Whatever you do…

 

Chapter one: …do not panic!

 

The first two (maybe three) chapters will be used mainly to introduce all the characters to you, so please try to get through them until the real story begins.

 

It all began in Hobbiton, in the year 1442. It was the first really nice spring morning of that year. For a lot of hobbits a good reason to have a little party with a large feast for breakfast. After breakfast the children went out to play in the fields, that were more green than they had been for a long time and the most of the older hobbits went to visit their friends; mainly to see if they had something left to eat. And of course there were also hobbits who decided to go and sit in the spring sun or go on a long walk. All together it was a perfectly normal morning in the city of Hobbiton. Or at least it had been so far…

 

Around noon the sound of hasty hooves was heard. “Who could be in such a hurry on such a perfect morning,” Myrtle Burrows asked her brother Mosco.

 

“Beats me,” Mosco answered, “Where is it coming from anyway?”

 

The two hobbits looked around. They presently stood on a narrow road near the edge of the forest. Both Myrtle and Mosco looked around, but couldn’t see anything or anyone. Suddenly, not far from the two hobbits, a pony came galloping up the road. It dragged along a cart with three hobbits in it.

 

“Out of the way! We’re in a hurry! Big emergency!!,” the hobbit at the coach-box yelled at them. The two hobbits were nearly overrun by the pony and cart and quickly jumped of the road.

 

“Sunday driver!!,” Mosco yelled after the cart.

 

“Mosco!,” Myrtle said angrily. “That was Thain Peregrin the first! He wouldn’t be in such a hurry if it wasn’t necessary. Who knows what’s going on in the Shire that he needs to take care of. And besides, it’s Saturday.”

 

Myrtle was right, in a way. Peregrin was hurrying for a reason, but not for the kind of reason Myrtle had in mind. The evening before a messenger reached the Great Smials telling him that Rosie Gamgee, the wife of Sam (the mayor of Hobbiton) was about to deliver the thirteenth Gamgee child. This was kind of a surprise, because the doctor had said it would be at least a week before the baby would be born. And since it was a tradition that everybody (read: Peregrin, Meriadoc and their families) would come over whenever a Gamgee child was born, Peregrin fetched his wife Diamond and woke his son Faramir and they raced to Hobbiton.

 

A little passed noon they arrived at Bag End, at the exact same time as Merry and his wife Estella (they had no children).

 

“Hullo Meriadoc!”

 

“Pip! I didn’t expect to see you here already! Tookland is further away than Buckland and you also had to take along little Faramir.”

 

Before Pippin could answer, sounds were heard from the cart and the head of a little hobbit boy was seen. “That’s mean, Meriadoc!” He looked a bit sad. “I’m not a burden! Or at least, I

don’t want to be one!”

 

“That’s not what he meant, Faramir,” Peregrin told his son, “He just meant that, since there are three of us, we had to come by cart and he and Estella could go on a pony. That’s faster.”

 

“Can I learn to ride a pony then?!,” Faramir, who was no longer sad, asked his father.

 

“Hold it, dear, you’re a bit to young for that,” Diamond interfered.  Faramir looked really sad again, but his sadness vanished again, when Merry put him on Stybba, the pony he brought back from Rohan.

 

Suddenly the door of Bag End opened and another hobbit boy came running outside. This one was, however, slightly younger than Faramir.

 

“Dad! They’re here!,” screamed Hamfast as he came running down the garden lane. He was quickly followed by his younger siblings Daisy, Primrose and Bilbo. The four little hobbits were already busy tempting Meriadoc to wrestle with them, when Sam came outside.

 

“Thank god, you made it! It’s a complete chaos in here! I really need some help to keep the children busy, they’re so anxious about it all!”

 

“Well, Sam, we’re here, so do not panic and leave it up to us,” Diamond tried to calm him down. And with that, she and Estella pushed Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose and Bilbo inside.

 

“That’s better,” Merry said with a sigh of relieve.

 

“Wow! Faramir! I didn’t know you could ride a pony!” In the door stood Pippin Gamgee, Faramir’s best friend. From the moment the door of Bag End had opened everybody had forgotten about Faramir, who was still sitting on Stybba.

 

“I can’t, but Meriadoc allowed me to sit on her for a while.”

