The 67th Hunger Games

Chapter 1 - Life in District 7, part 2

Chapter 1 – Life in District 7

Part 2:

Talking about my family; I'm the middle child out of a total of 6 siblings. I have two older brothers and a older sister, a little sister and a little brother.

There is Luke, Joseph, Eva, me, Eliza and Thoma. And my mother Rose and my dad Jacob. That's our “little family”. We are a part of what's called 'the white ones' here in District 7, which isn't as racist as it might could sound like. It actually derived from a very practical reason; the sun. You see, me and all my siblings have the same features: blond hair, ice blue eyes and a pale complexion that doesn't do well in too much sun, where there are other families in District 7 with tanned or dark skinned and they don't have a problem with the sun at all. We see it as a natural way to find out where one should work. For example: if you work as a lumber jack you can either be the guy who cuts down the tree or you can be the one who cuts the tree into moveable pieces. If you are the first guy you stand in the shadow of the tree for most of the day; if you are the guy who cuts up the tree, then you don't. Therefore all the pale people, as my brother Joseph, who works as lumberjacks, usually do the tree felling-part. Otherwise the white ones work indoors as carpenters, papermakers or stuff like that. Even though we aren't the poorest district in Panem the people here don't want to use their few, spare coins on stuff as sun screen. It's been like that for years. And that's why we make sure that the people who can't stand the sun don't have to be in the sun for 10 or 11 hours a day for the entire summer.

To be quite fair, then the separation actually isn't that distinctive. We have a lot of jobs that takes place inside where the white people and the darker people work side by side. Just because you can stand the sun it doesn't mean you have to be out in the sun all the time. I more think it's to protect those who can't from being burned. Like my family.

My dad works as a furniture constructer alongside with my oldest brother, Luke. Mostly for the Capitol, since the people in our district don't need new tables and new chairs all the time. But the Capitol is obsessed with fancy chairs; the bigger the better. Luke spends a lot of time carving lions feet for the legs. I know it annoys him to make stuff for the Capitol, the people who killed his uncle and his best friend, but that's life and at least he earns money enough to live from. And while my brother does all the decoration, my dad puts the chairs together. Or the tables, or whatever they make.

As I told you before, my older brother Joseph is a lumberjack. A job he loves and hates. He loves the woods, it's one of his favorite things in the world. “Nothing can calm you down as the sound of the forrest”, he often says, when people ask him why he spends so much time out there, when he's not working. Which is why he isn't happy that they have to cut down all the trees. He doesn't say so, though; Joseph is in general a very quiet and easy-going person. He tries not to complain since it doesn't help anything anyway. But Joe also has another job; he plays the violin at the Justice Building whenever they have an important dinner or someone from the Capitol are visiting and music is required. And he plays that violin well. We once had this guy in the district who made instruments in his spare time. He was an old lad, couldn't really work anymore since his back would complain, but because he missed the woodwork he made instruments. And Joe got a violin as a birthday present one year. I can't remember which; I was very small. I guess my parents thought it was a good idea since he always wanted to play the piano whenever we visited the district Inn.

Oh, I love the Inn, it's the most welcoming place in 7. Mom said, that in the old days, the Inn only a place for the “rich” people (you know, rich in District 7 standards). The rich people are the people who own the bakery, the pharmacy and stuff like that. Especially the pharmacy. You can go without bread or you can make your own, but you can't really go without medicine if first you need it. But then the old owner of the Inn died, it must be around 10 years ago, and the Inn changed. Now everybody comes there. You can even go there without buying anything. You often see school kids going to the Inn after school, doing their homework in the corner, or the hardworking men going for a single beer after work on Fridays. The rich still go there too, but it's usually in the evening. On weekdays, of course. Because in the weekends the men sometimes go for beer and the rich don't want to mingle with the mob.

Another funny thing about the Inn; It's actually called the Elder Lodge Inn, which I personally think it's quite cool. The man who build the Inn back in the days, his last name was Elder. But Elder is also a tree species. Like the american elder, the black-berry elder and the red-berry elder. It would have been extra cool if the building was also made from elder trees, but it's not. Which I actually only find funny. I've tried to start a trend and get people to call the Inn by it's “rightful name”, but every time I ask 'do you want to go to the Lodge?' or 'shall we meet at the Elder?', people are just giving me puzzled look. So now it's the Inn and it probably always will be.

Oh, I should maybe tell you about the rest of my family. So, my mom isn't working, she is staying at home, taking care of my little brother. That's great, because then there's food on the table when the boys come home after long, hard days in the woods.

My older sister, Eva, has her own little business where she sells homemade jewelery out of wood. She makes the most loverly bracelets and earrings and the rich people love it. Because they signalize class, but they still have the down-to-earth-District-7-feel to them. Eva is 16 so she is still at school. But she makes her jewelery in the evenings and the weekends and it's great, because then we have a little extra money for all the mouths that needs to be fed.

Then we have Eliza. If Eliza could be with Eva for the rest of her life, I think she would be the happiest girl in the district. Luke has tried to explain to her, that it's not really fair that she favor her siblings, but Eliza won't listen. I mean, she's only 7. But I can kinda understand her. Without sounding like a horrible, horrible person, I must say, that of all my siblings, I like Joe the best. He just has his charm. I've never met a person who is more true to himself or more honest than he is. He doesn't try to be some kind of big shot – sometimes he even think it's embarrassing to tell people, that he works in the Justice Building at special occasions, because he don't like that people think bad of him. He's so humble, and I quite like that. But don't take it as I don't like the rest of my siblings, I do. I really, really do. Family means a lot to me; it does so to all of the Maylands.

I like Luke for being the strong one who always tells his opinions, and being the one to smash his hand into the table if there is something he thinks is unfair. I like Luke for being the one who defended us against bullies in school and I like Luke for taking the role as the oldest brother seriously. I like Eva for her kindness and I can't help but smile when she starts laughing. She doesn't do that very often, I mostly just hear her giggle. I know she is embarrassed about her laughter, because it is so loud and penetrating, but that's the thing I like; her laughter is real. I like Eliza for being the happiest girl in the world. She is smiling all the time and she is so easy to be around; she can play with herself for hours without being bored and she always sit silently at your side, without disturbing you, because she simply just likes your present. I guess that's why she likes Eva the best; Eva is mostly the one that lets her. Lastly I like Thoma because he is the cutest baby in the world. He has those round, red cheeks and big, blue eyes, and he always talks. He talks and talks and talks and nobody understands a word he's saying. And it's adorable. I can't help but think, that when he grows up, he will charm all the ladies. He already does now when mom takes in for a stroll.