Merry Brandybuck was sitting, perfectly happy, on the floor of the pediatrician’s waiting room, building with his blocks, when the noisy toddler he’d been trying to ignore came over, and knocked his tower over.
Merry was pretty sure this was one of those time when he had to be patient, and good, so he summoned up all of his six-year-old will before facing the bright-eyed toddler, declaiming, “I was playing with that! But you can play too, if you want to.”
The little boy shrieked and giggled, starting to gnaw on a block. Merry pulled it out of his hands. “No, not for eating,” he scolded, giggling. “For playing with.”
“Block!” the toddler demanded, and his huge green eyes began to fill up with tears.
“Look, building!” Merry exclaimed, and put the block back in the little boy’s hand. Holding both the hand and the block, he stacked it on top of another block. “See! Come on, let’s make another tower.”
The toddler giggled wildly, reaching out to pat Merry’s face. “Tower!” he crowed, and grasped another block. Together, he and Merry built a little tower, and then pushed it down, both of them laughing and crowing.
Then an older woman came over, kneeling beside them. She wore a long dress, and a funny white cap over her hair that Merry wanted to ask about, but guessed that was one of those things he shouldn’t.
“You’re having fun playing with Pippin, I see,” she said with a smile.
“Oh! Is that his name?” Merry asked, and turned to Pippin. “Hello Pippin,” he said softly, and Pippin shrieked and giggled, reaching out his tiny hand to shove Merry in the chest.
The woman laughed a little. “He wants to know your name,” she explained.
Merry smiled a little at the happy toddler. “I’m Merry,” he announced, and was rewarded with a wide grin.
“Mer!” Pippin announced, and toddled over the few steps to hug Merry, who laughed a little, hugging the little boy back. “Mer!” he cried again, and Pippin’s mother (for that was who the woman must be, Merry was sure) laughed, scooping up her friendly son.
“He has to go and get a shot now--would you like to come with us, and help distract him?” she asked. “We can tell the nurse, so she doesn’t call you while you’re in with us.”
“Oh! I’d like that!” Merry exclaimed, and ran over to his mother. “Please, Mummy, may I go with them while Pippin gets a shot?”
Merry’s mother, who had been talking with Pippin’s while their sons played, smiled, and granted permission readily. So it was that three of them marched into one of the examination rooms, Merry reaching up to grab onto Pippin’s chubby little foot. The toddler was already wriggling and frowning, but Merry petted his foot. “It’s okay, Pippin,” he said earnestly. “It’s good for you, really.” He crossed his eyes and skrinkled his nose, making a face, and Pippin giggled.
After a quick checkup, the nurse prepared the needle, and Pippin looked like he was going to howl. Not that Merry exactly blamed him; he hated getting shots too. But he held Pippin’s hand, and sang a silly song his mother always sang to him, until the nurse had finished sticking what Merry privately thought was a far too big needle in Pippin’s chubby arm.
The toddler looked very surprised for a moment, before bursting into tears. Pippin’s mother cuddled him close, trying to soothe him and, tentative at first, Merry reached out to rub Pippin’s back. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s over now, Pip.”
Pippin’s mother couldn’t hide a smile as her baby stopped crying, and turned to regard Merry curiously. “Hurts,” he said, and sniffled.
“I know,” Merry said. “But it’ll stop soon. I promise.”
Pippin nodded, still clinging a little to his mother, while Merry kept rubbing his back. He relaxed quickly, though, and was soon displaying his few teeth in a proud smile. “’nk you!” he told Merry, as they went back to the waiting room.
He and Merry played together happily for a few minutes, while Pippin’s mother took care of paperwork, and then collected her son. He gave Merry an exuberant, if slightly drool-y hug, and they left, Merry waving happily goodbye.
“I liked him,” he told his mommy seriously. “Maybe I’ll see him at the playground!”
“Maybe,” his mother told him, but privately didn’t think so. They lived quite far away, but she didn’t want to discourage her son.