Part 2

The next morning at first breakfast Pippin couldn’t seem to sit still.  He was anxious to return to the barn and work on his project.  Sam was going to meet him there and give him some advice on how to make his wheel barrow more like a wheel barrow.

“You’re eating too fast even for a Took,” Merry teased.

“I have to hurry so Sam doesn’t think that I’m not coming,” Pippin said between bites.  “I don’t want to keep him waiting for me.  Besides, the Gaffer could decide that he needs Sam’s help for something and then he’ll have to go off.”

“So Sam is going to help you with your project?” Merry said, frowning a bit.

Pippin nodded while shoveling in more of his breakfast.

“Just what are you building out there in the barn anyway?” Merry asked still frowning.

“It’s not ready yet,” Pippin said taking a drink of his milk.

“I gathered that much yesterday, but what will it be when it’s finished?” Merry asked.

Pippin grabbed several scones off of the plate on the table and stood quickly.  “You’ll see once it’s done,” he said and limped toward the door.

Merry scowled.

“You should have helped him when he asked you to,” Frodo said.

“Piss off, Frodo,” Merry grumbled.

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Sam was in the barn when Pippin arrived.  Sam was standing over the wheel barrow with his hands on his hips and shaking his head.  Pippin stopped just inside of the barn and watched.  Sam was clicking his tongue and muttering to himself.

“I guess that would be the best thing,” Pippin said in a small voice.

Startled, Sam spun around and saw the young hobbit looking at him.  Master Pippin’s face was a study in disappointment and Sam knew at once that the lad had over heard his mutterings.  “If you’d come on over here I can show you why we need to start over,” Sam said gently.  There was no use in trying to deny that he’d been saying as much when Master Pippin came in. 

Pippin nodded and came over to join Sam.  Pippin had the last bite of a scone in one hand but he made no move to finish it off.  He just stood there looking sadly down at the wheel barrow.  “So it’s all completely wrong then?” Pippin asked.

“Well it ain’t completely wrong,” Sam said trying to soften the blow without telling an out right lie.  “We can use most ‘o these parts but some of it needs to be measured a bit closer.”

“Like the handles?” Pippin asked.  “I was worried about them to start with but I never could get them to come out the same.  That one kept getting shorter and shorter and I was worried that I might cut too much off of it and so I just lined them up the best that I could and quit sawing on them.”

“Don’t feel too bad Master Pippin,” Sam said putting a hand on the lad’s shoulder.  “Getting’ the measurin’ right can be a might tricky until you’ve done it a few times.”

“So we have to start completely over?” Pippin asked.

“Well, what we need to do first is see how much of it we can save,” Sam said.  “Some of it might be all right if we just work on it a bit.”  Sam watched the disappointment wash over Master Pippin’s face.  “Think of this as good experience.  You have an idea of how a wheel barrow ought to be built and you’ve had a try at it.  Now, what you’re goin’ to do is take the best parts of this one and make a second try at it.”

“So how do we take it apart?” Pippin asked.  “I used lots and lots of nails on it to make it sturdy for hauling things.”

“First thing you do is you go over to that stall and get them foot guards,” Sam said.  “Then you are going to start takin’ this thing apart.”

“By myself?” Pippin asked finally popping the rest of his scone into his mouth.  “I thought you were going to help me, Sam.”

“I am,” Sam said.  “But if I took your meanin’ right last night, you told me that you wanted to build this on your own.  You said that the reason that Mister Merry weren’t helpin’ you was that he wanted to build it for you.”

Pippin nodded.  “I do want to build it on my own, but couldn’t you help me un-build it?”

“Get the foot guards,” Sam said avoiding answering the question for the moment.

__________________________________________

“Will you either sit down or just go on out to the barn, Meriadoc?” Frodo sighed losing his place in the book that he’d been trying to read.  Reading was very difficult with Merry skulking about the place.  Ever since Pippin had left the breakfast table to go out to the barn, Merry had been irritable.  Frodo sighed again.  It was going to be a very long day.

