sitting in a puddle of soapy water trying to make the room stop spinning. He didn’t know which hurt more his head or his arm.

Pervinca rushed over to him and knelt in the water beside of him. "Are you alright, Pip?"

"I think I’ve sprained my arm," Pippin winced.

"What was that noise in here, Pippin?" It was Nell. She had entered the kitchen and was on her way over too.

"Pippin slipped on the water and hit his head on the table," Pervinca reported. Most of the time, Pippin hated it when she answered for him but just now he didn’t feel much like talking.

His two sisters got him to his feet and moved him away from the puddle. "Get momma, Pervinca," Nell suggested. "I think his head is bleeding."

"I’m alright," Pippin growled, embarrassed, now.

"No, you aren’t. Now I am going to sit you in this chair and you are going to hold still while I look at your head, do you hear me?" Nell said, firmly.

"I hear you," Pippin said, and allowed her to do as she wished. He didn’t feel like arguing just now.

As Nell examined his wound, his mum and his other sister, Pearl entered the kitchen along with Pervinca. He was now surrounded by Took lasses. All of them were fussing over him at once. Somehow he wound up in his bed with a cold cloth on his head. His arm was wrapped in a bandage to keep it supported and he was still surrounded by lasses.

"Lay still, Pippin," Pearl advised. "You’ll be fine by morning."

"My head hurts, Pearl," Pippin said. "I don’t know how all of that water got in the floor anyway."

His mother and sisters laughed. "I think I know how it got there," his mum said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

"Well, I didn’t mean to," Pippin said. "I was doing my best to be careful because of the mess last night. Some of it just must have sloshed over the side is all. Do I have to mop?"

"No, dearest, I don’t think you’re up to mopping just now," his mum said. "Your father is doing that now. You are going to drink a bit of this tea and go to sleep. Your sister is right. You’ll feel better in the morning."

He sipped the tea that his mum offered him and looked around his room at all of his sisters standing around his bed. No, they weren’t so bad when you thought it over. Sisters weren’t so bad at all. 

For some reason, another chapter of this one reared its ugly head this evening and I was forced to add it to the story.  I now have a sneaking suspicion that there will be at least two more chapters of this.  One called Nell and one called Pearl.  I may be wrong, but I am afraid that this is where this one is going to go.  So, if you are up for more of this, here it is.

Pervinca

My sister Pervinca is wise beyond her years. I know this because she has proven it to me on many occasions. Knowledge that seems to escape my notice, never gets past her! If there is something important that a hobbit ought to know, then she knows it. I have no idea how she obtains all of this information, but I suspect that she gets most of it from Pimpernell and Pearl.

Pervinca has an advantage over me in that department. She can go among our older sisters and their friends more easily than I can. I think that although she is the youngest of my older sisters, she is the most clever. She hears them talk and collects information that she would not otherwise be told. They are older and think that they have their secrets about the world of older lasses, but they don’t have any secrets from Pervinca. I doubt that they realize just how much she hears and I know they don’t suspect how much of it she tells me.

Pervinca will often share some of her knowledge with her less informed, younger brother if only to prove to me just how hopeless clueless I am. She will scoff at how little I know, laugh at my mistakes, and then give forth with her vast information. It is very embarrassing to be shown up for the naive hobbit-lad that I am, and yet if I am able to get beyond the shame of my ignorance, I do learn things. If I can stand her pitying looks and her smug expression then I am rewarded with some piece of information that I am too young to have.

One time, when I was eight, my thirteen-year-old sister decided to tell me where hobbit babies come from. She says she did this to keep me from embarrassing the entire family with my stupidity, but I rather think that she did this just to shock me and to show me how much she already knew about grown-up matters. I was very shocked indeed and did not take the news well at all. I had to have every detail of it confirmed by my older cousin, Merry before I would believe that such things go on among adults. Have I mentioned that I am a slow learner?

Pervinca is also very strong. I think I mentioned this before, but if I didn’t then I should have done so. All of our childhood, she has been able to get the better of me. When I was five and she was ten I could understand the problem. I didn’t enjoy it when she would sit on me and tickle me until I cried, but I understood how she was managing it. The trouble is that now that I am taller than she is and have done quite a bit of growing, she can still sit on me and tickle me until I am begging for mercy. I try not to cry anymore as I am sixteen now, but it is still very frustrating. I live for the day when I can escape from her clutches and turn the tables on her, though I suspect that when that day finally comes, we will both be too old for such nonsense.

