Section 6: ice cream
Despite his exhaustion, Bolco once again awoke in the early morning hours. He looked out the casement window in Jake's room, and saw that the stars were glittering brightly. He shook off his weariness, rolled out of bed in complete silence, verified that Jake was sound asleep, walked out of the room softly closing the door behind him, and went upstairs. He took a kitchen chair to the closet-- it was heavy, and he worked hard to do it quietly, and succeeded-- stood on the chair, got his jacket off of the hanger, carefully put the heavy chair back, and then went out onto the deck. Once there, he realised it would have been much easier to bring one of the lightweight deck chairs inside. Next time.
The night was unseasonably warm for February, and the moist fragrance of melting snow blended with the musky scent of emerging earth. Perhaps two-thirds of the yard was bare of snow. His nose reminded him that the neighborhood was surrounded on three sides by some sort of woods. He thought of the woods past Mrs. Chattam's house, and savored the idea.
But for now, he lingered on the deck and watched the stars, and thought, and thought. He thought about Lilac, he thought about Jake and Josh and James and Janiece, he thought about his father and his three brothers, he thought about Lilac some more. He thought about the songs he had learned yesterday, and hummed them softly, and thought about LeeAnne and Jake, and wondered what Jake had seen in LeeAnne back then, and then thought about Anne.
Anne worried him in a way he didn't understand at first, and then he realised what was bothering him. It wasn't the thought of the ice cream, whatever that turned out to be; it wasn't that he worried about being the third person-- he somehow realised that this culture did not expect courting couples to be escorted everywhere they went, which he thought must a terrible headache once the rumors started to fly. No; it was that Anne expected him to be a sweet, charming, shy little child. How disappointed would she be, to find out that he was twenty-six, and just terribly small?
He didn't want to disappoint her, and he didn't want to be dishonest with her. He realised that in attempting to simply blend in, he had unintentionally deceived her. And now he did not know what to do.
What he really wanted to do was let Jake and Anne go for ice cream alone, since that didn't seem to bother anybody in this culture. But they didn't want to. It was all about him, he realised, and he felt terribly trapped.
He tried to think of something else. He went back to humming the new songs, and that felt a little better. He folded his arms across his chest and arched backward, studying the path of stars-- The Milky Way, they called it-- and imagined himself back floating up there, only he didn't know whether to imagine himself upside down or right side up and whether he would sink or go upwards. Once he had gotten rather dizzy trying to figure that out, he looked back down, rubbing the back of his neck. Anne's face came back to haunt him. He paced a bit, and hummed the songs again.
He reviewed the parts of the story they had read yesterday that he liked best: the parts about water. He loved the story of the baptism in the river, and really wanted to go wading, and see if the warmth inside him would grow stronger as it had in the pool yesterday. He stood very still, listening, but no sound of running water came to his ears. Where did they get their water from, he wondered, and how did the water appear every single time they turned one of the... one of... those doorknob-things where the water comes out. He sighed.
Come to think of it, there had only been one little stream and one fair-sized river along the tracks, but they had both stunk; if they had smelled clean, he might be tempted to go and find them, but as dirty as they had been, the temptation was quite weak. And Jake would worry if he wasn't back by morning.
He remembered the story of Jesus healing the lame man by the pool, and he wondered what kind of pool it was. Was it an outdoor kind of pool, like the pool at Bywater, with muddy banks and reeds growing in it, or was it a rectangular indoor pool that smelled and tasted like Chlorine? He didn't think so, because the story hadn't mentioned any lifeguard, and he rather thought that if there had been a lifeguard there, the lifeguard wouldn't have let the sick people into the pool, because of the rule that said no diseases and no bleeding anywhere. Somehow that bothered him, a little. He wondered if it had been an indoor pool, what the lifeguard would say if Jesus had showed up at the pool without taking a shower first. Not good. So it must have been a reedy, muddy sort of pool. Like Bywater.
