Chapter two: The sorrow of a family.
It starts in the year after the walk.
In which Cath gets told, Frodo understands, Pippin has a strange feeling and a bad temper goes too far.
“CATH! DAD WANTS YOU TO COME INTO THE STUDY!!!” yelled Sam. Cath winced as she and Nana stepped into the hall of number three, Bagshot road. She then grinned.

“Sam, Sam, Sam,” she sighed, patting her brother on the back, “Don’t wear out your throat when you’ll be wanting to go on and on and on and on about Rosie.” She dodged the coat thrown at her, and stepped into the study.

“You called, Da?” she asked, feeling curious. The study was a the “serious” room in the Gamgee house-hold, and she only went in there to be told of trouble.

Hamfast “Gaffer” Gamgee patted his knee, and Cath sat down, her fathers arm around her.

“Love; it’s about your mother. She’s terrible sick, and even Ponto Goodbody, who’s the best healer I’ve ever seen, can’t cure her.”

“What?” Cath gasped, stunned. ”But, she’ll be alright, won’t she? I mean, she’ll live, won’t she? Won’t she? Dad?”

Hamfast paused, “No, Catharine. She won’t.”

As the Gaffer explained, Cath felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. Her mother, who was always there to look after her, die? It couldnÂ’t be true. She looked round, needing a let on her anger. She found one.

“Why didn’t you tell me of this before,” she answered icily.

Hamfast stopped, “Love?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You always keep me in the dark, even when it’s about my own mum! You’re as bad as Grandmother!” And with that she fled from the study, through the hall, and out, running into the streets of Hobbiton, and crashing into Frodo.

“Hey, where’s the fire?” he laughed jokingly. His smile slipped from his face at the sight of Cath’s anguished one.

“Cath? What‘s the matter?” A dawn of realisation came onto his face, “Is it your mother? Have you been told?”

She looked up, glaring at him. “So you’ve been told? Why can’t anyone tell me about things, ever, even when it’s about my own mother dying!”

FrodoÂ’s heart sank. She had been told then.

Cath was sobbing desperately now, “It’s not fair, Mum said she’d always be there for me, whenever I was in trouble! Now she‘ll die before I even hit my tweens, and she can’t die Frodo, she can’t! She said she’d be there for all of us, she won’t be now, and I want her to be well again! I want to help her, but I can‘t, and Grandmother said that Mum would die of the shame of having me for a child, so it’s my fault! ” She made to run away again, but Frodo caught her and sat her down beside him on the grass. She flung her arms round his neck, and sobbed until she couldn’t. Frodo grabbed both of her shoulders and looked at her sad eyes.

“Cath, you canÂ’t change whatÂ’s going to happen. Neither is it your fault.” She looked up at Frodo, “But Grandmother said………..”

“Cath, when was the last time you listened to anything that your Grandmother said?” She giggled, “Listen, I know how you’re feeling. You remember that my mother and father died when I was twelve, don’t you?” She nodded, “I know, but at least you didn’t have to go through all the waiting, and you didn’t know it was going to happen.”

“I know, and I know that that makes it harder to bear. But Cath, your Mum will need all the support she can get. Imagine how she feels, marching towards her own death?”

Cath winced, “Don’t say that Frodo, it’s horrible.”

“Yes, but for your Mum it’s ten times worse. Spend time with her, and try to take her mind of it. She’ll want never to think about it if possible.”

“I guess. I’d better go now, or Dad will be sending out a search party.”

She sighed and ran back the way she can, unaware of all the people who at that moment where feeling sorry for her.

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The next year was the hardest time sheÂ’d ever experienced. Now she knew why everyone crept around her parents room, why nobody sang or laughed anymore, why she was packed out of the house so often. SheÂ’d often wondered these things quietly to herself, and now that she knew, it didnÂ’t give her any satisfaction. But the talk Frodo had given her did nothing to improve her mood, neither did it change the way she acted.

For the first few months she sat in total silence when possible. Nothing anyone said could make her feel better, not Sam, or her Father, or her Nan, nor Frodo or Bilbo. Most questions were met with a brief nod or shake of her head, and answers were given in a few short words.

When Merry and Pippin came round, she didnÂ’t bother to greet them, nor pester to go on the walks they went on. When she was invited, she was sullenly quiet to Merry, Sam and Frodo, and snapped at Pippin.

The next few months nobody could get anything out of her. She was completely silent, and would simply go of for hours, and sometimes days, at a time, and then come back without any explanation. Pippin was sent once to see what she was doing, but after coming back once with a twisted ankle, the others didnÂ’t feel like sending him anymore. On her birthday, the little eight year old just sat there, while the other members of the family tried desperately to get her to talk, but to no avail.