I hate to admit it, but Pervinca is also quite pretty, for an older sister that is. She has dark brown hair nearly as dark as cousin Frodo’s and grey eyes that can stare straight through you. It always makes me cry when she cries. It is just one more thing that she can do to me that I have no control over. If anyone makes Pervinca cry, then I cry too. I have since I was old enough to notice things. I even cry when I am the one who has upset her. Sometimes I have caught my cousin Merry crying along with Vince. I believe it is her eyes and the deep down sadness that comes into them whenever anyone hurts her. You can’t see that in someone you love and not respond.

When I first arrived in our family, I am told by my sister Pearl that Pervinca didn’t much care for me, though of course, I don’t remember this. Pearl says that Vince was jealous because she was no longer the baby of the family and that she had to be reassured that she was still, at least, the family’s baby lass. I don’t understand how anyone as smart as Vince could want to be the baby of this family. I have always wanted to be older than someone. Anyone would do, really. When you are the youngest, no one takes anything you say seriously. At least I take her seriously even when the others don’t. After all, she is older than I am and she does know things.

Sometimes, when the others are being very condescending toward her, Vince will seek me out for comfort because she knows I understand. Even though I feel sorry for her because she is being left out, I do like it when she is because then I have company. I am always being left out of things.

"Pippin, you’ll understand when you are older," they say.

"Pippin, be a good lad and go play. This doesn’t concern you, dear," they say.

"Pippin, why don’t you go find something to do? You are too young to be hearing this," they say. Then they shoo me from the room and shut me out of their conversations.

Sometimes, Pervinca gets to stay and other times she is forced to go with me. She hates it when they treat her like a child, maybe even more than I do. I guess she is not used to it the way that I am. Also, she is very proud.

Pervinca does not take being treated like a child well at all. When she was a small lass, she would throw quite a fit, I am told. She would fall to the floor and kick and scream and she would get all red in the face. Now, she pouts. She folds her arms across her chest and stomps out of the room. Then she will appear later and sit and sigh a lot. She will refuse to look at those that have offended her dignity, but she will place herself in their view so that they may watch her glorious impersonation of a wounded victim. Our older sisters laugh at this, but they always apologize to her sooner or later.

Pervinca never apologizes. It is beneath her. I don’t expect it of her. I can tell if she is sorry and that is enough for me. Somehow, I like her strong will and even admire it. I am always running around like a hopeless idiot, begging those that I have offended to forgive me. I can’t stand when anyone is angry at me. Vince has honor. She won’t be held accountable and yet she is always welcomed back into our circle with open arms.

Pervinca is also talented. She knows things about clothes and about colors. Pearl and Nell ask her opinion on what they should wear to dances or to parties. Pervinca can tell just by looking at a person what color they should have on and why. She says that her own best colors are yellow and red because of her dark hair. Pearl should wear blues and violets because of her lighter hair and blue eyes. Nell is the lucky one who looks good in most all colors and I am green because of my eyes and because Pervinca says that I am.

She can also sew better than either Pearl or Nell. She makes most of their special dresses and she makes all of her own things. She has done this since she was about fifteen. Our mum is a fine seamstress, but she says that Vince has a better eye, whatever that might mean. Pervinca is also a fairly good cook. I pretend not to like her cooking just to annoy her, but she really isn’t too bad. I just tease her about that because I can’t tease her about what she is really bad at doing. Mum says it’s not polite and that it isn’t something that I should do.

Pervinca can’t sing. Most hobbits can sing somewhat and quite a few are even good. I have been told that I am very good at singing, but then, others may just be trying to be kind to me. With Pervinca, though, it is painfully obvious that she can not sing at all. Even worse, is the fact that she doesn’t realize that she can’t sing. Mum says we aren’t to tease her or to tell her that she can’t sing, but I think she needs to know this. I have seen other make jokes about her voice and heard them laugh behind her back. I think it would be better if we told her, but then, what do I know?

Once, when we several older lads were laughing at Pervinca during a party while she was trying to sing something, I got into trouble for hitting one of them. He insulted her and said that her voice would cause the paint to peel right off of the walls and so I hit him. He was bigger but I managed to give him a black eye,  which I was very proud of having done, as I was only thirteen at the time. He did best me and give me a bloody nose, but I still felt I had done my best to defend our family honor. Pervinca didn’t see it that way at all. She thought I was causing a row during her singing just to make her angry and I couldn’t explain without hurting her feelings.

