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For a fewto rise out of the slippery vile stuff fros lance Obviously Hayht about one thing, once we&039;re in the arena he&039;s all we&039;ve got As if by soreement, Peeta and I each take one of Haymitch&039;s arms and help him to his feet

"I tripped?" Haymitch asks "S his face with voet you back to your room," says Peeta "Clean you up a bit"

We half-lead half-carry Haymitch back to his compartment Since we can&039;t exactly set him down on the embroidered bedspread, we haul him into the bathtub and turn the shower on him He hardly notices

"It&039;s okay," Peeta says to me "I&039;ll take it frorateful since the last thing I want to do is strip down Haymitch, wash the vomit out of his chest hair, and tuck hiood iin But judging by the state he&039;s in, Haymitch will have no ht," I say "I can send one of the Capitol people to help you" There&039;s any nu us Taking care of us is their job

"No I don&039;t want them," says Peeta

I nod and head to my own rooht of the Capitol people ht be a s the reason why he insists on taking care of Haymitch and all of a sudden I think, It&039;s because he&039;s being kind Just as he was kind to give me the bread

The idea pulls erous totheir way insidethere And I can&039;t let Peeta do this Not where we&039;re going So I decide, from this moment on, to have as little as possible to do with the baker&039;s son

When I get back toat a platform to refuel I quickly open the , toss the cookies Peeta&039;s father gave lass shut No more No more of either of them

Unfortunately, the packet of cookies hits the ground and bursts open in a patch of dandelions by the track I only see the iain, but it&039;s enough Enough to reo

I had just turned away from Peeta Mellark&039;s bruised face when I saw the dandelion and I knew hope wasn&039;t lost I plucked it carefully and hurried horabbed a bucket and Prim&039;s hand and headed to the Meadow and yes, it was dotted with the golden-headed weeds After we&039;d harvested those, we scrounged along inside the fence for probably a reens, steed ourselves on dandelion salad and the rest of the bakery bread

"What else?" Prim asked me "What other food can we find?"

"All kinds of things," I promised her "I just have to remeht with her froes were s of plants Neat handwritten blocks told their naather them, when they came in bloom, their medical uses But , not healing Dandelions, pokeweed, wild onions, pines Pries

The next day, ere off school For a while I hung around the edges of the Meadow, but finally I worked up the courage to go under the fence It was the first time I&039;d been there alone, without my father&039;s weapons to protect me But I retrieved the small bow and arrows he&039;d o more than twenty yards into the woods that day Most of the tiaood luck to kill a rabbit

I&039;d shot a few rabbits before, with uidance But this I&039;d done on my own

We hadn&039;t had ht of the rabbit see in my mother She roused herself, skinned the carcass, and athered Then she acted confused and went back to bed, but when the steas done, we made her eat a bowl

The woods became our savior, and each day I went a bit farther into its ar at first, but I was deterht fish in nets, soathered the various plants that sprung up beneath my feet Plants are tricky Many are edible, but one false mouthful and you&039;re dead I checked and double-checked the plants I harvested with my father&039;s pictures I kept us alive

Any sign of danger, a distant howl, the inexplicable break of a branch, sent an to risk cliot bored andthe sooty reek of our district

On May 8th, I went to the Justice Building, signed up for rain and oil in Prihth of every month, I was entitled to do the sa, of course The grain was not enough to live on, and there were other things to buy, soap and milk and thread What we didn&039;t absolutely have to eat, I began to trade at the Hob It was frightening to enter that place without my father at my side, but people had respected hiame after all, no matter who&039;d shot it I also sold at the back doors of the wealthier clients in town, trying to re a fe tricks as well The butcher would buy my rabbits but not squirrels The baker enjoyed squirrel but would only trade for one if his asn&039;t around The Head Peacekeeper loved wild turkey The mayor had a passion for strawberries

In late surowing around me Tall with leaves like arrowheads Blossoers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots Small, bluish tubers that don&039;t look like ood as any potato "Katniss," I said aloud It&039;s the plant I was na as you can find yourself, you&039;ll never starve" I spent hours stirring up the pond bed withthe tubers that floated to the top That night, we feasted on fish and katniss roots until ere all, for the first time in months, full

Slowly, an to clean and cook and preserve soht in for winter People traded us or paid

Pri for her to disappear on us again I didn&039;t trust her And sonarled place inside lect, for the ave her, but I had taken a step back fro her, and nothing was ever the sa to die without that ever being set right I thought of how I had yelled at her today in the Justice Building I had told her I loved her, too, though So maybe it would all balance out

For a while I stand staring out the train ishing I could open it again, but unsure of ould happen at such high speed In the distance, I see the lights of another district 7? 10? I don&039;t know I think about the people in their houses, settling in for bed I iht What are they doing now, my mother and Prim? Were they able to eat supper? The fish stew and the strawberries? Or did it lay untouched on their plates? Did they watch the recap of the day&039;s events on the battered old TV that sits on the table against the wall? Surely, there werefor Priht of the world on ile shoulders?

Priht of that scruffy old Buttercup posting himself on the bed to watch over Prim comforts me If she cries, he will nose his way into her arms and curl up there until she callad I didn&039;t drown hi my home makes me ache with loneliness This day has been endless Could Gale and I have been eating blackberries only thisdreao to sleep, I ake up back in District 12, where I belong

Probably the drawers hold any nuowns, but I just strip off my shirt and pants and climb into bed in my underwear The sheets are ives i to cry, now is the tie done by the tears from my face But no tears co I feel is a desire to be somewhere else So I let the train rock h the curtains when the rapping rousesday!" I try and iine, for a moment, what it hts fill her waking hours? What dreaht? I have no idea

I put the green outfit back on since it&039;s not really dirty, just slightly cruers trace the circle around the little gold jay and I think of the woods, and of et on with things