And what about the story by the well? Living water, he remembered. He was guessing that that didn't mean the stinking river and stream he had passed, and he didn't think it meant the chlorinated water he had swum in. Maybe it would be more like Evendim, or The Water that goes past the Mill. Whatever it is, I want it, and Creator, you said to ask for it, he thought, looking back up at the Milky Way, and returning his attention to the warmth inside him. Please, can I find it?
And what do I do, he continued, about Anne? I don't want to be dishonest with her. I don't want her to be disappointed, and I don't want her to be upset. But Jake and Josh and James clearly don't want anyone to know that I'm a hobbit-- although I'm not sure that I understand why they feel that way, either. I just don't know what to do. Please, let me know, or let me stay home.
Home. He looked at the huge house behind him, and realised that in three wild days, this place had come to feel comfortable, even though it was cavernous and full of objects that behaved very strangely. There were noises that came from behind closed doors in the basement that he did not yet understand, and he still wondered where the water in all the sinks and tubs came from, and why the refrigerator hummed all night long.
The refrigerator. Jake had told him to help himself to the bowl of fruit whenever he liked. He knew Janiece would expect him to, and be glad that he had. Was he hungry? He thought about it for a while. He was very hungry, but he didn't know if he wanted to go inside and open that big white door. He postponed the decision.
He went back to the railing and looked down into the yard, and in the starlight, he noticed the little fir tree, and suddenly wondered when it had been watered last. Had his arrival so disrupted the family that they would forget to take care of their Christmas tree? He felt a little guilty about that, but at least, this was something he could help with. He went down the steps and fetched the watering can, and as he did, he felt the melting, thawing ground under his feet, and thought of the woods beyond old Mrs. Chattam's house.
He could see them from here. He decided to water the fir tree and then head into the woods, where he could stargaze up through the lovely tracery of leafless branches. He filled the watering can, drained it at the foot of the lovely little fir tree, gave the tree a quick caress, set the watering can by the stairs and ran through Mrs. Chattam's back yard and into the woods. Feeling the soft leafy mold under his feet, he laughed, quietly; his soul sang, all his weariness fled, and he settled joyously into a steady pace, and ran.
**********
Jake was awakened by the sound of running water, and he turned his head to look at the couch, and realised that Bolco was gone. He groggily thought Bolco must have visited the washroom, and waited on the edge of sleep for him to return. But when the seconds turned to minutes, and he heard no further sounds and Bolco did not return, Jake became uneasy.
He rose, and carefully scouted the basement, and then the first floor, and then tried the door to the deck; it was unlocked. He breathed again; he had been afraid that Bolco had simply been spirited back home to the Shire. But if so, he had gone out the door first. He grabbed a jacket from the closet, noticed that Bolco's was missing, and went outside.
He had no idea which way to look. So he slowly circled the house, looking behind the Lilac bush and the yew; nothing. He wandered aimlessly about, wishing he had a clue how to track somebody like Strider did, and wondered about the woods. If Bolco would have gone anywhere, it would have been there. He quietly walked past Mrs. Chattam's house, and gazed into the inky blackness, listening. He softly called, once, twice, three times. Nothing.
*********
In three miles, Bolco came to the edge of the woods. He saw lights, and houses, and streets. He turned left, and kept going. He was walking now, breathing in the varied fragrances of leaf-mold, mud, moss, and melting snow. About half the forest floor was covered with leftover snow, but the night air was warm for February and he could feel the ground emerging. It wasn't spring yet, but it was a lovely thaw, and the fragrances were heady with freedom.
He walked on, and on, swinging in a huge circle, watching the stars and keeping his bearing. The moon rose. Eventually his circle began to bring him back towards the neighborhood that the Scotts lived in. There were actually numerous neighborhoods; and in one of them, there was a house similar enough to Mrs. Chattam's that he was fooled by it, and passed it looking for the Scotts' house, and was badly upset when it turned out to be quite different. But he returned to the woods, shaking off the nervous feeling, and kept going. Several neighborhoods later he found the real Mrs. Chattam's house, complete with Pine Grove, and swung though her back yard, confident now. As he came silently into the back yard, there was the Christmas tree, and there was his climbing pine, and all the other trees were where they belonged. He lingered there in the yard, until he heard the deck creaking. He jumped and spun.
