Part 10

Pippin peered down at Merry. He was suddenly embarrassed at being caught listening and said defensively, "I was here first!" The moment he said it he regretted it. It sounded so childish and he could see Merry smiling up at him and shrugging.

"So you were," Merry agreed. "I guess this tree is a popular location today for hobbits who are feeling sorry for themselves."

"How did you know I was up here?" Pippin demanded leaning over the branch a bit further.

"Well, I didn’t when I first sat down but after I picked up the third apple core I began to have my suspicions," Merry said. "Then when I found this one apple with only a bite gone, I was pretty sure that you were up there." Merry wiped the apple in question on his sleeve and took a bite out of it. "Waste of a good apple."

"I dropped it by accident," Pippin said. "I have accidents all the time in case you haven’t heard.  It's all over town."

Merry finished chewing his bite of apple and swallowed. "Some of us aren’t supposed to discuss the matter," Merry said remembering what Frodo had said about this.  He wasn't supposed to discuss this with Pippin.  Frodo was planning to handle things. " Frodo wants to talk to you."

"I know," Pippin said. "I heard you when you were over by the barn earlier."

"So, are you coming down or should I tell him that he will need to climb up?" Merry asked and took another bite of the apple.

"Don’t tell him anything," Pippin said. "I don’t want to talk to him or anyone else."

"Well, he’ll find you even if I don’t say anything," Merry said tossing the apple core onto the ground.

"He might not," Pippin said.

"Everyone knows that you like to hide up in this tree," Merry grinned. "He’ll think to look for you here sooner or later. Besides even if he doesn’t think of it, you’ll have to come down eventually."

"Not until I’m ready!" Pippin said and sat back up on the branch and looked up at the leaves overhead.

"Or when it rains," Merry said a bit too cheerfully. "It’s supposed to rain sometime this afternoon."

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Frodo had been a bit annoyed with Merry’s childish behavior earlier. Why couldn’t Merry see that Pippin needed to be handled gently at the moment? Why had Merry become so irritated with him? Why had he ever thought of inviting both of his younger cousins to spend the summer with him? Bilbo had been right. Guests, even adored cousins, were enjoyable only if you didn’t let them stay too long and wear out their welcome. Merry and Pippin were beginning to get on his nerves. Why were both of his younger cousins so touchy lately? He didn’t remember being that touchy when he’d been that age.

Frodo sighed and walked over to the kitchen window. He wondered where Merry had stormed off to and where Pippin might be. He found himself hoping that both of his cousins would stay gone for a while. This made him feel slightly guilty.  All things considered, he really did need to talk with Pippin. Maybe Pippin would return while Merry was off sulking.  That way, Frodo would be able to speak to Pippin without Merry being present. Then once he had talked with Pippin, he would be ready to deal with Merry.  One cousin at a time.

He looked out the window and frowned. Merry was talking to the apple tree. No! Merry had found Pippin. That was the only explanation for it.  Why hadn’t Frodo thought to look in that tree?  Hadn’t he told Merry that he would handle this business with Pippin and Mister Tunnely? Now, from the look of things, Merry had forged ahead against Frodo’s instructions. Merry had walked out of the smial and gone straight to where he’d known Pippin would be after Frodo had instructed him not to discuss the matter with Pippin.

It was rather comical looking.  Merry was standing under the big apple tree looking up into the top of it and waving his arms about as he spoke.  For a minute, Frodo considered going out there, confronting Merry and ordering Pippin out of the tree. Then he had decided to let things take whatever course they would. He’d let Merry give this a try and see what happened. Maybe his younger cousins needed to have a talk just now.  Things had not been too peaceful around Bag End lately with both lads arguing all of the time. 

He walked away from the window, leaving the rather strange looking sight of Merry talking  to his apple tree, behind. Imagine, a hobbit talking to a tree. What would folks passing by think? Frodo half hoped that Lobelia Sackville-Baggins would pass by and spot Merry yelling up at the apple tree. That would keep the old bat away for several weeks at least. She’d be too busy spreading the gossip that the Master of Bag End’s Brandybuck relation had lost his wits and was standing about talking to trees. Frodo chuckled a bit at this notion.  He supposed, however that Hobbiton had enough to discuss thanks to his own antics in The Ivy Bush earlier.

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"So you can tell when it’s about to rain now, can you?" Pippin said.