“Just read your book,” Merry growled.  “I have no intention of going out to that barn.  Pippin and Sam can build an entire wind mill out there if they want.  I have no interest in this project at all.”  He stalked over to the front window in the parlor and said.  “Why don’t’ you and I go into town for a while?”

Frodo was sorely tempted to tell Merry that he had no interest in going to town just now but he suspected that he might as well go.  Merry was in a foul humor and it would hardly be fair to turn a grouchy Brandybuck loose on Hobbiton without someone going along to smooth things over a bit.  “I suppose we could go and see what we can locate for our dinner.  I haven’t planned that meal out just yet.  I’ve enough provisions for second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon and-“

“Fine,” Merry interrupted.  “Let’s just get to it then, shall we?”  He started for the door and Frodo got up, reluctantly putting his book down on the chair.  Yes, it was going to be a very long day.  Someone was just a bit jealous.

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“Are you all right, Sam?” Pippin asked in a rather panicked voice.

Sam was laying flat on the barn floor with his hands over his head.  He peered up at Master Pippin and said, “I think so.  I didn’t know I could move that fast.”

“I-I-I didn’t hit you, did I?” Pippin asked his voice thick with a combination of embarrassment and worry.

Sam got to his feet and began brushing the straw off of his trousers.  “No, it was just like I said.  I was faster than I thought and I managed to duck a’fore that hammer came sailin’ over top of me,” Sam said.  “What happened?’

Pippin was rubbing his palms on his trousers.  “My hands seem to be a bit sweaty,” he said.  “I think that while I was pulling out that last nail the hammer just flew out of my hands.  That last nail was in there very deep.  I must have done an uncommonly good job of driving that one in.”  In spite of the results, the little Took actually seemed to be taking pride in having put one nail in securely.

Sam rubbed the top of his head and frowned.  “Well, I suspect we ought to try and find the hammer before we do anything else,” he said looking behind him.

Pippin nodded.  “I think it hit the far wall,” he said and started awkwardly over in that direction.  The Gaffer’s foot guards were more than a little too large on the lad and Pippin walked a bit like a duck in them. 

Sam watched Master Pippin dig through the straw in search of the hammer and wondered exactly what he’d let himself in for when he’d agreed to help out with this.  So far Master Pippin had been eager to follow all of his instructions but the lad was simply an accident waiting to happen.  This was the second time this morning that Sam had nearly been hit by that hammer.  “Found it!” Pippin crowed and held the hammer aloft.

Sam quickly took it from him and said, “I think we need to get some gloves on you so this don’t happen again.”

“Gloves?” Pippin asked.

Sam walked over to the work table and found a pair of old leather gloves that he often used when digging in the garden.  “These gloves are a great way to avoid blisters when your diggin’ and I think they will help keep the hammer from slippin’ out ‘o your hands,” Sam said.  He handed the gloves to Master Pippin and watched the lad examine them.

“But Sam,” Pippin frowned.  “The fingers are all cut out!”

“That’s right,” Sam said.  “Slip ‘em on, Master Pippin.  Them gloves will give you a good grip on the hammer but they’ll still leave your fingers free so that you can still pick up nails.”

Pippin slid the gloves on and held his hands up to admire them.  “This is a great idea,” Pippin said.  “Did you think of it, Sam?”

“No, I can’t take credit for the idea,” Sam said.  “Lots ‘o folks do this with their gloves.”

Pippin grinned and reached for the hammer.  “I’m ready to try pulling some more nails out now,” he said.

Sam reluctantly gave the lad the hammer and backed away to what he hoped was a safe location.  He really did wonder if Mister Bilbo had any helmets put away in Bag End.  Buildin’ things with Master Pippin was dangerous work.  A good sturdy metal helm like the ones that the Dwarves wore for the Battle of The Five Armies in Mister Bilbo’s tales would sure come in handy about now.  Come to think on it, a shield might be nice.

“These are awfully nice gloves, Sam,” Pippin said as he pulled out another nail.  Sam only smiled and backed up another step.

