John Undersee is sent in from the corporate office when they learn his wife, Margaret Donner Undersee (of the famous Donner Sweets Store that is famous for taffy around the state) is from the district. Never mind that he has no experience in a mine - he's an accountant - but he goes where the company sends him.
As an accountant, the first thing he notices is that the numbers do not add up. With a majority of the town's work force in the mine, working 12-hour shift around the clock, the profits should be so much higher. And what's more, the insurance for this location is absurdly high, a figure far higher than sensible for what looks to be a mine that is barely breaking even.
But John Undersee is not a man who makes waves. He is a quiet man who spends time with wife and daughter, works hard to be a good role model for the little miracle they named Magdalene after his mother, nicknaming her Madge. But to be a good role model requires a high moral code, one that won't let him ignore the voice in the back of his mind that says somethings not right.
So he digs, a little bit at a time, in conjunction to his regular work.
John works. And he works. He works so much that Margaret starts to bring little Madge into the office one day a week, for a full day, to get at least a little father daughter time (and maybe some personal time too, its hard spending all day, every day with a toddler without a break).
Madge loves it. She loves the time spent with her daddy, sometimes they run up and down the stairs, sometimes they have impromptu dance breaks, but most of the time she colors little drawings while he works.
And so a pattern is set, for years, that every Thursday Madge spends the day with her dad. The folks in the office get to know her, she knows them, and everyone knows that Magdalene Undersee is the sweetest little girl in the world.
All the while he is digging. Notes of mismatched data are hidden, clandestine meetings are held, contacts are made. Contacts with the men who are breaking their backs in the mines, like Asher Hawthorne.
Asher is a tall, striking man. He's young and full of ideas, but hes got a boy named Gale, just a little bit older than Madge to watch out for. The same goes for his close friend, Isaac Everdeen and his daughter Katniss. Though they want to help, they've got too much riding on the them to consider the what ifs.
But John can't stop pulling this thread, even if it's just little tugs at a time. So, he accepts their wane smiles and shakes their hands, three men who can smell the smoke but are evaded by the spark.
In the end, Madge is the catalyst.
She is a Big Girl now, at seven years old she has decided to be an artist when she grows up, which will happen around fourteen, like her babysitter, Julie.
Mommy says, "Madgey, if you want to be an artist you have to practice a lot. It takes patience, honey." This would be fine if patience were something that was found in abundance in seven-year-old girls, but alas, it is not. However, what Madge lacks in patience, she makes up in stubbornness.
So, while maybe she will not become an artist, she will make sure that she can draw at least one thing really well. And what could be better to draw than her mommy's favorite pin, the mockingjay?
Madge draws it everywhere, has traced somewhere between thirty and three hundred times. She draws it with crayons, pens, pencils, mommy's lipstick ("JOHN! COME GET YOUR CHILD PLEASE."). She'll draw on paper, towels, napkins. Her favorite is the stack of old papers in the To Be Shredded Pile. The To Be Shredded Pile is usually filled when the corporate liaison, Mr. Thread comes in.
Mr. Thread is a mean old man who hates technology and prints out every single document. He reviews them, has Mrs. Oberst scan them and send them back to corporate. Then they are dropped into the To Be Shredded Pile.
Mr. Thread has to share daddy's receptionist because he's not here long often enough to merit one of his own. This means that his left-over tasks are only completed when Mrs. Oberst isn't busy with daddy's work. That is to say, Mr. Thread's tasks are completed the day before he shows up.
Mrs. Oberst hands Madge a large stack of papers to color on, because surely that will get the girl out of her hair for an hour at least. (It will lead to far, far more than an hour.) She gets straight to work.
Madge has finally done it. She has perfectly drawn the mockingjay. Its taken so long and kept her from some of her favorite activities, like sliding down the hall in her socks, but she is done.
She marches to his office, high cocked high, shoulders back and all the confidence a Big Girl could possibly possess.
And daddy is so very proud. He will hang this mockingjay above all the other mockingjays that adorn his wall, because, yes Madge, this truly is The Most Bestest, Amazingest Thing To Ever Happen In The History Of The World.
