Flowers, Gems And Estella - Chapter VII
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The snowfall did not lessen during the night, and Pippin, being the first one awake at Bag End, looked in wonder at the pure spectacle of the outside. A snowfall such as this one had never happened within his lifetime – at least if it did, I can’t remember it.
A few embers were still burning from the comfortable fire they’d lit last night to drive off the biting cold that stole inside every time they opened the door. Most of the time it had been Pippin to open the door, much to the bother of Frodo. Merry and Sam – Sam especially in this case – had been particularly late in returning from Bywater the evening before. Sam had what looked like a permanent grin plastered to his face – he even kept bursting out in giggles during the evening around the fire.
“What, may I ask dear Samwise, is so amusing?” Pippin had asked.
Sam looked up – prior to this, he seemed to be unaware of their presence, and looked almost perplexed by them being there. “Well – I, heard a really funny joke – last night, while I was at Bywater,” he said. Merry grinned to himself – being the only one present who was also at Bywater, he knew a few things about Sam’s apparent state of glee that the others didn’t.
“Well, it goes like this – how many Brandybucks does it take to cross the Brandywine?” he said, still giggling.
“Am I going to find this offensive?” Merry asked.
“Oh no, not at all,” Sam said innocently, “Anyone know the answer – or have I got you all stumped?” They all looked around at each other, shaking their heads. “Who cares? There’s a bridge!” Sam burst out laughing.
Merry and Frodo looked at Sam, both confused as to who told the joke to Sam, and why Sam thought it was funny. Pippin, however, was nearly in tears with laughter.
“It’s not really that funny,” Merry whispered to Frodo.
“Just smile and nod,” Frodo whispered back.
Sam had definitely consumed a bit too much ale that night – but then again, so had they all, Pippin thought as he rubbed at his aching head. He closed the shades, blocking the bright light streaming through the circular window. No light now shone through into the living room of Bag End – it was almost complete darkness but for the dim embers still in the fireplace. Pippin curled up on the cushy sofa under the window, and covered himself with the woolen blanket resting on the arm.
He awoke sometime later to blinding sunlight – he raised his sleepy head to see that the window above him had been uncovered.
“That’s real sporting of you, Merry, waking a lad up when you know he’s sleeping,” he said, still with his eyes closed.
“Except that Merry is the one still doing the sleeping – otherwise, you’d have it right on the dot, Pip,” he heard a voice say – with his raging headache he was still unable to tell who the voice belonged to.
“Well then, Frodo – I’m amazed that you were able to get up, seeing as how you had as much – if not more – ale than I did.”
“Wrong again, Pippin – it’s me, Sam.” Pippin’s eyes blurred back into focus to Sam handing him a cup of hot liquid – he swallowed a bit to find that it was tea as Sam went back to stoking the now roaring fire. “Looks like you and me are the only ones awake here – that was some sleep you were in, for you not to hear my knocking on the door. Must have been all the ale you had.”
Pippin looked up abruptly. “Well, I should say, that you, Samwise, had as much as I did – if not more.”
Sam laughed a hearty laugh. “Please! You obviously don’t know how much you drank last night, do you?” Pippin shook his head, unsure of what Sam was talking about. “Well, I don’t really blame you – if I were in your place, I wouldn’t want to know either.”
Pippin chuckled. “You seem to know a lot you’re not telling us – like what you were doing in Bywater last night.” Sam looked up to stare at Pippin with a bewildered look on his face. “You could tell me – or, I could just get Merry to tell me when he wakes up. Your choice, Sam – I’d take the first one if I were you. Merry’s been known to exaggerate things far out of proportion, and not to everyone’s liking either.”
Sam took a sip from his tea, and sat staring at it for several minutes before he spoke. “I guess I’m in a bit of a pickle here then – fine, I’ll tell you. But when Mr. Frodo and Merry wake up, you don’t say a word – because you’ll exaggerate things as much as Merry would.”
“I swear it on a cartload of pipe weed – as a knight of Gondor,” Pippin said, sitting up nobly with his hand on his chest.
“Okay – well, Merry and I were at The Green Dragon, because – well, because there was this – well, this lass, that I wanted to talk to.”
“You mean Rosie Cotton?” Pippin said.
“Yes, I suppose – I mean, if everyone already knows about it.”
“At least everyone in Hobbiton and Bywater – and in Tuckborough, my sisters seem to know everything that goes on in the Shire – and maybe in Buckland too, you never know who Merry tells things to.”
“You’re shaping up to be a loose-lipped as your cousin, Peregrin Took! Now, may I continue?” Pippin nodded. “Well, yes it – it was Rosie Cotton. Merry was there too, talking to somebody – can’t remember who it was, must have not been someone important. And I was talking to Rosie – for a while, really. I’d already talked to her before, you know. And then it was time for her to close up shop – and when I looked around for him, Merry wasn’t there anymore.”
“Must have gone off home, I guess – although, as you can’t seem to remember who it was that he was talking to, perhaps it had something to do with him – or her.” Pippin’s eyes glistened with a mischievous light. “I imagine I shall just have to question Merry on this matter. Please continue, Sam.”
“Well, I walked her home – she lives outside of Bywater – and when we got there, she said to me, something like, ‘Well, Sam – this has been a lovely evening.’ And I said, ‘We must meet up again sometime.’ And she said, ‘Yes we should – although, from the looks of this storm, it may not be soon.’ And I said, ‘I’m sure I’ll be able to make it through.’ And then I felt my cheeks getting really red.” Pippin didn’t need to imagine it, for Sam’s cheeks were getting red just talking with him. “And then – she kissed me, on the cheek. And then – well, I don’t know really, how to describe it – I looked into her eyes – and I kissed her, on the lips.” Pippin raised an eyebrow in shock. “And then I came here.”
Sam had a faraway look in his eyes, as he continued to stare at his cup of tea, not really seeing it – in his mind he was reliving last night’s events, still feeling Rosie’s kiss on his lips – his fingers came up to tenderly rest on them, his mind lost in thought –
“Morning Sam! Didn’t know you were here!”
The voice broke him from his thoughts – in the rush to get up from the chair he spilled tea on himself.
“Oh – morning, Mr. Frodo. I came over to see if I could do anything about the gardening, but the snow’s too deep – so, I guess I’ll be going now,” he hurriedly said, wiping tea off his trousers.
Frodo waved a lazy hand. “Don’t worry about it, Sam, I wasn’t expecting you to do the gardening today – most of the plants are dead anyway – here, stay for breakfast,” he said, sitting down at the table beside a sleepy-eyed Merry.
“Oh no – no thanks. I really should be going. My old gaffer will be getting up now – I should really see to him. Thank you, Mr. Frodo, and good night – er, good morning. I mean – goodbye,” he said, hurrying out the door.
Frodo stared at the door after Sam had gone, then looked to Pippin, who was still sitting at the sofa. “What’s gotten into him?”
Pippin shrugged. “No idea.”