Right now, on Live Journal, thanks to Frodosweetstuff, everyone is enjoying Hobbit Month.  For the entire month of October, people have been posting artwork, photos, stories and other hobbit-related things for everyone to enjoy.  This little prologue is a different view point on the celebration of 'Hobbit Month'.  So, getting on with it, here's another of my prologues.

GW        10-28-2009

*****

"What's all the fuss about?" Merry yawned.

"It's Hobbit Month," Frodo explained.  "Now, get up out of that chair and get ready."

"Ready for what?" Merry growled.

"Hobbit Month," Frodo sighed, beginning to look annoyed.

"Frodo," Merry said.  "You do realize that we're hobbits, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Frodo objected.  "What sort of a question is that?"

"Mr. Frodo knows all sorts 'o things," Sam said rushing to his master's defense.  "He speaks Elvish and he reads all the time.  He'd know a simple fact like that."

"Thank you, Sam," Frodo said.

"Well, he doesn't act as if he knows it, Sam," Merry said. "For a very well educated Hobbit, you seem to be forgetting a thing or two, Frodo."

"What do you mean, Meriadoc?" Frodo frowned, looking very annoyed now."Just exactly what is it that you think I may have forgot?"

"Well, you're a hobbit, I'm a hobbit, Sam's a hobbit, and the Shire is full of hobbits," Merry grinned.  "To us, every month is hobbit month.  What other kinds of months could we have?  Pony Month?  Cow Month?  Sheep Month?  They'd love that one in the Tooklands.  Elf Month?  In honour of your vast skills with their language, perhaps?  Badger Month?  Dwarf Month?"

"Merry, you are missing the point of it all!" Frodo shouted.

"Smelly Cheese Month?  Goblin Month?  I'm going to be gone that month. Potato Month?  Sam might like that one. Flying Pig Month?  Or, as hobbits, would we just be content to have hobbit months?"

Frodo, who was turning a nasty shade of red while Merry spoke, was about to say something in return when Pippin rushed in carrying an arm-load of parchment, streamers, and paints.  "I've got everything we need!'  Pippin announced slightly breathless.  "I had to go all over town, but I think I've finally got all of the items on the list.  I even got a couple of things that you didn't ask for, Frodo."

Merry smiled.  "Making something, Cousin?"  He looked at Frodo who was shaking with rage at the moment.

"It's for Hobbit Month," Pippin said cheerfully.  "We're making a big banner to hang from the Party Tree and one to put in the garden here at Bag End and then one to put in the town so that everyone will know."

Merry leered at Frodo.  "So that everyone will know what, exactly, Pippin?"

"It's so that everyone will know about Hobbit Month," Pippin replied. 

"You're going to make banners so that all of *the hobbits* in *Hobbiton* will read the the banners and know that's it's *Hobbit Month*?" Merry asked. "Who thought of this again?"

"It was Frodo's idea," Pippin said proudly.  "He has the best ideas, Merry.  He suggested that I go and get all of this stuff, which is rather heavy by the way."  He looked over at Sam, hinting that the gardener might help him with it, but Sam didn't move.  "Well, the point is, Frodo has this plan to let everyone in the Shire know about Hobbit Month!  He says we'll be spreading the word so that no one misses out on all of the fun and special activities that there are."

"Like making banners," Merry smiled.

"Well, I suppose so, but the special part will be the stories and the artwork and all of the postings and all of it will be about hobbits," Pippin said proudly.  He looked at Frodo.  "Would you mind taking some of these things from me?  My arms are starting to ache.  I got a great deal of this parchment and it's very heavy and then there's all of this paint."

"Is Frodo planning to make banners for the Buckland Hobbits and the Tookland Hobbits too?" Merry asked.  He winked at Frodo.  "I'm guessing that the hobbits in the Tooklands might find the banners very informative.  I doubt the news of Hobbit Month has spread all the way out there."

Pippin shifted the load he was holding in an effort to keep a grip on all of it and looked at Frodo.  "I don't think we have enough for that, Frodo.  I suppose that after we use all of this I can go back into town and get more.  We'd need to make one for Michael Delving too.  They'd be very annoyed if we left them out of it.  The Mayor is always saying that it's important to include the Town Hole in all of the big events and Hobbit Month certainly is a big event."