"No, but the Gaffer claims to be able to feel it in his bones and he says it’ll rain this afternoon," Merry said calmly.

"You mean that someone actually knows more about something than you do?" Pippin asked feigning amazement.

"Just exactly what is it that I’ve done to you?" Merry asked starting to get annoyed. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. He was getting tired of looking up. "You’re as prickly as a thorn bush these days."

"Well, whatever you’ve done, I’m sure it was done perfectly," Pippin said. "Everything you do is perfect."

"Look, if you want to have this discussion then climb on down here and we’ll have it!" Merry said pointing to the ground with one finger. "I refuse to stand here and yell up at you until my neck aches. Congratulations, Pip! You’ve actually become a pain in the neck."

"Just go somewhere else and be perfect, Merry," Pippin said. "I didn’t want to talk to you anyway. You started this by talking to me!"

"Sorry to have bothered you in all of your misery," Merry said and he turned to walk off.

"You wouldn’t understand anyway!" Pippin shouted and suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and the rain began to pour down.

"Cloud burst!" Merry shouted turning to look up into the tree. "You'd better climb down before the branches get too slippery."

"Why do you always have to be right about everything?" Pippin grumbled as he started to climb down. "It wasn’t raining until you showed up and said it would and so now it’s raining! Don’t you get sick of being right about everything?" All around him the rain pelted the leaves of the tree and attempted to reach him. The summer leaves were so thick that Pippin was barely getting wet at all. Merry was still standing underneath the tree when Pippin jumped down from the bottom branch. The ground at the base of the tree was still dry.

"This tree’s a bit like an umbrella," Merry observed holding out a hand to check for rain drops. He ignored the comment about his always having to be right in favor of a discussion about the weather.  There was quick flash of lightening and the rain became steadier.

Pippin leaned against the tree trunk and tried to decide if he wanted to make a run for the smial or the barn. Both were far enough away so that he would be soaked by the time he reached them. He supposed that it didn’t really matter much. Both also held something that he didn’t want to face. Frodo was in the smial and that wheelbarrow was in the barn. He ran a hand over his pocket.  He had put the little wheel in there before climbing down.  He had been proud of his work on the wheelbarrow but now he was just embarrassed about everything.

"Since we’re stranded here for a minute or two, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?" Merry suggested without looking at Pippin.

"You wouldn’t understand," Pippin said. He tried to change the subject. "Why are you angry with Frodo?"

"Because Frodo thinks that he can boss me around just because he’s older than I am," Merry said.

"He can," Pippin said pulling at the bark on the tree.

"No he can’t," Merry objected  turning to face Pippin.

"Yes he can," Pippin said stubbornly as he snapped a piece of bark off of the tree.  He looked at Merry with a very serious expression on his face and said, "Everyone who is older than you can boss you around all they want to and you can’t do anything about it. I should know. Everyone tells me what to do all of the time."

"Well, I’m older than you," Merry reminded Pippin. "I’m twenty-five now and Frodo is going to have to realize that I can make my own decisions and that I don’t always have to do what he says."

"You do too.  Being older than me won’t help you any," Pippin said almost sympathetically. "Frodo’s still older than you are and so he’s in charge."

"Well I don’t have to like it," Merry said sticking his hands into his pockets and grinning at Pippin.

"At least you don’t have lessons," Pippin sighed and sank down onto the grass.

Merry came over to the tree trunk and sat down next to him. "I used to have them when I was your age," he said.

"I hate that saying," Pippin grumbled.

"What saying?" Merry asked watching Pippin pick at the grass.

"When I was your age," Pippin said. "No one is ever my age now, they just remember when they used to be my age. I hate being the youngest all the time. I hate having lessons that no one else has and I hate it when someone says, ‘when I was your age’ to me. That always means that a story is coming that is supposed to make me feel better but it never does."

"I won’t tell you a story," Merry said gently.

"Then you’re going to try to be sympathetic aren’t you?" Pippin said looking over at Merry who was sitting across from him. "You’re going to pretend to understand how I feel when you can’t. You’re going to feel sorry for me."

"I don’t feel the least bit sorry for you," Merry said.

Pippin gaped at him. He wasn’t expecting that and he wasn’t sure that he liked it. He had wanted a bit of sympathy right now. It seemed as if Merry wasn’t going to cooperate.