____________________________________________

Merry had made up his mind after a long talk with Frodo to go out to the barn and see what Pippin was working on.  He was being silly about this.  Frodo was right.  Pippin wasn’t trying to exclude him from anything.  Pippin had just turned to Sam for help when Merry had been a bit, well, oh fine, he could admit it.  He’d been a bit too smug about his own carpentry talents and a bit less than encouraging about Pippin’s efforts.  Frodo had made him see all of this while they’d been in Hobbiton getting food for the dinner meal.

Frodo was inside putting the provisions away and fixing a second breakfast.  Merry would just go into the barn, see how the work was coming along, offer some encouragement and the stay to help out.  Pippin would be pleased and Merry was very sure that Sam would welcome the help.

Merry reached the barn and noticed that the door was shut.  There was a rather large sign tacked up to the barn door.  Merry frowned as he read it.

Pippin’s Carpentry Project!

Keep out, except, of course, for Sam Gamgee. 

All others will please knock.

~~~Peregrin Took

Merry’s brow furrowed and his frown deepened.  “All others, please knock?  So I am ‘all others’ now?  Well, I’ve no need to see anything in that barn,” Merry muttered.  He looked around and was sure that no one could see him so he pressed his ear to the door to listen for a moment.  All he could hear was the sound of hammering.  Angrier than when he and Frodo had left for town, Merry stormed back toward Bag End.   He had no idea why he had bothered to listen to Frodo about this to begin with.

____________________________________________________

“Hold still, Master Pippin,” Sam said between gritted teeth.  “I almost have you loose now.  Just this one more nail.”  Sam pulled back using the claw end of the hammer to remove the last of the nails and Pippin, who’d been leaning a bit too much, fell to the floor.

“I think I’ve ruined my shirt this time,” Pippin signed as he sat on the floor and examined his sleeve.  He was able to poke one thin finger through one of the holes in the material.  “I don’t know how I did that,” Pippin frowned.

“Well, you might want to roll your sleeves up before you start again,” Sam said.  He couldn’t believe that the lad had actually nailed his own shirt to the practice board.  Once Pippin had finished taking apart that contraption that he’d called a wheel barrow, Sam had wanted a bit of time to examine the pieces and to see if any of it was at all usable.  He hadn’t wanted Master Pippin in the way for this and so he’d suggested that Master Pippin practice driving some nails into an old board.  He figured that the youngster could use the practice.  Sam had been about half way through the pile of wood and wheels that Pippin had disassembled when Pippin had called to him in a near panic.

“Sam!  Help!  I’ve nailed my shirt to this board and I can’t get loose!” Pippin had shouted.

Master Pippin had driven not one, not two, but eight nails into the sleeve of his shirt and another one into the tail of it.  Sam had made the mistake of laughing a bit at the lad’s predicament.  This had caused Master Pippin to say, “You’re sounding just like Merry!  You don’t think I can do this, do you?”

That had put a stop to Sam’s laughter.  He had even apologized and had patiently freed the lad by pulling out all of the nails while Pippin squirmed and made it all the more difficult with his eagerness to get free.  Sam seemed to recall that Pippin had told him that he’d nailed Mister Tunnely’s sleeve to a board too.  Sam had already rolled his own sleeves up but he turned them up another notch just in case.  The thought of Master Pippin using a claw hammer to free him gave Sam a shudder.  No wonder Mister Tunnely had turned tail and run!

Master Pippin, looking red-faced with embarrassment and still poking his finger through the hole in the tail of his shirt, asked, “You won’t tell anyone, will you?  I mean when we go in to second breakfast you won’t tell Merry that I nailed myself to a board will you?”

“Course not,” Sam said. 

‘After all, it was an accident and almost anyone could have done something like it,” Pippin said brightening a bit and rolling up his sleeves.

“Nobody I know,” Sam muttered.

“What?” Pippin asked frowning.

“I was just sayin’ we should give it another go,” Sam said.

