Title: On the Evening of Frodo's Fifth Birthday
Author: Dreamflower02

***

Drogo and Primula's sitting room was quiet, save for the crackling of the fire on the hearth and the ticking of the dwarven clock upon the wall. Bilbo smiled when the door opened and he saw his hosts standing there, little Frodo in Drogo's arms.

"We shall be just down the passage, visiting with Rory and Gilda if you need us, Bilbo," said Drogo, as he set Frodo down on his feet. Frodo had a book in his arms, the very story-book he had recieved that day from Bilbo as his fifth birthday present.

"Go along with you," Bilbo said with a wave of his hand. "Frodo and I will have a jolly time together, won't we Frodo?"

"Will you read to me?" said Frodo, trotting over to Bilbo, and clambering into his lap without a backwards glance for his parents.

Bilbo smiled, and helped Frodo to settle into his arms. The little hobbit in his nightshirt and his blue dressing-gown smelled of rosemary soap and his dark curls were still damp from his bath. He snuggled into Bilbo's embrace and handed the book to him. Bilbo opened the book, and gently guided Frodo's thumb away from his mouth. As of today, Frodo was no longer a faunt.

He opened the book, and began to read the familiar words...

Once upon a time there were two little hobbits. Their names were Tip and Tulip, and they were brother and sister. They lived in a cosy little smial with their mama and their papa and their auntie.

Frodo looked up and smiled. He loved Tip and Tulip stories.

One fine day in autumn, Tip and Tulip went outdoors to play in the sunshine. Their papa had been hard at work in the front garden, raking up fallen leaves from the great chestnut that stood by the gate. But he had put down his rake and gone to run an errand for Mama. The rake leaned against the tree most temptingly, and Tulip had a marvelous idea.

She took up the rake, and began to rearrange the pile of leaves. "Here," she said, making a circle, "is the smial." She made an opening in one side, and said, "Here is the door." She carefully began to push some of the leaves into "walls", as she decided where each room should be. She paid no mind to Tip, who was practicing somersaults across the lawn, until he stopped and came up behind her.

"What are you doing, Tulip?" he asked, startling her into dropping the rake. "Papa won't be happy that you have messed about with his pile!"

"I'm making a smial," she said. "I will put it back before Papa gets home."

"A smial?" Tip stared at the leaves. "Silly lass! That's not a smial. It's just leaves."

"It is," she said crossly. "See, there is the front door! You are standing right in it!"

Tip laughed, and then swept his foot across, scattering the leaves that she had so carefully arranged...

Frodo sat up indignantly. "That wasn't nice, Uncle Bilbo!"

"No, indeed it wasn't, Frodo. Shall we see what happens next?"

"Tip! You beastly lad!" Tulip was so angry that tears came to her eyes. "You ruined it!"

Truthfully, Tip was a little sorry he made his sister so angry, but he did not wish to admit it, so he decided to be angry as well. "I didn't ruin anything! It was just leaves!"

"Oh!" cried Tulip, stamping her foot.

And what do you think happened then?

"What? Uncle Bilbo, what happened?"

They heard a rather high-pitched voice. "Well, what a fine sight this is! Two little hobbits in a temper!"

Another voice said, "Yes, it's quite a show! Do you suppose they will come to blows?"

Now this startled both of them out of their temper, and they stared around to see where the voices came from. They heard laughter, and looked up. On a branch of the tree was a thrush, and next to him a large grey squirrel. "Such a shame," said the thrush, "to waste a fine day like this quarreling."

"Especially when there are much better things to do with leaves!" said the squirrel. He gave a flip of his tail and darted away up the tree. The thrush looked at the children, and it seemed he winked at them, and then he flew away-- flap-flap!

The two children looked at one another, and Tip's face grew red. "I am sorry, Tulip! I should not have spoiled your game."

Tulip nodded, looking down at the curls on her feet. "I am sorry I called you beastly."

Tip reached for the rake. "We should put the leaves back before Papa gets home."

Tulip grinned at her brother. "But first..." and she took a running leap into the leaves. Tip laughed and the two of them had a splendid time jumping in the leaves.

But when their Papa came home, he found them working. They had raked up even more leaves than he had left.

"What hard workers my children are!" He cried, and gathered them up into a hug.

But Tip and Tulip could not forget the thrush and the squirrel. So they told their auntie about it later. She nodded, and said "When you misbehave, you may never know who will be gossiping about you, do you?"

Bilbo closed the book, and looked down at his quietly slumbering charge, the lashes dark upon rosy cheeks. He dropped a kiss on Frodo's curls, and leaned back, allowing the ticking of the clock and the crackle of the fire and the soft breathing of the child to lure him into dreams.

***