"Are you okay?"
The three brothers were there. Jake came pelting down the stairs and Bolco's conscience smote him; he could see that he had been weeping. Josh and James followed a little more slowly behind him.
"I'm fine. I'm all right." He reached for Jake, who snatched his wrist in some sort of hold, and then briefly caught him up in a bear hug. "I'm fine. You shouldn't have worried. You were all supposed to be asleep."
James and Josh drew close to check Bolco out, and satisfied that he had not been mauled by a dog or otherwise harmed, they each mussed his hair a little, and heaved a sigh of relief.
"You were sound asleep when I slipped out, Bolco told Jake, a little reproachfully. "Why did you wake up? You're usually a sound sleeper, aren't you?"
"I woke up because I heard the water running, " Jake murmured, feeling sheepish now, but still pretty annoyed at the same time, and hurt, and trying not to be. "And I figured you'd be back any minute, and then you didn't come back."
"I wasn't trying to worry you."
"Yeah."
"Jake, I'm sorry. I know you want me to just stay in the house all the time. But I can't. I'm not made that way. I'm sorry that that is hard on you."
"Yeah, Jake repeated, and stood. "I'll get over it," he added, choking a bit.
This is going to take some undoing, Bolco realised, and wondered how they would come to some sort of bargain.
Josh looked hard at Bolco, and was wondering the same thing. "Look, Bolco, there's some things that you don't understand about our world."
"I'm sure that there are, Bolco said, getting edgy. "But there are some things that you don't understand about me. I can only wear shoes or be inside for so long. I'm sorry, but that's how I am. And I thought that going out at night would be better than going out during the day. I don't mean to worry you. But there are some things I just can't do."
"Okay, soothed James. "Okay. Bolco, do you need more time outside right now? Maybe I can walk with you for a bit, or something. If you need to be outside, we'll deal with that. Won't we?" he asked Jake.
"Go ahead, said Jake, and headed back to the deck, and went inside.
Josh and James stared at each other, wide-eyed in the moonlight, and James gave a low whistle. The two brothers both put their hands in their pockets, and seemed to shift into another mindset; they watched the house, and waited, and scuffed the grass with their shoes.
Bolco looked up at the dark house and was surprised to see the light come on in Janiece's room. Then that light shut off, and then the kitchen light came on. He could see Janiece moving about, and then the basement light turned on.
James, likewise watching the lights, reached for Bolco's shoulder. "Maybe another bit of a walk would be a good thing, he said, and Josh nodded.
"I was just getting ready to go in, Bolco objected mildly.
"Well, it's up to you," said Josh, "but if I was in your place, I'd give Mom and Jake some time. I suppose we could go for a drive or... or sit on the front steps or something."
Bolco threw his hands in the air, and said, "Whatever you think is best."
"Right, said James. "How about the golf course on the Maynard line? Second tee."
"Good thinking. You'll like it there," Josh assured Bolco. And they steered him to the car, got in, and drove off. They were there in minutes.
Bolco did rather like it; the grass was lovely on his feet, and the hills reminded him of home; the little bits of woods were rather charming, and it was all quite lovely in the moonlight. He sighed. They walked for a while, and then he said, "What about Jake? What happened?"
"Never seen him so protective about anybody my whole life," muttered James.
Josh nodded. "He knows you're twenty-six. But there's something going on inside him that almost seems like paternal instinct. I dont know."
"Did he come and wake you up?"
"I heard him pacing on the deck. He was pretty upset, and trying not to show it. Then I woke James, because I couldn't calm him down and I thought maybe James could."
"What will Janiece say to him?"
"No idea. But he'll hear her, whatever she does say."
Bolco looked up at the stars, realised that his previous decision to delay eating had been quite unwise, and suddenly said, "I'm hungry."
The brothers burst out laughing and immediately shushed each other, and chortled as quietly as they could. They turned back towards the car, and Josh got out his keys and asked, "What's open?"
