Author's Note: The last line in this chapter is quoted from The Hobbit, Chapter I, "An Unexpected Party".

Chapter 45: The Green Door

19 Astron, S.R. 1341

A few days of spring rain had kept Bilbo in for a while, but today the Sun was showing her face against a brilliant sapphire sky, luring him out after first breakfast. He decided to take a stroll down to the Post Office. He had a letter for Siggy, and another for Drogo in Buckland. He donned his jacket, tucked the letters into his breast pocket and stepped out the front door.

The rain followed by the sunshine had brought everything into full bloom. Bilbo stopped on the garden path to turn and look back at Bag End, at the magnificent display of spring flowers against the smial. In the herbaceous borders along the path, allysum, bachelor buttons, pinks, forget-me-nots, asters and lady's mantle led up to the flower beds. Against the wall and beneath the windows the beds were a riot of colour; in the background were hollyhocks as tall as Bilbo himself, and there were larkspurs and foxgloves and snapdragons. The bulbs were not spent, and tulips, irises, daffodils, hyacinths and lilies-of-the-valley filled out the beds. It was breath-taking. And yet...

He looked at Hom Greenhand who had stopped his pruning, and now stood beside him surveying his handiwork. Bilbo was about to congratulate him on work well done, when the gardener frowned.

"Master Holman," ventured Bilbo, "something is not quite right. But I can't put my finger on it."

"It's t' door Mr. Bilbo. Used to be it were a lot greener."

That was it. Against the brilliant colors of the flowers, the green door of Bag End appeared downright shabby. Even the brightness of the shiny brass door knob only made the colour seem more faded.

"That's it, of course! How long has it been since it was last painted?"

"I think t'was the spring the year afore the Mistress passed on, bless her." Holman nodded. "It's time and more than time it were painted again. I'll see to it as soon as may be. But I think as we're out of the green powder for the mixing of the paint. We'll have to send off for some."

"Send off for it?" asked Bilbo.

"Comes from Michel Delving way, that big shop o' the Brownlock family."

"I'm off to the Post Office this morning anyway. I'll post an order to Brownlock's, and we should have it in three or four days."

Holman nodded. "I'll ask the cheesemonger to save us a quart o' curdled milk. There's already a sack o' slaked lime up in t' garden shed." The most common paint in the Shire was milk paint, mixed up by the hobbits who used it as they needed it. Some of the pigments were common earths or plant dyes that could be easily produced, but some colours, including the rich green pigment needed for Bag End's front door had to be purchased, for it was produced from some sort of mysterious process and was imported to the Shire from the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.*

Both master and gardener now satisfied that the one flaw in the face Bag End presented to the world would soon be fixed, Bilbo went on his way, whistling a merry tune.

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23 Astron, S.R. 1341

The parcel containing the jar of green pigment was delivered on Sunday morning, and Holman sent his apprentice, young Hamfast Gamgee down to the village cheese-monger to fetch a quart of the curdled milk they had ordered. While Ham was gone on his errand, Holman fetched the sack of slaked lime he used to occasionally dress the lawn or garden.

Bilbo knew that the painting of the door was to happen that day. At this time he only had three remaining pupils: Dudo, who was now thirty, and the Goodbody lads, Taro (who was nearly twenty) and Togo (who was a year and a half younger than his brother). He had all three together for arithmetic on Mondays between second breakfast and elevenses. Dudo, of course, was far beyond the younger ones; but he mostly worked by himself or occasionally helped Bilbo with the others.

"Would you lads like to take elevenses with me today?" Bilbo asked them. He would sometimes do that as a reward if they'd had a particularly good lesson, though today he had other motives. All eagerly agreed.

"I thought afterwards we could all watch Master Holman paint the door," he said. He'd asked the gardener ahead of time, telling him he thought it would be educational for them. Though Hom had muttered something about "why gentlehobbits'd have a need to paint doors", he'd agreed without much convincing.

That morning after first breakfast, Bilbo had baked a large batch of dried cherry scones, and made a few radish-and-butter sandwiches which he left in the larder under a damp towel. He ate two of the scones for second breakfast along with his eggs and sausages, and put the others away for elevenses.

His foresight paid off. He led the lads to the kitchen and Dudo put the teakettle on while Bilbo went in the larder and fetched out the scones, the sandwiches, the butter, and a jar of Aunt Linda's cherry preserves.

