He wakes up in his bed, a glass of water on his nightstand. He's never been so thirsty in his life.
His head is pounding, but the sun is coming up. He needs to help Bennet and Trudie prepare for their interviews. Then he runs to the bathroom and pukes up white liquor. When he's done, he's cold and sweating, and his head feels like it's been inside a ringing bell.
He brushes his teeth, gulps down more water. Feeling half-ashamed, he orders a bottle of wine to his room. "Little hair of the dog," he hears his dad say.
He remembers that day perfectly. He'd been out with friends all night, drinking whatever liquor the five of them could find around their parents' houses. He felt like shit that morning.
It had been absolutely shocking to him, when his dad had plonked down a bottle of liquor in front of him and said, "Little hair of the dog." Haymitch didn't know the expression, but understood his father's meaning. It didn't take the edge off, it made him puke all day, but it got him moving.
It does the same today.
He reeks of booze sweat. He's embarrassed by himself, and the kids. He finds himself wishing they were already gone, and feeling sick, from being hungover, and at the thought. When Bennet yells at him, he has that feeling of his head being a struck bell again, the sound clanging around in his mind.
"You're not even trying!" Bennet is yelling. "You got mad at me for not trying? Whatever, man, I don't need this." Bennet storms back to his room. Trudie starts crying again.
"Wait here," he tells her. He runs to his room, throws up, forces himself to eat the heel of a loaf of bread, and goes to Bennet's room. Trudie is getting a hold of herself in the living room.
He knocks on Bennet's door.
"What?" He sounds sulky.
"Can I come in?"
"Whatever."
Haymitch goes in. Bennet's been eating like crazy. There are sweets wrappers and dirty plates all over the place. He doesn't comment, just stands there, feeling embarrassed.
"I know an apology isn't sufficient -"
"Yeah, so don't bother."
"I wasn't -" Haymitch stops himself, takes a deep breath. "I am sorry. I don't know what to do. I feel like I won because of luck, mostly. I didn't even have a mentor."
"What, do you expect me to feel sorry for you?"
Bennet is angry, and Haymitch doesn't blame him. It does sound like that's what he was asking for.
"No. But even though it was a lot of luck, I did win. I went through the interview, I watched 49 other kids do their interviews. I'll answer any questions you or Trudie have. We're out in the living room."
He leaves. When he reaches the living room, he chooses a seat closest to the window. He can see the hallway clearly.
"So, Trudie," he says. "I'll ask you some questions Flickerman asked last year. The tributes with the most sponsors do the best, so maybe we can talk about what they did." Bennet's bedroom door opens, and Haymitch represses a feeling of triumph. They're not exactly out of the woods. He ignores his head giving a nasty twinge and continues. "Do you want me to ask you questions and you can practice, or do you already have a strategy in mind?"
Trudie decides to try the questions first. Bennet sits down and starts answering questions, too, though he does it in a sarcastic voice Haymitch hopes is just for him. The audience will hate him immediately if he tries that on stage. He doesn't quite dare say anything, not wanting to criticize someone so clearly on the edge.
They are both about as interesting as wet rags. He stops asking questions.
"Last year, one of the girls from 4 tried to be sexy, do you think -" but he stops right there. Trudie looks stricken, and he remembers how uncomfortable she had been in her coal miner get-up. "Or, you seem really sweet. Maybe you could be… flirty, charming. Compliment the Capitol and Flickerman, that sort of thing."
Trudie nods, but she looks terrified.
He looks at Bennet, asks him if he's thought of his persona.
"Yeah, the persona's gonna kill me."
They all look at each other, shocked, then burst out laughing.
He points a finger at Bennet. "You are going to be funny." Bennet grins.
Trudie tries flirting, and Haymitch marvels at how creepy she seems, but he and Bennet successfully convince her to just be as sweet as possible.
The prep team comes in, decides to work on Trudie first. He and Bennet hang out, talking about home, until it's his turn. Haymitch stands up and looks out the window.
He thinks Chaff is right. He rolls his shoulders. Bennet and Trudie are going to die. But he can make them hopeful. He'll settle for that. And maybe he can hope a little, too. It won't kill him.
