[Garen LiLorian]

"Hi, I'm Autumn Gamwich. May I join your table?"
Ned was petrified. Somehow, he managed to pull out a chair for her, and nodded about forty or fifty times with a ridiculous expression on his face. "I liked your idea of climbing in a tree to shoot the wargs. How did you think that up, Ned?" She flashed a smile, and Ned was so stupified it took most of 30 seconds for her words to penetrate.

"Oh!" His face spontaneously combusted. With the part of his brain that was still working, he wondered if he was actually going to die, or if it just felt that way. "I, uh..." Pull it together Ned, he thought to himself "Er, um... that is to say..." He stuttered furiously. Mr. Bilbo! His mind screamed at him, from Mr. Bilbo's stories! His tongue tied itself in a very complex knot. His body in open rebellion, his mind frantically trying to reassert control, he completely missed Hamfast's speech. Coincidentally, though, just as Autumn had turned away, and Hamfast wound down, he blurted out "Staggins Frilbo borryies!" Autumn looked at him pityingly. "I mean, Bilbo Baggins' stories!" Everyone turned to stare at him.

If he thought he was going to die before, now he was sure of it. His face turned the color of a prize tomato, and he shrunk down in his seat. In a very small voice, he said "I got the idea from old Mr. Bilbo. That's how he escaped from the Wargs, on his way to the Lonely Mountain. Thanks for the compliment, Miss Autumn." He buried his face in a mug of beer that someone had left unattended, and waited for the world to end.

[ December 11, 2002: Message edited by: Garen LiLorian ]