"Everyone has to do lessons at your age," Merry said. "You aren’t the only one and you may not enjoy it but it won’t hurt you. I don’t feel sorry for you."

Pippin looked down at the grass and as if mirroring his mood, the thunder cracked again. "I knew you wouldn’t understand," Pippin said.

"Explain it to me," Merry said. "I can’t understand if you won’t explain."

Pippin looked up at him with tears forming in the corners of his dark green eyes. "I’m not good at any of it! I can’t do anything right no matter how hard I try. Mister Tunnely is right about me. I am an idiot," Pippin said. "Now do you understand?" He wiped his eyes.  He was not going to let Merry see him cry.  Things were bad enough without that.

Merry resisted the urge to reach over and hug his younger cousin. Instead he said, "You mean to tell me that you are going to let that old goat have the final word on this?"

"He’s right," Pippin said. "I can’t learn to build anything and I did almost kill him with a hammer."

"He isn’t right," Merry said tightly.  "That old goat doesn't know anything about you.  I'm sure that you're doing a fine job."

"How do you know? You haven’t seen anything that I’ve built. I thought you agreed with him," Pippin said softly. "You didn’t think I could build anything either. You thought you’d have to build it for me."

"I was wrong," Merry said embarrassed. "I shouldn’t have done that. I was just showing off a bit and trying to impress you."

"You don’t need to show off," Pippin said. "You can do anything that you want to do. No one has to show you how. You just do it and it turns out perfectly."

"Where did you get that idea?" Merry asked.

"I’ve been following you around for years, Merry," Pippin said. "I know."

"You’ve always thought that I could do anything but that’s just because I’m older and I make it look that way," Merry said smiling.

"You do think I’m an idiot, don’t you?" Pippin said. "I’m not that stupid. I know when someone is good at something and you are good at everything!  You always have been."

"So you’re angry at me for that?" Merry asked surprised.

"I might be a little angry with you for it.  It is annoying," Pippin said. "I’m trying my hardest to build something with the help of an instructor and I still can’t get it right.  I remember that little cart that you built when you were only fourteen. You built that without anyone’s help at all.  You didn't need an instructor."

"As I recall, you helped me with that cart," Merry said smiling at the memory.

"I got in your way like always, but you managed to build that cart anyway," Pippin said.

"You painted it," Merry said.

"I painted it, myself, you, and half of Uncle Doc’s workshop," Pippin said. "You built a cart while I made a mess."

"You were only six. Besides, I built a cart without any brakes," Merry laughed. "I almost got us both killed.  You seem to be forgetting that part of it."

"It didn’t have any brakes did it?" Pippin said looking slightly cheered by this thought. He had forgotten about that.  Merry hadn't given the cart any brakes.

"No, it didn’t," Merry laughed again. "You and I went hurdling down the hill in it with no way to stop and if it hadn’t been for that little fort that the other children were building I might have crashed us both into a tree or something. That little fort slowed us down when we ran into it. We were lucky to get out of that alive."

"Well, maybe that's true," Pippin said. "But you did build that snare that time and that worked."

"That worked too well," Merry groaned at this. "I hung us both by our ankles in the barn as I recall. You still have a little scar across your ankle bone from that wonderful idea." Merry reached over and ran a finger across the tiny white scar. "We hung there like that for most of the night and if Frodo hadn’t woke up and gone in search of us then we’d have been there until dawn. As it was, your ankle bled and you wound up with that scar and I had a head ache for two days from hanging upside down for so long."

"But everything you do turns out right eventually," Pippin said still clinging to his original impression of things.

"Pippin, I have managed to get us into more trouble with my ideas than you ever have," Merry said exasperated. "Why earlier this summer, I stained you green."  He watched as Pippin paled a bit at the mention of that incident.  "If it hadn't been for Sam, you might still be green."  Merry paused for a moment to allow Pippin to think that over.  "In the past I have hung you upside down, ridden you down a hill in a cart without any brakes, rolled you down a hill in a barrel, got your head stuck in a bucket-"

"I did that last one myself," Pippin objected. "You were only trying to teach me to walk on my hands.  I'm the one that fell head first into that bucket."

Merry smiled. "It seems as if the two of us together are a great deal of trouble."

"I won’t argue with that," Frodo said and both of them looked up at him in surprise.  "Is this a private conversation or may I join you?"

