[Child of the 7th Age]

In the peaceful town of Hobbiton, Cami, Marigold and Bowman gathered on the front steps of Bag-end, totally oblivious to what had happened to their friends on the road. Bilbo had left a long list of chores on the kitchen table which he was asking the children to do in preparation for the party.

The minute they walked through the door, Bowman latched onto the list and carefully looked it up and down. Then he took up a pen from Bilbo's writing desk and sat down in the corner of the room. Neither of the girls could see what the lad was scribbling on the paper, although he seemed to be very intent on what he was doing. When Marigold tried to peer over Bowman's shoulder, he carefully covered up the writing with his hand so that it was impossible to see anything.

"What's he doing now?" Marigold asked Cami.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to wait till he's finished to see it."

Marigold narrowed her eyes and hissed, "I don't like it. Why is he hiding that from us?"

Cami sighed, but tried to calm Marigold down, as she did not want a fight, since it might ruin her chances of the special treat that Bilbo had mentioned to her earlier.

Bowman finally finished and stood up, holding the sheet in front of him, "Alright, girls, I have your assignments completed. Come over here and look."

Cami wasn't so sure about this either, but told Marigold they should go have a look and give the boy a chance. Beside each chore was written a note that said "Cami" or "Marigold" or "Bowman.". Cami peered over at the list, carefully scanning the names and tasks.

"Bowman," Cami gasped in horror, "I think you've made a mistake!"

"Mistake? There's no mistake. There's one job that's good for a boy, and the rest are all girl's jobs."

What do you mean by girl's jobs? There are twenty things listed here with my name and Marigold's, but there's only one with your name on it."

Yes, that's right." Bowman nodded in agreement. All of those are the girl jobs--washing the dishes, scrubbing the kitchen floor, making up a batch of bread, dusting the house, doing the laundry, and so on, and so on. There was only one job for a boy," Boman pointed to a single entry which read "taking out the garbage."

Cami shook her head aghast, "Bowman, this isn't fair. You'll be done in fifteen minutes, and we'll be here all night." Cami was trying to hold on to her temper, but she was beginning to feel her face go red.

Marigold glared over at Bowman, "This is ridiculous. My own father helps my mother do some of these things at home." Bowman turned and gave her a scathing look that clearly showed what he thought of any male hobbit who carried out such a chore.

"That's it," growled Marigold, and made a bee line in the direction of Bowman, waving a broom in her hand.

[ February 28, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]