"Yes, Hobbit Month is a very big event, Pip.  It only happens twelve times a year, every year here in the Shire," Merry nodded. 

"Twelve times a year?  Frodo, what does Merry mean exactly?" Pippin looked confused.

"Yes, Pippin, twelve times a year," Merry smiled.  "If you think about it, you'll figure it out."  Merry walked by Pippin, patted him on the shoulder and said, "I have faith in you.  You'll get it all sorted out  and by this time next year, you'll wonder why you didn't realize it sooner."  Merry kept walking and went on outside, leaving Pippin still holding his purchases.

"What does he mean, Frodo?" Pippin frowned.  "Are we going to make the banners now?  I'm going to drop these things if I don't put them down soon.  Where do you want them?"

"I know where he'd like to put them but I don't think there's room in there and I'm not sure we could hold Mr. Merry down long enough to finish the job," Sam muttered.

"What?" Pippin frowned.  "Frodo, where do you want these?" "I really do want to know," Pippin objected.  "This is heavy!  I'd be more than glad to put all of this down anywhere you say, but if it's dark in there, I'll need a lantern and I don't think I've any way at all to carry one.  Frodo?  Frodo?"

Sam shook his head.  "Let him go, Mr. Pippin.  It's better that way.  Anything we do now will only be like rubbing salt in an open wound."

Pippin watched Frodo storm out of the parlour.  He and Sam could hear him ranting as he went.  "One nice holiday!  I'd just like to have one special holiday that wasn't spoiled by some, insignificant detail!  We're hobbits, Frodo!  Every month is hobbit month, Frodo!  Brandybucks!"

**************

Not every month around here is Hobbit Month, so enjoy it while you can.  When October is gone, so is Hobbit Month!  Big thank yous go to Frodosweetstuff for organizing "Hobbit Month" on Live Journal and for allowing me the chance to participate in it. Those of us who are not hobbits, can enjoy Hobbit Month every single day of October!

As ever, thank you for reading!

GW      10-28-2009

“Keep your eyes closed,” Pippin instructed.

Merry and Saradoc were watching as Pippin led Diamond along the bank of the Brandywine.  The two Brandybucks were fishing from a row boat a few feet from the bank.  Diamond had her eyes squeezed shut and one hand out in front of her.  Pippin was holding her other hand and steadying her with a protective arm about her waist.

Merry sighed and allowed his fishing pole to rest against the side of the boat. “This isn’t going to go well,” he predicted.

Saradoc yawned, took a bite of his ham and bread, and squinted over in Pippin’s direction.  “Why not?” he asked.

“Just watch,” Merry smiled knowingly.  “Pip’s forgot something.  I could have told him this wouldn’t work, but I didn’t know what he was planning until just now.  He said he had something special in mind for today, but if he’s doing what I think he’s doing then he’s in for a surprise.”

Saradoc chewed thoughtful on the last of his bread and ham.  He watched Pippin lead Diamond toward the boat docks.  The pretty lass was giggling and threatening to peek.  Pippin was all smiles as he warned her to keep ‘those lovely eyes closed’.  The happy couple’s voices carried easily across the water giving Saradoc and Merry full access to the conversation.

“I’m going to look if we don’t get there soon,” Diamond said in a teasing tone.  “I feel as if I’m going to fall.”

“You’ll not fall,” Pippin said.  “I’ve got you.  Just keep your eyes closed.  I don’t want you to ruin your surprise.”

“A surprise is it, then?” Diamond asked.

“It will be if you don’t spoil it by peeking,” Pippin said.

In the boat on the far side of the river, Merry sighed again and pulled a boiled egg from the hamper that his Father had packed before they’d set out on their day of fishing.  “Pippin could do with some instruction in courting,” Merry said around a mouthful of egg.  “If someone doesn’t help that lad, he’ll wind up all alone.”

“No, he won’t,” Saradoc grinned.  “He’ll continue to live with you and whomever you marry.”

“Not on your life.  Not after I‘m married,” Merry vowed.  

Saradoc arched an eyebrow and cast his line into the water.  “Is that so?”

“Look at him,” Merry said shaking his head.  “He has no idea what he’s doing wrong.  Sometimes I find myself wondering how Pip and I can possibly be related.”