James shook his head. "We'll have to go home. Unless maybe a gas station?"
But the town was closed up tight, and they went home instead, and Josh stayed in the car with Bolco while James ran in and grabbed the fruit bowl out of the fridge. He stopped and listened, and heard Jake's voice-- not calm at all; so he went outside with the fruit bowl and put the whole thing in Bolco's lap, and Josh drove off.
Bolco munched an apple, and thought about the trouble he had caused just by going for a walk in the woods. "I really upset him, didn't I."
The brothers said nothing, and Bolco munched some more. Finally Josh replied, "He'll have to get over it, unfortunately. It's kind of too bad, but that's the way it will have to be, I guess."
"Why is it too bad?"
"Well, if-- well... Bolco, don't take this wrong, okay?" James waited for assurance.
"I'm not sure what you mean."
James sighed, and decided to just say it. "If he did have a little kid of his own, none of what he's going through would be wrong, would it? If the kid suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night?"
"Do you think that's how he sees me?"
"No. And -- yes. He sees you as a peer. But one sniff of danger, real or imagined, and all that protectiveness comes right to the top."
Bolco looked out the window. "It's stifling. I can't be treated like a little child all the time. I can't be boxed in and -- and coddled like that. He's got to understand that."
"And that," said Josh, "is why we are giving Mom plenty of time. Make sense?"
"I suppose," Bolco sighed. "What do I do with the apple core?"
"At night, you roll down the window and toss it into a bush. During the day, you hold it til you get to a trash can, or until you are sure nobody will see you toss it into a bush."
Bolco chuckled. "How do I roll down the window?"
"Push that little button."
The window motor noise made him jump, and he dropped the core and an apple fell out of the bowl in his lap, and had to set the fruit bowl aside, and unbuckle and go fishing for both the apple and the core. Josh slowed down while he did. He tossed the core, shrugged, and rubbed the renegade apple clean on his breeches, and chomped on it for a while.
Signs of life began to appear around town, and Josh pulled into a burger drive-thru as they opened for breakfast, and ordered up some greasy fried potato patties and some orange juice all around, and they watched the sky grow less black.
"Time to head back?" James suggested.
"Got to," Josh replied. "Class at nine." He sighed, and looked back at Bolco. "I'll be back tomorrow for swimming, he said; "we'll be praying about this whole thing while we're gone. All right?"
Bolco ran his hand over his eyes. "All right. Thanks."
"Mom might get to the bottom of it, you know. She might."
"All right. Thanks."
But she didn't. Jake was as tense as a bowstring, still, and Janiece tried to provide Bolco with some breathing room as best she could; she didn't leave for work until Jake left for class.
************
As soon as they left, Bolco locked the front door, locked the door to the deck, and then opened the casement window in Jake's room (struggling with the latches and the screens) that was conveniently blocked by a foundation bush on the north side. He pulled the screen down behind him, careful that it did not lock, and walked over to see Hunter, the collie, who was tied out by his doghouse. Hunter snuffled him and licked his hand. Bolco looked around, and wondered whether he could nap under one of the bushes, the way he had when he had been following the tracks.
He was weary enough. He could have gone in and slept, and he supposed that that was what he had stayed out all night for. But somehow, he still didn't want to. The vast cavernous house had become enclosing and stifling more than any hobbit-hole ever had; he supposed that that was because all of his hobbit-hole experience had been earthy, with gardens outside every window and the knowledge that the earth was just outside the paneling and framework. He hadn't spent much time in hobbit-houses.
He sat outside, stubbornly stifling one yawn after another, for two hours before he finally went back through the casement window, closed and locked it behind him, went to the kitchen, opened the big white refrigerator door, took out an apple, an orange and some grapes, and went to the table. He hadn't seen anybody eat an orange, and so he did not know what to do with it. He experimentally bit into it, gagged and shuddered, persistently bit deeper, and finally got to something that tasted good. He thought it might be something like those sweet yellow things-- banana, they were called-- that had a thick skin you did not eat, so he carved the skin off with a knife and then munched the inside, drizzling. He used several napkins.