Bilbo ate his share quietly, as he watched the lads tear through the food until there was not so much as a crumb left. Watching tweenagers eat did not leave much room for conversation, but finally they slowed down. Dudo politely offered to do the washing up, but Bilbo shook his head. "Thank you, Dudo, but it's not necessary. I will do it later when I come in to prepare my luncheon."

They all trooped outside, where the gardener and his apprentice had everything prepared. There were two tin buckets: one with the curdled milk and one with water for cleaning up with. There was a sack of lime, and on the ground was a cloth where two paintbrushes lay, along with several rags. There was also a piece of board which had been left over from repairing the garden shed. The onlookers stayed out of the way and watched as Master Holman stirred the lime into the milk, and then took the jar of green pigment from his pocket and began to stir some of it into the mixture. While he was doing this Ham was wrapping strips of rag around the doorknob to protect it from the paint.

Hom took up a brush and painted a small section of the board, and submitted it to Bilbo for approval.

"Still too light, I fear," said Bilbo.

In went more pigment. The second time they tested the colour, Bilbo pronounced it "just right".

Holman did the cutting in around the hinges and the doorknob and the edges, and then while he painted the upper reaches, Hamfast painted the lower. It seemed no time at all until they finished. "We'll let it dry and put on another coat in a couple o' hours, Mr. Bilbo. That'll use up the rest o' the paint, as it won't keep."

His students all bid Bilbo farewell. They were to have a month's holiday, as Bilbo was planning his visit to Buckland and would be gone for at least three weeks. They thanked him for elevenses, and assured the gardeners it had been interesting to watch. As they walked off, Bilbo chuckled as he overheard Taro and Togo plotting to convince their parents to let them paint their room as they walked away.

Hom placed the old board on top of the paint bucket to protect it while the paint dried, and they put the brushes in the water bucket. He spoke to his apprentice: "We got a bit o' time afore the paint dries. No sense just standing about, Ham. You go tend to thinning those young carrots around back; I'll tend to weeding and a-putting on new mulch around by the lilac bushes."

Bilbo stood with his hands in his pockets, admiring the door, which now looked just right, its rich green colour blending nicely with the bright flowers.

x0x0x0x

25 Astron, S.R. 1341

Bilbo wakened to birdsong drifting through the window along with the scent of flowers. A throstle was making merry somewhere nearby, and its cheery song helped Bilbo to awaken in a good mood. He hopped out of bed and after making his morning ablutions, he pulled on his dressing gown and padded to the kitchen to put the kettle on for first breakfast.

He had a lot to do if he was to go off visit his Brandybuck relations at the end of the week. This was Hevensday, and he'd be heading off on Highday. Only four days counting today! He had a couple of eggs he'd put into the embers to roast last night and some toast and bacon, and then did the washing up. He wanted Bag End to be fresh and clean when he returned from his brief journey. If he started today he'd be quite finished by the time it came for him to leave.

He'd done with tidying the parlour by the time for second breakfast, and he treated himself to seedcake and fruit and cheese. Then he decided he'd earned a break. Since he'd no students coming to see him, he decided to take the time to enjoy the outdoors and have a smoke.

He fetched one of his favourite pipes. It was a Bounder's pipe carved of cherrywood, and reached nearly to his toes**. He'd received it at Drogo's coming-of-age party and had scarcely had a chance to break it in yet.

He went outside to stand by his newly painted door and have a smoke in the sunshine. What a lovely day it was! He blew some smoke rings into the air, and was watching them float up and away, so he did not see the tall stranger coming up his garden path right away.

One of the Big Folk! he thought, as the figure in grey approached. Did he seem vaguely familiar in his tall pointed blue hat and his silver scarf? Surely not? Why was he coming up to Bag End?

"Good morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it.

THE END OF BOOK ONE

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Author's Notes:

*The method of making milk paint is authentic. Milk paint has been widely used for centuries. I also investigated pigments, and discovered that most of the pigments used historically would probably not have been easily available in the Shire, save for some natural earths or plants that would not give a bright colour. Most others were actually poisonous! However, there were two pigments, malachite and viridian which might have been suitable for Bag End's front door, and so I decided that pigments are another of the ubiquitous imports that "my" Shire gets from the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.

**Since those sorts of pipes are called "churchwarden" pipes in the modern world, I decided to substitute "Bounder" for "churchwarden" as the Shire has no churches.

[I completed this story as a part of the wipbigbang, and the artist assigned to me made me two beautiful large banners, and small chapter banners for each chapter. If you'd like to see her lovely work you can find it here at Banners for Eleventy-One: Too Short a Time by Knowmefirst. ]