Chapter 3: It's An Outrage!
The next morning, Katniss was bathing in the creek just beyond her home. She ran water over her bare skin as she vocalized to the Jaybird Song:
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ah!"
Not far off, the Elders were making their way through the woods.
"I know there was a creek here. I seen it for some years now," Mr. Flickerman observed.
"I recollect it was on the old Abernathy place," Mr. Gleaton said.
"It may have dried up by now."
"We've got to find it!" Mr. Mellark interrupted the two. "Brother Hawthorne will be needing a baptism creek by sundown come tomorrow. I mark him as a man who can bring in lost sinners, but there's gotta be a creek already."
Suddenly, through the trees, Mr. Undersee spotted the creek in which Katniss was bathing. "There it is!"
The Elders stepped through the trees. As soon as they saw the exposed Katniss (though she did not see them), the men were overcome with lust. To mask their true feelings, their minds immediately resorted to instead denouncing what they saw.
"It's an outrage! It's a blasphemous outrage!" Mellark spluttered.
"Bathing naked in a public place!" cried Undersee.
"Naked as from her dead Ma's womb!" Flickerman gasped.
"She's a shameless wench, that Katniss is. My wife always said she was evil. And she was right, my brethren, she was mighty right! This woman is of the devil!" Mellark told the others.
"She must be punished!" vowed Gleaton. "She must be brought to repentance!"
"Yes, the Church won't stand for a thing like this!" agreed Flickerman. The other three men agreed by repeating a mantra almost to themselves:
This woman is of the devil! It's a shameful sight to behold! She must be brought to repentance! All the valley must be told! This woman is of the devil! It's a shameful sight to behold! She must be brought to repentance! All the valley must be told…
With that, the Elders left. Never realizing they had been there, Katniss continued humming the Jaybird song unabated:
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. 'Looky here, little boy, don't you do that again!'