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Haymitch POV:
Since I was able to get rid of the two love birds I can actually open my eyes. What the hell is that smell? Is that me? What the fuck? When was the last time I took a shower?
After I take my first shower in a week and eat the first real meal I have had in two days, I am ready to face the Godforsaken people in this district. Thankfully I have a job that doesn't suck so much.
See, I have assumed the responsibility of checking on all the trees in our district that we have planted and now care for. It calms my nerves, gets me away from the god-awful duo, and helps my mind silence itself. Oh well, it keeps me sane and sober for the time I am there. This sobriety shit is NOT all it is cracked up to be. An AA member I will never be. Take that to the bank.
After I get dressed and get on my way on the new transport system, I get to The Grove. I quickly look up at the sky and notice it is a ghastly pale shade of grey, which for around here is not the norm. Am I the only one around here that has noticed this lifeless sky? It reminds me of the games, full of dread, weariness and loneliness. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Anyway, back to The Grove. We have more trees than the man on the moon could shoot a stick at. Small, big, tall, short, they all encompass you and take you in under their cool limbs. I always say hello to them, and they greet me with their flowing limbs waving hello.
The Cypress is the tallest and scariest foe, reaching to the heavens and peeking into the now dead sky. The hovering that this wicked sky is doing, seems like a blatant threat that lingers on my feeble friends. The weeping Willows look sad and defeated, but they are silent. Keeping a secret hidden beneath the branches.
We have every type of tree imaginable, and have created many more that are hybrids. These trees have helped produce more output of Oxygen than the normal non-hybrid trees. Beetee is one smart mother-fucker. He is a genius! Not that I would ever tell his ass that, but he is.
He is also trying to wean me off the hooch. HA! Wean me off the hooch? Again, I am no AA member. Bastard thinks by creating some pill for me, which I do not take, that I will stop drinking. Not happening buddy. I've had to be weaned from so many things since the Games that I refuse to let anyone wean me again!
My favorite tree is the cherry tree. It reminds me of what I don't have, a woman. Sensual flowers that emit the sweetest scent that captures you senses and brings you in, flowing limbs that dance gracefully like only a woman can, and long branches that all remind me of what I still long for. The smell of the blooming cherry trees with their white and pink petals floating through the air makes me hungry. The pear and apple trees are blooming as well, and the sight is almost pretty. If I had a woman, I would take her here. Funny how thinking about food made me think of a woman. Again, if. That is a big two letter word. One I don't like to think about.
This place is a lush garden many acres wide that has every canopy of tree imaginable, and is breath taking. Except that is kind of like an oxymoron because these things are giving us air. I crack myself up when I listen to the hooch induced shit that comes out of my mind.
As I make my rounds on the outskirts of the Grove, I notice several of the trees that are planted on the back end of the Grove have blackened bark, and many dead and fallen leaves. This has never happened before and is a new one on me. Something is telling me to take some samples back to the lab and have Beetee and his minions look at this. Not that I care, but this just doesn't look right. As I cut a few pieces of bark out of the tree, I notice that that inside is also damaged, almost as if it had been set on fire. Weird. After taking a picture of that and sending it to Beetee on my PIIA, I also attach a verbal message telling him we need to meet in the Genetics Lab of CAACD this afternoon about this. He sends me an instant reply that it's not a problem as he was already going to be there. Something about Finnick and fish. Not sure what that was about as I still can't concentrate long enough to care.
Since I don't have to meet Beetee until after 3 pm and it is now only 11 am, I think now would be as good a time as any to take a little nap. Something about the canopy of the trees, the cool ground and the silence lets me sleep better here than I can at home with wine in me.