Day Seven: first breakfast to elevenses

Pippin knew as soon as he opened his eyes that the day he’d been dreading had come.  He was going to have to meet with the sheep farmers again this morning and he wasn’t looking forward to it.  He had known when he became Thain that he was going to have to handle situations he didn’t like or didn’t feel totally qualified to deal with.  He had just hoped they wouldn’t rear their ugly heads in his first week in the office.  He’d never been one to do things by halves and this appeared to be no exception.  There was no getting around it, this meeting stood between him and his plans for his wife so that, if he wanted to do the fun things, he was going to have to slog through this morass first.  He sighed and stretched and prepared to leave the comfort of his bed.

Diamond stirred beside him and opened her eyes.  “Is it time to get up already?” she asked sleepily.

“It is for me,” Pippin answered her.  “I don’t know about you though.  I figure that as long as Faramir’s sleeping, you might as well too, unless you have something you have to be doing this morning.”

“I never got to meet with the servants yesterday with everything else that happened.  I wonder if your mum and I could get them together for a short while this morning.”

“You could check with her,” he said as he began to prepare for his day.  “You could wake our wee lad and the three of us could go down to first breakfast together.  I know I’m going to need the nourishment this morning and the cheer of breakfast with my family will do a great deal to sustain me today.  You will probably find Mum at the meal too.  She’s always been an early riser.  Probably goes back to all those years on the farm.”

-----

Twenty minutes later saw the three of them in the great dining room having breakfast with several dozen relatives including Eglantine.  Pippin enjoyed the simple joy that washed around him even if he was in a bit of a brooding mood and didn’t really participate in the talk or laughter.

“Cheer up, son,” his mother said.  “In a few hours this onerous task will be behind you and you can look to more pleasant tasks.”  She glanced at Diamond who was helping Faramir cut his food and then winked at her son.  Pippin smiled back understanding his mum’s unspoken message.

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When he reached his office, Pippin took a few moments to look out the window at the early morning view.  He could see the sun just clearing the hills and beginning to dry up the mist that hung in the air after the previous day’s rain.  There was still a soft milkiness to the scene and here and there a drop of moisture sparkled in the sun’s light.  He let the quiet calm flow over him.  He hoped that it would be enough to keep him from becoming distracted or rambling on aimlessly about nothing when he needed to be focused, direct and to-the-point.

When Regi arrive, he found Pippin studying the notes he’d made the other day and adding more detail to them.

“Your first major decision awaits,” said the assistant.  “Are you feeling up to it?”

“I hope,” Pippin answered.  “This is it, the moment of truth.  Either I come out of this looking like a decisive, active and involved thain or I end up looking like an idiot who should have never taken the reins of leadership.”

“You’ll do fine,” Regi reassured him, giving him a slap on the back for emphasis.

-----

The farmers seemed to be in good spirits when Reginard showed them into the office.

Pippin stood and shook hands with all three.  He then offered them seats and tea.  They each took a seat in front of the desk but declined the offer of tea.

“Good morning, Mr. Cloverhill, Mr. Greendale and Mr. Downytuft.  I’m glad you were able to come back to meet with me on relatively short notice.

“I must admit,” said Mr. Cloverhill, “that, when you said to give you a couple of weeks, I figured we’d be shuffled to the bottom of the pile and forgot.  I’m mightily impressed that you had us back in less than a week.  I can only hope you have good news for us and not more of what we’ve heard for years.”

“Thank you, sir,” Pippin answered.  “I hope that you will find what I have to say to be an agreeable and workable option for all of us.” 

“Just about anything will be an improvement I’m thinkin’,” said Mr. Downytuft.  

“Here is my proposal,” said Pippin.  “You, as freehold farmers are not obligated to sell to me, well the thain.  You can sell your products to whomever you choose and at a price you negotiate.  However, I would request that you give one tenth of whatever you produce, saving that which comes out of your kitchen garden and is meant for your family’s use, to the thain as compensation for such things as road repairs and other structure and services that benefit the common good of all the Tooklands.  If you choose not to donate anything from your produce, then another form of payment can be worked out.  That would be done on an individual basis.  Does this sound like a workable solution?”

“It does,” said Mr. Greendale.  “My only question is what becomes of that one tenth we pay you?”

“One of two things will happen to it,” Pippin answered.  “Either it will be used to help fulfill our contracts with other parts of the shire or it will be held in reserve to either help those locally who may be in need or it will be stored against any future times of shortfall.”

