Chapter 36: Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm
I'll be so happy to keep his dinner warm
While he goes onward and upward;
Happy to keep his dinner warm
Till he comes wearily home from down town.
-How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Only a little more then forty-eight hours into the Hunger Games and I already hate Seneca Crane. One hour: he doubled prices for parachutes for the first day. Nineteen hours: he banned me from telling Chaff what to do. Twenty-two hours: Katniss sat up in a tree right above the careers and he didn't drop them a hint she was there. Twenty-seven hours: the boy from three began re-rigging the land mines from the platforms and he didn't reactivate them to blow up again. Thirty-one hours: he had me removed from the headquarters. Removed, as in dragged out by peacekeepers removed. I still don't think that is legal. Thirty-one hours and five minutes: he made Haymitch help carry me out. Fifty-three hours: he let Katniss find a water supply. I was not appreciative.
"It's official. District Three education budget is cut." I half sat up from my stupor on the bed in my room, eyes focused on the giant screen I had brought in.
"Good riddance. That child should not know how to assemble a bomb. Imagine if the idiot accidently set on off and killed a poor peacekeeper on patrol." At least that annoyance was somewhat dealt with. Though, it wasn't enough to make me smile.
"You can't honestly still be upset with Crane. I heard he did send Abet over to apologize." I grunted in response, desperately waiting to see my Thresh on the screens, but I never got what I wanted. "Come on, he's not that bad."
"Not that bad?" I finally turned away from my vigil. "First, I would like to point out that Katniss Everdeen is still alive when there were multiple opportunities to shut her up, and Peeta's little lover boy act with the careers is sickening, so he should get blown too."
"We already talked about that. If it comes down to it, Haymitch's deal between Peeta and Thresh might protect him if the careers attack."
"Which they won't, because even the cameras don't like that field he's hiding in. I've seen barely two hours of him these past few days, and both moments were just him carving the days into a tree and taking naps."
"It's perfect for the Capitol. They all are turning bets to him because they don't think anyone in their right mind would touch them. They might not know where the money is coming from, but they can see how much he has."
"He made Haymitch carry me out." I said it under my breath, but it didn't go unmissed.
"Really? That is still what makes you the most upset?"
"Haymitch lectured me after! I hate being lectured! He's not even Capitol, he has no right what so ever to tell me how to behave."
"Once Thresh is out, you won't have to listen to anyone anymore, my beauty. You'll have all you've wanted." As he reached for my hands, I thought for a second that perhaps we could work, Darren and I. We might just work together. "December, for your own sake, turn off the games and sleep for a while. It will do you good."
I shook my head, blocking him from the remote. "Abet did say one thing worth his trip this morning. His father said there was going to be a bit of fun in the woods around nine o'clock, and I'm hoping it will lead to Katniss's death." I smiled, beckoning Kirsti from the darkest corner of the room to call for food. Darren jumped in surprise as she disappeared silently.
"Does she ever leave you alone?"
"No. Not since…" I didn't finish my thought as the screen shifted from the Career pack to Katniss asleep in her tree as I squealed in delight. Crane's attack was rigged for Katniss, possibly the careers as well. We held our breath for a moment before it began, animals dashing around the forest floor and the fire descended.
She awoke slowly, before quickly fumbling with her belt that would be her death. Darren squeezed my hand in anticipation as she fell from the tree, dashing away from the wall of flame. She ran, the smoke making her breathing labored. For a second I thought she would make it, but that was when the real fun began. The first fireball missed her, but I got my wish a few later when it hit her leg. Until she stood back up and kept on running. That was not what I wanted at all.
"One solid hit! Is that too much to ask?" I couldn't bear to watch the brat survive anymore, flinging myself from the room to go downstairs to check on Cory. I found him wrapped in blankets on the couch, looking at a magazine over May's shoulder.
"Cory, brother, you should be sleeping." It was late, late for any child to be awake, let alone one so sick.
"I've been in my room so long, Papa and mama are sleeping. Don't send me back." I sighed, sitting on his empty side. He must have slipped down here hearing May in the living room, her heart too full of pity like mine to banish him once more.
"All he can do in his room is watch the Games. Enough people already that are obsessive over that sport surround him; he does not need to be the same. For example, ever since the tributes arrived in the Capitol, Darren has been running around placing his bets and barely paying attention to me. I guess I shall have to get used to it though, the understandable neglect. When we are old, his time will be for Cory, not me." My sister laughed lightly.
He hasn't told her. She doesn't know. The thought haunted me, the thought of my wedding day that I had come to begrudgingly accept when I would be standing in the place she still believed was hers.
"May, think about it. His life will go the state; you could find someone equally wealthy with fewer duties. We are only sixteen, and Darren is not the only one out there."
"I've made my choice, as mama made hers. She has taken on her own duties, has she not? I can't be the wife of the president obviously, so I'll take the second best. I'll manage the home, care for the children and…"
"But he'll never be home, it doesn't matter how big the mansion is. He'll be in the office." I didn't say he'd be in the office because his wife wouldn't care if he was home or not. Darren Broderson. The boy who waited upstairs in my room for me to come back from checking on Cory, while I had to listen how his ex-girlfriend thought they were getting married.
"And when he does come home, I'll be waiting for him, with dinner warm on the dining room table." I had never seen May smile the way she did now, so light-hearted and just happy. She honestly cared for him, and I was taking that away.
Coming home to me would be like coming home to an empty home, maybe a child or two greeting him with smiles, but would they be his? Would I even consider waiting up for him? Would I even care if he were back or not? No, but Darren knew that. He offered it all first, he offered that life to the both of us before picking May for a while. Darren didn't want that perfect little wife May was destined to be. He wanted me.
I kissed Cory goodnight on the forehead, slipping away while May was lost in daydreams. The path to my room seemed shorter then ever, frustration pounding each step. "You haven't told her. Why haven't you told her?"
"Told who what?" He looked up from mixing a tea slowly, like nothing in the world mattered as he lounged on my bed.
"May, my sister. You haven't told her about…" I gestured with my arms; unsure of the word I needed "this."
"How do you expect me to tell her when I don't even know what this" He mocked my gestured as I sneered back "is. Why don't you define it for me?"
"How about the stupidest deal of my life. Do you realize she is down there practically planning your wedding?"
"Exactly. That's why I like you better. You have a bit more of a… spitfire attitude. It will keep me entertained in my old age."
"Any of it directed at you will be frustration."
He huffed in annoyance. "Would you like me to tell her? Don't tell me you are getting possessive now." I didn't appreciate his shrill laugh, my entire mind just wanting to focus back on the screen.
"Tell her when you like. She always yells at me anyways. Maybe you'll even decide you prefer her."
"Is that what you hope?"
"I hope a lot of things." The only noise after I spoke was the steady clunking of the teacup as Darren tapped its side before the screen changed.
Thresh was lying out on his back, looking up to the stars in the unobstructed sky. "I leave you with your paramour then." Darren shifted the bed slightly as he stood, practically stomping from the room.
It was like being back in District 11, out in the fields with the sun warming our faces and his fingers intertwined with mine. I reached for my fiddle, bowing a simple lullaby as Thresh's eyes fluttered before shutting closed and his chest rising in steady breathing. The cameras zoomed out to show his food and supplies neatly stacked.
Tonight, I would sleep with him in my dreams and hopefully I was in his.