He finished with the apple and the grapes, cleaned up his plate and the table, and then washed his face and hands in the washroom. Then he changed and went to bed. He slept like a rock.
Jake woke him in time for dinner. Dinner was a bit tense. It was also simple; chicken, potatoes and green beans, and glasses of milk. "Don't want to ruin your appetite for ice cream, Janiece murmured with a soft smile. Bolco sighed.
"If you don't want to go, Jake challenged him, "I'll just call her and cancel it."
"Jake, Janiece scolded gently.
"I'll go, Bolco said flatly. He wasn't taking the blame for that too.
They cleaned up and Bolco went outside on the deck. Jake and Janiece stayed inside 'til ten of seven, and then Jake wordlessly opened the back door, and Bolco came inside, put on his shoes and socks, and headed wordlessly out the front door.
They pulled up in front of Anne's house, and she was waiting at the window, and came out immediately. Bolco was sitting alone in the back seat behind Jake, and Anne sat in the passenger seat. "Hi." She buckled up, and then turned to face them both.
"Hi Anne, " Jake said, "How has your day gone?"
"Fine, she smiled. "Hi Nathaniel, how are you?"
Bolco took a deep breath, carefully met and held her eyes, and then replied, "I am quite well today, Anne, thank you kindly for asking. I'm deeply grateful to be asked along and I hope I don't inconvenience you in any way. And I'm quite delighted to have made your acquaintance."
Anne's jaw didn't drop, but her eyes grew very, very wide. She looked at Jake, who was suddenly holding his head with his left hand, one eye on the road, tempted to either groan or swear, and trying to stifle both.
As Anne looked back at him, Bolco casually reached up with his right hand and, as he turned to look out the left window, easily and naturally combed his hair back with his fingers, tucked his hair behind his ear and casually rubbed his jaw a little. He glanced up into the rear-view mirror, and met Jake's eyes; Jake saw his hair tucked behind his ear, and froze, and then suddenly remembered that he was driving, and looked back at the road. Bolco looked back at Anne, and gave her a cheery smile. She looked a little green, he thought.
"Anne, Bolco continued, thinking that at the moment he rivaled Pippin himself in his cheerfulness, "I wonder if you would be as kind as to tell me about ice cream. We don't have it where I come from. In fact, I had never even heard of it before yesterday. Could you please tell me what I should be anticipating, and if there is anything specific that one is expected to do when one goes out for ice cream? Any special societal customs involved anything else I should need to know?"
Jake was by this time coldly brushing away tears of fury. Anne looked from Jake to Nathaniel, wondered whether this had been the best of ideas, and then since Jake wasn't meeting her eye and Nathaniel was, decided to answer his questions as best he could.
"Well, not really, no, there's no special customs that I can think of at the moment, " she began; "but if any come up, that I haven't thought of, I'll be sure to tell you. I think the big thing is to get plenty of napkins, and don't hand the tiny little wooden spoons back to them after you've asked to sample a flavor."
Bolco listened seriously. "Don't give back the wooden spoons."
"That's right. Throw them away instead."
He nodded. "All right. But they do let you sample the flavors; how many different flavors are there?"
"Well, that depends on the shop; sometimes fifteen or twenty or even thirty or more."
"My goodness. And what is the ice cream made of?"
She giggled. "Oh- it's frozen, sweetened cow's cream, flavored with fruit or vanilla or chocolate, or other sweets. Sometimes they add nuts or candy or syrup, either in it or over it. They have all sorts of interesting options."
"My goodness, said Bolco, "it sounds like it would take thirty or forty trips to experience all the variations."
"So it would, she laughed, her eyes sparkling now.
And with that, they pulled in to the parking lot. Jake silently turned off the car, took a deep breath, and then turned around in his seat and looked back at Bolco.
"All right, he said, coldly. "Since you're making the rules, you tell me what they are, and I'll play along as best I can."
Bolco met his eyes and thought a while.
Anne waited on both of them.
Bolco said, "I suppose it's time for me to blend in again."
"Up to you, Jake said.
