Chapter 19: Hawthornes Everywhere
By the time they get back to Madge's aunt and uncle's house, it's nearly the dinner hour. Gale parks in front of the house and looks up and down the street. "No cameras or press vehicles. Nobody's found us here yet."
"Oh." Madge realizes she forgot to tell him. "Dusty changed the town records when he was at work to hide our address. Until this dies down. If someone really wanted to find us they could, but they'd have to actually do research and travel all the way out here." She shrugs. "I guess nobody's put in the effort."
Gale gazes at her for a few seconds and then gives a half laugh. "I thought sneakiness was just on the Undersee side of the family."
"It's contagious," Madge grins. "Be careful or you'll catch it, too."
Gale unbuckles his seat belt leans across the seat toward her with a wicked smile. "I wouldn't mind catching it."
Madge meets him halfway, amazed both that they can kiss whenever they want now and that he's just as eager as she is for whatever moments they can steal together. Before her ability to think fades completely, she calculates that they could stay in the car for at least a few minutes without it becoming unseemly… Although Gale's hands are already wandering so maybe not…
After what feels like no time at all there's a rapping on the window behind Gale, which causes him to make an impatient sound low in his throat. Madge opens her eyes and sees Vick, Posy, and Zipper's heads all peering into the car. Vick at least has the decency to look embarrassed, but Posy is bouncing up and down.
"Gale, stop kissing!" she shouts through the window.
Gale disentangles himself from Madge and pushes his door open, scattering their audience. "You couldn't wait five seconds for us to come inside the house?"
As Madge slides out the door on her side she thinks she hears Vick make a snorting sound and say, "Yeah right, five seconds."
When she reaches the other side of the car, Posy and Vick are demonstrating a trick they supposedly taught Zipper, but as soon as Zipper spots Madge he darts over and jumps on her. Gale yells at him to get off, which he does, and as they all walk to the house Madge realizes that she barely even feels embarrassed. Everyone has moved on to other topics, which might be one of the benefits of having so many people around all the time—the collective attention span is so short. It occurs to her that Gale's siblings might also be used to catching him kissing girls.
Vick is excitedly recounting all the wonders of Dusty's workshop in the garage. "He said me and Rory can use the welding machine after dinner. Have you used it yet, Gale? He has everything."
Posy grabs onto Gale's arm. "Gale, please please please play Rodeo Dog with me before dinner. Rory and Vick have been so boring and Mom is always talking to the other lady. I need someone to time how long I can stay on Zipper!"
Madge pushes open the door to the house and just barely avoids being knocked over by Zipper as he bolts inside, vigilantly patrolling to ensure that nothing exciting happened during his two-minute absence. They find Perri and Hazelle sitting on the full-size couch in the living room—they apparently hadn't felt the need to snuggle on the two-person love seat the way Gale and Madge had.
"Did you have a nice visit with your friend, dear?" Hazelle asks Gale.
"Yeah. Good." He tries to push Posy off his arm. Madge watches Vick vanish into the garage, the whirring of the sander temporarily intensified as the door opens and shuts.
"Really good," Madge adds with a meaningful look at Perri, who nods microscopically in acknowledgment.
Hazelle aims her smile at Madge. "We're having spaghetti for dinner tonight. Your aunt said it's your favorite."
"Great!" Madge says a little overly enthusiastically. Then she immediately feels the urge to hide behind Gale. Going from being borderline rude to his mom this afternoon to being freakishly excited about spaghetti is probably not helping her make a good impression. She strains for something she can do or say to seem like a perfectly pleasant, well-adjusted young woman and glances at Perri.
"Do you… need any help with dinner?"
Her aunt and uncle haven't taken Madge up on her offers since the Charred Noodles Disaster of June. She prays Perri didn't mention that particular incident to Hazelle.
Perri bites back a smile. "No, but thank you."
Relieved, Madge turns to Gale, who somehow ended up holding Posy. "I'm going to try to call Simon, okay? About tomorrow." He nods and says he'll update Perri on their visit with Milo.
Madge retreats to the quiet of her bedroom. If the house could talk, it would probably ask how its occupancy number could have swollen so quickly to eight people. Zipper also seems to have the ability to multiply himself, because even with more people he manages to be everywhere at once.