Saradoc snorted.  “You can blame that on your Mother.”  Saradoc adjusted his grip on the fishing pole.  “If you think you know so much on the topic of courtship, then why haven’t you seen fit to share your vast knowledge with your cousin?”

Merry frowned.  He could hear the implied sarcasm in his Father’s voice.  “Even if I didn’t know the first thing about courting a lass, I’d know that Pippin was making a mistake right now.  I should think you’d know it too seeing as how you’ve had experience with Took lasses.”

“I’ve had experience with one Took lass,” Saradoc corrected.  “And as you know, your Mother is not like any other female in the Shire.  I’d not want to base my opinion of what lasses do and don’t enjoy on my experience with your Mother, Merry.  She’s one of kind.”

“Just watch,” Merry said.  “You’ll see exactly what I mean.”

Pippin had walked Diamond out onto the little dock and turned her around so that when she did open her eyes, she'd be looking at a small rowboat floating lazily in the water.  It was tied securely to the dock.  Pippin seemed to consider something for a minute and then he said brightly, “You can open your eyes now.”  He removed his arm from her waist and watched her expression closely.

Diamond slowly opened both eyes as if trying to hold onto the element of surprise for a bit longer.  For a few short seconds Diamond stood perfectly still, eyes focused on the boat and then she stepped back running into a startled Pippin.

“Here it comes,” Merry said from his vantage point across the water.

“Pippin!  Have you lost your mind?” Diamond shouted clutching at his arm.

Confused, Pippin put an arm about her shoulders and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Pippin Took, *that* is a boat!” Diamond announced.

“I know that,” Pippin responded looking all the more confused.

“It’s a boat in the water!”

“That’s the best place for a boat,” Pippin said.  “They aren’t much use on dry land.  No point to them unless you put them in the water, lass.”

Merry sniggered and Saradoc’s eyes filled with understanding.  “Now, I see what you mean, Merry-lad.”

“Pippin, you’ve led me out onto this, this, this tiny, wooden, path that goes right out into the water,” Diamond said clinging to him as if her life depended upon it.  “We’re surrounded by water, Pippin!”

“It’s not dangerous,” Pippin objected as Diamond dug her fingernails into his arm.  “It’s a sturdy pier.  Uncle Doc and Merry built this one just last autumn.”

“Why are we on this pier?” Diamond asked nervously.  “It doesn’t go anyway.  They never do.  They just go out into the water and end.  You can’t use it as a bridge so why is it here?”

“Oh, that’s so you can fish from it or tie your boat to it,” Pippin said calmly.  “The boat is why I brought you here.”

“Boat?”  Diamond looked startled.  Even from all the way across the river Merry could see how tense she was.  She was obviously terrified.

“Aye,” Pippin said looking pleased with himself.  Her terror didn't seem to be apparent to him.  “It’s a surprise.  I’ve got a picnic lunch in the boat there and a blanket in case it gets cool.  I even thought to bring a pillow because if you’re not used to it, sitting in a rowboat can make your bum a wee bit sore.”

She blinked at him and then peered cautiously at the boat.  “You were planning on putting me in that tiny, floating, death trap?”

“It’s not a death trap.” Pippin looked offended now.  “That is one of the finest row boats in all of Buckland.  That’s Merry’s personal boat.”

“I thought that boat looked familiar,” Merry scowled from his seat in his Father’s boat.  “That’s my boat!”

“So I hear,” Saradoc chuckled.

“I don’t recall Pippin asking me if he could use *my* boat,” Merry said growing more annoyed by the second.  “Does he think he can just take my things whenever it suits him?”

“Apparently,” Saradoc shrugged.

“Well, he can’t,” Merry objected but before he could call out to Pippin and inform him of this, Saradoc placed a hand on Merry’s arm.

“Relax, Meriadoc.  Your boat isn’t going anywhere.”

“That’s hardly the point,” Merry frowned.

“Let Diamond handle this one,” Saradoc said.  “She’s much closer to the problem.”

“This isn’t over,” Merry muttered but he settled in to see what Diamond might be about to say.

“I don’t care if this boat belongs to that King of yours!  It’s a boat, Peregrin!  It’s in the water!  I don’t care if you’ve filled it with half the provender in the Shire and all the wine in Buckland!  I am not getting into that boat!”

