On a block in New York, stood Marymount Manhattan College, where a large group of hobbits and men were gathered inside on one rainy afternoon in March. On the way to Marymount College, my family had stopped at Games Workshop to pick up a Helm's Deep game. After we arrived at the college, I was interviewed, while Dad and some other men set up the game. After my interview, I picked up some Decipher cards and looked at the prizes for the contests. After people read and recited poems, it was time for the costume contest. When only a few people came up for the costume, I was surprised because I had thought there would have been at least twenty people in the contest. When it was my turn to go up and say into the microphone, "I came as Eowyn," and talk about where I got my costume, I was shaking all over. As it turned out, I won first place and received a wonderful Return of the King calendar and an Aragorn bust. My brother, Mercer, who came dressed as Frodo, won second place and won two books. A woman named Emily, who also came as Eowyn, won third place. One of my other brothers, Walker, won fourth place.

After a little break, where we all enjoyed some nice hobbit-like food, the Tolkien trivia contest was held. Three people sat at the front of the room and answered questions about Tolkien's life or his books. Each question had a number of points, and whomever got thirty points first, won that round. There were four rounds, and I was in the third round. On the last round all the winners of the previous round were in it. Emily won first place, I won second place, and another man won third. Then people read some more and when they were done reading, there was a membership raffle. I won a Pippin bust. So ended a very special day.

Constance Schuchardt

In a hole in the ground there was Marymount Manhattan College, and on the first floor there was a gathering of hobbits. I played part of the Helm's Deep game. I dressed up as Frodo and won second place in the costume contest, and I won two books as a prize. My sister, Constance, dressed up as Eowyn and won first place in the costume contest. She won an Aragorn bust and a Return of the King calendar. There was a whole table full of bookmarks and tickets for the raffle and the trivia contest. There was another table that had Decipher Lord of the Rings cards that you could take for free! There was a movie documentary that we watched of how Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings books in World War one. After people read their favorite parts from Tolkien's books, Constance won a Pippin bust figure for the membership raffle. There was a lot of eating and my family and I had a lot of fun. When we went home we were all tired hobbits.

Mercer Schuchardt