Chapter 5: About the Way People is Made

Later that night, Peeta ran over to the Abernathy place. He found Katniss on her front porch, looking forlorn. She tried to brighten up when she saw her friend, but failed.

"Peeta! Whatcha doing here?"

"Is Haymitch here?"

"He's inside, asleep."

"I just had to come tell ya, Katniss. I just had to come tell ya!"

"Tell me what?" She remembered. "Oh, you was there tonight," she sighed sadly, kicking at a pebble in the dirt.

"I just had to come tell ya, Katniss!"

"Tell me what?" Katniss repeated.

Peeta sighed before beginning:

"My Pa and the other Elders….they seen you bathing this morning! Exposing yerself without no shame! They're gonna git ya for doing that. They say they're gonna run ya out of the church, and maybe the district too!"

Katniss gaped. "I've been bathing in that creek all spring, Peeta! They ain't got a right to come spying! There ain't no harm in what I done. I've been bathing in that creek all spring!"

"They say you were as naked as a jaybird, bathing without a stitch on! The preacher man has been at my house praying. And the whole district knows, so they say!"

"They say? They say? Who's they?!" Katniss demanded.

"Everybody!" Peeta yelled in frustration.

Katniss curled up in a ball and began to cry. Peeta sadly turned to go, but then paused. Gathering his courage, he softly spoke.

"There's something else…that you don't know…"

Katniss looked up from her tears.

"What is it, Peeta? What don't I know?"

Peeta's eyes grew fearful, as though he regretted saying anything, and it only got worse as Katniss pursued him around the yard. Finally, curled up in the fetal position with her angrily standing over him, he blurted out:

"They made me say it! I swear they did! My parents made me say it all, and it was right in front of the preacher! And I was plum scared to death!"

"What did they make you say, Peeta? Tell me! Tell me!" Katniss pressed.

"They said you let me love you up - that's what they made me say! They said you let me love you up, and in the worst sort of way."

Katniss stepped back, as though she had just been slapped. Her eyes filled with tears.

"You didn't say that - you didn't! It's a lie, it's a lie - you know it is!"

"It's a lie, it's a lie - I know it is," Peeta feebly echoed, still on the ground.

Katniss grew angry. She kicked at Peeta, screaming at him through her tears. "Get away from here, you little varmint, and don't let me catch you hanging 'round here!" She pried an axe off an old tree stump and chased him off the property with it when he didn't move fast enough. "Git out! Git out! Git out! Git out!" Still holding the axe, she broke down in tears.

Haymitch had seen it all from where he stood on the front porch. "Feeble-minded idjet!" he spat after Peeta before going to his niece.

"Oh, Haymitch, something awful has happened!" Katniss wept.

"I know. I heard it all." Haymitch replied, as he took the axe from her hands and replaced it on the stump. She wearily sat on the front stoop.

"What's it all about, Haymitch? What's it all about?"

Haymitch tried to explain to her as best he could:

It's about the way people is made, I reckon', and how they like to believe what's bad. How short they are on loving kindness. It must make the good Lord sad. Way out yonder somewheres, the Lord's great heart must break at seein' how men treat one another an' say they're doing it all fer his sake. It's a hard, hard thing fer you to realize, I know, that people want to believe what's bad an' how short they are on loving kindness. It must make the good Lord sad.

Katniss rushed into her uncle's arms and wept. "Sing me the Jaybird Song!" she begged. But, Haymitch, knowing that they may never return to those happier times, could only hold her sadly as she sobbed.

A/N: So, Peeta in this story is based on the character of Little Bat (yes, that is his name) in the original Susannah opera. Haymitch's call of "Feeble-minded idjet!" is telling, as it implies that the boy may have some form of special needs. In Depression-era Appalachia, where Susannah is originally set, there was very little understanding about the nuances of Autism Spectrum Disorder and other mental illnesses the way there is today.