Later, when my nose had stopped bleeding and I was holding cold cloths on it to try and make the swelling go down a bit, Vince came into my room and kissed me on the top of my head and then left. I think someone told her what I had been trying to do. I am not much of a protector for my older sisters, but I do try and so it is nice when it is appreciated.

I guess the most important thing about Pervinca Took is that she stands her ground and that she looks out for those of us that she loves, even me. She would defend me against all comers no matter what ridiculous thing I had done. I almost have to feel sorry for anyone that she goes up against.  Her challengers never have a chance.  It is very good to have her on my side.

Pimpernel

Mum says that from the time Pimpernel was about five or so, she has followed our father out onto the farm to help with the chores. Mum says that my older sister would not be kept inside or left behind. It seems that until I showed up, Nell was my parent’s only son. Oh, I call her Nell because Previnca does. Pimpernel was too much for Pervinca to say when she first started talking and so that’s how Pimpernel became Nell.

By the time I turned up, she had been Nell for four years or so. She seems to prefer it because, like me, if she hears her formal name, then she knows that she is in trouble. Nell gets into trouble still from time-to-time, though not as much as she used to. Mum says that Nell has grown up quite a bit recently, having turned twenty-seven a while back. I don’t believe that Nell has grown up all that much.

Nell is the tallest of my sisters, even though she is not the oldest. She has always been taller than most lasses and sometimes it is hard for her. I have watched her tower above the lads at dances or slump her shoulders to stand a bit more even with the other lasses. It seems that she and I need to trade heights in the worst way. I spend most of my time trying to stand as straight as I am able so that I can look as tall as lads my age. A trade would be nice, but I don’t think it’ll happen.

Nell looks like Pervinca in coloring, but favors the Tooks more than Vince does. Nell also has the Took temper. She’s not quick to anger but if you make her angry then you are in for some serious trouble. Once, when I was five, I watched as Nell twisted my cousin Merry’s arm behind his back and made him eat a worm. I felt sorry for Merry, but at the same time, it was quite a show. Merry is three years younger than Nell and at that time, she was still stronger and they stood head to head. Mostly, they are great friends, but once in a while they clash and things turn ugly. At these times, I try to get out of the way because coming between them is like standing in the middle of a field of poison ivy. There is no safe place to land.

Nell could run our farm all by herself, but I am afraid that she would starve if she lived alone. She tries, but she simply can’t cook. I remember making a cake with her once when I was nine. The two of us almost burned down the smail with our efforts. Somehow, we set a table cloth on fire and Nell tried to put it out by dumping an entire bag of sugar onto it. It was the first thing she could reach and we were desperate. It was the worst smell! Also the fire didn’t go completely out, it just consumed the sugar and kept at it. Nell finally dumped the dish water on it and that put the fire out, but the table was never quite the same. We have to keep it covered when company comes. Father has been going to refinish it and just never seems to get to it. He says it’s a good reminder to all of us what fire can do. I think he just doesn’t want to refinish the table.

Nell tells the best stories of anyone in the family. I used to love it when she would tell one of her original stories late at night. She makes up the best characters and she even does sounds and voices when she gets into a tale proper like. She must get this talent from where ever our cousin Bilbo gets it, because he is the only one that tells a better tale than Nell does.

If Nell was bad to follow our father, than I was worse about following Nell. She would start out to the barn or to the garden and turn and see me coming along behind her whether she wanted me or not. Most of the time she would give in and let me tag along, but once in awhile she would pick me up under her arm and carry me, kicking and yelling, back to the smail and give me to the first family member willing to take me. When she did allow me to come, I always had a grand time.

On one of these trips out to the barn, I learned how to throw. Nell and I were teasing each other and she threw an egg at me. It went all in my hair and that started it. I took one of my eggs and threw at her and missed. I hit one of the cows.  Fortunately, the cow wasn’t bothered as it hit her flank and she hardly noticed. Nell was quick to return fire and the next thing I knew, I was coated in egg yoke. I was so frustrated by my complete lack of skill. I hadn’t hit her once, though I’d thrown a good many eggs at our cows. Nell had mercy on me and decided to teach me to throw proper. An entire basket of eggs later, I was getting pretty good.