Simon doesn't answer his mobile phone so she leaves another message. He was going to lie low for a few days, but Madge hadn't thought that meant he wouldn't return her calls… It's disorienting to not be able to talk to him, especially now that she and Gale have a solid lead on Committee Member Douglas being as shady as she'd suspected. She also wants to tell Simon that she and Gale are going to drive out to the border region tomorrow morning to verify for themselves that the proposal's maps are wrong. It feels like going on a field mission without checking with him first, which she's never done before. But she should be fine—she'll be with Gale, who's still on active duty in the army and plus is Gale.
Madge sits on her bed and tries to compose herself before returning to the living room. Strange as it is to acknowledge, Gale's family intimidates her: she wants them to like her but can't see why they would, especially after today, and can't figure out where to focus her energy to win them over. Gale doesn't seem to be fazed by his siblings talking and hanging on him at once, but it overwhelms Madge. How can he just ignore someone speaking to him? And how could his mom possibly like her? Besides all the tabloid coverage, she caught them together at Gale's house in the morning!
Then there's Rory, who barely even looks at her. Simon's brother hates her, too. She's starting to suspect that the universe has cursed her by ensuring brothers don't like her. Like it isn't bad enough that she doesn't have any brothers or sisters of her own, she can't even get along with the ones related to two of the most important people in her life?
A knock on her bedroom door pulls Madge out of her thoughts. "Come in," she calls.
The door opens and Zipper bursts into the room, sniffing everything he can as though it's been decades rather than minutes since his last inspection. Posy stumbles and grabs the doorframe so she doesn't accidentally topple into the room. When she balances herself, she looks shyly at Madge.
"The tall lady said to tell you dinner's ready."
"Thank you," Madge says politely, unsure of what else to say. How does she talk to someone Posy's age? What is Posy's age? Posy is several inches taller than Madge remembers her being in District 12 and seems to be capable of conversation, so Madge decides to just ask… "Posy? How old are you?"
"This many." Posy extends all the fingers on one hand and holds up one finger on the other hand. She doesn't move from her spot in the doorway. "How old are you?"
Madge kicks off her sandals and then holds out her feet and eight fingers. "This many. Eighteen."
Posy nods thoughtfully. "That means you don't have to be in the reapings anymore?"
Hearing the word "reaping" makes Madge's stomach clench. It's that time of year; she hadn't thought much about it because the climate in District 2 is so different from 12. The summer air can be warm during the day, but never oppressive the way it was back home. "Nobody has to go through reapings anymore," she manages to get out.
"Because District 12 burned down," Posy supplies sagely.
Madge blinks in confusion. Does Posy really think that? Luckily, Madge is saved from responding by the appearance in the hallway of Gale, who scoops up his sister. "Not quite, Shorty."
Posy squeals happily, the topic already forgotten, and Gale smiles sadly at Madge. She gets it: no six-year-old should have to understand more about the reapings than whatever foggy, fearful memories Posy has that haven't faded yet. They can make sure she understands when she's older, but the important thing for now is that she'll never have to endure the reapings herself or watch her friends and brothers cower in those awful roped-off areas on the old town square the way Gale and Madge and so many others did for all those years.
Madge stands up from her bed and joins Gale and Posy in the doorway. Gale leans over to kiss her head and before Madge realizes what's happening, Posy has leaned over to kiss her, too.
Posy smiles at her. "Your hair is soft. But I liked it better longer."
Madge breathes a sigh of relief; hair is something she can talk about with Posy. "I liked it better longer too," she admits. "But it will grow back. Like before but maybe a little different." She smiles at Posy and slides her hand into Gale's for the short walk to the kitchen.
#
Dinner is lively, with Posy and Vick competing for the spotlight to describe their thrilling discoveries exploring the neighborhood, wading in the creek that runs through the center of the village, and sampling the local cuisine (a wild raspberry bush near the creek). Perri and Dusty take turns regaling everyone with stories of Zipper's exploits chasing mice through the neighbor's flower beds, and Hazelle shares news about people moving back to District 12. Madge doesn't know many of them because they lived in the Seam, but the idea of people returning to 12 is comforting.
Mostly she's grateful to let other people do the talking so she can sink into the background, listening and passing the serving dishes. For a few minutes at a time she's able to forget that she's the target of a slander campaign and in trouble at work. She especially appreciates the relaxed smile that works its way onto Gale's face as he listens to his family and describes for them the hikes he's taken with Zipper and the places he wants to show them. The only person more quiet than Madge is Rory, who sullenly mashes his carrots into a puree and emerges from his funk only long enough to answer direct questions about the metal shelves he and Vick have been helping Dusty construct in the garage.