 

“Cool! May I sit on her too, Meriadoc?”

 

“Er…,” Meriadoc said, while he helped Faramir down.

 

“Pippin,” said Sam, “Go and see how far Elanor is with dinner, will you? I’m getting hungry.” At the thought of food Pippin’s eyes glanced and he dragged Faramir inside. “Welcome to Bag End, friends!,” Sam said, smiling to Peregrin and Meriadoc.

 

After having brought their ponies to the stables, the three hobbits settled in the living room.

 

“Well, Sam, I have never seen the Gamgee family in such an uproar,” Meriadoc grinned.

 

“Why do you think that is? When a child is born we always bring the younger ones to their grandparents! But this one is coming unexpected and now old man Cotton isn’t home!,” Sam sighed, “He’s away most of the time since his wife died. I don’t think he likes to sit in his house by himself.”

 

“Why don’t you bring him to your gaffer?” Meriadoc asked.

 

Sam pointed towards the kitchen door. “He is sitting in our kitchen and refuses to leave until he has seen his new grandson.”

 

“But still, Sam,” Peregrin began, “You shouldn’t panic like this…”

 

When Peregrin said this, Meriadoc burst into laughing. “Look who’s talking! I can remember someone who went completely crazy when his son was about to be born!!” Peregrin turned very red.

 

“What happened?! Please, tell us!” Apparently the Merry and Pippin had been listening at the door with Faramir and Hamfast.

 

“It’s not an interesting story…,” Peregrin tried, but Meriadoc’s smile widened and so did Sam’s.

 

“Well,” Sam started, “This is the story.” Peregrin buried his face in his hands and looked as if he was about to burst into tears. “Me and your mother, mistress Rosie to you Faramir, went to the Great smials, because somewhere in that week Peregrin and Diamond’s child was supposed to be born. The first two days Peregrin was fine, but he wasn’t that fine anymore when the one day came.”

 

“Not that fine anymore?!,” Meriadoc interrupted, “He freaked!”

 

“I did not!, ” Peregrin defended himself.

 

“Yes, you did!”

 

“Anyway…,” Sam went on, “he panicked. He was running up and down the Great Smials…”

 

“And lost four pound in the process,” Meriadoc added.

 

“It was only three and a half!,” Peregrin grunted.

 

“…and there was nothing me and Meriadoc could do to ease him a bit, until Meriadoc came up with a plan.” Everybody in the room stared at Sam (except for Peregrin, who was hiding under the table at that point).

 

“Well, what did you do?!” Merry called out.

 

“We…uhm…we…gave him something to drink,” Sam said suddenly hesitated.

 

“You mean like water?” Hamfast asked his father.

 

“Not exactly,” Sam said.

 

“We gave him four mugs of ale!” Meriadoc said with a smile wider than ever. “Of course, he couldn’t walk for a day after that and he was a bit shaky, but he was very much relaxed and Diamond was glad he was and she didn’t get mad at all, but of course Rosie…”

 

“SAM!” Everybody looked up disturbed. “Sam, are you coming or what?!” The doctor came into the room. “I have been screaming my lungs out! Congratulations, Sam, you have a son.”

 

Sam’s eyes brightened. “Can I go and see him?”

 

“Sure, you can,” the doctor said, “and if there is anything wrong with Rosie or the baby tell me immediately, you know where to find me. Goodbye, Sam!”

 

And so the doctor left the house. Sam made for the bedroom immediately, but then he stopped and turned around. “Meriadoc, Peregrin, could you keep the children away from me and Rosie for a little while?”

 

“Sure!” And with that Sam ran away. Peregrin turned around to where Faramir, Pippin, Merry and Hamfast had been sitting. “Where have they gone?”

 

“No, idea,” Merry said. At that moment they suddenly heard the sound of twenty six running feet coming closer and they realised where the four boys had gone: they went to collect the others and were now heading for their parent’s bedroom to see their new brother. The door opened and all twelve Gamgee children and Faramir came storming into the living room.

 

“Man! This is worse than an army of orcs in Moria! How are we going to keep them here?!” Peregrin yelled to Meriadoc.

 

“Just don’t panic, I think!” Meriadoc answered.  

Coming soon; Chapter 2: …keep the children away from Sam and Rosie!