Unfortunately, father was not amused with our morning’s work or pleased with my new talent. We both got a very stern lecture on wasting food and then Nell got sent off to mum for her punishment and I got a strapping. By the end of the day, I couldn’t sit down, but I could hit a target with an egg. I think it was a fair trade. Nell had kitchen duty for a week. My older sisters often get a worse punishment than I do when we get caught up to no good. Their least favorite phrase is, "You are older and so should know better." Just lately, this phrase isn’t cropping up as much as it did. I suspect that being the youngest isn’t going to help all that much in the future.

Nell is the sister that gets stuck with me and my lessons the most often. She is like my older cousin Frodo Baggins and she likes to read. I would rather do most anything else and so I am a challenge for Nell. She is trying to teach me the family histories lately. It is interesting, but I keep getting confused about which cousin married who and how many children they had. Father says a proper hobbit should know his history and all about his family’s deeds, but some days it seems to me that all the Tooks do is marry and have more Tooks. Nell says I can learn it, if I pay attention and so I am trying to live up to her expectations. Other than my cousin Merry, Nell seems to expect the most out of me.

Nell is my companion at parties and dances. She and I stand and talk together when the couples start to pair off. Pervinca is much in demand as a dancing partner and Pearl is off with the older crowd. I am still considered to be an annoyance at these parties as I am too young for the pairing off and too old to be left off of the guest lists. After Merry goes off for the evening with one of the giggling lasses that follow him about lately, I am grateful for Nell’s company.

She and I raid the food tables and sing along to the music. Sometimes we sneak out of the party and find a good place to sit for a talk. Once in a while, Nell will let me have a sip or two of ale. She won’t let me have as much as Merry will, but she does give in sometimes. Just recently, though I fear that I may be in danger of losing her company at these parties. Some of the lads have started to notice her and are paying her some attention. I will be sorry to see her go, but I am very surprised that it has taken them this long to find her.

Pearl

I have no idea who is in charge of getting things organized for trips in other families, but I know who is in charge of this in mine. My oldest sister Pearl is the family organizer. Pearl lines up all of the baggage, sees to our coats and cloaks, checks to see if all of the fires are out, finds last minute items that are needed, and somehow, gets all of us into the wagon. Without her, we could never go anywhere.

Pearl is the oldest and she was born for the role. No one would be better at it. She takes charge with ease and she always seems to know what to do. Nell might be best suited to run the farm, but Pearl is best suited to run the family. I have watched her do this since I was very small. Nothing escapes her notice and no detail is left unattended. My dear mum is not an organizer and her system of keeping up with things is sketchy at best. I take after her. I never know where I have put anything but as long as Pearl is about, she knows where my missing treasures are.

When I was six, I lost the blanket that I slept with every night. I feel silly admitting it just now, but I couldn’t sleep unless I had a hold of that blanket. I had been recovering from a cold and so I had carried the blanket all through the smail with me all day, going from room to room and napping. When it came time for bed, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had a terrible fit and was crying myself into a case of the hiccups, when Pearl came into my room with the blanket. I was fine once I had it, and everything went back to normal. Pearl is like a trained hunting dog. She can locate anything.

Pearl is also the sister that I can charm the quickest. Pearl will forgive me anything if I give her the proper look and use the correct tone of voice. She is the most likely to indulge me and she is the one that pleads my case with my parents when I have been up to no good. Nell won’t give me away to them, but if I’m caught then she lets me dig my own holes. Pervinca will dig the hole for me and shovel the dirt in on top of me. Pearl is always willing to believe that whatever I have done, I didn’t mean to do it.

Of all of my sisters, Pearl looks the most like our mum. In fact she might be mostly pure Banks which may explain why she is so much more practical than the rest of us. The rest of the family has far too much Tookishness to ever be considered practical. I suspect that mum is more of a Took than Pearl and I have no idea how this is possible.

Pearl is good with money. She knows how to shop and she knows how to save. She is the sister to go to for a loan because she is usually the only sister with any money to speak of. The down side of this is that she always makes you pay her back before she will grant you a second loan. She knows me well and so she knows that my money is soon spent. She will make me a loan but she does expect payment. She will take work in exchange for the money. I have done the dishes, helped with the washing, scrubbed the floors, gathered the eggs, and helped with the cooking all to pay back the money that I owe Pearl. I have come to realize that I am not really getting a loan from my dear sister. I am hiring on to do a job in exchange for payment.

