"No fair cheating," Merry said, firmly, swatting his younger cousin on top of the head lightly.  "Keep your feet flat on the floor and stop stretching your neck up like that.  Just stand like you normally do or I can't tell."

Pippin frowned and lowered his head into its usual position.  He reluctantly rested the heels of his feet on the floor and waited for Merry to begin his measuring.  Standing still like this, was a very hard thing for Pippin to manage, but he did want to know how tall he was now.  It had been an entire month since he'd managed to get anyone to measure him.

Merry sighed and lay the small wooden stick across his cousin's head so that it touched the wall behind him and then nodded at Pippin.  "You can move now.  I have it all lined up." 

Merry was extremely proficient at this procedure now.  He'd had plenty of practice.  Pippin was always trying to get someone to measure him.  Most of his relations tried to talk their way out of it because the results were, for the most part the same.  Pippin seldom grew any taller.  After all, there was hardly time between measurings for the lad to grow.  Even Brandybucks didn't grow that fast.

Pippin was out from under the stick in one quick move.  He was now looking hopefully over at Merry who was finishing his calculations.  "Did I grow?" Pippin asked.  "Did I, Merry?  Am I taller yet?  Because I think my feet come further down when I'm lying in my bed at night than they used to."

Merry smiled at this but said nothing.  He was deciding how to proceed.  Pippin was the same height that he had been last month.  Merry wasn't surprised by this, but he knew that Pippin would be very disappointed.  He was trying to decide if a small lie was in order.  Sometimes, when dealing with younger cousins, you had to stretch the truth a bit to keep them happy.

Pippin was bitting his lower lip now.  "I guess I was wrong and it's not very good news.  I didn't grow any at all did I?"

"Well," Merry began, looking over at the anxious eleven-year-old.  "you know that we only measured you just a month ago."

Pippin nodded his head and looked down at the floor.  "I know," he said.  "I wasn't any taller then either."

"It does take time, Pippin," Merry said.  "No one grows over night."

"What if I don't ever get any taller?" Pippin asked, genuinly worried.  "What if I never grow any more than I have so far?"

Merry smiled.  "You'll grow when the time is right.  It's hard to wait, but before you know it, you'll start to shoot up.  You're only eleven, Pip.  It'd be a bit odd if you were much taller at your age.  It'd be un-natural."

"Most of the lads my age are taller than me and they aren't un-natural," Pippin objected.  "This growing business takes a very long time and I don't think I'm very good at it."

"Maybe if you relax and enjoy yourself more and don't worry about it so much then you'll grow," Merry suggested.  "I think you're using up too much energy worrying.  It doesn't leave any energy for growing."

Pippin considered this bit of rather lop-sided wisdom for a moment and then sighed deeply.  "I need to speak to Gandalf.  Do you suppose that he'll come to the Shire again soon?"

"I suspect that he will come to visit Bilbo and Frodo before too long," Merry said.  You could never tell when the wizard might stop by so anything was possible.  "Maybe for Bilbo's and Frodo's birthdays."

Pippin smiled.  "That sounds right.  I can ask him then."

"Ask him what?" Merry wanted to know.

"I can ask him to make me a magic drink of some sort, like a tonic only stronger," Pippin said, brightly.

"What sort of tonic?" Merry asked.

"Something to make me grow," Pippin explained.  "I need something that will speed things up a bit, Merry.  I'm getting behind and I need to catch up."

Merry laughed.  "Pippin, I don't think Gandalf can make something that will help you grow.  I don't think there is anything like that."

"I bet there is too, Merry," Pippin said in an insulted tone.  "You don't know everything.  There is something that will help me grow and all I have to do is find it."

"Well, when you do find it, let me know," Merry grinned and he reached over and mussed Pippin's curls.  "I think that would be some sort of very powerful magic."

Pippin folded his arms over his chest and scowled up at Merry.  "You'll see!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pippin smiled over at his cousin.  He and Merry were resting on a stone bench in Minas Tirith.  They had been talking about home and sharing memories to pass the time while they waited for their older cousin, Frodo to join them. "See, I was right.  Admit it, Merry."

Merry looked over at him and frowned trying to decide what this new turn in their conversation was about.  Talking to Pippin was a bit like traveling down a winding road in a wagon with no way to steer.  You were constantly going off the road and into the woods without warning.  "Admit you were right about what?"

Pippin stood and grinned even wider.  "I knew all along that there was some sort of tonic that would help me grow.  I just didn't know how much trouble it was going to be to locate."

Merry smirked as he remembered how Pippin had pestered Gandalf at Bilbo's one-hundred and eleven-ty-first birthday party.  The small Took had chased after the wizard trying to get him to concoct some sort of tonic to make him taller.  Finally, Merry had come to the wizard's rescue by taking Pippin off in search of mischief.  "I guess you were right, Pip, but was it worth all of this trouble just for you to grow a few inches?" Merry teased.

Pippin sighed and patted Merry on the top of his head.  Merry was still sitting down, but Pippin wanted to stress his point at bit.  "No, but I do think it was awfully rude of Gandalf to lie to me all of these years, don't you?  After all, he knew Treebeard and so it just makes sense that he knew about the Ent Draught.  I mean, he could have told me."

Merry laughed.  "Somehow, I don't think anyone in the Shire was ready for a four foot tall eleven-year-old."

Pippin grinned.  "Maybe not, but I do think he should have told me.  It just would have been the honest thing to do."

The End