“Why not?”  Pippin looked stunned by this.  “It’s a fine boat.  I’ve got some of those biscuits that you’re so fond of and it’s a beautiful day for boating.”

“Peregrin Took, have you gone barking mad?” Diamond demanded.  She pointed toward the boat.  “That wee boat is in the river!  I can live the rest of my life without those biscuits if the only way I can have them is to climb down into that boat and float out onto the river!  No biscuits are worth drowning for!”  She was digging her nails into both of his arms and glaring up at him.  “I can see that wee boat rocking back and forth I the water!  That thing could turn over and dump us both into the river!  If that happens, it won’t matter how beautiful the day is!  I don’t think I will find it the least bit comforting if folks can say that I died on one of the finest days of the year.”

“But Diamond I-“

“And you’ve loaded it up with food and pillows and blankets and those long, wooden sticks!  That wee thing will never hold all of that and the two of us!  It’ll sink like a stone!”

“Those aren’t sticks,” Pippin objected.  “They’re oars.  You have to have them or-“

“I don’t have to have them!”  Diamond shouted.  “I don’t need them.  I’m going back onto the nice solid earth where folks with common sense belong!”

“Tooks,” Saradoc muttered, shaking his head as Diamond’s voice echoed over the Brandywine.

“I told you he was making a mistake,” Merry sighed.  “Anyone with half their wits knows you don’t take a Took lass boating.”

“That point may have escaped Pippin’s notice due to the fact that you had him out in row boats since the minute he learned to swim,” Saradoc smiled.  “As I recall, you had him in one or two row boats without my permission *before* he could swim.”

“Yes, well, that’s water under the bridge just now, isn’t it?” Merry smiled.

“My point is,” Saradoc said.  “That for Pippin, row boats are a form of enjoyment.  Now and again you manage to make Pippin forget that he’s a Took.”

“Pippin might have forgot it,” Merry grinned.  “But I never lost sight of that fact.”

Diamond’s voice interrupted them again.  “Pippin,” she said clutching him with all of her strength.  “Get me off this tiny wooden pier this instant!”

“But-“

“Now!” Diamond shouted.  “I want to go back to Brandy Hall this instant, Peregrin Took!”

“But, Diamond, I’ve planned-“

“Either you walk me off this wooden path into the water right now, or I'm going to scream so loud that all of the Tooklands will hear me!”  Diamond shouted.

Merry and Saradoc both put their fingers in their ears just in case Pippin was still in the mood to debate the virtues of  boating in spite of Diamond’s threat, but they need not have bothered.  Pippin careful escorted his lass to the bank and a few feet inland for good measure.  Only then did Diamond let go of him.

“Of all the ridiculous ideas that you’ve had since I’ve known you, that was the worst!” Diamond shouted hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed.  “Have you taken leave of your senses?  Pippin, you’re a Took and you’ve been one all your life!  Tooks don’t drift aimlessly about on the river looking for trouble!  We’ve more intelligence than that!  Do I look like a half-mad Brandybuck to you?”

“I think we’ve been insulted and all of our family with us,” Merry frowned as he watched Diamond shouting at Pippin as if he were a ten-year-old lad who needed taken in hand.

“Sounds that way,” Saradoc nodded.  “I feel especially singled out since you and I are now drifting aimlessly in a boat.”

“This isn’t drifting, it’s fishing,” Merry reminded him.

“Diamond, it’s only a boat,” Pippin offered helplessly.  “You might like it if you gave it a try.  It’s really very-“

“That is where you are completely wrong!” Diamond shouted.  “One time in a boat is all it takes to wind up in the river, Pippin!  We could drown in no time at all!  Sane folks don’t go out on the river!”

“We’d not drown even if the boat did tip over,” Pippin objected.  “I can swim and-“

Diamond gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.  She starred at Pippin in a stunned silence which, in Merry’s opinion, did not last nearly long enough.

“I’d not take you out onto the river if I couldn’t swim,” Pippin said.  “I thought you knew that I could swim.  No wonder you were frightened.  I should have said something about that before.  I thought most folks knew.  I’ve been swimming since as was eleven or so.  And I’m a fair hand with a boat.  Merry taught me about boats and such when I used to come for summers here in Buckland as a wee lad.  Uncle Doc doesn’t allow folks out on the river if they’ve not got some idea of what they’re about.”

