11/17/11
"Read the necklace," Peeta said to me.
I hadn't noticed that the girl was wearing a necklace until Peeta mentioned it. I was curious to know what her name was. As the saying goes, 'curiosity killed the cat'. Honestly, I don't see how being curious in this case will hurt me at all. My hand moves shakily towards her silver necklace. The necklace is a dog tag with a name deeply engraved into the dark silver plate. I have to squint my eyes to read it.
It says: Jennifer Basil Lovage. What a beautiful name. I read it out loud, slowly. I wonder what happened to the rest of her family. Why was she at our doorstep?
My mother broke the silence. "So, what do you guys want for lunch?"
Peeta asked for a peanut-butter and jelly and I got a ham and tomato sandwich. When we finished lunch and dessert- some chocolate cake my mother made the day before- we headed up to my room to hang out and talk. Our talking time was transformed into a span of time where I poured out my heart to Peeta and started crying. He listened and held me tight the whole time. Then after an extended awkward silence, the topic of the baby Jen came up.
I started off the conversation by saying, "where do you think she came from- I mean who were her parents and why she's on my doorstep."
"Whoever left her at your doorstep must have been completely insane," he teased.
"Well, maybe." Somehow, his sarcasm when teasing me was reassuring. He spoke in a tone that made what he said and I thought simple and absolutely unbelievable. But deep inside my messed-up brain and his, we both knew what he just said was completely true. The person who left Jennifer must have been insane.
"But I'm kind of glad that the world she will grow up in will be slightly better than ours. I mean, with the Hunger Games gone and all..."
"Very true," Peeta responded being unusually punctual.
We both vowed to protect Jennifer with our lives, no matter what.