Trudie comes out first. She looks very different. They've dressed her well, but she doesn't look like herself at all. He tries to reassure her. She's looking so pale, even under her makeup. He's not very good at reassuring her, he can tell. He's scared of making her cry before her interview, so he stops talking.
Bennet looks good. They've made his chin look stronger, padded the shoulders of his suit. He doesn't need as much reassurance as Trudie. You can tell he likes the way he looks. Can't hurt, he thinks, as they walk down to the ground floor for the interviews.
Haymitch realizes his headache and nausea have gone away, and he's very hungry. He settles down with the other mentors. He's most interested in seeing how Seeder and Chaff's kids have been taught to comport themselves, and almost asks, but the lights over the audience turn out, and Caesar Flickerman appears onstage to such massive applause, it's impossible to talk to anyone and be heard.
Caesar's eyebrows are aubergine this year, he notices, and then he's interviewing, and Haymitch wants to pay attention, to give his kids better tips next year. (The thought of doing this again next year makes his palms sweat, and his head starts hurting again, but he tries to push all this away and concentrate on what works with the audience, and what doesn't.)
By the time they're interviewing District 11, two younger teenagers as skinny as broomhandles, he's even more cognizant of how many kids went in with him last year. He has a hard time paying attention to the tributes from 11. He keeps remembering the launch room at his own Games. No matter how much he tries to focus his mind on the present, he keeps feeling the rise of the platform. He doesn't see Caesar saying goodbye to the boy from 11, he sees the meadow around the Cornucopia. What is wrong with him?
Then Trudie is coming on stage. Though she doesn't look at all like herself, she does look pretty. He's glad 12's stylist went for an outfit that made her comfortable.
She sits down to the sound of polite applause. The audience is restless. They're ready for the interviews to be over, and the bloodshed to begin.
"So, Trudie Cardell, you look fabulous! Do you feel fabulous?"
Trudie laughs nervously.
"I don't know," she says.
Caesar tries again. "Well, it's hard to look good and not feel good, right folks?" he asks, turning toward the audience and grinning, showing off his very even, very white teeth. The audience whistles and claps. Haymitch supposes "looking good" must be a full time job in the Capitol, and something they can relate to.
"Now, Trudie, tell me. What is your plan for the arena?"
Haymitch is so nervous, he can feel his pulse in his neck and wrists. He's certain Trudie will start crying, tell Caesar and all of Panem and the other tributes that she's afraid to die.
Instead, a transformation comes over her. She sits up straighter, crosses her ankles, and tucks her legs demurely under her chair.
"My plan," she says, in a confident voice that rings around the auditorium, "Is to live as long as possible."
Caesar laughs, and the audience claps. Trudie gives them all a winning smile. Haymitch can feel his own surprised smile. Where did this come from?
"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," Caesar says. "Is that the plan you and your mentor came up with?"
Trudie looks out into the audience, finds Haymitch, and grins.
"Haymitch told me, 'Everyone wants to grab a sword,'" she says, in a startlingly good imitation of his most sarcastic voice. The Capitol audience recognizes it, and they all laugh. Caesar looks at the audience with a gleeful expression, before politely returning his attention to Trudie. "He said, 'Just stay alive, and worry about swords later.'"
"Well, well, well!" says Caesar, after he lets the reaction from the audience die down. "Sounds like a good strategy to me!"
With every question Caesar asks, Trudie gains confidence. She's not putting on a show, she's just herself, and the audience is enjoying it immensely.
Near the end of her three minutes, Caesar asks, "Now, I just have one more question for you. Is there anything you want to say to the people back home?"
Trudie's grin falters, and she has that same surprised-hurt look on her face that she had when Haymitch suggested she try to be sexy. But she recovers quickly, and says, "I hope you'll cheer me on." This rouses the largest round of applause from the audience yet.
When the audience settles, Caesar says, "Trudie Cardell, everybody! Let's cheer her on!"
She walks off center stage to sit with the other tributes, and Bennet stands up. The audience has found a new energy after Trudie's performance, and they all settle down with an air of expectation.
"Bennet Heep, everybody!"
