Part 6

“When you dip the quill into the ink, don’t put it so far in,” Frodo suggested as he and Pippin surveyed the large ink blot on the parchment. “If you get too much ink on the quill then it makes it almost impossible to keep it from leaking onto your work.”

Pippin only nodded. He continued to look at the large blot in the middle of the word he’d been writing. “I don’t think I can finish this letter just now,” he said making to get up from his chair.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Frodo said placing a hand on his younger cousin’s shoulder. “I realize that these lessons are not as interesting as the lessons that Sam has been giving you, but they are ever bit as important.”

“But I can’t do this,” Pippin sighed looking at Frodo and frowning. “I always ruin it.”

Frodo took the ink-covered quill from Pippin’s ink-stained hand and wiped it with a cloth. He then handed Pippin a fresh quill and replaced the parchment on the desk with a new piece. “You can do this,” Frodo said reassuringly. “It just takes practice. You’ve been writing for some time now. All you need to do is to perfect your technique and you can start by learning not to plunge the quill into the ink. Just dip the end of it into the ink well gently. That will solve one of your problems.”

Pippin sighed deeply and accepted the new quill with a long-suffering look. “I don’t write letters and so I don’t know why I need to know this,” Pippin complained.

“You need to know this so that you can write letters,” Frodo said. “When you are in Whitwell and the weather has turned too foul for you to come and visit me then it would be nice if I received a letter from you once in a while telling me how you are and what you are doing. It would cheer me on cold afternoons when I am all alone here at Bag End with no cousins for company.”

“You like to be alone,” Pippin pointed out. “Sometimes I get on your nerves and so does Merry though not so much because he’s older. Sometimes you probably wish we’d both go home so you could sit and read.” His tone of voice was flat and matter-of-fact and Frodo laughed.

“Yes, sometimes I do enjoy being alone,” Frodo admitted. “But that hardly means that I wouldn’t enjoy the occasional letter. It would give me something more to read, and as you pointed out, I do enjoy reading.” Frodo chuckled again and then pointed a finger at the parchment. “Now, if you hope to get to bed any time soon, I suggest that you begin your letter to Nell again and this time, with less ink.”

Pippin started to dip the quill into the ink well and then stopped and looked up at Frodo. “Do you think that I will ever be good at anything?” he asked.

“Pippin, you are very good at a great many things,” Frodo said surprised by his younger cousin’s question.

“Not this,” Pippin said glumly as he dipped the quill into the ink slowly and deliberately. “I don’t like to write.”

“That is part of the reason that you are having trouble doing it,” Frodo said. “It is always more difficult to for us to do things that we consider a chore rather than a pleasure. I don’t like to build things but I do enjoy writing.”

“I didn’t think that I would enjoy building things either,” Pippin said forgetting the quill and letting it sink into the well. “Then Sam started helping me and it’s different now. I like it when Sam helps me.”

Frodo watched the fresh quill sink into the ink well as Pippin became distracted by the topic of carpentry. “Did you ever build anything with Sam?” Pippin asked. “If you don’t enjoy building things then maybe if you got Sam to help you, you might like it more.”

Frodo smiled and sat down next to Pippin at the desk. “I am dreadful when it comes to building things,” he said. “Oh, and if you should breathe a word of this conversation to a certain Brandybuck cousin of ours then I promise you that I will make you recopy several large volumes of Elvish poetry in payment.”

Pippin grinned. “I won’t tell,” he said. “How dreadful are you?”

Frodo was amused by this. Pippin seemed a bit too pleased about Frodo’s failure. “Your Uncle Saradoc began my carpentry lessons himself when I was sixteen. He started off by trying to teach me to build a set of book shelves. He thought that if I were to work on something of that sort that I might be interested enough to do a good job.”

“That seems reasonable,” Pippin said eyes twinkling with mischief.

Frodo knew that the little imp thought that he’d managed to get out of his writing lessons. Frodo would allow him to believe this long enough to tell him this story and then he would put the child back to the task. “It does seem like a sound idea,” Frodo agreed. “Unfortunately, I didn’t want to build something to hold my books, I wanted to forget the entire business of building and read my books.”

Pippin laughed. “Did he give up and let you read instead?”

“He did not,” Frodo said. “Uncle Saradoc was determined that I would learn proper skills just like all of the other lads my age. He took me, as I complained every step of the way, into his workshop near Brandy Hall and began to try and teach me how to build a set of shelves.”

“Did you build a set of shelves?” Pippin asked.

Frodo looked at his little cousin and grinned. “What do you think?”

“Well, Uncle Doc can be very stern if he wants to be so I suppose that he made you build the shelves even though you didn’t want to,” Pippin said.

Frodo nodded. “He did.”

“Where are the shelves now?” Pippin asked.

