4. Green
Katniss is still sleeping when I wake up. I hear her steady breathing and it takes every bit of self-control I can muster to not pull back the blanket, climb into the bed, and wrap myself around her.
It wasn't particularly respectable that she stayed here with me last night, but it was the decent thing, as she had nowhere to go. I wonder about her cousin and the others in her party. What kind of scoundrels would abandon a woman? Especially Katniss. I think she is Diana with her bow and arrow.
I gather together the ingredients and make griddlecakes topped with gooseberries for Katniss' breakfast. She wakes to the sizzle of the cake in the fry pan.
"What are you making?" she asks. "It smells delicious." She sits up on my pallet and stretches her arms overhead causing the fabric to pull tight across the front of her dress. It makes me ache with a longing I can't describe.
"Griddlecakes," I say attempting to keep my voice level.
She unpins her braid letting the long tail fall down her back. She weaves her fingers through it and her dark tresses cascade across her shoulders. I am reminded of my grandmother's combs and think how lovely they would look in Katniss' hair.
Katniss gives me a grin and I realize she has no idea of the effect she has on me as she finger-combs her hair and rebraids it, leaving it to hang over her left shoulder.
After we eat, I ask Katniss her plans. I am selfish and want her to stay here with me forever.
"I need to find Gale," she says. She wants to walk beyond the woods. She says the actors have set up a camp close by.
"I'll accompany you," I say.
"You don't have to."
"It's not safe to go alone."
"I have my bow and arrows."
"I'm going with you," I insist.
She doesn't argue any more and I take that to mean she's accepted my protection. Although our bellies are full, I pack up some food for us to take along, biscuits, the green beans I rescued from the garden yesterday, and the rest of the gooseberries.
I also take along my rifle and secure my house before we head out. We walk west for an hour past the woods, onto a grassy meadow that appears to go on forever.
"We must be headed in the wrong direction," she insists after a while when all we can see is unending grasslands ahead.
We turn back and retrace our steps to the woods, then walk north for an hour. When that way shows no hope we turn and head south. We walk for nearly two hours. Finally we stop to rest. We drink from a stream and sit under an evergreen tree.
I pull the food out of the satchel I've been carrying, and spread it out on the cloth bag.
We are silent as we eat. I am lost in my thoughts about Katniss, wondering what she wants to do next. I suppose we could hike to Rye's cabin tomorrow and ride into Oregon City. Maybe someone there knows where her cousin or the other actors may be?
"Do you have any family besides your cousin that's in Oregon?" I ask. Maybe I should simply take her to them and give up this fruitless search.
A mournful expression appears on her face. "No," she says. "There's no one left. My parents are gone and my sister died two years ago."
"I'm sorry. I though maybe I could take you to them if we couldn't find your cousin."
"But how would we get there? A flash of anger appears on her face. "Do you have a vehicle stashed somewhere around here Peeta?"
I shrug, not understanding her question.
"Transportation."
I shake my head. "No. I was thinking about borrowing my brother's horse and wagon."
She gives me a strange look. "Peeta, are you Amish by any chance?"
"Amish? Do you mean Anabaptist?" Why would she be asking me that?
I shake my head. "No, my family is Methodist. My grandmother came to that church after The Awaking."
Katniss looks to be baffled at my explanation. She pauses for a moment. "Tell me about your family. You've mentioned your brother Rye and his wife. And you mentioned your mother."
I chuckle. "I'm the youngest of three brothers. Rye is the middle brother. My oldest brother Phyl lives in Kentucky with his family. He took over our father's bakery when he died. My mother lives with his family now. She's a difficult woman. We're not close at all. I was much closer to my paternal grandmother."
"Are you close to Rye?" she asks.
I nod. "Not so much growing up. But we got closer on the journey here and then I helped him and Delly build their cabin, and he helped me with mine."
"Do they live like you then?"
"Rye's house is bigger. And he has a privy. Delly insisted on it."
She laughs at my comment about the privy. I know she was surprised at my bachelor ways when she asked about the toilet. But digging a privy is a lot of work and I had gotten used to not having one on the six-month journey to Oregon.
"What about your sister? Were you close?" I ask.
A sad look covers her face. "Prim and I were four years apart and we weren't always close either. I kind of raised her because when my dad died, my mom checked out."
I don't understand her description of her mother's actions, but I can see it upsets Katniss.
"But then you and your sister grew closer?" I prompt her.
"Yes, when she became an adult, we became friends. That's why it hurt so much when she was killed."
"What happened?"
"A natural gas explosion. A lot of people were hurt, but she died."
Her explanation sounds foreign to me, but I can see the pain she has at her sister's death. Two years have passed and it still affects her.
She is teary-eyed as she pulls her legs up to her chest. Tears fall down her cheek and she puts up her hand to wipe her face.
"What is it Katniss?"
"Where in the hell are they? Shouldn't people be looking for me? I want to go home."
"You will. I promise." Instinctively I move closer and put my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. Her head drops to my shoulder and I kiss her temple. Her eyes look up and catch mine and suddenly her lips are pressed to mine.
I am staggered at first by her boldness, yet quickly intoxicated by her passion. Something in the back of my mind warns me that Katniss seems very experienced in the art of love. I am suddenly jealous of her former suitor. I wonder if she is telling the truth about Gale being her cousin.