The audience dutifully claps, but they're ready for Caesar to get on with it. Haymitch is thinking of Bennet's "persona" joke, and ready for the interview to begin himself.
"So, Bennet, how are you enjoying the Capitol?"
"I love it so much, I could die for it."
The audience laughs. Caesar is clearly surprised at the bald nature of this joke, but he laughs, too. He looks at the audience, then Haymitch, then gestures to Bennet.
"Is everyone in 12 this funny?"
Bennet grins. With all the makeup on, he's almost good looking, and the crowd is eating it up.
Haymitch tries to remember what Chaff said, that his kids will die at the hands of a Career, and there's nothing he can do about it, except hope for luck. He goes ahead and lets himself hope.
"Do you think humor might help in the arena?"
Bennet pretends to think about this.
"This is a contest where we make each other laugh, right? I mean, I saw everybody, you know," he looks around, as though checking they're alone, then leans forward to stage whisper, "training, and I was laughing the whole time."
This gets a big laugh, and a round of applause.
Whatever Caesar asks, Bennet turns it into a joke.
Haymitch is relieved his interview is going well, and that the sarcasm was left behind, but he's getting nervous. Bennet makes some very cutting remarks about the other tributes, which gets big reactions from the crowd, but is clearly making things personal for the Careers.
Caesar finally lets him go to huge applause from the Capitol audience, and Bennet must be glad he's at the end of the row, with Trudie between him and the other tributes.
Caesar Flickerman wraps up the show, and the tributes are herded offstage. Haymitch leaves with the rest of the mentors, who all seem to have taken Bennet's remarks personally. All except Chaff and Seeder, who give him consolatory pats on the back, knowing, as he does, that Bennet just made sure he would be their number one target. Maybe it's good he learned the rudiments of handling a weapon.
As Haymitch rides the elevator with some of the other mentors, he decides not to mention this to Bennet, and just tell both his tributes they did great. Which they did. At the interviews, they won. Maybe luck will be on their side in the arena as well.
He enters 12's apartment to see Trudie and Bennet waiting for him in the dining area. He turns on a smile and joins them.
"Great job. The audience loved you."
Bennet and Trudie look at each other. They know, and they're excited.
The three of them eat dinner. Their stylist even joins them, and halfway through, so does Frugi.
Tucking in to a platter of fresh fruits, Frugi asks, "Trudie, what happened on that stage? I barely recognized you."
Trudie blushes and says, "I just thought, tomorrow I might die. I don't have to be afraid of anything else."
Frugi smiles. "Good girl. Very good girl."
Haymitch feels like kicking her under the table for talking to his tribute like she's a dog, but concentrates on his wine glass instead.
It's the happiest he's been since coming back to the Training Center, watching the recap of the interviews, and seeing his tributes excel again. He even compliments the stylist, who inclines her head in a regal way.
After the wrap-up, he turns off the screen.
Frugi wishes Trudie and Bennet, "the best of luck," and leaves. The stylist actually embraces Haymitch, and whispers, "Good job." She hugs Bennet, then Trudie, and even kisses her on the cheek, before she goes.
Now, it's just the three of them again. They're all grinning shiftily, and not looking at each other.
Haymitch claps his hands together, and they both jump.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Just a few last words of advice.
"Don't bother with the Cornucopia, just run away. You can always come back later if you really need to. Your first priority is drinking water, then shelter. Got it?"
They nod.
"Don't eat plants you're not 100% sure of. I don't know where you're going, what will be on offer, but you can live without food a while. Strange plants can kill you instantly." He takes a deep breath. "Any questions?"
Bennet and Trudie exchange a look, and shake their heads.
"Wait, yes," says Trudie. "Will we see you tomorrow?"
Haymitch shakes his head. "I'm supposed to be in the Viewing Room, apparently. I'll be watching the whole time, ready to contact the sponsors you two got tonight."
They smile.
"Is that it? All right. Get some sleep. Drink some water. If you eat, don't eat anything too heavy. You want to be quick on your feet."
He watches them go to bed. There's a bar in the corner. He pours some amber liquid in a glass, sits back down in the living room by the window, and drinks.