Pearl is what mum calls a proper lass. She has perfect manners at all times and is comfortable in all social situations. I remember one year when I was thirteen and Pearl was twenty-seven, we had a dinner here at our Smail for some of father’s friends and their families. That afternoon, about three hours before the guests started to arrive, poor mum took ill with a bad fever. She had caught this while nursing Vince through it earlier in the week. It was too late to cancel the dinner and so Pearl stepped into the role of hostess while Vince and Nell took care of mum. It was amazing how easily Pearl performed this task. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that she was the Mistress of the smail. Father was very proud of her and so was I. The dinner was a success and more than one of the hobbits present commented to father than Pearl would make someone a fine wife some day.

Pearl might make some hobbit a fine wife, but I am not ready to let her go just yet. After all, if she leaves, who will organize us and find things and keep the peace? This is another of Pearl’s talents. She is the peace maker. She settles fights between Pervinca and Nell all of the time. Those two are so different that they rarely see things in the same light and so Pearl often has to step in and patch up the damage. I have also seen her do this between her own friends as well.

Pearl also never panics. I have come to her bleeding from both knees, my nose, my elbows, my head, with both eyes blacked, and once, though I don’t wish to discuss it, with a bucket stuck on my head. Nothing panics her. I have tested her and she will remain calm and sort out whatever the trouble may be. She will stop bleeding, bandage wounds, hold cold cloths on swollen eyes, bring down fevers, find missing blankets and remove stubborn buckets from your head. The only thing that upsets her is mice.

I have watched Pearl carry frogs out of the smail and return them to the out doors, kill poisonous snakes, kill spiders, and deal with angry farm animals, but she is helpless with mice. I once brought several field mice into our smail with the intention of keeping them in a box in my room as pets only to have them escape before I had mentioned them to the rest of the family. I had been out in the barn helping Nell milk the cows and when we returned, Pearl was standing on our kitchen table crying. I had never seen her this upset and it frightened both me and Nell.

Nell and I were both rushing over to ask her what was wrong, when one of my mice scampered across the kitchen floor and Pearl screamed. Nell thought it was very funny that Pearl was frightened of a little ole mouse until she saw the second one go by. Both of my sisters were convinced that the smail had been over-run with rodents. They were not at all please when they found out that I had brought them in and that, though we weren’t over-run, there were four of them.

Nell helped me track down my pets and release them into the fields, after we got Pearl off of the table and to safety. Nell had to pick her up and carry her outside. I was out of Pearl’s good graces for several days that time and no amount of charm could win her over. I was becoming desperate for her forgiveness when she finally calmed down enough to accept some of my many apologies. She doesn’t get angry at me often, but when she does, it always upsets me.

Pearl is thirty now and will come of age in three years. When she does, I hope that she won’t rush off and marry some lad and leave the rest of us to fend for ourselves. I don’t know what we would do without her. I don’t want to know.

Rare Gifts

Merry looked over as his younger cousin stomped dramatically into the barn. Pippin was frowning and his hands were fisted at his sides. Something or someone had set him off. Merry knew that temper all too well. Pippin’s anger came in bursts, like lightening; here one minute in full force and gone the next as if it had never been.

"You look like you might explode," Merry said as Pippin made his way over to him. Merry had been giving his new pony a few treats and brushing the animal. It had been a long ride from Hobbiton and the pony deserved some special care. Merry had promised his father that he was old enough to take care of this pony. He was determined to prove that his father had been right to trust him with this new responsibility.

"You don’t understand, Merry. It’s awful," Pippin said, sulkily. "They are every where! The whole place is filled with lasses all of the time!"

Merry laughed at his younger cousin. "There are only three of them, Pippin. You are exaggerating a bit aren’t you?"

"Laugh if you want, but you don’t have to put up with it," Pippin said, turning his back on Merry and walking over to pet Merry’s pony. Merry was twenty-four now and had his own pony. This was something Pippin really wanted but his father didn’t think him old enough just yet.

"No, I don’t have any sisters. There’s just me," Merry said. "I am my parents one and only." He would make small talk and let Pippin get his anger out of his system. It never lasted long.

