When Meli Took and Molly Brandybuck got an idea in their little heads, chaos was sure to follow.
Today was no exception.
Meli had hit upon the bright idea of asking Daisy and Sam-lad to help Molly and her build a tree house. The four children had grabbed all the scrap pieces of wood and spare nails they could find, two hammers, and climbed up the tallest tree they could find.
Where they were now all stuck, due to an unfortunate miscalculation with a rope they had brought with them.
Meli was half upside down, tangled hopelessly through two branches very far apart from each other and Molly's legs. Molly was slightly better off, as she was actually on top of the branch she had been sitting on, but she couldn't move with out potentially dropping Meli onto her silly Took head. Sam-lad was tied to the branch above her, and Daisy was lowest in the tree, but both hands were bound near her waist.
The scraps of wood, nails and hammers had fallen in a heap when they had first realized that the rope was getting tangled. Frodo looked up at the four troublemakers and shook his head. "How on earth did all of you manage to get yourself into this mess?"
They all started talking at once, and Frodo was overwhelmed by four versions of the story in high childish voices. "Meli said-" "Sam was trying to-" "Daisy slipped and we were-" "Molly suggested the-"
Frodo held up a hand and the children quieted at once, Meli holding back a sob as Molly shifted and the young Took slid farther off the branch. Sam came around the corner just then with a ladder, and Rose followed with a pair of scissors.
"Well, Miss Took, it looks as though you're worse off than the rest," Rosie said with a laugh, and Meli nodded, eyes huge and scared.
"Are you mad at me, Aunt Rosie?" The little girl was plainly terrified, but she was trying not to panic. Molly was part of her support, and if Meli struggled too much, Molly might fall too. Sam set the ladder against the tree, then steadied it as Frodo made his way carefully up to where Meli was tangled.
"Now, Meli-lass, you must hold very tight to that branch, all right?" The little girl nodded and clung to the branch as Frodo cut the rope holding her in place. He tucked the scissors away, and started down the ladder, making room for Meli to get on. "Now, carefully..." Frodo guided her onto the ladder, then climbed down, moving aside at the bottom to let Rosie hug little Meli.
Meli started crying and clung to Rose. "Aunt Rosie! I thought I was going to die!"
Frodo climbed back up the ladder and cut Molly free while Sam and Rose tried to calm Meli down. The moment the young Brandybuck was on the ground, Meli ran over and hugged her tight, crying harder than ever and saying how sorry she was, over and over. The other two were rescued as well, and Sam took the ladder back to the shed as Rose and Frodo herded the children inside and made them tea.
Exhausted by their ordeal, the four conspirators soon fell asleep in a pile on the rug, clinging together as though to reassure themselves even in sleep that they were all together and all fine.
Rose looked fondly over at the hobbit pile and smiled. "They may have a point, you know."
Frodo sipped his tea and arched an eyebrow. "What point?"
"Maybe they should have a tree house. But perhaps you and Frodo-lad could build it, Sam. We don't want a repeat of the hobbit child tree ornaments, after all."
Sam laughed. "No, indeed not. I'll see if Frodo-lad would care to help me. Perhaps if they have a place to play they won't get into so much trouble."
"Perish the thought, love," Rose said, and chuckled. "Those ones'll always find trouble, but perhaps a less dangerous kind than this."
Frodo smiled softly at the four exhausted little bodies. "It's part of their charm."
Rose and Sam nodded. "Aye," Sam agreed, and they went back to discussing tree house plans.
In the hobbit pile, the four children held hands together, bound by love and mischief.
~