Bolco turned to Anne. "Here, " he said, "is where I get to look down, say little, act shy, and allow people to mistake me for a small human child."
She swallowed hard. "You're not human?"
"I don't think of myself that way, no, said Bolco, unbuckling and opening his door.
"Wait, she said suddenly. He stopped, and looked back at her. She winked, and motioned at his ear, and fluffed her own hair over her own ear a little. "Blending in and all, she smiled, with mischief in her eyes.
He smiled at her, suddenly delighted with her, and tossed his head, and the curls resettled, hiding the pointed ears quite well. She laughed.
They gathered at the front of the car, and Nathaniel marched right between Jake and Anne, and looking up at Anne with wide-eyed innocence, reached up and offered her his hand. She burst into a delighted cascade of giggling, and took it, and then Nathaniel glanced mischievously up at Jake, who on the one hand was smoldering, but on the other hand, was trying not to laugh. The conflicting emotions meant that he spent several minutes oscillating between fighting back tears, laughter, and anger, all the while trying to keep a casually straight face.
He stood back, emotions thusly swirling, while Anne and Nathaniel approached the counter.
"You can't see, can you?" she asked him, and to her astonishment, he met her eyes, raised his arms and waited. Her eyes got huge, but she obligingly reached down and picked him up, and held him so he could scan the buckets of ice cream. She slowly paced along the counter and read off every single flavor. The fruit flavors he nodded at, and tried to keep track. He was especially interested in raspberry and peach, nodding wide-eyed for those.
"Okay, so you want to try raspberry and peach. But you've also got to at least try vanilla and chocolate," she whispered, smiling rather mischievously.
He shrugged, smiling, and tipped his head away from her, and oh-so-modestly-and-shyly, looked down at the floor. She burst into another round of giggles, meanwhile trying to ask for a sample of vanilla. She managed to get the words out fairly clearly.
He tried the stuff, savoring it, eyebrows raised, eyes wide, clearly delighted, and gave her a glowing smile. And then the eyes went back, oh-so-shyly, to the floor. Anne laughed harder. "Sample of chocolate please, she choked, wheezing.
But he indignantly held up the vanilla sample's condemned wooden spoon. Convulsed with giggles, she carried him over to the trash can, and he crisply dropped it in, and they returned to the counter.
The sample of chocolate was different; the taste took him by surprise, being completely unlike anything he had ever had. Suddenly serious, he thought it over while Anne waited, and then he narrowed his eyes, tipped his head, gave her a puzzled look. She studied him. "How about a sample of chocolate almond?"
He nodded. As the attendant reached for the next sample, he held up the wooden spoon, and they detoured to throw it away.
The chocolate almond convinced him. He nodded, and they detoured to dispose of that spoon.
"So, Anne nodded. "Chocolate Almond."
Nathaniel blinked at her, and quietly but clearly enunciated, "I beg your pardon, Anne, but does that mean I can't also have the raspberry and the peach?"
This time she laughed til the tears flowed and she had to get a napkin and give Nathaniel to Jake and go to the ladies room and compose herself and check her mascara.
Jake put one hand on Nathaniel's shoulder and looked up at the girl behind the counter, who by now was giving Nathaniel an odd look, and Jake ordered him a bowl with one scoop each of raspberry, peach, and chocolate almond, with a side of hot fudge sauce and a side of caramel.
Anne returned, still teetering between giggles and tears, her face twitching. She swept Nathaniel back into her arms and turned to stand beside Jake, looking up at him, and said, "I guess I'll have chocolate almond too. Medium cone."
He nodded, and taking a deep breath ordered that and a medium chocolate chip for himself, and paid the cashier, irrationally thinking that if Nathaniel actually stole Anne from him he'd send the guy back to the Shire if he had to carry him there himself. He turned to look at them, and they were both looking at him, and Anne's smile gave him a flicker of hope. They found a quiet booth and sat down.
Anne watched Nathaniel savor one spoonful of the peach and the raspberry, pondering the flavors carefully, and then he tasted the sauces. Jake watched him grimace at the hot fudge. "The sauces aren't meant to be eaten separately; try them in combination with the ice cream."