"You’re lucky," Pippin growled, rubbing his head against the pony’s soft nose. "No sisters, and you have your own pony."

"Jealous?" Merry asked, in a teasing voice.

"Yes, very," Pippin said, turning to face Merry.

"I might be convinced to trade if you think your father and mother will let you," Merry grinned.

"You wouldn’t either," Pippin said, glaring at him. He knew that Merry was teasing him and he was in no mood to be treated like a child by yet another relative just now.

"I don’t know. I might, if I could have all three for the pony," Merry said.

Pippin kicked at the dirt. "They’d drive you mad." He walked in a small circle, burning off some of his endless energy, hands behind his back. He looked so like his father when he did this.

"Really?" Merry said. "You don’t think I can handle them?"

"No," Pippin said, softly. "It takes practice. They’d best you easy enough. Remember Nell and the worm?"

"I do and it is oh so kind of you to remind me of it. Sometimes I can still taste it if I think on it," Merry shuddered. "I do have her out-sized now and so I don’t think she’d manage that again." Even as Merry said these words, he doubted them. On some level, he was still a bit leery of Pimpernel Took.

Pippin glanced over at his older cousin and smiled, a bit wickedly. "You don’t really believe that, do you?"

Merry frowned. He hated it when Pippin saw through him. It was unnatural and very inconvenient at times. "I out-weigh her."

"That’s right, you hold onto that, Merry. Just don’t turn your back on her, or any of them," Pippin said, seriously.

"You’re making too much of this," Merry scoffed. "I think I’d do very well in your position."

"You wouldn’t be in my position," Pippin growled. "You’re older than Vince and bigger than all of them. You are so lucky to be an only child, Merry."

"You’ll grow, or at least, I hope you will," Merry said, smiling. He had to get even for Pip for bringing up the worm incident. "I wouldn’t mind having three sisters to fuss over me and cook for me and treat me like I was the most important hobbit in all of the Shire." Merry walked over and patted the pony then looked at Pippin. "No, this is a very nice pony, but he can’t cook and he’s no help at all when I am awake late at night with nothing to do. I can’t go into his room and see if he wants to raid the kitchen or just sit and talk. I could be tempted to trade."

"You could go out to the barn and feed him apples and pet him," Pippin said, looking over at Merry. "You don’t really need all of these sisters teasing you and making your life miserable all the time. He’s a fine pony." Pippin reached over and stroked the animal’s nose, longingly.

"I don’t think I would do that late at night, Pip," Merry smiled. "No, I don’t think he’d be very much company after a while. He doesn’t say much. You'd be surprised but, sometimes, it’s hard being the only child. If you get in trouble, you’re on you're own. If you get sick, you're by yourself. If your folks do something to embarrass you, there is no one around that understands. This little pony doesn’t understand that it’s embarrassing when my mum tells folks how much I’ve grown and then pinches me on the cheek."

Pippin smiled at that. "At least someone notices when you grow. At least you grow." The frown had returned.

Merry laughed. "Why do you think I keep you around? I kinda miss having brothers and sisters, you know.  In spite of the fact that you are a bit of a pest, I have offered your sisters various things in exchange for you in the past, For some reason they don’t want to trade. I never thought to offer you a bargain for them.  I thought you kind of liked them."

"Sometimes they’re alright, I suppose," Pippin said, looking down. "I just got a bit upset with them just now is all." He was starting to remember his sisters all crowding around his bed just a few days ago when he'd injured himself while doing the dishes.  They could be very sweet when they decided to be.  But still...

"Why?" Merry asked.

"They were teasing me," Pippin said, shyly. He continued to rub the pony and look at it as if he were telling it his troubles.

"Bout what?" Merry asked, curious now.

"You’ll laugh too," Pippin said.

"I might, but you never know until you try me," Merry said, smiling at Pippin’s discomfort. He never promised not to laugh because, with Pippin, you just never knew what he might say.

"My voice is doing funny things and they think it’s amusing," Pippin groaned.

Merry laughed, very glad he hadn’t promised not to do so. He had noticed that Pippin’s voice was cracking lately, but he hadn’t mentioned it. He knew how sensitive Pippin was about that sort of thing. His little cousin hated reminders that he still had quite a bit of growing up to do.

"See, you think it’s funny too," Pippin said and his voice cracked a bit.

