Scenes from the Seam

Coming Close

"Please..."

"I still can't believe you did that."

"Well, somebody had to save your ass," Katniss said offhandedly to her friend as they hiked to the snare line by a small stream.

"You could have been hurt," Gale continued, trying to make her see the danger in the situation.

"Well, you were hurt," she returned, ending the argument. "I still can't believe you went down there. That was definitely one of your dumbest ideas," Katniss said, tossing her head back with a small laugh as she looked at her partner, arm still in a sling and scowling, as she checked his snare lines.

"No it wasn't," he mumbled defensively.

"Yeah it was. Top five for sure," she said, untangling the foot of a trapped rabbit.

"Oh please," Gale huffed, like he'd never had a bad idea.

Katniss turned to him with a bit of fire in her eyes, tossing the rabbit which he had to scramble to catch one-handed. Her hands now free, she lifted one up and started counting with her fingers. "Let's see," she said moving on to the next snare.

"Katniss…"

"Wait. There are a lot to choose from," she said in a way that was almost too serious to be considered a tease, though her wide smile told him she was. "Okay, in no particular order, there was that time you insisted we track that animal into its burrow…that animal you insisted was a fox but turned out to be—"

"A skunk," he said abashedly with her.

"Yeah, a skunk."

"Okay, okay," he tried to stop her, "I was young and still learning."

"True," she said, trying not to laugh, "and thanks to you we now know that there're aren't black foxes, especially with white stripes on their tails."

"You're funny."

The look she gave him said she knew. "Two," she flashed two fingers from behind the dangling possum, "there was the time you tried to get the honey comb."

He rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath. He these were his most embarrassing moments, not his dumbest.

"And you just reached right in the buzzing hive…" She couldn't stop herself from laughing now, remembering how he cursed and then screamed and then ran frantic as the swarm chased him.

"Hey, if I recall correctly, you said you thought that was a good idea."

"Well, you recall incorrectly." She tossed the dead possum to him. "I said I thought honey was good—not reaching into a hive to get it." She was still laughing.

Gale had a sour look on his face. He didn't want to tell her that her comment was the reason he tried to get the honey in the first place.

"It's okay," she said as she reattached the snare line, "we learned another valuable lesson." She flashed another smile before turning to walk towards the stream.

"Yeah," he said so low that she couldn't hear, "not to do anything nice for you."

"Three, and this one just might be my favorite, there was that time you wanted to get a hunting dog…"

"I wasn't serious."

"Oh yes you were!" she turned to meet his eyes, "you took me to see McGillert's pups. You'd even picked one out!"

"Okay," he admitted, "I was thinking about it more before I met you. I thought it'd help and be nice to have company…"

"And then you met me!" she piped.