"Ah." He did so, and that was rather better. He spent the next several minutes carefully engineering different combinations, eventually combining all five, but he only tried that once.
Jake was chomping though his cone rapidly. Watching Nathaniel, he saw Nathaniel suddenly wince. "What's up?"
"Just a tooth, Nathaniel waved his concern away. "Been bad for a while. Cold things hurt."
"So we need to get you to a dentist."
"Dentist? What's that?"
"Somebody who will fix your tooth."
"Fix a tooth? How do you do that?"
"You're going to find out. It only hurts a little." Jake concealed a grim smile, and Nathaniel glared at him. Jake glared back. The tension decreased, a little.
"Nathaniel, Anne asked suddenly, "where are you from?"
"If I tell you that here and now," he replied casually, "Jake will roast me. We'd best wait til we return to the car."
Anne studied Jake, who churned inwardly and tried to relax. His cone disappeared rapidly despite his appetite having been quite ruined. He suddenly thought that even LeeAnne had never stressed him out like this. He considered refusing to bring Nathaniel on any more dates. Then he remembered that he wouldn't have the date at all if Nathaniel hadn't gotten Anne's attention in the first place. And he had to admit, the little guy seemed to have the situation pretty well under control. Even if he had driven Jake half crazy getting there. Jake put his head in his hands.
The table was suddenly quiet, and Jake looked up over his fingertips to find them both staring at him. Nathaniel returned to his ice cream, rightly guessing that Jake would rather die than get emotional at an ice cream parlor, especially in front of a girl-- especially in front of this girl. He tried to return the conversation to a casual level.
"So, how about you?" Nathaniel asked Anne. "Where are you from?"
"Oh, Acton. All my life."
"Acton. Do you like it here?"
"Yeah," she shrugged. "Great schools, nice church, nice town. Yes, I like it."
"What do you like to do?"
"Oh, sing, paint, dance, swim, drama..."
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed. "Swim."
"Mmm-hmmm. I'm on the swim team at Fitchburg."
"Really." But Nathaniel did not press the subject further, and Jake knew why; Nathaniel would die of embarrassment if he ever encountered her wearing a racing suit.
"Drama?" Nathaniel prompted.
She nodded. "I've considered minoring in drama. I'll have the credits, I think. I'll just have to get the paperwork though on time."
"Anne, I don't even know what drama is."
"Oh... I'm sorry. Acting."
"He'd be pretty good at it, don't you think?" Jake growled, and Anne giggled.
"Acting...?" Nathaniel looked to Jake for help, and Jake just raised an eyebrow, and then Nathaniel realised he'd probably better just change the subject. "Painting. Anne, tell me about painting."
"Mostly watercolor, some acrylic. I'm leery of oils; the colors get muddy too fast for me."
"Oh." Still baffled, Nathaniel finally finished his ice cream, and they rose to leave. Jake gathered the trash and got rid of it, Nathaniel gave Anne another wide-eyed innocent look and took her hand, and they headed back to the car.
"Keep it up," Jake rumbled at him. "I'll get you a car seat."
Anne started giggling again, and Nathaniel figured out that whatever it meant, Jake had scored a point.
*****************
Anne turned to face Nathaniel as Jake pulled out. "So now can you tell me where you are from?"
"Anne, I think maybe I'll let you and Jake talk about that later. But I'll tell you a little more about me, if you'd like that."
"All right."
"First of all, I'm twenty-six, and I am sorry that you ever thought otherwise. I never meant to be deceptive and I felt awful once I realised that you were interested in me because you thought I was something I wasn't."
She listened.
"But," he sighed, "it seems to be important that I blend in, and that seems to be the solution that has been settled on. As you've seen, I don't like it, nor am I good at it. But-- if I hurt you in any way with that-- by that-- I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she replied. And then she turned to Jake. "So-- where's he from?" she asked.
He looked at her, and couldn't read her, and couldn't look at her and drive long enough to read her, and so he said, "Can we go back to my Mom's place and talk about it there?"
