"Let's fish at the lake. We can leave our poles and gather in the woods. Get something nice for dinner," I say. A lot of people will celebrate tonight, out of relief that their children have been given another year to live.
We do well. By late morning, we have a dozen fish, a bag of greens and the best of all large quantities of strawberries. The fishing really cheered up Katniss. She wouldn't stop bragging of how she caught seven where I barely managed five.
On the way home, we swing by the Hob, the black market where we make most of our money. Most businesses are closed by now but, the Hob's still fairly busy. We trade six of the fish for good bread and two for salt. Greasy Sae takes half of our greens for a couple of chunks of paraffin. We might do a tad better elsewhere but she is the only one who can consistently be counted on buying wild dogs and making something palatable out of it. We don't hunt them on purpose, but if you're attacked and you take out a dog or two, well, meat is meat.
When we finish our business at the market, we go to the back door of the mayor's house to sell half the strawberries, knowing he has a particular fondness for them and can afford our price. The mayor's daughter, Madge opens the door. Her drab school outfit has been replaced by an expensive white dress and her hair is done up with a pink ribbon.
"Pretty dress," I say.
She shoots me a look, she presses her lips together and then smiles.
"Well, if I end up going to the Capitol, I want to look nice, don't I?"
This intrigues me. I shouldn't rise to the bait but I do
"You won't be going to the Capitol, " I say. My eyes land on a circular pin on her dress. Real gold. beautifully crafted. It could keep a family in bread for months."What can you have? Five entries? I had six when I was twelve years old."
"That's not her fault," Katniss says defensively.
"No, it's no one's fault. Just the way it is," I say.
Madge puts the money in Katniss' hand. "Good luck, Katniss."
"You too," she says. With that, the door closes.
We walk towards the Seam in silence. The reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it. You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve. That year, your name is entered once. At thirteen, twice. And so on and so on until you reach the age of eighteen, the final year of eligibility when your name goes into the pool seven times. That's true for every citizen in all twelve districts in the entire country of Panem.
But say you are poor. You can opt to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meagre year's supply of grain and oil for one person. And the entries are cumulative. The tesserae are just another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers of the Seam and those who can generally count on supper; and thereby ensure we will never trust one another. It's to the Capitol's advantage to have us divided among ourselves. We need to stand together.
As we enter the seam, Katniss divides our haul.
"See you in the square," she says.
"Wear something pretty," I say and we part ways.
Cutting through alleys and backyards, I take the shortest route home. I have to be with my family.
The moment I enter the house Posy rushes and wraps her tiny arms around my legs. Posy's been doing this ever since she was able to walk. I lift her up and Rory, Vick and my mother appear. I kneel with Posy and my brother's walk into my arms. My mother pulls all of us to her. I take a deep breath as I release them.
Rory and Vick are wearing my old reaping clothes. Posy's wearing a pink dress. I hand my game back to my mother as we go in. She deposits it in the dining room. Posy is unusually quiet today. She always speaks non-stop about the trinkets she collected. Posy doesn't understand the way reaping works, but she knows something is so wrong.
She and Vick will be with our mother, safe from the reaping. It's Rory I am afraid for. His name has been entered only once, I wouldn't let him take any tesserae. Still.
My mother suggests I clean myself before the reaping. I do as I'm told. My mother has laid out my father's clothes. My chest tightens when I see it. I can almost see him, taking me to the woods, teaching me snares. Sometimes I miss him so badly that it hurts. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to look at my mother, it hurts to live. But I have to take care of my family.
YOU ARE READING
the untold tale (A Gale Hawthorne story)
Fanfiction"Maybe I'll tell her after the Reaping. Maybe she'll be my Winter Fire someday." But there's only one rule: Kill or be killed Gale Hawthorne's life takes a drastic turn. One that's going to break his heart. His best friend gets Reaped into the Hunge...