"We were just waiting out the rain," Merry said.

"Well, the rain has stopped," Frodo said smiling.  He hoped that this conversation between his younger cousins meant that there had been an end to their fighting. "It was only a cloud burst."

"I don’t remember it stopping," Pippin said. He and Merry had been so caught up in their discussion that neither of them had noticed that it was no longer raining. Pippin suddenly looked uncomfortable.  "Are you angry with me, Frodo?" Pippin asked suddenly catching Frodo off guard.

"Why would I be angry with you?" Frodo asked.

"Because I ran Mister Tunnely off," Pippin said looking miserable.

"I’m not angry with you, Pippin," Frodo said. "I am angry with Mister Tunnely, but I am not angry with you."

"Why are you angry with Mister Tunnely?" Pippin asked tilting his head to one side.

"Because, from what Sam has to say on the subject, Mister Tunnely wasn’t a very good instructor," Frodo said. "Sam tells me that Mister Tunnely didn’t show you much of anything about carpentry. He says that Mister Tunnely just left you to figure it out by yourself."

"Mister Tunnely probably did that because I hit him on the head with a hammer," Pippin sighed.

Frodo smiled. "You didn’t mean to do that. It was an accident. Mister Tunnely was supposed to teach you to use a hammer in the proper fashion so that things like that wouldn’t happen."

"Well, he doesn’t have to worry about it now," Pippin said. "He thinks I’m too stupid to learn carpentry, doesn’t he?"

"What he thinks doesn’t matter," Frodo said firmly. "We know better than that, don't we? You are learning carpentry now. Sam says that you are doing very well.  I think that you simply had the wrong teacher."

"Sam’s just being nice," Pippin said. "He’s always nice."

"Sam is also always truthful," Frodo said. "If Sam didn’t think that you were learning anything then he would tell me that. In fact, he might even tell you that. What Sam did say was that Mister Tunnely was not a very good teacher and I believe Sam."

"Frodo will I ever be good at anything?" Pippin asked desperately.

"Pippin, you are good at a great many things already," Frodo said. "Don't you know how proud Merry and I are of you?  You mustn't let anything that Mister Tunnely has said make you feel insecure."

"But I can’t write proper and I’m rather dangerous with tools. I don’t spell very well, I can’t whistle, and I don’t pay attention well. I can’t sit still, I say all the wrong things, I can’t ride a pony very well, I can’t-"

"You’re just letting that old goat Tunnely get to you," Merry said feeling his anger rise at the thought of Tunnely. "You’re good at all sorts of things."

"What things?" Pippin asked. "You probably can’t name anything.  You're just being nice so I won't feel bad."

"You are the best tree climber in all of the Shire, you can memorize things quickly, you tell a story better than most, you can swim, you can read anything that you want to read, you can sneak into a room without anyone hearing you, you can make me laugh any time that you want to, you have wonderful aim with a sling shot, and you can put more grapes into your mouth without swallowing than anyone I know," Merry declared.  He paused to study the look on Frodo’s face.

"We counted," Pippin said, also noticing Frodo’s expression.

"It was a contest," Merry explained. "And Pip won it."

"I even beat Merry. I think that’s the only time I’ve ever won anything," Pippin said thoughtfully.

Frodo hoped that he looked properly impressed rather than startled but he was very much afraid that he simply looked confused.

"Pippin even managed to beat Fredegar," Merry said with a touch of pride.  It wasn't easy to beat Fredegar Bolger at anything that involved food.

"Well, that is something," Frodo said trying to school his expression so that he would look impressed.

Merry and Pippin studied him for a minute and then laughed at him. "You look so funny just now," Merry said. "You should see your face, Frodo!"

"Well, it isn’t the sort of thing I was expecting anyone to mention," Frodo said.  "It just came as a surprise." 

"I guess I’m not good at any regular things," Pippin said frowning again.

"That’s my point," Merry smiled. "Anyone can be good at regular things. Not everyone can be good at unusual things like stuffing grapes into their mouth or making milk come out of their nose or making a noise like a cricket."

Pippin grinned shyly. "The cricket noise is a rather good trick and that thing with the milk always makes Pervinca gag."

"You are also very good with a song," Frodo said.  He did not blame Pippin's sister Pervinca at all for gagging at the sight of Pippin's milk trick. He’d seen Pippin make milk come out of his nose before and it was not a pleasant experience.