As the years passed, she stayed out of the hole steadily, till on her tenth year of age she was a different hobbit, hiding from her family, and only talking to her friends. Talk started round the shire, saying that the “Gamgee girl” was getting wilder even than the Brandybucks, and the Gamgees held their breath.

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Sam came in from the garden, wiping his hands on a towel Marigold had shoved into his hands, and sat down at the table. From there he could hear and see his Grandmother and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins conferring anxiously in the sitting room. He could hear the shocked voice of Lobelia, hissing….

“Trampling in that Cotton farm…….that ridiculous Estella Bolger……dress completely ruined….SheÂ’s bringing disgrace on your whole family Margaret, what ARE you going to do?”

Margaret nodded sourly, “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it. Trampling round, muddy as the floor, sometimes even in old breeches and tunic! It’s definitely not becoming for a young girl her age, and why! Going around with those girls, one eleven years her elder, and not one of them with a bit of pride! Mixing and gallivanting with Brandybucks and Tooks! Though that’s stopped a bit since she heard about her ridiculous mothers illness.”

The next part of the talk was all about slandering off Bella and Cath Gamgee, and IÂ’m sure you would not want to hear it. As Sam turned round in disgust, he saw Marigold throw down her tea-towel, a look of pure hatred for the two ladies on her face.

“Sam, go down to the market, and get some eggs.” she said, “We’ve run out.” He walked out, leaving his sister ashen-faced behind him.

As he came back, a sneering fourteen year old boy came up to him. He recognised the face as Ted Sandyman, a young lad who hated anyone outside Hobbiton, and made Sam’s life a misery when possible, though Sam was six years the elder of him.

“Hey Sam,” he sneered, coming up to him, “Your sister; you’d better pack her of to Buckland like her two dumb friends.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Though Sam’s voice was steady, he was panicking. Though Ted was a spiteful little brat who told lies for the fun of it, Sam was sure he was not lying. There was gleeful malice in TedÂ’s eyes, but no lie.

“Because she’s loony! Just like those Tooks and Brandybucks. But I guess you wouldn’t want to hear anything bad about your saintly sister.” He had the pleasure of seeing Sam’s troubled face for a few seconds, “But I guess I’ll tell you. Me and Olco were down at the market, and we started chatting to her, friendly like. But instead of chatting back like any sane person would, she pushed both me and Olco straight in the mud.”

Sam was torn halfway between amusement and annoyance. He was suddenly aware of Ted staring at him dangerously.

“Now that ain’t very nice, is it? Neighbours should be nice to each other, shouldn’t they? There was no call for that.”

SamÂ’s thoughts came back to earth with a crash. Ted was right for once, there WAS no call for that. Cath was upset, and rightly so, but she couldnÂ’t be treating every one else like this. He turned and strode up the hill to the GamgeeÂ’s hole, swallowing nervously. He met his Nan in the hall and, as he told her, he saw the kind face slip from inquisitive to anxious. The old lady sighed.

“Well, we’ll have to tell your father, and then I suppose that him and I shall have to punish your sister. I guessed that this would happen.” The two went into the kitchen together, leaving the front door ajar. Well, they would hear if anyone came in, wouldn’t they?

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Bess Clarker ran as fast as she could down to the old barn. It was where Cath had been hiding out, and getting support from Bess, Rosie Cotton, Estella Bolger and EstellaÂ’s seventeen year old cousin Lilly Bracegirdle. Though she was fifteen, five years older than Cath and far too old for that kind of stuff, Bess had been hiding in 3, Bagshot Row, listening to the entire conversation of the two. She crawled under the gap in the wall, swung herself up onto the narrow beam that Cath and Lily were perched on, and faced Cath.

“Boy, Cath, you are in so much trouble this time. Ted told Sam about you mud-splatting Ted and Olco Sandyman down at the market.”

A small grin appeared on Cath’s face. She shook her head and muttered, “He was asking for it. I suppose Ted conveniently forgot to mention that the “little chat” was really telling me how Mother would have her skin drop off when she died. Oh, and the fact that I’m going mad.”

Lilly sighed, shaking her raven black hair, “What’ll you do this time? Hiding out in Buckland worked once, but Merry and Pippin’ll be looking for you now. And this place is no good, Sam was looking around when I came in last week.”

Cath groaned, “I have no idea. I’m not going back, not after Ted blabbed. They’ll just look to Grandmother for support, for once, and then out comes the birch rod. And quite frankly, I choose life over that death trap.”

Lilly shuddered. An encounter with Margaret Gamgee’s china dishes had brought out the “death trap”. It was not a nice feeling.

“Well, the first thing you need to do is not to decide where to go, but to pack. Go round the back way, through your window. Go on, go!” Bess called, repeating the drill they had performed so many times. Cath leapt down from the rafters, while Bess and Lily shuddered inwardly at what would happen if she was caught.