Diamond backed up a step and regarded Pippin curiously.  “You can swim?”

“Aye, not as well as Merry, but-“

“What else are you keeping from me?”

“What?  I wasn’t keeping anything from-“

“My sister warned me that you weren’t a proper Took!”

“Which sister?  What do you mean I’m not a proper Took?”

“All that business with you leaving the Shire and serving the King in battle and the talk about some of your odder doings as a child, like climbing trees and that business with the sheep costume, but I never dreamed that you could swim!”

“How is that in any way the ruination of my character?” Pippin frowned.

“You’re a Took!  One day, you’ll be the Thain, Peregrin!  I don’t know of any Thain that could swim!”

“She’s leaving out all of the Oldbuck Thains,” Merry objected.  “How does she know that none of them could swim?”

“The Tooks tend to forgot that anyone ever held the title before they had it,” Saradoc sighed.  “They have selective memories when it comes to that part of our history.  Ask any Took about Bucca of the Marish, and they‘ll tell you five stories about the Bullroarer,”  Saradoc pointed toward the scene on the river bank.  “She certainly is all worked up over this.”

“I can’t believe that I’m keeping company with someone that can swim!” Diamond shouted.  “And boating too!  Does your Father know?”

“Aye,” Pippin said but he looked less than thrilled.  “He doesn’t like to discuss it, but he knows.”

“There’s an understatement,” Saradoc grimaced.  “I remember trying to explain to Paladin exactly why I’d allowed his youngest child to learn to swim.  That was not a pleasant experience.”

“He still frowns when the subject comes up,” Merry nodded.  “If I’m anywhere around and it’s mentioned, he always glares at me like it was my fault.”

“I seem to recall that most of it was your fault,” Saradoc smiled.  “You were the very one that Pippin was trying to impress by wading out into the river without any notion of how to swim.”

“How is that my fault?” Merry frowned.

“You did let him follow you about all the time,” Saradoc pointed out.

“Let him?  How could I stop him?”  Merry demanded.  “He was relentless and no one else bothered to come after him.  You all just sat back and let him tag along after me and-“ Merry broke off, noticing a wide smile on his Father’s face.  “You’re having me on, aren’t you?”

“Thought I’d see if I could get you as stirred up as Diamond is,” Saradoc grinned and again both of them looked back toward the back.

“There is nothing wrong with swimming,” Pippin said firmly.

“Not if you’re a fish,” Diamond said.  “Now, I’m going back to Brandy Hall and try to forget that you can swim.  I’m going to try to forget that you thought taking me boating was a splendid idea!  I’m going to forget that you had plans to row me out onto the river and risk both of our lives!  I am even going to try and forget that you led me out onto a rickety wee pier over the water with my eyes closed!”

“Diamond?” Pippin called after her.

“Don’t follow me!  Don’t talk to me!”  she shouted.  “Don’t even look in my direction!  It’s going to take me a while to put this out of my mind!”

“I could fetch the picnic basket and we could-“

She stopped, turned around, and glared at him.  “Not one more word!”

“Can’t I just watch you walk off then?” Pippin asked innocently.  “I know you said that I wasn’t to look in your direction and I don’t like that you’re leaving, but I like the way your frock moves when you’re walking away.”

“I suppose so, if you’re quiet,” Diamond said blushing slightly and trying not to smile.  “And Pippin,  I might be feeling better near dinner time but not before then!”  With that she turned and walked away.  It appeared to Merry and Saradoc that she was turning her hips a bit more than usual for Pippin’s benefit.

“I was wrong,” Merry said.  He sounded very surprised by this failure on his part.

“Well, this *is* quite an occasion,” Saradoc said, amused.  “What were you wrong about?”

“Pippin won’t wind up all alone,” Merry grinned shaking his head.  “Diamond may not know anything about boating, but she’s a figured out exactly how to fish.”

“What do you mean?” Saradoc asked.

“She’s managed to hook a pretty big catch this afternoon,”  Merry said, grinning.  “By using her very best lure, she’s just caught the only Took that swims in the Brandywine.”

“Well, she’s certainly caught more than we have today, Merry-lad,” Saradoc nodded, looking at their motionless fishing poles.  “Must be the bait she‘s using.”

The End

GW  10-27-2009