by Coriandra
The Shire, of course was a long way off at that point
in time but the fact remained that it was Frodo's
birthday so he made a firm decision not to let the day
go by. Obviously there no way he give them proper
gifts, but perhaps he could make their day easier.
He could prepare the meals and clean up afterward.
That would save the other Hobbits some work, and he
would do five hours of extra watch duty, one for every
other member of the Fellowship. That was the best
idea he could think of and if he was going pull it
off, he knew he would need a good night sleep, so he
rolled over and tried to get one.
*********************
When he woke up that morning, he noticed to his
surprise that his cousins had given him their blankets
while he slept. While he was touched by this, he
hoped they hadn't gotten too cold themselves. He also
noticed that everyone was already up and wondered why
they hadn't woken him. If he remembered correctly,
it was his turn to unpack the equipment and clean up
after breakfast. Maybe they forgot, although that
would be unusual. He would ask them about that during
breakfast. If he was surprised that they let him
sleep in, however, he got an even bigger surprise when
he finally got up and strolled over to the others.
“Frodo! Happy Birthday!” Pippin cried as he and Merry
ran over and hugged Frodo, almost knocking him down in
their enthusiasm. The rest of Fellowship all stopped
what they were doing and smiled at him.
“Sit down here, my boy and have some pipeweed,”
Gandalf invited, leading Frodo over to a seat Gimli
had craved for him out of a tree stump.
“I'll have your breakfast for you in just a minute,
Mr. Frodo,” Sam told him happily. “You eat first
today.”
“Well.... thank you,” Frodo said becoming confused,
“but I believe it was my job today to unpack the
equipment.”
“Master Baggins, today you have no jobs,” Gimli
stated, slightly amused by Frodo's bewildered
expression.
“That's right, Frodo, you don't have to do anything,”
Merry added. “We're going take care of your tasks
today.”