CM: Oct 2006 - Party Photo
"Will there be cake, do you think?" asked Daisy with a hopeful expression.
"And pretty lights?" wondered Goldilocks.
"And music! There has to be music," said Ham.
"Of course there does, silly," said Rose with the distain of an older child. "Whoever heard of a party without music?"
"And Elves?" Elanor turned to look at her father, walking some distance behind the brood of younger Gamgee's. "Will there be Elves, Da?"
"There may," replied Samwise, finding it difficult to keep a smile from giving all away.
"You need be patient only a little longer, my dears," Rosie assured them, a twinkle in her bright eyes. "For look! We're nearly there!"
"Oh!" chorused the children with one voice as they turned the bend in the road at the bottom of the Hill and had their first look at the festive Party Field in the twilight. Colorful tents had sprung up across the wide expanse and tiny lights twinkled everywhere like earthbound stars. Presiding over all towered the Party Tree, dressed in a fine array of bright ribbons and fireflies shimmering off the Mallorn's gold and silver leaves.
"I can hear music!" exclaimed Ham.
"And look at all the pretty lights!" cried Goldilocks, clapping her hands in glee.
"Oh! Oh! See? Over there!" Daisy began to jump up and down with excitement. "Isn't it wonderful?"
"It's a cake!" observed Merry.
"The biggest cake in the whole Shire!" agreed Pippin. He turned to his brother and grinned. "I bet the icing is taller than you are."
"Bet it isn't!"
"Is!"
Laughing, the brothers took off down the hill to find out for themselves. No longer able to contain their own excitement, the rest of the Gamgee children followed close behind with shouts of joy and laughter.
All except Elanor, who stood looking down at the Party Field with a wistful expression.
"There now, sweetling," said Sam as he put an arm around his eldest girlchild. "Why the sad face?"
"There are no elves," sighed Elanor.
"No?" Sam sounded surprised and a bit sad himself. "Bless me! My old eyes must be failing me," he sighed with a shake of his head. "I must have mistaken a stout green sapling for Master Legolas. And doesn't that rock beside it look just like Gimli?"
Elanor looked toward where her father pointed and saw a tall, elegant man garbed in flowing greens and grays that seemed to shift before her sight. The shorter, stouter form standing close beside him could indeed have been mistaken for a rock until it moved and laughed at some joke between them.
"Oh!" exclaimed Elanor, and off she ran to join the others.
"There now," said Sam with a smile as he took his wife's hand and kissed it. "All's well and everyone happy. What more could anyone ask of a party?"