Everyone agrees that the Hawthornes will stay overnight at the Whistlers' house to avoid any lingering tabloid people staking out Gale's apartment. Gale and the kids will test out his new tent with their new sleeping bags in the backyard—he had Rory pack all the gear as part of their escape. Rory doesn't seem very enthusiastic about the camping idea and disappears back into the garage as soon as dinner is over, which Madge notices does put a damper on Gale's newfound improved mood.
Madge starts picking up dinner plates and waves away everyone else. They all either helped with dinner or have somewhere else to be. Tidying up is the least she can do, especially considering her scandal is the reason everyone's lives have been disrupted. Dusty and Vick join Rory in the workshop, Perri and Hazelle retire to the living room for more visiting, and Gale, Posy, and Zipper disappear into the backyard ostensibly to put the tent together. But Madge hears enough laughter and barking filtering in through the window after a few minutes to be fairly certain that Posy talked her way into a game of Rodeo Dog.
She immerses herself in scrubbing the dishes. The time passes quickly since she's so preoccupied worrying about the inquiry at work and where Simon might be. Forcing herself to think about more pleasant topics leads to a meandering daydream involving Gale and the sunny dinner picnic they'd shared on their hike last week before everything fell apart. If they could return to that moment now, she's pretty sure they would have found a way to linger on that warm vista…
The soft sound of shoes on the kitchen tiles behind her makes Madge turn around. She sees Rory frozen mid-step in the doorway to the kitchen, radiating indecision about whether to enter or not.
Madge smiles tentatively. "Hi—"
"You going to get that?" he asks, gesturing behind her. Madge turns to find the sink overflowing with soapy water.
"Shit!" She lunges for the faucet handle to shut off the flow but the water is already spilling over the sink's rim, down the cabinets. Madge grabs a dishtowel from the counter and tries to mop up the mess. Only then does it occur to her that she just swore in front of Rory. Should she apologize? Will he think she's a priss if she apologizes? Gale swears all the time, so maybe Rory is used to it but Rory is younger... With a sigh she realizes that she's no more equipped to talk to 13-year-old boys than six-year-old girls. She didn't know how to talk to them when she was that age and she still doesn't.
Rory pulls another towel from the counter and squats to help Madge wipe up the excess water.
"Thanks," she says. "I guess I spaced out."
He shrugs, a familiar Gale gesture. Madge watches him out of the corner of her eye and notices that he also bears a distinct resemblance to Gale in his eyebrows—heavy and inclined toward frowning—though Rory's eyes are softer in a certain way. Sometimes when she looks at Gale he reminds her of a hawk, but Rory's more like an overgrown fawn. He has that gangly, almost-grown look, tinged with hints of childhood.
When the floor is dry again, they both stand. Madge puts the soggy towels on the counter. "Do you… want something to drink? We have milk and juice and this fizzy orange drink I really like—"
"Some water," Rory says gruffly. "Um, please."
Madge fills a glass with water and hands it to him. "I'm glad you all could visit," she ventures.
Rory glowers at her. "Well, Gale wasn't visiting us so we had to come all the way out here."
"Have you… talked to him about why he didn't visit?"
"I figured he was busy with you."
Madge stares at Rory, his hostility suddenly making more sense, although the accusation stings. "No," she says, shaking her head. "He wouldn't see me, either."
Rory doesn't say anything, but he doesn't leave. He just watches Madge suspiciously.
"I think he was punishing himself," Madge says hesitantly, not sure how or if she should be venturing into this topic with Rory. Is she violating a sibling code of some kind? But she's concerned that Rory could think Gale would be selfish in that way. "You know how hard Gale is on other people?" she asks. Rory makes a grunting sound that Madge decides signifies agreement. "He's much worse when he thinks he's the one who should be blamed."
"He said he didn't know they'd actually made that bomb, though," Rory says impatiently. "And he wouldn't in a million years have hurt Prim."
"I know. But he wanted to make himself suffer. And I think he convinced himself that he was a bad influence on you all, that you were better off away from him."
"But that wasn't fair to us! All those people on TV talked to him more than we did. Strangers and idiots got more of him than we did."