___________________________________________________

“A sign of all things!  That little twit has posted a sign on your barn door forbidding anyone to enter without knocking,” Merry said.  “Oh, except Sam.  That knocking rule doesn’t apply to Sam Gamgee, just to the rest of us regular hobbits!  ‘All others’ it said.  All others indeed!”

“Merry you are behaving like a jealous child,” Frodo said.  “Now go on out to the barn and knock on that-“

“I refuse to knock on the barn door!” Merry shouted.  “No one knocks on the door to a barn.  That’s preposterous.”

“Fine,” Frodo sighed.  “You finish setting the table and I’ll go knock and let them know that second breakfast is on the table.”  Frodo turned and left the kitchen and a very out-of-sorts Merry Brandybuck behind him.

_____________________________________________

The Gaffer was enjoying his breakfast at the Ivy Bush.  His daughter was staying with the Cottons for a few days and Sam had clearly had his hands full this morning so Hamfast had decided that he’d simply have his breakfast at the Ivy.  Willow, who worked the kitchen at the Ivy, was a fine cook and she knew exactly how the Hamfast liked his eggs.

Hamfast was just finishing up the last of his bacon when he noticed Tobias Tunnely coming in.  Hamfast raised a hand and called out, “There you are, you old coward, you!”

“I beg your pardon, Gaffer,” Tobias frowned.  “It’s a might early in the day for guessin’ games so I will ask you to explain that remark.”  Tobias sat down at Hamfast Gamgee’s table and peered over at him.

Hamfast chuckled.  “Peregrin Took,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Tobias went slightly pale and frowned.  “Do not mention that name to me or I’ll need several ales just to get through my breakfast without cryin’.”

Hamfast threw back his head and laughed as Willow set a mug of hot tea down for Tobias and refilled Hamfast’s own mug. 

“Laugh if you want, you old goat,” Tobias said.  “But that lad is a danger around any sort of tool.  As close as you live to Frodo Baggins I’m surprised you don’t know that.  I know that the Tooks wisely leave the child there as often as they can.”

“They don’t leave ‘em there,” Hamfast said gruffly.  “He likes it there.  Mister Frodo sets a fine table as did Mister Bilbo before ‘im and that little one has quite the appetite.  Besides, Master Pippin is quite close to his older cousins and right fond ‘o my Sam.”

“I’m sure he’s a nice enough lad, but they’ll have to threaten to cut off my ale and kidnap my missus a’fore I’ll go anywhere near him again,” Tobias said.  He picked up his tea in two shaky hands and took a long drink.

“I thought I understood Mister Frodo to say that you was due back directly to check on the lad’s progress,” Hamfast frowned.

“If I left the Baggins lad with that idea then I’m sorry,” Tobias said.  “I don’t have no intention of seein’ if Master Peregrin Took has progressed or not.  There’s not enough gold buried in the hill at Bag End to make me go anywhere near that one.  I put what his father paid me for the lessons into a package and sent it back to Whitwell as soon as my nerves allowed it.”

“You mean to say that you let one small Took scare you off’n your job ‘o tutorin’?” Hamfast asked.

“That one small Took managed to nearly kill me with a hammer!” Tobias objected.  “Why I was hit in the head so hard I saw stars for two days!  He ruined my best work shirt with grease, nailed me to a board, spilt a whole can ‘o red paint into my tool sack, broke one of my best saws off at the handle, and sawed my best work table in half.  As to the damage to my tools and my table, you can be sure that I kept what was owed me out ‘o Mister Paladin Took’s money and no mistake on that!”

“Holy Stickle bats,” Hamfast murmured.

“Bring me an ale, will you, Willow dear?” Tobias called out.  “Now you’ve gone and done it, Hamfast.  I’m shaken’ like a leaf in a high wind.  I’m going’ at have at drink my breakfast just to settle my nerves.”  He paused and looked at Hamfast who was now slightly pale himself.  “What’s wrong with you?”

“My own Sam is over to Bag End right now, trying’ to help Master Pippin with his building’,” Hamfast confessed. 

“Willow, better bring the Gaffer an ale too and keep ‘em coming’” Tobias called out.  He reached across the table and patted Hamfast’s arm.  “Least you got other children, Gaffer.  I only had that one work table.”