Chapter 25: Two Days Before the Wedding

Mersday did not start out well for the Bagginses. Right after first breakfast, Bungo had one of his "turns". He grew light-headed, short of breath, and had a feeling of tightness in his chest. Belladonna sent Bilbo off to fetch the healer from her cottage on the other side of the West garden, and off he ran. His own heart felt tight as well--tight with fear as he remembered those dreadful days a few years back.

Mistress Lily came at once and looked Bungo over thoroughly, listening to his chest with a tube, and dangling her pendulum of amber on a silken cord. She prescribed an extra half-dose of the drops Mistress Rose had given him to take twice a day, as well as a day of rest and eating lightly. She then turned and eyed Belladonna's pale face, and made her sit there as the pendulum swung over her.

"Mistress Belladonna, you need to rest as well. You've a bad headache." She handed a little pouch to Bilbo. "Master Bilbo, that's a tea with some chamomile, valerian and willow-bark. You make some of that up for your mother, and see that she rests this morning."

"But I am supposed to help with the wedding preparations!" Belladonna protested.

Lily shook her head firmly. Old Mistress Posy had taught her to be quite strict with the Tooks who would be under her care. "I will let the Lady know that you are unable to help today. She'll understand." Isumbras' wife Duenna served as the Lady of the Great Smials since both the Old Took and his eldest son Isengrim were now widowed. Duenna was a Boffin by birth, and a hobbitess of good sense and great energy as well. She knew that the Thainship would eventually fall to her husband's line, though she worried about her son's attachment to Lalia Clayhanger. Duenna would most certainly understand about both Belladonna's health and that of her husband.

The healer looked at Bilbo. "I'll also let the kitchens know to send trays here for the rest of the meals, and make sure that you are not otherwise disturbed."

She gave Bilbo a reassuring smile as he saw her out of their guest quarters. When he turned back, he saw that his mother was already seeing his father into the bedroom. He went to their small kitchen to make up the tea, and when it was ready he took it to his mother. She'd already tucked Bungo into the bed, and his face looked less grey, and his breathing seemed easier. But he was already slipping into slumber.

Belladonna sat down in the armchair by the bed. Bilbo brought her a footstool and then handed her the teacup. He watched her sip it for a moment.

"I'm sorry, son," she said. "You shouldn't have to be waiting on me."

Bilbo bent over and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Mama. I don't mind." But in the back of his thoughts he did mind; oh, not the doing for her or for his father, but for the unfairness of it all. His parents were not at all old by hobbit standards, and yet sometimes it seemed that they were already frail and elderly. Their health had been stolen away by the Fell Winter, and he never ceased to worry about them, ever since he'd had to take care of them then. But he tried not to show any of that in his face. He went to potter about the sitting room for a few minutes, and then returned to collect the teacup--his mother was already asleep. He picked up a folded quilt from the foot of the bed and draped it over her carefully.

Then he found a book in the sitting room, and sat down to read until the servants brought second breakfast.

~~~~~~~

Mistress Lily must have been precise in her directions to the kitchen, for the meals brought to them were carefully prepared: something substantial for Bilbo, who was, after all a growing tween, and light soups, toast and fruit for his parents.

After luncheon, Belladonna declared she was feeling much better. "I want you to go out and get some fresh air and find some company of your own age. Don't argue with me, young hobbit," she said, quelling the protest she saw rising to his lips. "I feel quite well enough to watch over your father for now. You run along and find Siggy!"

And so he went out of their room in search of his cousin.

It took him a little while to track him down--he'd been running errands for the aunts. Right now he was sent with a message to the kitchens that deliveries from the butcher and the baker in town would arrive first thing in the morning. Bilbo tagged along with him. Errands to the kitchens were always devoutly to be desired. The cooks usually kept things on hand for any lads or lasses who came their way--it cut down on scrimping and larder raids.

Mistress Semolina was pleased to get the message, and rewarded the lads with cheese and sausage pasties. They wandered off chewing on their treats as they walked.

"That's the last of my errands," said Siggy. "Mother said I was free after I delivered that message."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you earlier--you might have finished sooner."

Siggy shook his head. "That's all right; it was mostly delivering messages or taking things from one place to another. It wouldn't have made things any quicker. It would have been nice to have your company, though. How are your parents doing?"

"They were both feeling better after luncheon. I think the travel and excitement was just too much for Papa; and then Mama worries about him and that makes her feel bad."

"Well, I've got a little good news. One of my errands was to the carpentry shop to tell Master Rob that one of the legs on the sideboard in the ballroom needs repair--it's quite wobbly--and I was able to get the glue we need." Master Robur Tunnelly was the woodwright and carpenter in charge of the little building where repairs were done or sometimes new pieces were made at the Great Smials.

Bilbo grinned. "We should have grabbed the other thing we needed from the kitchen while we were there."

Siggy shook his head. "How? We couldn't ask for it. They'd want to know why we needed it. And if we just tried to take it? They were too busy, too many people. Why don't we make a little trip to one of the smaller kitchens after supper? Those will be abandoned by that hour."

"We also need to get hold of the pomade," said Bilbo.

"Well, after we hit the kitchen, we can see if anyone is home in Uncle Hildigrim's apartments. If it's empty, we'll slip in and can get the pomade and check on things."

"Are we still going to make the switch tomorrow night?" asked Bilbo.

"Of course. Practically every adult male in the tunnels will be gone to The Bouncing Bunny to help Chop celebrate. The Bouncing Bunny was more properly named The Leaping Hare and was the most popular tavern in Tuckborough.

"Well, I need to go back and have tea with my parents. I'll ask them if I can take supper in the main hall tonight, and we can eat together, and then finalize the plans."

Siggy nodded. "Give my love to Aunt Bella and Uncle Bungo," he said. He was very fond of Bilbo's parents, who had often hosted him at Bag End.