“You’re takin’ a page from the ruffians’ book and making a help instead of a hardship, huh?”  asked Mr. Cloverhill.

“I hadn’t really thought of it that way,” said Pippin, and here he got a thoughtful look on his face and was very quiet for a second as he thought about that.  “You are right though.  It is a little like the gathering and sharing but it will not deprive anyone and all will, hopefully, benefit.

“In the rest of the Reunited Kingdom, the King collects taxes from his subjects to pay for the upkeep of roads and help pay the guards and armies that protect the people and property.  I’m just thinking that we could do something like that but much more practical for ourselves.”

“I don’t necessarily hold with the ways of this new king but if I can get a decent price for my fleeces and not have to sell to someone else who’s just going to sell it again, that make a lot of sense,” said Mr. Greendale, and the other two nodded their heads.

“It is my hope to have all the legal documentation written up before Lithe and that we can begin implementing this system by harvest in the autumn.  I also have some new plans involving the tenant farmers but I will discuss those with others at another time since you will not be affected by those.”

All four shook hands and Regi showed the three farmer out of the room.

As soon as the door closed, Pippin let out a long sigh of relief, leaned back in his chair and scrubbed at his face with his hands.  “Oh, thank the Valar that’s over,” he said.

“You did fine,” Regi said.  “I think this whole concept of yours could work out.  We just need to make it more solid.  We need to get long-term storage built and we need to encourage families to do more preservation of their own: not just for a year but maybe two or three.  One other thing.  Have you thought about how you’re going to present things to the tenant farmers.  You said that they are still going to have to sell to the thain but have you considered how you’re going to let them know this and whether you’re going to charge them extra rent on their land or add any charges for the common good as you have with the freeholders.”

“I’ve got most of that worked out.  I just need to think one or two things through and then I’ll be ready to present something.  As for how to let them know, I was thinking of a public announcement but I don’t know if that is doable.”

“It would depend on when you wanted to have it?” Regi answered.  “If you were thinking tomorrow, it might be a bit difficult but we should be able to call a public convocation by next Highday.”

“I guess that will have to do.” Pippin agreed.  He’d wanted to get it all over and done with so that it wouldn’t be hanging over his head for another week and he could move on to something else, but that wasn’t to be.  “Then tomorrow will be a regular Highday with hearings and petitions till noon and then the rest of the day free?”

Regi nodded.  “You look like you have plans forming in your mind,” he said.

“Oh they’re already formed,” Pippin answered.  “I just need to do a few things this afternoon to put them into action.  By the way, did we ever hear back from my sister?”

“Oh, yes, I’d almost forgot,” answered Regi as he sorted through to post on his desk.  “Here it is.”  He handed the letter over to Pippin.

Pippin’s face broke into a grin as he read.  “Yes!” he said enthusiastically as he finished and put the note down.  “Everything is falling into place.”

Regi sat back in his chair and folded his arms: a slight upturn of his lips was the only smile he allowed himself at this news.

-----

“Why don’t you go ahead and take off the rest of the day,” Pippin said.  “I’m just going to look at some of these expired contracts and try to get things in order for when we meet to reinitiate them.  I’m sure you’ll want to get some elevenses at any rate.”

“Do you know when you want to try to start meeting with the various family heads and others that you will need to be talking to about the contracts?  I could start getting correspondence out to them.”

“Not yet,” Pippin said.  “I haven’t really had a chance to see how bad things are yet.  I was just going to work on them till noon and then I have to take care of some personal business.”

“You’re not planning to take elevenses?”  Regi was concerned.  “He noticed that Pippin seemed to skip some of the meals that most hobbits thought that they couldn’t live without.  “Is something wrong?  I’ve noticed that you seem to skip at least one breakfast and either elevenses or luncheon almost every day.”

Pippin laughed.  “No, Reg, nothing’s wrong.  You’re just now noticing that I do that because you’re working closely with me.  To be honest, I haven’t eaten as often as a regular hobbit in years, not since I came home really.  I just got so used to not getting six meals a day that now it’s become a habit.  I’m not starving, trust me.  Diamond wouldn’t allow that but she doesn’t mind since it allows me to still fit into my livery, and she likes to see me that when I choose to wear it.”

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When Regi left for elevenses, Pippin was in deep concentration over one of the contracts and didn’t look to leaving anytime soon.