May the Odds...

Chapter 1 - My Love, My Life

The sun beat down on the back of my neck as the water below tickled the tips of my toes. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I pushed the strands of hair sticking to it back into my hairline with the back of my hand. Light danced across the light waves of the lake as the day was drawing to an end, the reflection blinding me every now and then as I sighed. 

A wicker basket sat between my father and I, containing our catches of the day. His skin was brown and wrinkled like old leather, his shirt sleeves pushed up to the elbows as he held the net with lax fingers. A hat sat low over his brow and covered most of his face in shadow as we sat in happy silence, chewing a toothpick at the edge of his lips. 

As a gong sounded loud to signal the end of the working day, my father and I both drew our nets in to survey what we would be bringing home for dinner that night. Other fishermen had stood to their feet and were already sorting through their own bounty, separating it to donate into the large bin separating two peacekeepers just off of the pier. 

"I swear it gets less and less every day." My father muttered, tucking his hat under his arm as he mopped the sweat on his brow with an old rag. 

"What can we afford to take home?" I ignored him, throwing the few fish left in my net into the basket between us. He sorted through the catch himself, pulling the fish to the top of the basket for donation to the Capitol. He would be leaving us with two large trout for dinner for the family tonight, the rest to be given away. 

For twelve hours of work, it pained me to only be able to take such a small amount of our efforts as reward but I didn't dare speak out with the peacekeepers so close. 

We drew to the bin and threw the rest of our catch away to the Capitol, leaving the pier for home with the basket held between us, a handle in each of our hands. 

"Go on, what have you got to say," A small smile sat on my father's face. He knew me far too well. 

"How can you do this day in and day out with as little reward?" I asked. 

He shrugged his shoulders, his frame aching. "The work itself is rewarding. The peace is rewarding. Besides, this isn't all we take home. Our wages will be through at the end of the week." 

I rolled my eyes. I had only been working with my father for a couple of weeks but his blind acceptance still baffled me. I enjoyed the work, and the time with my father, but the Capitol was stealing from the district at this stage. Not that I would dare utter the statement aloud, wary of listening ears. 

"I understand, I understand." 

His eyes twinkled as he grinned. "Growing tired already? You could stay home with your mother and learn how to knot the nets and tailor clothes if that would be more to your liking." 

I shook my head frantically. My mother had tried to recruit me into her line of work many times from my sixteenth birthday. I had a talent for it, she had claimed, as I had picked up the skill easily enough from learning from my father how to tie particular knots on our leisurely fishing afternoons in childhood. However, the longer I tried to stick it out my fingers would become pained and burned from the coarse rope. Not to mention the many hours I would spend inside in silence, working with the other women under the eyes of peacekeepers. 

I preferred the outdoors with my father. He had taught me a variety of ways of fishing as I had grown up - spear fishing, fly fishing, pike fishing (those earned extra credits from the capitol). We had peace and conversation with the other fishermen, the peacekeepers sat further away and let us do our job. I preferred it. I wouldn't have given it up for anything. 

Even if I trifled with the poor compensation. 

"You know that's much too boring for me." I rolled my eyes, the streets now cast in shadow as we approached my family home. It was a quaint little place, much too small for the four girls my parents had had but thankfully Cara had moved out not long ago and we had a little more breathing room.