"I'm not saying it was a good strategy," Madge says. "I was mad at him, too. But then we ran into each other on last week and… it just didn't make sense to be mad at him anymore. He's struggling in his own way and I'd rather help him and have him in my life than not." She waits a few moments while Rory absorbs what she's said and then adds, "He's trying. He's a lot better now than when I first saw him at the beginning of the summer. And I do think it's good for all of you to have this visit, even if it's overdue. You're so lucky to have each other."
She can't help her voice from cracking slightly on the last comment, which Rory notices. He turns the water glass in his hands a few times and then looks up at her. "I'm… sorry about your parents," he says quietly.
Madge swallows, not trusting herself to speak right away. She can't imagine ever getting used to hearing aloud that they're gone, or not feeling like there's a piece of her core missing whenever she's reminded. But a simple statement of sympathy is about all she can handle, and coming from someone who's also lost a parent it leaves her grateful that he knows not to say anything more. There isn't much else to say. After a few moments of blinking back tears, she feels steady enough to return the sentiment.
"I'm sorry about your friend."
Rory nods in acknowledgement, but seems to be preoccupied with his own memories. She lets him stand quietly with his glass of water. His armor of anger is cracked now and she can see that he's just a boy in pain, which makes her feel foolish for not having realized he doesn't just share eyebrow similarities with Gale.
Madge doesn't want to make any sudden moves or comments that might scare him away, but soon noise bursts in through the sliding glass door in the other room. Zipper bolts into the house and heads straight for Hazelle and Perri in the living room, chased by an exuberant Posy.
Gale trails them and pauses at the sight of Rory and Madge in the kitchen. "All right in here?"
Madge nods and thankfully Rory does as well, even though he's focusing on his water instead of his brother.
Gale looks back and forth between them. "We finally got the tent up." He gestures for them to follow him so Madge walks toward the back door, but Rory heads to the front of the house where the garage is. Gale watches him walk away until Posy grabs his hand and pulls him outside again.
Madge follows them into the backyard. Through the fading light of the evening she can see in the middle of the grassy area an olive green, nylon dome tall enough for Madge but probably not Gale to stand upright. Posy runs over to it and is joined seconds later by Vick, who rushes out of the house and starts gushing as though the tent is the single best invention known to humanity. Gale apparently agrees, because he launches into a lengthy description for Madge about all of the tent's features. To hear Gale talk, the tent is a fortress capable of withstanding any hostile weather or terrain or alien invasion that might threaten its occupants.
"But can it handle Zipper?" Madge asks with a smile.
Gale glares briefly at Zipper, who's trailing Posy as she checks the stakes securing the tent in the grass. "Zipper isn't invited on any trips unless he shapes up. You know," he adds in an accusing tone, "I think your aunt and uncle like it when he's bad. They think he's funny."
The same thought has occurred to Madge. "He is funny. Is laughing so bad?"
Gale turns to look at her, and she can see she surprised him. He squints at her for a second and then shifts his gaze back toward the house with a frown. "How was Rory? He won't talk to me."
"He's hurting." It's the simplest, truest way to describe what she knows about Rory.
Gale watches her as if he's waiting for her to say something more illuminating. When she doesn't, he exhales slowly and rubs his eyes. "I used to think all I needed to do for them was to keep the cupboards from being completely empty… I didn't think about the rest of it…"
She pats his arm comfortingly. "We're all figuring things out as we go."
He covers her hand with his and gazes at her for a few seconds, until the sound of the sound of the sliding door opening again draws their attention to the house.
Rory emerges from the bright lights holding several armloads worth of sleeping bags and pillows. Madge can feel Gale's muscles relax as he realizes that Rory was just collecting the bedding. Gale walks straight over to help ease the burden.
"We need all this, don't we?" Rory asks Gale brusquely.
"Absolutely," Gale says as he transfers some of the pillows to his own arms. He and Rory cross the yard to the tent and toss the sleeping bags and pillows inside, where Vick and Posy catch them. Rory crawls into the tent as well and Madge can hear him squabbling with Vick and Posy in their cute, overly-serious-kid way about how to arrange the pillows and the sleeping bags.
Madge takes the opportunity to slide her arms around Gale's neck. Within seconds she feels his hands on her waist, pulling her closer. "You know what I think?" she asks.
"That we should risk the tabloids and go back to my apartment tonight alone?"
"No." Although it's a tempting idea. "I think you're doing the right thing—spending time with them, camping out here. It's good for all of you."
