[Child of the 7th Age]

As the cart pulled up in front of the old mill, the children piled out onto the grass. Cami bounded up the steps and pounded insistently on the door.

A grumbling sound came from inside, "Hold yer horses. Hold yer horses. Don't be in such a rush." Then there was the sound of a hobbit putting down a large platter of food and padding up to the front of the house to find out who had caused that commotion. Cami suddenly found herself looking into the eyes of Ted Sandyman, the young son of the Old Miller who went by the same name as his father.

"Where's your father, Ted?" Cami demanded.

A broad grin played over the lad's features. "He's gone for the day, and maybe tomorrow too. If you wanna do business, it's gonna have to be with me." The boy glared at the children, who were younger than him by a year or two, casting an especially mean glance towards Sam.

Cami looked grimly at her friends, making no attempt to mask her displeasure. This was even worse than dealing with the lad's father who, though gruff and loud, was at least accounted to be fair-minded. The younger Ted was generally judged to be a rascal by everyone who knew him.

Rascal or not, they had little choice if they wanted to get flour for Bilbo. They'd have to put up with Ted's nastiness and rudeness to buy the things they needed for the party.

Cami explained how much flour they needed, and asked Ted to go down to the mill and bring up all the bags. Then she squatted down on the doorstep, with Elanor and Marigold at her side, and waited for the lad to return.

As Ted walked off towards the shed that doubled as a storeoom, he muttered under his breath, "Them's strange folk at Bag-end. They're up to no good, I suspect. And those Gamgees aren't any better. And Cami....what a pain! She thinks she's queen of the Shire. I'd love to teach her a lesson or two!"

Ted put the sacks on a large flat wagon and easily rolled them out to the front of the house, but refused to help the children transfer the flour into their pony cart. So, for the next hour, the four of them pulled and tugged till they managed to get everything loaded.

"That'll be six silver coins," Ted sneered back at Cam.

The girl took out her purse and began searching for the money to pay the miller, but no matter how hard she looked or shook the bag, she could spot only one silver coin. All the rest were only copper pennies.

Cami's heart dropped to the bottom of her furry toes. She knew she'd tucked the silver coins in before she'd left Bag-end. What could possibly have happened to them? Then she remembered the scene in the bakery where her purse had fallen to the ground. Trusting soul that she was, Cami wondered if perhaps Lotho had mistakenly left some of her coins strewn about underfoot.

She began explaining the mix-up that had happened, and asked Ted for a minute to run back to the baker and check for the coins. Ted grinned broadly, since he suddenly saw the exact opening he'd been hoping for. He would indeed teach this girl a lesson for having him bring out so many sacks of flour and spoiling his lazy afternoon.

He grabbed Cami rudely by the arm and started to yell directly in her face, "Yer no better than a thief. I'm takin' you to the shirriff, and he'll lock you up good. I saw him this afternoon having a little break in the Green Dragon, and that's where we're going now."

Then Ted started dragging Cami away. The girl turned back towards her friends, crying out desperately to them, "Help! Heeelp! Go get Bilbo, or Sam's dad, or mine. Go get somebody. He really means to do this!" Ted grinned with delight to see the girl squirm so uncomfortably.

[ February 05, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]