"All right." He immediately did a U-turn and headed back to their house. As they drove, Anne studied Nathaniel, and he studied her, and wondered what Jake would trust her with. And Jake wondered whether he should let his interest in Anne get any stronger. Right now there was no question who she was interested in. As he had fretted previously, he was just the driver.
They got out and went inside, and Janiece gave them an odd look, and put the kettle on for tea, and then gracefully went upstairs with a book-- but not before she motioned Bolco aside and softly said, "You're Isembrand for the evening."
He smiled at her. "Yes, Ma'am."
Jake, Anne and Nathaniel sat around the kitchen table waiting for the teakettle, and Bolco put both his hands flat on the table. "Anne, would you like to know my real name?"
She nodded. Bolco glanced at Jake, and Jake hesitated, and then he nodded too, seeming to suddenly relax. If she caught on from his name, that would stop him having to explain half as much.
"My original name is Bolco Took," he said softly, and watched her.
"Took. Bolco?"
He nodded.
"Oh my God, are you-- are you--" She turned to Jake, who was watching her. His eyes were lighting up. Say it, he thought.
"You're-- you're-- a hobbit?" she whispered.
"Yes," he smiled, "I am. I work in Tuckborough. My family is from Long Cleeve." He watched her for a while, as she digested the idea. Then he got up, went downstairs, and returned immediately-- barefoot. Jake and Anne were deep in an animated discussion, and he smiled, and went to the door, and thought about going out onto the deck. But then he realised he couldn't-- Janiece had named him the escort! He sighed, and turned back to look at the table.
Jake looked at him. "Yes, we can go outside with you. That is, if you don't mind," he said to Anne. "Bolco needs plenty of time outside. It's good for him. Your jacket doesn't look very warm; I can get you some heavier stuff to layer over it. And we can bring tea. Bolco, where do you want to go?"
Bolco walked over to Jake, gave him the tightest bear-hug he could, and then thanked him. The remaining tension dissolved. They all rose, and Jake brought Anne a chamois shirt and a plaid wool shirt to go over her jacket, and a tweed cap that was too big for her. She glowed as she tried it on, and happily twisted her hair up under the hat to make it snug enough. Jake and Bolco bundled up as the teakettle sang.
"Timing," said Jake with a grin. "Hey, Bolco. The woods you went through last night. Would it be hard for you to take us through them? Would Anne be okay?"
Bolco glanced at her shoes, and thought. "I think I can lead you where you wouldn't get too muddy. Maybe."
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for anything. I'll buy new shoes if I have to," Anne said with a big smile.
Bolco liked her more than ever. "Wait, I almost forgot," he said, "stay here and behave." He ran up to Janiece's room and brushed the door.
"Yes? What is it?"
Bolco spoke through the door. "Janiece, we are all three of us going for a very long walk through the woods. I'll make quite sure everything remains proper."
There was a pause, and then a deep sigh of contentment. "Yes, Bolco, I am quite sure that you will. Make sure everyone wraps up well. And try to see that their feet stay dry."
"If the ground is too wet, I'll be the first to know," he responded reasonably. "Yes, Ma'am."
Anne was hanging up the phone as he came back downstairs, having called her parents to tell them about the change in plans so they wouldn't worry. They put their tea in travel mugs, which were a new concept for Bolco, and he was quite intrigued. "This would make climbing trees much easier."
The night was as mild as the previous night had been. They took a wider route than Bolco had the night before; he led them more to the right, and then began the circle before they got to the houses on the other side. So they stayed more towards the center of the woods. And this time he was more careful about landmarks. Still, he took his time, and they chatted and meandered; they were out for three hours. Their feet were damp but not drenched. They were exhausted and struggled to stay awake when they drove Anne home. And that night, when Bolco woke up once in the early morning hours, he rolled right over and went back to sleep. Jake never moved.
The next day, Anne went out and bought a pair of decent hiking boots, and wool socks to go with them. She was in no hurry to return the borrowed cap or shirts. And Jake was in no hurry to get them back from her.
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