"Yeah, I guess," Gale says, glancing at the tent. Madge notices that there's significantly more commotion now: laughter and muffled whomping sounds. Gale pulls himself away from her and peers inside the door of the tent. Madge joins him and is shocked to see his brothers and sister using the sleeping bags and pillows as weapons, whipping them around at one another between fits of giggling. Zipper also wormed his way into the tent, adding a layer of barking to the chaos.
Rory suddenly appears in the door of the tent. He scowls at Gale and then, before Madge can register what's happening, whips Gale in the gut with a pillow. Gale stumbles backward and seems stunned.
"Bet you can't still take all of us anymore," Rory says evenly. And then the corner of his mouth turns up slightly in a gesture Madge has seen on Gale many times.
Gale immediately kicks off his shoes. "You're on." Rory disappears back inside the tent and Gale pauses only long enough to grab Madge. "Come on."
"Go in there?" Did he miss the fact that the tent is the epicenter of a brawl?
"Usually it's me against them, but I've got you now." He steps into the melee and is immediately assaulted by sleeping bags, pillows, and a dog. Gale grabs an unclaimed pillow and uses it to fend off the attacks.
Before she can figure out what to do, Madge feels a whoosh of cushiony nylon fabric whip her legs. She turns around and sees Vick holding a sleeping bag and grinning at her triumphantly. But only for a second, because then Gale sweeps his brother's legs and tips Vick over into a giddy pile of laughter on top of an unfurled sleeping bag. When Madge looks up, Rory and Posy are launching a dual attack on Gale and manage to knock him over and bury him under their pillows and a nearby sleeping bag.
"Gale?" She leans over to check on him, which turns out to be a mistake because Vick takes the opportunity to push her over. She lands partially on Gale, who manages to free his hands from the sleeping bag tangle to grab her and tug her next to him. Seconds later there's another round of sleeping bags pounding on them and Madge buries her head in Gale's chest. His torso is vibrating with laughter and twisting as he tries to fend off the attacks with his one free hand. She finds herself laughing, too—the situation is just so absurd. The sleeping bags look like oversized, bright blue caterpillars and inflict about as much damage as a down comforter can. More than anything, it actually feels comforting to hear all the laughter and be curled up with Gale.
"What on earth is going on in here?"
Madge pushes herself off from Gale's chest and sees his mother looking through the tent's door.
"We're playing Attack of the Worms, Mommy!" Posy shouts.
Madge scans the rest of the tent's interior and sees that everyone else has collapsed onto the messy piles of sleeping bags. It looks like a nest, and she's part of it.
"I see," Hazelle says good-naturedly. "Madge, are you all right? I don't understand why my children have these violent tendencies."
Madge nods hesitantly, trying to square the supposed "violent tendencies" with how safe she feels in the Nest of Hawthornes.
Vick, hair disheveled and sitting on Gale's leg, looks disapprovingly at Madge. "You're not very good at this game, Madge. You should fight back better."
Gale pushes himself into a sitting position and whacks Vick with a pillow. "Like this?" Vick topples over again.
Rory throws his pillow at Gale's head. "Exactly." Then he glances at Madge and says grudgingly, "She'll figure it out."
Madge feels Hazelle patting her shoulder. "I imagine she will." Madge looks up to smile gratefully at Hazelle and is rewarded with a wink. Next to her, she feels Gale pushing siblings and bedding off his body.
"Bedtime," he announces curtly as he climbs out of the door of the tent and helps Madge out as well. "Get these sleeping bags in order," he tells his brothers and Posy.
"Where are you going?" Posy demands.
"Madge and I lost the game, so we have to take Zipper for his nighttime walk," Gale says. He wraps his arm around Madge's waist and hooks his thumb into the waistband of her jeans just under her shirt. "Go brush your teeth and put on your pajamas," he tells the others, "and then we'll see if you're tough enough to sleep outdoors."
Madge hears the sounds of fabric shuffling inside the tent, and Hazelle's gentle laughter as she walks back to the house. When Madge is reasonably sure nobody is watching, she leans into Gale and whispers, "I don't suppose Zipper wants to walk to a dark, secluded part of the district?" In other words, supplying an excuse for them to evade the watchful eyes of their families for just a little while. She suspects Gale has already caught whatever contagious inclinations she might have towards sneakiness.
Gale's breath is warm on her ear as he whispers back, "Definitely. That damn dog owes us."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed - I appreciate the feedback and hearing reactions.