"I suppose that I can sing," Pippin conceded. "But it’s only that you and Merry are so good at everything that sometimes I feel rather like an idiot around the two of you." Pippin blushed a bit.  "I wish one of you would mess up once in a while." 

"We do mess up from time to time, Pippin.  No one is perfect.  We aren’t more intelligent than you are or more talented than you are. We are simply older than you are," Frodo said. "We’ve been doing these things longer and so we’ve had more time to practice. You need to stop judging your accomplishments by what Merry can do or by what I can do."

"This would all be so much easier if I were as old as Merry is," Pippin said. Both older cousins exchanged knowing looks.  This was a familiar topic.  Pippin had always wanted to be as old as Merry.

"Then you could be jealous of Frodo like I am sometimes instead of being jealous of both me and Frodo," Merry said with a small grin.  He looked over at Frodo. He hoped that this statement would do as an apology for his earlier behavior. "In fact, just lately I’ve been jealous of Sam."

"Why?" Pippin asked.

"Because he was getting so much of your attention.  He's been helping you with your secret project.  Lately, all you and I have been doing is fighting," Merry said. He stood up and reached out a hand to help Pippin get up. "I don’t enjoy admitting it, but I’ve actually missed you in spite of the fact that you’re a complete pest."

Pippin wrapped his arms around Merry and hugged him fiercely. "You really missed me?"

"I really did," Merry said. "But don’t tell anyone that I said so or I’ll deny it."

"I won’t tell anyone," Pippin said happily. "I’m the only one that really needs to know."

"Are we going to spend the entire day out here under this tree?" Frodo asked. "I don’t mind really but it would be nice to be inside where it’s a bit dryer." He stood up and brushed a few leaves off of his trousers.

As the three of them started to walk back toward Bag End, Pippin stopped suddenly. "What is it now?" Frodo asked.

"What’s my father going to say?" Pippin asked looking very worried. "Now I won’t be able to learn carpentry.  He may not understand about what happened with Mister Tunnely."

"Don't worry about your father.  I plan to write to him and explain everything.  You may want to worry about Mister Tunnely, though.  I doubt that your father is going to be very pleased with Tobias after he has read my letter," Frodo said.

"But who will teach me carpentry?" Pippin asked.

"I have an idea about that," Frodo said.

"Are you going to teach me?" Pippin asked looking slightly alarmed.  He was remembering the story about the shelves. Merry snickered.

Frodo shot Merry a nasty look and said, "No, but I have someone in mind for the job so don’t think that you will be getting out of your lessons that easily." Frodo noticed the frown that took over Pippin’s face.  He decided that a bit of a break was in order. "However, I don’t think we’ll be having any lessons today. I think we shall take the day off," Frodo said. 

"No writing lesson either?" Pippin asked looking hopeful.

"No writing lesson either," Frodo said. "But that is only for today. Tomorrow we will go back to work."

"But who is going to teach me about carpentry, Frodo?" Pippin asked.

"You let me worry about that," Frodo said.  "Today, let's just relax and enjoy ourselves.  We can do something just for fun."

"Hey, maybe today, Pippin can show you how to blow milk out of your nose, Frodo," Merry suggested. "That sounds like fun to me."

Frodo’s mouth fell open. How did Merry always know what would annoy him the most? "I think that I would rather attempt to beat both of you in that contest where we see who can put the most grapes into their mouth at one time," Frodo said quickly.  He was not about to blow milk out of his nose.  At least, he wouldn't blow milk out of his nose if he could help it.

"Really? Because I have to warn you, I’m awfully good at that one," Pippin said, his eyes shining with pleasure.

"Then you won’t mind a new challenger will you?" Frodo said giving a quick smile to Merry as the three of them reached the Bag End.

"As long as you don’t mind losing," Pippin said and for just a minute the lad sounded just like Merry.

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Notes:

Merry mentions having dyed Pippin green once and that is in a story called "A Matter of Trust" and he also mentions having hung Pippin upside down and that comes from a story called, "A Nasty Turn of Events" and Pippin got his head stuck in a bucket in a story called, "Bucket" (another original title.) All of these are chapters in "Trust a Brandybuck and A Took". ~~~~~~   G.W.     09/25/2005