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Pippin stared out the window and let out an exaggerated sigh. He’d been so excited to visit Frodo and Bilbo at Bag End—especially since Merry had come along—but it was rainy today and Bilbo was gone, which meant that he couldn’t tell stories to make the day pass more quickly.
He looked up as he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” Frodo asked.
“I’m booooooored,” Pippin whined, leaning his head against the wall. “But it’s too wet outside to play.”
“We could read,” Frodo suggested. “Or...hmm, I think Uncle Bilbo has some puzzles around here somewhere.”
“I don’t want to sit!” Pippin said. “I want to play!”
“Me too!” said Merry, who was sprawled on the floor, looking just as frustrated as Pippin felt. “I’d rather run around in the rain than do a puzzle.”
“All right, we won’t do a puzzle,” Frodo said. “Just give me a moment to think of something else.”
Pippin continued to stare out the window, hoping that he could stop the rain by sheer force of will, but his efforts were to no avail. He’d been so eager to play hide and seek with Merry and Frodo (and perhaps some of the other young Hobbits who lived nearby), but playing outside in this weather would be a miserable affair.
Then, Pippin was struck by an important realization.
They didn’t have to play outside. There was enough space for the three of them to play hide and seek inside. Pippin had already thought up half a dozen good hiding places before he spoke.
“You know what we can do inside?” he asked. “Play hide and seek!”
Merry sat up eagerly at the suggestion. “That’s a great idea, Pip!” he said. “Besides, there’s not much else to do.”
The two of them looked eagerly at Frodo, waiting for his response. “I don’t know,” he said. “Uncle Bilbo doesn’t like it when we go poking around.”
“We won’t poke—I promise,” Pippin said, looking solemnly at Frodo. “We’ll leave everything just like it is so when he gets back, Uncle Bilbo won’t even know we were playing!”
Frodo hesitated, chewing on his lower lip. “We could draw or paint instead,” he suggested halfheartedly. “Uncle Bilbo has some pencils and I think there’s some paint somewhere around here…”
Merry pulled a face. “I’m bad at drawing,’” he said. “Besides, I don’t want to sit around when we could be playing.”
“You know that Bilbo doesn’t like us playing in the house,” Frodo replied. “Remember last time when we played tag?”
Merry and Pippin looked at each other somewhat abashedly. They had decided to play tag indoors a few years ago and had made quite a mess in Bag End as a result. It was then that Uncle Bilbo told them that if they wanted to play, they were to do so outside.
“We were just kids then,” Merry said. “Now I’m nearly ten and I would never mess up Bilbo’s things!”
“And Bilbo doesn’t have to know,” Pippin said. “We’ll be so careful that he won’t know unless someone tells him.”
Frodo paused, frowning as he pondered the idea. “All right,” he said after a few moments. “But if you make a mess, I’m not cleaning it up. And you better not break anything.”
Pippin nodded solemnly. He didn’t plan to break anything (he rarely did, but even his best plans went awry), but just to be careful, he’d find a hiding place without any vases or lamps that could be knocked over.
“It’s your house, so you’re it first!” Pippin said, prodding Frodo playfully. “You’d better start counting!”
A small smile curved Frodo’s lips before he covered his eyes and began to count.
“One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight...”
Merry and Pippin scurried off, both eager to find the best hiding places without disturbing any of Bilbo’s things.