Meanwhile, on the busy streets outside, there was some consternation beside the parking meter where Sam had tied up Bill the Pony. Gandalf tried to decipher the cryptic runes to remove the bright red 'Expired' tag while Frodo stood at his side. "What could it mean, Gandalf?" he asked.
Pay 25 cents, friend...
"Friend!" Gandalf boomed at the meter. Nothing. He looked, cautiously, from side to side ... then gave it a good thwack with his staff. It whirred and with the jingling of coins inside the expired flag dropped. The hobbits looked at him in surprise.
"Hey a score's a score," the wizard explained.
During this, Aragorn stood by the curb, holding up his hand and swinging his sword at cars. "What's it take to hail a cab in this town?" he grumbled.
An enormous silver bus fought its way through traffic, roaring toward the stoplight with such size, speed, and fury that the Hobbits huddled together and trembled with awe. Great glowing glyphs near its roof declared "Lincoln Tunnel / NJ" as its route, and destiny demanded that they take it, but it did not appear to want to slow down despite the wishes of the king.
Gandalf strode purposefully into the center of the street, jammed his staff into a manhole, and howled "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" at the vehicle. It responded by emitting a horrifying squeal of brakes and clouds of white smoke from each of its massive tires, screeching to a halt just inches from the wizard.
"Okay, everybody on," he said in the lull of silence that followed. "C'mon, fly you fools, let's move."