"No, I don’t really, Pip," Merry smiled. "I remember when mine did that. I didn’t enjoy it much either."

"Well, at least you didn’t have to put up with three sisters teasing you about it," Pippin said. "Vince told me that I sound like a mouse half of the time." Pippin was truly insulted and very embarrassed.

"Don’t worry, Pip," Merry said, putting his arm around his younger cousin. "It does stop eventually and besides, you won’t have to worry about Pearl. I happen to know she’s afraid of mice."

"That’s not funny," Pippin said, trying not to smile.

Merry knew he had him and so he pressed on. "Does she jump on the table and scream when you come into the room?"

Pippin smirked, and then he laughed, remembering the image of his older sister standing on their kitchen table and quaking in fear of the mice he’d brought into the house. "Now,that, might be funny," Pippin said and his voice cracked on the last word, causing both he and Merry to laugh again.

They were trying to pull themselves together when all three of Pippin’s sisters entered the barn. Pearl and Nell looked contrite, but Pervinca, well, she looked like she was planning to stand her ground as always. Merry loved that about her. Pervinca was a feisty little lass and Merry always enjoyed it when she made others squirm. Not himself, of course, but others.

Nell spoke first. "Pippin, we’re sorry. We were just teasing and you know it."

"I wasn’t," Pervinca smiled, and Nell tugged her sister’s dark curls in retaliation, but Pervinca held her ground. "Well, I wasn’t."

Just let Nell try and feed Pervinca a worm, Merry thought. There’d be none of that.

Pippin glared at all of them with renewed anger, the laughter dying rapidly.

"Come on, Pippin," Pearl tried. "You know we didn’t mean to hurt your feelings."

"I don’t care what you think," Pippin shot back. "I just wish all of you would leave me alone." He turned his back on them and looked at Merry’s pony.

"You’re just being a stubborn child," Pervinca sighed, looking bored. She had obviously not come on this mission of peace of her own free will. He could see Pearl's hand in this.  Pearl was the peace-maker among the three.

"Well, how about it, Pip?" Merry said, indicating the pony with a nod of his head. "Still want to?" He caught his younger cousin’s attention and grinned.

"Want to what? Peregrin Took, what are you up to now?" Pervinca asked, walking over. She stood in front of Pippin and looked up at him with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, just standing around being taller than you, Vince,’ Pippin grinned, and straightened to his full height. 

She glared at him. "You put him up to that, didn’t you, Merry?"

"Not me," Merry smiled. "He got taller than you all on his own, my dearest Pervinca." Merry put his arms around her and she pretended to try to push him away. Merry nuzzled her neck and she giggled.

"Watch, Merry," Pippin whispered too loudly. "She bites."

"Oh, for evermore! Will you three please stop fighting like a bunch of small children?" Pearl sighed. "Come in the house and we’ll all have some of the sugar cake that I made this afternoon."

"Better than standing in the barn watching Pippin pout," Pervinca said, with a last glare at Pippin.  Merry let her go, smiling. He then looked at Pippin. "It’s a nice pony, Pip." He whispered this so the sisters couldn’t hear and then winked at his cousin.

Pippin smiled. "Maybe I’ll just keep what I have this time. They aren’t all bad, I suppose."

Nell draped an arm over Pippin’s shoulders and kissed him on the top of his head. "Who isn’t all bad?"

"Oh, it’s nothing. Me and Merry were just talking is all," Pippin said, looping his arm around Nell’s waist.

"Well, we are sorry, Pip. It’s just that it’s kind of cute," Pearl said.

Pippin blushed and frowned. "I’m a bit tired of bing cute," he grumbled, looking at his toes.

"Well, I never thought you were cute," Pervinca said, grinning.

Pippin grinned back. "Thanks, Vince. That is the only thing I like about you, that and of course, that you’re shorter than me." His voice cracked at this point and all three sisters laughed.

Pippin turned deep red. "Merry, you still want to trade?"

"Who, me?" Merry asked, looking innocent. He smiled a bit. He did want to trade. It would be very nice to have a sister or two. Having three might be a bit difficult, but he would like to try it. He sighed as he followed Pippin and his sisters out of the barn. ‘Silly Took. I hope you know just how lucky you are,’ he thought. A sister is a rare gift and you have three of them.

                                    ~~~~~  The End? ~~~~~