It was a quiet evening. Frodo had invited Merry over to Bag End for the evening. The two hobbits were sitting in the dining room, enjoying a spot of hot tea, along with some seed cakes, which Frodo had baked this morning, and butter.

"Thank you for inviting me over, Frodo." Said Merry, while he was munching on a scrumptious seed cake. "I've had a busy day. Pippin and I were over at Farmer Maggot's farm. We found some delicious carrots and potatoes lying around. We've also managed to sneak into Farmer Maggot's cellar. There were a couple loaves of bread, some bottles of wine and some good cheese that were ripe for the taking."

Frodo was surprised. "How did you manage to steal all of that food, Merry?"

An obnoxious grin fell upon Merry's face. "We had some help." He chuckled.

"From who?" Asked Frodo, anxiously.

"Sam!" The troublesome hobbit burst into a fit of laughter. When he and Pippin were gathering, or stealing, the food from the farm cellar, Merry asked Sam to keep an eye out for Farmer Maggot and his vicious, bloodthirsty dogs. Sam was skeptical of Merry at first. Every time that Merry and Pippin asked Sam for help, Sam knew that they were up to no good and that they would end up tricking him into doing something bad.

Merry bribed Sam with a small sack of 100 gold coins. Merry told Sam that if he were to help him and his cousin, he would receive the gold. So, after Merry and Pippin handed all of the stolen food to Sam, Sam asked Merry if he would receive his gold after working so hard. Sam was overburdened with food. It was difficult for him to carry it all. He asked Merry and Pippin if they could carry some of the food.

Merry and Pippin agreed to help Sam, unless he could fetch them one more thing: a basket of red apples. Merry told Sam that the apples were hiding somewhere behind the farm. Merry also told Sam that he would double the amount of coins if he found the apples. It was an offer that Sam could not refuse.

Sam agreed to help the hobbits. Merry and Pippin relieved the stolen food from Sam. Before he went searching for the apples, Merry had told him that he and Pippin would be waiting for him.

A few minutes later, Sam realized that he had been tricked. He discovered that there weren't any apples lying around after searching the perimeter of farm. While trying to look for them, Farmer Maggot's dogs were having a nap outside in the warm sun. When he wasn't looking, Sam had accidentally stepped on one of the dog's tails. The ferocious dog let out a loud yelp. The other dog had woken up, as well. All of a sudden, the two dogs started chasing Sam throughout Farmer Maggot's crops.

As Merry was sharing his story with Frodo about what happened at Farmer Maggot's farm, Frodo couldn't believe what he heard. "Poor Sam. I hope he's alright." he mumbled to himself. "Merry, why would you do such a thing?"

"Because it's fun!" cheered Merry. "Why do you care so much about Sam, Frodo? He's not worth worrying about."

"He's my friend, Merry." Frodo was slowly growing annoyed. "It was wrong for you trick him. You and Pippin should be ashamed of yourselves. What were you thinking? Bribing him with gold and leaving him behind? Sam could've gotten seriously injured, Merry. You know how violent Farmer Maggot's dogs are. I'm sure that Sam would like to have a word or two with you and Pippin tomorrow. You must apologize to him."

"Fine, I'll apologize." Merry grumbled.

"Thank you, Merry." Just as Frodo was about to help himself to a seed cake, he noticed that they were all gone.

"Merry, did you manage to eat all of the seed cakes?" asked Frodo, with a surprised look upon his face.

"Umm...no?" Merry replied, while shoving the last seed cake into his mouth.

Frodo shook his head, in disbelief. "Oh, Merry. You are such a troublemaker." he sighed.

"And proud of it!" Merry announced. "Anyways, I have to get going. It's getting late and I have to head on home. Oh, can you make sure to tell Brianna that I miss her? I would be very grateful. Thank you. Good bye."

"I will see to it." Frodo yawned. "Good bye, Merry. Have a good evening."

Merry rose from the table and rushed to the front door. Frodo picked up the empty teacups and the empty plate which had all the seed cakes on it and headed down to the kitchen to wash them. Then, he headed to my bedroom, gave me a kiss goodnight, and headed down to his bedroom, where he slept peacefully for the rest of the evening.