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Pippin whistled cheerily as he made his way up the road to Bag End. Merry had gotten there a few days earlier, ready to make the preparations for Pippins thirteenth birthday. The party would, for once, be in Hobbiton, with the Tooks and Brandybucks making their way to Hobbiton, something that Bilbo had said, “he would enjoy, particularly when the Sackville-Bagginses saw the parties arrive.” Then they would stay for four weeks, until Cath’s birthday. Not that it would be much fun, if the last three birthdays were anything to go by. It wasn’t the actual parties that were bad, but it was the hollow look in Cath’s face that upset Pippin.

“Maybe she doesnÂ’t like being pitied” he thought to himself, “When we were friends she didnÂ’t, and maybe she doesnÂ’t like it still. That’s all the others have done so far, pity her.” A sudden thought came into his head, and he bent down a picked a handful of daisies. He straightened up and carried on walking, till he came to the Gamgees home. He glanced round quickly, then swiftly climbed into the garden.

As he looked around, he saw the window of CathÂ’s room swinging open. It swung for a second, then a small bag was thrown out of it. As Pippin watched in surprise, CathÂ’s body came out of it, eventually tumbling into the flowerbed. Pippin gave a yell of shock.

Cath’s head whipped up, she grabbed Pippin’s shoulders and dragged him into the shrubbery. She hissed, “Shut up! Do you really want my Grandmother to hear you! You’re not even meant to be here!”

“But…..”

“Shush! I’m going to let you up now, but don’t make such a noise, or we’ll both be trouble!”

The two stood up, Pippin rubbing his shoulders, “I still don’t know why you had to grab me so hard.”

“Because you’d have yelled. What were you doing in our garden anyway? I know it’s your birthday soon, but I wasn’t aware it was being held in our back garden.” Although she was joking, she was intrigued, as she had heard the rumours about her, and wondered why Pippin still wanted anything to do with her.

“I was wondering where you were. Anyway, can’t I even say hello to my friend anymore?” He grinned, as Cath looked up in surprise, and before she said anything, cut in, “Look Cath, I know what everyone says about you, but I still want to be your friend.” He chuckled, “That is, if you’ll let me.”

She started, “But I was really horrid….do you really want to still be my friend?” He nodded, and she grinned, looking down at the daisies, “Are those for your mother, when she comes down?”

Pippin turned a bright shade of red, “No, these are for you. Happy Birthday for whenever.”

Cath beamed, and threw her arms
round Pippin, hugging him, “Thank you Pippin, nobody’s ever given me flowers before.” As she took them, Pippin suddenly realised what Merry would say if he found out about this. Not that Merry could talk, if forcing Pippin into giving Estella flowers was anything to go by.

“Are you going to go in then, or are you running away?”

Cath looked down at her bag. “No, I guess I’ll go in. But if I come out again unscarred it’ll be a flipping miracle.”

As Pippin followed her down to the front door, he felt a dip in the pit of his stomach. It was something that, as a small child, he had heard Merry telling Esmarelda Brandybuck about, something that he had had shivers about for weeks when Esmarelda had told Merry what it meant. No, he thought, this is just your imagination. But anyway, he decided to keep it to himself anyway.

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After the two birthday parties, everyone fell into a pre-summer laze. As Cath and Pippin were not prone to lazing, and Cath had cheered up somewhat considerably, the two spent most of their time forest-exploring and parlour raiding. A particular parlour raid was planned for this very afternoon, in 3, Bagshot Row, but there was one person, name of Sam, who was refusing to go into the garden, therefore spoiling the entire plan.

“But Sam, we’ll be alright in here in our own! We’re eleven, for flips sake!” protested Pippin.

“No, I’m not going put into the garden and letting you to get up into heaven knows what kind of mischief. I’m staying right here.” Sam told him.

” But Rosie will be here!” lied Pippin. Cath gave him a death glare as he realised that that would just make Sam want to stay in even more. She then smiled sweetly and said, “Oh yes, I suppose you should stay here after all Sam. After all, Rosie will be wanting to have a nice chat with you, and we wouldn’t want to stay in the way of that.”

Sam turned a bright shade of red and turned to the back door, mumbling some unhearable words. The two eleven year olds gave each other high-fives and made their way down to the cellar. There was a door, then a passage way with a ladder going down to the cellar. The two blew the candle out in the passage way, for if the outside door was open there would be enough light to see what they were stealing.

“Hurry up!” squeaked Pippin as Cath made her way down the ladder, “I still don’t know why we can’t bring a candle down here.”

“I told you, because it’ll be seen. Besides, there is enough light to see from here. Cummon, lets get a move on.”