“Well, the shelves are in one of the storage rooms at Brandy Hall,” Frodo smiled. “You see, after a great deal of effort, I managed to build a small set of shelves. It was only about as high at your shoulders and it was only four shelves. It took me three weeks of building and re-building while your Uncle Doc gave patient instructions and helped me take apart the efforts that were less than perfect.”

“He helped you take it apart?” Pippin asked surprised. Sam had made him take the first wheelbarrow apart on his own. “How did you get him to do that?”

“I think he felt sorry for me,” Frodo said. “When it comes to carpentry, I am all thumbs. I made a terrible mess of things several times before finally finishing my set of shelves.”

“Why are the shelves in a storage room instead of in one of the parlors full of books?” Pippin asked.

“Well, after I finished my shelves, I decided to give them to Esmeralda as a present on my seventeenth birthday,” Frodo said.

“Didn’t she like them?” Pippin asked looking insulted on Frodo’s behalf.

“She liked them very much,” Frodo said smiling at the memory of her smile. He remembered how she had praised his efforts and had hugged him as he imagined his own mother might have if she had been alive to receive this sort of gift from him. “She even found a special place for the shelves in the corner of her sewing room and she filled them with all of her sewing things.”

“You must have felt very happy about that,” Pippin said.

“I certainly did,” Frodo said. “I was very proud of myself right up until the shelves collapsed.”

Pippin’s eyes became wide with surprise. “They fell?”

Frodo laughed. “They certainly did. They just weren’t strong enough to hold the weight of a certain chubby three-year-old Brandybuck who had climbed up on top of them while trying to see out the window.”

“Merry broke your shelves?” Pippin snickered.

“He did just that,” Frodo said. “You see, your Aunt Esme is a very clever hobbit. The minute that I gave her those shelves she could see that they would not hold up under the weight of books. They were just too flimsy. I had taken them apart and put them back together one too many times.”

“But they would hold material and thread,” Pippin said seeing his Aunt’s wisdom at once.

“They would,” Frodo nodded. “So she made a very big fuss over how sturdy they were and then put them in her sewing room where she claimed to need them the most.” He smiled. “Unfortunately, the shelves were not sturdy enough to hold the weight of her darling little lad, Merry.”

Pippin grinned. “I wish I’d seen Merry when he was little. I always hear stories and everyone knows what I looked like when I was little, but I didn’t get to see anyone else be little.”

“Merry was all Brandybuck even then,” Frodo said recalling his cousin as a faunt. “He was as solid as a sack of grain and his head was a mass of blond curls that were so light in color they were nearly white in the sunlight. He had serious-looking grey eyes and chubby cheeks and he was not afraid of anything. Not long after he began to walk, he began to climb and that is how he ended up on my shelf project.”

Pippin grinned broader. “Did anyone see him do this?”

“Actually, your Uncle and I had heard noise coming from the sewing room and so we thought that we’d go see what was happening in there,” Frodo said. “Your Aunt Esme was working on a quilt in there and she had fallen asleep in a rocker. Merry was quite a busy lad at that age and he had kept the entire smial awake the night before because he had been full of energy. He had been running and playing half the night.” Frodo could still heard the sounds of Merry’s laughter and he scampered from one adult to the next playing at his favorite game which at that age was ‘catch Merry”. “He would run almost to me and then he’d turn, laughing and run away saying, “Catch Merwy!”

Pippin laughed. “Really?”

“Really,” Frodo said. “Your poor Aunt was exhausted from playing “Catch Merry” until the wee hours of the morning and so she had fallen asleep. That left Merry to do a bit of exploring in a room filled with things that he wasn’t allowed to touch such as knitting needles, yarn and darning needles and scissors.”

“He could have hurt himself,” Pippin said in concern.

“And he did,” Frodo said. “The little scamp climbed up on to his older cousin Frodo’s shaky shelves, stood up on his furry little toes and began trying to look out of the window. Your Uncle and I came in and had an instant to take in the situation just before Merry turned to smile at us. He waved at us and then there was a loud crack.”

“Oops,” Pippin said.

“The shelves collapsed and Merry fell with them,” Frodo said. “Uncle Doc rushed over and picked him up out of the wreckage. Merry also had a very good set of lungs at that age and he was screaming at full volume.”

“Was he badly injured?” Pippin asked.

“No,” Frodo smiled. “He had several bruises and a little knot on his forehead but he wasn’t hurt badly. In fact after scaring all of the adults and his older cousin half to death, he whimpered and whined and managed to get a very large bowl of pudding out of his mum with which to calm himself.”

Pippin smiled and then he suddenly looked worried. “Were you upset that Merry had broken your shelves?”

