Page 23 (1/2)
23
Every cell ininto the stew and cram it, handful by handful into my mouth But Peeta&039;s voice stops me "We better take it slow on that stew Reht on the train? The rich foodthen"
"You&039;re right And I could just inhale the whole thing!" I say regretfully But I don&039;t We are quite sensible We each have a roll, half an apple, and an egg-size serving of stew and rice I make myself eat the stew in tiny spoonfuls - they even sent us silverware and plates - savoring each bite When we finish, I stare longingly at the dish "I want more"
"Me, too Tell you what We wait an hour, if it stays down, then we get another serving," Peeta says
"Agreed," I say "It&039;s going to be a long hour"
"Maybe not that long," says Peeta "What was that you were saying just before the food arrived? So that ever happened to you "
"I don&039;t re it&039;s too dim in here for the caht That&039;s what I was thinking," he says "Scoot over, I&039; bag We lean back against the cave wall, my head on his shoulder, his ar me to keep up the act "So, since ere five, you never even noticed any other girls?" I ask hiirl, but none of the impression but you," he says
"I&039;irl from the Seam," I say
"Hardly But I couldn&039;t care less Anyway, if we irl froirl froe," he says
That&039;s right If e&039;ll each get a house in the part of town reserved for Hunger Gaan, the Capitol had built a dozen fine houses in each district Of course, in ours only one is occupied Most of the others have never been lived in at all
A disturbing thought hits hbor will be Haymitch!"
"Ah, that&039;ll be nice," says Peeta, tightening his arms around me "You andwinter nights around the fire retelling old Hunger Games&039; tales"
"I told you, he hates e of Hay my new pal
"Only sometimes When he&039;s sober, I&039;ve never heard hi about you," says Peeta
"He&039;s never sober!" I protest
"That&039;s right Who a of? Oh, I know It&039;s Cinna who likes you But that&039;s mainly because you didn&039;t try to run when he set you on fire," says Peeta "On the other hand, Haymitch well, if I were you, I&039;d avoid Hayht you said I was his favorite," I say
"He hates eneral are his sort of thing"
I know the audience will enjoy our having fun at Hay, he&039;s practically an old friend to soe at the reaping, everybody knows hied hi what sort of lies he&039;s e because most mentors have a partner, another victor to help theo into action at any moment Kind of like me when I was alone in the arena I wonder how he&039;s holding up, with the drinking, the attention, and the stress of trying to keep us alive
It&039;s funny Hay well in person, butalike because he seeifts Like how I knew I must be close to water when he withheld it and how I knew the sleep syrup just wasn&039;t so to ease Peeta&039;s pain and how I kno that I have to play up the romance He hasn&039;t made much effort to connect with Peeta really Perhaps he thinks a bowl of broth would just be a bowl of broth to Peeta, whereas I&039;ll see the strings attached to it
A thought hitsto surface Maybe it&039;s because I&039;ve only recently begun to view Hayree of curiosity "How do you think he did it?"
"Who? Did what?" Peeta asks
"Haymitch How do you think he won the Games?" I say
Peeta considers this quite a while before he answers Haymitch is sturdily built, but no physical wonder like Cato or Thresh He&039;s not particularly handsoifts on you And he&039;s so surly, it&039;s hard to i up with him There&039;s only one way Haymitch could have won, and Peeta says it just as I&039; this conclusion myself
"He outsmarted the others," says Peeta
I nod, then let the conversation drop But secretly I&039;h to help Peeta and ht have the wits to survive Maybe he wasn&039;t always a drunk Maybe, in the beginning, he tried to help the tributes But then it got unbearable It must be hell to mentor two kids and then watch theet out of here, that will becoirl from District 12 The idea is so repellent, I thrust it from my mind
About half an hour has passed before I decide I have to eat again Peeta&039;s too hungry hi up two s of lain to play Peeta presses his eyes against a crack in the rocks to watch the sky
"There won&039;t be anything to see tonight," I say, far &039;s happened or ould&039;ve heard a cannon"
"Katniss," Peeta says quietly
"What? Should we split another roll, too?" I ask
"Katniss," he repeats, but I findto split one But I&039;ll save the cheese for to at me "What?"