The two gathered up some pies and walked cautiously back to the ladder. As Cath touched it she stopped and crouched, Pippin mimicking her. They heard MerryÂ’s voice calling, “Well they arenÂ’t in here. I donÂ’t know why this doorÂ’s open, anyone could barge into it.” There was a creaking sound and then…

DARKNESS.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!” Two shrill hobbit voices screamed out. Cath was the first to stop.

“It’s no good yelling, no one will hear us. What ARE we to do? It‘s pitch black in here, and I can‘t see anything.”

Pippin shrugged, “Maybe if we had Sting with us it could light up the way, and we could get to the ladder and get out.”

Cath, the more practical of the two, shuddered, “Oh don’t say that Pippin, you know Sting only lights up when there are orcs around, and Blibo says they’re the most foul things around, and he must be right, for Frodo calls Farmer Maggots dogs the orcs. Besides, while you were screaming I heard Merry lock the door, so we’re stick here till someone fancies a snack.”

It was not a very comforting thought. Pippin shuddered and slid down onto the floor, Cath following. As he was debating whether to start yelling again, he felt with surprise (again) Cath’s head resting lightly on his shoulder. A jolt in Pippin’s stomach reminded him of the feeling a month ago. He dismissed it, and “more out of being friendly” as he said to himself afterwards, put his arm round Cath. If it was a little bit lighter he would have seen first of all a surprised look on Caths face, followed by a happy smile.

It was two hours later when they got up again. Cath had in fact been dozing slightly, but had been woken by the racket upstairs. And what a racket! There was shouting, and hurried footsteps, and two names being shouted. Cath and Pippin.

Pippin scratched his head in confusion. Before he had time to wonder what was going on, the door to the cellar burst open (half blinding the two) and Sam, Frodo and Merry came through.

“They’re not in here indeed!” Frodo snapped at Merry, “Honestly Merry, if you had actually looked, you could have saved us a lot of trouble.” Merry, for once, was looking ashamed of his actions, and said so.

“But what’s going on?” Cath asked, as she dragged up the ladder by Sam, “What’s all the fuss about Sam, there’s been tons of noise, and you could wake Mum, and your not being very considerate to her are you?”

Pippin noted at once the shocked looks on the three elder faces around him. Merry imediatly saw this and shoved a hand over Pippins mouth. Sam said nothing, but continued dragging Cath out into the hall.

“Merry, you take Pip out, I’m sure he won’t want to be around.” Frodo told Merry, who agreed. The two elder hobbits hurried Cath along the corridor, while Merry, with a rather pale face, as Pippin always remembered, dragged Pippin outside.

“What’s going on?” Pippin yelled at him, “I don’t understand, what is it Merry?”

Merry turned and looked at him, but before he had a chance to explain the two whipped around at the frightened scream that came from the hobbit-hole, “MAMA!”

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The next day the two hobbits made their way glumly along the road. Merry hung his head, thinking of the grief that would cover the whole family. Pippin however, still didnÂ’t know what was going on, Merry having never told him. After the dreadful scream was heard, Merry had dragged Pippin away by the arm, not speaking and not caring that he was pulling PippinÂ’s arm out of his socket, as Pippin informed him aferward.

Merry was in fact busy thinking things over. How was Cath going to cope? What would Pippin say to her? Would he come out of it alive? These thoughts were stopped by a yell from Pippin. He turned just in time to see him hurtling off, yelling, “I can hear a girl crying!” Merry had a very shrewd idea of what girl that was.

He ran after Pippin, finally catching him up and grabbing him by the neck at Bywater pool. The two fought each other for five minuites before Pippin rolled out of Merry’s grip and kicked him in the stomach, saying, “Look, there’s the girl I was telling you that I heard; over there.” Merry looked up and saw a young hobbit lass bending over the water crying her eyes out. It was Cath.

Pippin gasped, evidently seeing the young girl. “Merry, it’s Cath! What’s the matter with her, why’s she crying?” He started to run over, but Merry lunged, grabbing him around the waist and hissing, “If she’s crying, don’t you think it’d be kinder to leave her alone?”

Pippin glared at him, giving him a look that quite claerly said, ’I don’t care, she’s my friend.’ He struggled out of Merrys grip and ran over to Cath. “Cath, what’s the matter? Are you alright?”

The young maiden tried hard to keep her gulping sobs down, “I….cÂ’canÂ’t stay….at home…..the funeral wi-will be sÂ’soon,….and every-one is pÂ’preparing f-for it.”

Pippin whipped round, his pale face staring at a guilty looking Merry. He turned again and stuttered, “Funeral? Cath, what’s happened?”

Cath burst into wracking sobs. Pippin caught her around the shoulders and gently pushed her down onto the bank, supporting her like a frail doll. She gasped for breath and turned to him, her eyes tear-filled. “Oh, Pippin.” she moaned, “Mum’s dead!”