“Not really,” Frodo said. “I suppose I always knew that those little shelves weren’t very well made. I may have felt a tiny bit upset, but I was just relieved that Merry was all right.”

“So that’s how your shelves wound up in storage?” Pippin asked.

“That is the entire story,” Frodo said. “Now, I believe that you have a letter to write to Nell, don’t you?” Frodo tapped the parchment with another fresh quill.

Pippin suddenly yawned and began to rub his thumb. He still had a bandage around it from having smacked it one too many times with a hammer. “My thumb hurts,” he said between large yawns.

Frodo eyed him intently. “You weren’t the least bit tired just a minute ago,” Frodo said. “Now take this quill and write the letter, Peregrin Took. You’ve managed to distract me long enough.”

Pippin looked at the quill and frowned. “But I don’t have anything to tell Nell, Frodo,” he complained.

“Yes you do,” Frodo said, plucking the other quill out of the ink well and quickly wrapping it in a cloth so as not to allow the ink to drip all over the desk. “Why don’t you tell her how you nearly tricked your older cousin into allowing you to skip your writing practice?” Frodo arched an eyebrow at him.

“It would have worked on Pearl,” Pippin sighed. “And I’m tired of lessons. No one else has them.

“I am not Pearl,” Frodo smiled. “And all of us had lessons when we were your age. Now, a nice long letter to Nell, if you please.”

With a very deep sigh, Pippin dipped the quill into the ink and wrote, Dear Nell.

///////////////////////////////////////////

“I don’t know what Frodo plans to do but he’ll have to do something,” Merry said looking over at Sam as the two of them sat in The Green Dragon ignoring their empty mugs in favor of conversation.

“Well, beggin’ your pardon, Mister Merry,” Sam said. “But I don’t know what Mister Frodo can do. He can’t force Mister Tunnely to give your cousin lessons.”

“No, but he can sure give that old goat an earful,” Merry said. “That old hobbit took Uncle Paladin’s money and he said that he would teach Pippin carpentry. He should be made to honor his word.”

“At least he gave back the money,” Sam said trying to calm Mister Merry down a bit. “And it ain’t like he was actually teachin

Master Pippin anything. Like I said, Mister Tunnely wasn’t doin’ a very good job of it even before he quit.”

“You mean before he ran out,” Merry said. “He didn’t even have the consideration to quit properly. Why if your father hadn’t told me what Mister Tunnely had said to him, none of us would have known that he wasn’t coming back.”

“That wasn’t proper,” Sam agreed. “He owed Mister Frodo that much.”

“He certainly did,” Merry said. “I have a mind to go up to Mister Tnnely’s smial, knock on his door and tell him exactly what I think about his treatment of my cousins.”

Sam looked alarmed. “I don’t think you ought to do that, Mister Merry. I think you ought to let Mister Frodo handle it being as how he is the one that was dealin’ with Mister Tunnely on Mister Took’s behalf.”

“I just don’t want that old goat to get away with this,” Merry said. “Not only did he quit without notice, but he is going around talking about Pippin and calling him a jinx. He can’t do that.”

“I don’t suspect that Mister Frodo will let him by with nothin’” Sam said. “I’m sure Mister Frodo means to have a word with him.”

“If you ask me, Frodo should do more than have a word with him,” Merry growled. “Frodo should knock some manners into him.”

“Maybe you and I ought to be getting’ back to Bag End,” Sam said. He was a bit worried about the turn that the conversation had taken. He didn’t want to have to try and keep Mister Merry from taking out his anger on Mister Tunnely. There was a right way to handle this mess. Mister Frodo would know what was to be done. “We might better get back in time for you to say good night to Master Pippin.”

A dark look crossed Merry’s face. “Pippin doesn’t have much to say to me these days,” Merry said.

“Well, maybe you ought to speak up first,” Sam suggested.

Merry stood and put on his jacket. “I don’t think it will help,” he said. “Pippin hasn’t wanted to have much to do with me all summer. This started even before I offered to help him, well, before I offered to build his carpentry project.”

Sam frowned. “Do you know what’s wrong?”

“No,” Merry said. “But no matter what I say to him, Pip seems offended by it. I know I can say the wrong thing now and again and I do tease him, but I’ve always teased him. He never minded it before.” Merry suddenly brightened as they walked out onto the street. “Sam, maybe you could talk to Pip for me while you’re helping him with his project tomorrow. Maybe he’d tell you what is wrong.”

“I don’t like to interfere in other folks business, Mister Merry,” Sam objected. “I think, if you don’t mind my sayin’ so, that you ought to talk to Master Pippin about it yourself.”