"Thresh is dead," says Peeta
"He can&039;t be," I say
"Theythe thunder and we missed it," says Peeta
"Are you sure? Ibuckets out there I don&039;t kno you can see anything," I say I push him away from the rocks and squint out into the dark, rainy sky For about ten seconds, I catch a distorted glione Just like that
I slu about the task at hand Thresh dead I should be happy, right? One less tribute to face And a powerful one, too But I&039;o, letting me run because of Rue, who died with that spear in her stoht?" asks Peeta
I give a nonco them close toto bet on a tribute who keeps sniveling over the deaths of her opponents Rue was one thing We were allies She was so young But no one will understand my sorrow at Thresh&039;s murder The word pulls me up short Murder! Thankfully, I didn&039;t say it aloud That&039;s not going to win me any points in the arena What I do say is, "It&039;s just if we didn&039;t win I wanted Thresh to Because he let o And because of Rue"
"Yeah, I know," says Peeta "But this es a plate of foot into my hands "Eat It&039;s still warm"
I take a bite of the stew to show I don&039;t really care, but it&039;s like glue in my mouth and takes a lot of effort to s "It alsous"
"And he&039;s got supplies again," says Peeta
"He&039;ll be wounded, I bet," I say
"What makes you say that?" Peeta asks
"Because Thresh would have never gone doithout a fight He&039;s so strong, I mean, he was And they were in his territory," I say
"Good," says Peeta "The more wounded Cato is the better I wonder how Foxface isout"
"Oh, she&039;s fine," I say peevishly I&039; in the Cornucopia and I didn&039;t "Probably be easier to catch Cato than her"
"Maybe they&039;ll catch each other and we can just go home," says Peeta "But we better be extra careful about the watches I dozed off a few tiht"
We finish our food in silence and then Peeta offers to take the first watch I burron in the sleeping bag next to hi my hood up over my face to hide it from the cameras I just need a few moments of privacy where I can let any e seen Under the hood, I silently say good-bye to Thresh and thank him forto help his family and Rue&039;s, if I win Then I escape into sleep, comforted by a full belly and the steady warmth of Peeta besideI register is the s out half a roll spread with the creamy white stuff and topped with apple slices "Don&039;t be ain Here&039;s your half"
"Oh, good," I say, i fatty cheese tastes just like the kind Prim makes, the apples are sweet and crunchy "Moat cheese and apple tart at the bakery," he says
"Bet that&039;s expensive," I say
"Too expensive for one very stale Of course, practically everything we eat is stale," says Peeta, pulling the sleeping bag up around hi
Huh I always assumed the shopkeepers live a soft life
And it&039;s true, Peeta has always had enough to eat But there&039;s so your life on stale bread, the hard, dry loaves that no one else wanted One thing about us, since I bring our food home on a daily basis, oing toradually but all at once The downpour ends and there&039;s only the residual drippings of water fro streaes, and even without the glasses I can see outside I can&039;t decide if the moon is real or merely a projection of the Gamemakers I knoas full shortly before I left home Gale and I watched it rise as we hunted into the late hours
How long have I been gone? I&039; it&039;s been about teeks in the arena, and there was that week of preparation in the Capitol Maybe the moon has completed its cycle For some reason, I badly want it to be my moon, the saiveto in the surreal world of the arena where the authenticity of everything is to be doubted
Four of us left
For the first time, I allow ht make it home To fae My er A new kind of freedom But then what? What would my life be like on a daily basis? Most of it has been consumed with the acquisition of food Take that away and I&039;m not really sure who I am, what my identity is The idea scares me some I think of Haymitch, with all his money What did his life beco hours drunk I don&039;t want to end up like that
"But you won&039;t be alone," I whisper toAnd then I don&039;t want to think about then, when Prirown up, my mother passed away I know I&039;ll nevera child into the world Because if there&039;s one thing being a victor doesn&039;t guarantee, it&039;s your children&039;s safety My kids&039; na balls with everyone else&039;s And I swear I&039;ll never let that happen