A glance at the back of the drawing stops him in his tracks, however. And then he has Madge bring him every other piece of paper that was stacked with the paper that led to The Most Bestest, Amazingest Thing To Ever Happen In The History Of The World.
And while she runs as fast as her legs can carry her, a Barbie backpack strapped on to help her carry it all, John makes a call. A call to say all of the digging has been worth it because here is the treasure chest, in the form of a Barbie backpack covered in stickers and pen marks.
Leaving the office is usually a long, drawn out process culminating in moans of distress from Madge. Today however, they leave at 5 pm. And instead of going to Papa's sweet shop as usual, they take a long twisty drive (which Madge can now see quite well with the help of her Big Girl booster seat) that ends in an area of town Madge has never been to before.
Daddy said they have to park around back, which is fine with Madge who is content to just hold his hand and follow along.
Asher greets them at the door, ushering the two into his home quietly. ("We have to be extra quiet Madgey, because Mr. Asher and his wife, Mrs. Hazelle, have a little baby named Rory. I'm sure if you ask really nicely and stay really quiet, you can see him.") Silas shows up a few minutes later, his baby Prim was being fussy ("Yes, honey, Mr. Silas has a baby too."). The three men start to talk.
Madge could not care less about talking, or adults or anything, really, because this baby, Rory, is the cutest thing she has ever seen. He is better than all of her baby dolls and the puppy that she saw when she and mommy went to the park last week.
Rory has an older brother, Gale, who is taller than Madge and does not agree that Rory is the cutest thing ever, because Gale had expressly told his parents he wanted a sister.
Hazelle disregards Gale's distain and tells Madge that if she washes her hands in the sink, she can sit on the couch and hold Rory. She stares in awe for a full minute before running to her daddy to help her wash her hands at the sink that is just a little bit too high to reach.
Asher and Silas laugh as Madge unknowingly provides light into a discussion she knows nothing about, "Hurry daddy! Baby Rory is going to grow up and I won't get a chance to hold him!".
Madge sits to the left of Hazelle as Rory is placed into her arms (she will think and speak of nothing else for next three weeks). Gale sits next to Madge and tells her all about being a Big Brother. Rory smells and he cries and he can't do anything, which is no fun, but when the time comes, Gale will teach him everything he knows (that's what his Mommy and Daddy told him Big Brothers do).
Gale and Madge do not realize history is being made in the room next to them. They do not care.
Tomorrow, Asher will stay home from the mine for something called A Strike—which is like bowling except not at all—and John will help Madge make breakfast in bed for mommy because he would not be going into the office today.
And no one else will go into work either, because Madge Undersee, in a fit of Creative Brilliance and Artistic Genius, had drawn a mockingjay on the back of an email print out detailing the company's plans to sabotage the mine and reap the insurance money.
Her practice drawings, Steps to Greatness if you will, were on the print outs of reports the mine should have been shut down long ago and to have men still working down there was high grounds for a major lawsuit.
Years later, after the story is coincidentally leaked to a reporter who was in the same sorority as Margaret, after the lawsuits and court dates and settlements, Madge's artwork, The Most Bestest, Amazingest Thing To Ever Happen In The History Of The World, will live on. The drawing of a stubborn little girl lit the match of a revolutionary case. It will be housed in a glass frame so that both sides can be seen. It will be on picket signs on capitol hill as congressional hearings are held. That drawing will become the poster for the Oscar winning film about the biggest scandal to rock the American East since the Rockerfellers.
When Madge gets married to Gale, the boy she grew up alongside, the one who complained about brothers until he finally got a sister, and they create a beautiful new piece on their own, with her eyes and his hair, she knows that there is a new claim to The Most Bestest, Amazingest Thing To Ever Happen In The History Of The World.
Thank you for reading! I am a big Gadge fan, but I've never written or published anything before. Please review and tell me what you think, especially if its positive!
All mistakes are my own + plot, even if the characters aren't.
-K