Merry was quiet on the rest of the walk back to Bag End. Sam wasn’t sure if he had offended Mister Merry or if the lad was just thinking things over. Either way, it was a long walk back and Sam was glad when they arrived. He left Mister Merry at the gate to Bag End and headed for home. Maybe things would sort themselves out in the morning.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

“There you are,” Frodo smiled as Merry came into the study. “I was wondering if you’d lost your way.”

“No, I just spent a bit more time at The Green Dragon than I meant to,” Merry said.

Pippin looked up from his writing. “You got to go to The Green Dragon?”

“I just went to see who was there and to have an ale or two,” Merry shrugged.

“No more than two, I hope,” Frodo said.

“Two exactly, Cousin,” Merry grinned. “You don’t need to worry about having a drunken Brandybuck on your hands. I held to your limit.”

“You mean you held to your father’s limit,” Frodo reminded Merry.

Merry ignored this and looked at Pippin. “Finish your lessons?” he asked.

“No,” Pippin said sullenly and turned his back on Merry. He gripped the quill in his hand and dipped it into the ink.

“Well, I thought maybe you’d like to have a snack in the kitchen with me when you’re through,” Merry offered looking hopeful.

“I won’t be through for ages,” Pippin said flatly. “You go ahead.”

Merry looked at Frodo hopefully and Frodo smiled. It was just too much work to fight them both. “Pippin, I think you’ve earned a rest. Why don’t you quit for the evening and we can work on your letter some more tomorrow after dinner.”

“I want to finish it now,” Pippin said. “If I don’t then I will have to work on it tomorrow. Besides, I’m not hungry.” Pippin’s stomach growled in protest of this lie.

“You sound hungry to me,” Merry teased.

“Well, I’m not,” Pippin said. “My stomach just does that. If I ate ever time it growled then that’s all I would get to do.”

Merry looked at Frodo questioningly. Frodo shrugged. “I guess Pippin will be a while longer, Merry,” Frodo said. “Why don’t you start making the snack and we will be in later?”

“Fine,” Merry said though Frodo could tell by the look on Merry’s face that it wasn’t fine.

“Don’t make anything for me,” Pippin said. “I’m going to bed when I’m finished. Unlike everyone else around here, I have more lessons tomorrow.”

Merry started to reply but Frodo ushered him out of the study quickly and closed the door behind them. He put an arm around Merry’s shoulders and started walking him in the direction of the kitchen. “He isn’t angry at you, Merry,” Frodo said gently.

“No?” Merry frowned. “He certainly is doing an excellent job of making it look as if he is angry at me.”

“He’s feeling a bit sorry for himself just now,” Frodo said. “Pippin is extremely tired of being the youngest right now. He’s feeling a bit picked up because he still has lessons and we don’t. He’s taking it out on you, I’m afraid.”

“Why me?” Merry asked as they reached the kitchen.

“Because, my darling Merry, he is jealous of you,” Frodo said.

“Why would he be jealous of me?” Merry asked.

“Because you spent the evening at The Green Dragon having a couple of ales while he did the writing lessons that he hates,” Frodo said. “Because if you wanted to you could go out to that barn and build something without any help at all and he can’t. You’re older and that would be enough in itself just now.”

“How is any of this my fault?” Merry asked.

“It isn’t,” Frodo smiled. “It’s just part of growing up, Merry lad. Pippin will get over it but you will have to be patient until he does.”

“I wish he would get over it quickly,” Merry sighed. “I never thought I’d say so, but I actually miss his company.”

“He misses you too,” Frodo said.

“Then why is he being so stubborn?” Merry asked.

“Because he’s a Took and because he’s seventeen,” Frodo said. “Now, I need to know if you filled Sam in on what has happened?”

“I did,” Merry said with a sigh. “What are you going to do about that?”

“I plan to go and see Mister Tunnely tomorrow while Sam is helping Pippin with his carpentry,” Frodo said.

“I’m coming too,” Merry said.

“Only if you can keep quiet and let me handle things,” Frodo said sternly.

Merry scowled. “You mean I can’t tell him what I think?”

“You most certainly can not,” Frodo warned. “If you can’t keep still and allow me to do what is necessary, then you will be staying here.  Do you understand?”

“Very well,” Merry said. “It sometimes seems to me that I don’t fit in anywhere around here. Pippin isn’t speaking to me because I’m older and you won’t let me handle Mister Tunnely because I’m not old enough! There ought to be something that I’m the proper age for.”

“There is,” Frodo said. “You are old enough to follow my instructions and you are old enough to fix your own snack while I finish with Pippin’s lesson.”

Merry made a face at Frodo as his older cousin left the kitchen. He shouldn’t have let Sam talk him out of going to see Mister Tunnely tonight. If he’d already taken care of things then Frodo would not have been able to keep him out of it. Now, if he said anything he’d be going against Frodo’s wishes. He’d done that before, but he wasn’t’ sure if he should do that just now.