[piosenniel]

Will and gang harass the children going home

Once the Ranger had left, Will and his friends returned to the place where they had told Edmund they would meet him. They were brave after the fact, calling the Hobbit Ranger all sorts of names, and affirming each other’s opinion that he had no right to try to push them around.

They crept a little closer to the street edge to have a good view of the Inn. They could see the Ranger collecting his group and made a few rude comments on the character of the Big Folk children who went with them. The others in the class began to trickle out. And before they had all left the classroom, Edmund came running up from a back street, his little squirrel tucked safely in his tunic. He had devised a little harness with a thin piece of rope for a leash so it couldn’t run off.

‘Hurry,’ said Will, motioning him to them. ‘I see a likely group we can follow along with.’

Edmund had forgotten to look for a pea shooter, and Will pulled out his extra one and loaded the boy’s pocket with dried peas for ammunition. ‘Lookee there,’ snorted Roddy, pointing to the last group of five to leave the Inn Courtyard and head down the road. ‘What the heck are they doing with those stupid Hobbit kids?’

The gang’s head turned to see Rollo and Randy head west with three Hobbits – Marigold, Pearl and her little brother Hamson. Hamson was laughing uproariously at something one of the twins had said, and even the two older girls were giggling. ‘There’s our pigeons!’ cried Will, nudging Edmund. Edmund gave a nod and a grin to the rest of the boys, saying, ‘Come on! I know how we can sneak behind the Inn and over the lane where Randy and Rollo live. There’s some bushes there we can hide behind.’

The gang was soon in place, and soon after their ears caught the laughing and chattering of the little group as they approached. ‘Let’s get ‘em,’ whispered Will. Roddy, Bart, Edmund, and Will rushed out and circled the little group of Hobbits and the twins. They taunted the twins calling them all sorts of horrid names for liking the Hobbits. And the Hobbits they called worse names and dashed in to push them about. When the twins yelled at them to stop – Bart, Edmund and Will fired off round after round of peas at them, hitting the now screaming and crying children in the arms, legs, and faces. Roddy was the worst – he had brought some old eggs in a satchel from his father’s farm, and threw the rotten missiles.

One of the Big Folk who lived nearby heard the commotion and rushed out with her broom, driving the gang away from the frightened and hurt children. Will and gang went running, laughing at their fine prank. They split up once they got back to the main street – Will, Bart, and Roddy to run home, and Edmund to sneak back to the Inn.

On the way back, Edmund ran into one of his friends. ‘Boy are you gonna get it,’ his friend told him. ‘Your mom’s been looking all over for you. She came to our house to see if you were with me. I tried to cover for you, but my mom gave me her “look” and I caved in, saying I had no idea where you went.’

Edmund blanched at this news. He skirted the Inn and sneaked in the back way to the stables. Climbing up to the loft, he settled in to one of the hay piles. ‘Best I just wait it out up here,’ he told his squirrel, as he took him out of his tunic and settled the animal in his lap. ‘Maybe mom will have forgotten if I wait long enough.'

The squirrel cocked his little head and seemed to give Edmund a look of sympathy.