~~~~~~~

After supper the two lads slipped out of the dining hall. They passed by the main kitchen, and headed for the auxiliary kitchen in the West wing. As they had suspected, no one was there this time of evening. It was easy enough to slip into the larder and liberate a bulb of garlic.

"We only need one clove," whispered Siggy.

"But they are less likely to miss a whole bulb from the string than they are to notice that one bulb has a clove missing!" said Bilbo. He carefully twisted the bulb free and dropped it into his pocket. The two of them left the kitchen and headed for Uncle Hildigrim's apartment. They'd had a stroke of luck at the tween's table at supper. They were sitting across from Porro, who revealed that all of the bride's immediate family and all of the groom's immediate family would be meeting in the Thain's study to go over the marriage contract one last time.

They walked right in, for naturally it was not locked, and made for their cousin's room. "Should we light the lamp?" asked Siggy.

Bilbo went to the window and pushed back the shutters. It was still quite light out. "I don't think we need to--it's less than a month to Midsummer."

The two lads went over to Chop's dresser. Siggy opened the top drawer. "Here it is." It was another jar of pomade. This one was a plain glass jar; made to fit inside the silver jar when it sat atop the dresser on the silver tray where Chop kept his brushes. Siggy slipped the spare jar into his jacket pocket. "He won't miss it. The other is still more than half full."

"That's all we need here for tonight," said Bilbo. "We don't want to leave any traces."

Amid soft snickers the two lads left the apartments and headed for those of Siggy's family, which were not far along the way in the same passage.

Bilbo said hello to his Uncle Hildibrand and his Aunt Myrtle, and the two went into Siggy's room where they collapsed on the bed, laughing. They had got clean away with this part of the prank!

Bilbo took the garlic from his pocket and separated a clove from the rest of the bulb. Then he scored it with his little penknife. Siggy produced the pomade. He used his handkerchief to scoop out a little of the greasy cream, and Bilbo tucked the garlic clove down into it, and they firmly screwed the lid down. Siggy wiped his fingers, and then sniffed them. "Whew!" he exclaimed. "I think the garlic may improve the odor! There was a distinct herbal and slightly floral scent about the pomade.

"Chop won't think so," said Bilbo with a grin. That set both of them to laughing once more.

Siggy placed the jar in the top drawer of his own dresser. "It should be nice and ripe by Sterday morning," he said.

The two cousins settled in to have a nice long visit, remembering some of the pranks that they had pulled with Chop, and the various scrimping raids and close calls they had. Once more they were laughing loudly, and they began to scuffle with one another. This brought a sharp rap on the door, and then Uncle Hildibrand stuck his head in. "Lads, it's getting late and tomorrow will be very busy. Bilbo, I'm sure that your parents are wondering where you are!"

Bilbo took the hint and bid Siggy good night. "I'll see you tomorrow, cousin!" He turned and winked, and Siggy stuck his tongue out. Then both of them turned red trying to suppress more laughter.

He went a few doors down to the quarters where he was staying with his parents. Both of them were sitting up and looking much better than either of them had in the morning. They were sitting together on the settee, his father's arm around his mother, and their faces lit up to see him. He went and sat on the floor and leaned against their knees.

"So did you have a nice evening, son?" asked Bungo.

"I did, Papa. But the best part is seeing you feel better."

~~~~~~~

Author's Notes: In my idea of the great ancestral halls such as the Great Smials and Brandy Hall, there are a number of kitchens. There's a main kitchen attached to the main dining hall. It's the main kitchen that's the central hub of food preparation from which most of the communal meals are issued. But there are at least four or five auxiliary kitchens, somewhat smaller. These are used sometimes by groups of hobbits who want to prepare meals together but don't have access to a private kitchen, also they are used to supplement the main kitchen in times when that may be necessary such as at holidays, or after harvest when much food is being preserved. Finally, most of the family quarters and even a few of the individual rooms have small galley type kitchens, where the hobbits who dwell there can prepare tea or light meals if they do not wish to go to the main dining hall and join the communal meals. The family quarters of the Thain (in the Great Smials) or of the Master (at Brandy Hall) have good-sized kitchens, more than galleys but somewhat smaller than the communal auxiliary kitchens.

Also the main communal dining halls at both places have a "high table" where the master of the smials presides, and then some lesser tables for the remaining kin who dwell there. There is always a "children's table" for children who are old enough not to need feeding, and a "tween's table" for those who are too old for the children's table.