A/N: Thank you thank you for being such awesome readers! I am thrilled with the response this story has gotten!
When the sun rose the next morning I was already in the barn milking some of our cows, three cows I'll milk after breakfast, they had new calves that were nursing. I hum a quiet tune while I work. When I'm done I stay seated for a moment and close my eyes, listening to the sounds of the morning. The shuffles of the animals in the barn with a constant background noise of the birds chirping happily outside. Everything seemed so peaceful.
I set one pail for Mama to use for breakfast and put the other buckets in the lean-to and cover them with a cloth. Mama makes butter and cheese, following a recipe that she had learned from her Grandma, some of it we keep but most of it gets sold in town.
As I clean up the stall and lay fresh hay, Prim comes out to hunt for the chickens eggs. In the spring time we let our mean ol' rooster seed a few of the eggs. Prim uses a bit of ink to carefully mark an 'x' on each egg she leaves behind.
After the hay was smoothed out over the dirt floor, I sighed and leaned against the pitch fork. There was something so rewarding about doing physical work, having the sense of accomplishment when a job is done, even if it is just a daily chore.
After breakfast I milk the new mama cows and then lead them out to the grazing pasture along with their calves. Mama and I were weeding the garden while Prim sat with the butter churner.
"We'll get some new fabric in town when we take the cheese, butter and eggs in."
"New fabric, Mama?" I ask, I wipe some sweat from my brow.
"For you new dresses."
"Oh, well my work dress still fits fine. It's really only my church dress that's getting small."
"I can see what I can do with your work dress to add the length, but you need a new church dress and school dress."
"Oh, Mama, I don't want a long skirt for my work dress," I sit back on my heels, "It'll get in the way."
"Don't whine, Katniss," Mama scolds.
"Think how nice it will be to have new dresses, Katniss," Prim said from her little stool in front of the churner.
I shouldn't have complained, one new dress is special, let alone two new dresses.
The following day Mama and I go into Mellark's general store. I try not to think how awkward it would be seeing Peeta here after what happened with Gale. I needn't have worried, it was just Mrs. Mellark, well, not that it's good that it was just Mrs. Mellark, Mr. Mellark is so much nicer and generous in his trades. While Mrs. Mellark pokes around in our eggs and sniffs the cheese, she gives us her price for them.
"Now, Mrs. Mellark, that is nearly half what it was last week," Mama says calm and politely.
"Well we already have so many eggs. I'll give a bit more for the cheese."
Mama stayed firm and added that we planned on buying fabric from her. Mrs. Mellark turns her nose up and finally agrees. Mama and I go and start looking over the fabrics.
After much deciding we decide on a printed green fabric from my school dress and a blue for my church dress.
"I have some buttons at home that will look nice up against that."
Mrs. Mellark wraps the fabric up for us.
We leave to make a quick call to the Undersees, Mama had said that I could stop to say hello to Madge, but that we couldn't stay for long. Just as we start to cross the road, Peeta comes out.
"Hello, Mrs. Everdeen. Hi, Katniss."
"Hello, Peeta," Mama said, and takes his chin in her hand and turns his head this way and that, "Eye is looking better. Do you need any more ointment?"
"No, ma'am, thank you."
He looks over at me, our eyes meet for a moment, flutters again, I look down at the packages in my arms, right as his Mother calls from the door.
"Peeta Mellark, get back in here," She scolds.
"Bye, Katniss," He says and looks at Mama, "Good-bye Mrs. Everdeen."
"Good-bye, Peeta," Mama says.
He turns and hurries back up the steps, I see his Mother smack him along side the head as he walks through the door.
I hear Mama click her tongue and shakes her head. Mama or Papa have never hit me, besides a good swat on the rear if I had been naughty when I was younger.
"Well, lets hurry along, if you want to see Madge."
We stop by to say a quick hello, before walking home.
I wasn't looking forward to wearing long skirts, but I couldn't help but get excited at the prospect of new dresses. I showed Prim the fabric and she ran her hand tenderly over the new smooth fabric.
"It will be so nice to have your hair up, Katniss. My hair keeps getting caught on my buttons," Prim said.
"It'll be a lot of hassle in the mornings; I won't wear my hair up unless I'm going into town."
"When I'm grown, I'll wear my hair up everyday, all day. I'll have a blue silk church dress with white lace along the collar."
"Silk wouldn't hold up against much, Primrose. Leave the silk things for the townsfolk," Mama told her, then told me, "Wrap the fabric back up, Katniss. We can look through my patterns at the end of the day."
I carefully wrap the packages back up and set them by Mama's rocking chair and sewing basket.
That evening Mama, Prim and I look through Mama's patterns. Prim gazes longingly at the pretty dresses with fancy stitch work or elaborate collars. While Papa is cleaning his rifle and preparing it for the early morning when he is going to go hunting, in the pauses in the conversation going on between Mama, Prim and I, I can her Papa's quiet humming.
"We'll need to bulk up your petticoats to fill the skirt."
"Oh, Mama," was all I said.
"I heard Delly Cartwright saying how she was going to have a dress with a bustle made," Prim told us.
"Dressing your girl up like grown lady too fast will only bring trouble. We'll be sticking with petticoats for now."
"I don't want a bustle and I don't want too much petticoat either," I grumble, getting a firm look from Mama.
"I heard that out west, some ladies are wearing trousers," I say in the same dreamy voice that Prim uses when she's talking about lace collars. Papa chuckles a little from his corner.
We end up picking out two simple patterns, the church dress a touch fancier than the school dress.
The next morning we had a nice surprise when Papa brought home a big buck on the back of his horse.
After supper I helped him skin the great big deer carefully, he'll be taking it into town to sell, along with the antlers. Papa gives some to Mama to cook for the day's meals, and we cut the rest up into strips to hang. When the meat gets stiff, then we'll douse it in a salty brine to preserve it.
The morning is practically all used up by the time Papa and I finish. The rest of the day is spent hurrying to get everything else done. By the end of the day, we're too tired to start on my dresses.
"Tomorrow we'll see if we can get the fabric cut," Mama tells me.
After breakfast is finished and cleared Mama sits down and cut the fabric. That is the step I am always scared to do, one wrong cut can cause disaster, but Mama picks her shears up and cuts into the blue fabric with such confidence.
"I'd like for this to be done by Sunday for you." That was a tall order, it was already Friday.
"I can help out extra with Katniss's chores, Mama," Prim offered.
Every moment that Mama and I could spare we worked on the dress. In the evening Prim helped also, sewing the delicate little button onto the back. Mama and I worked late into Saturday night, Prim had helped a little more before Mama sent her to bed.
"Go on up to bed, Katniss, it's almost done, I'll finish it up."
I climbed up the ladder and into bed with Prim while Mama stayed up sewing her small stitches by the light of the candle.
The next morning it was complete. I slipped it on and couldn't help but admire it.
"Oh, Katniss, you look so pretty," Prim told me.
"Pretty is as pretty does," Mama reminded me, then she showed me the easiest way to wear my hair up, wrapping my long dark braid around itself and pinning it in place.
I felt self-conscious as we got out of Papa's wagon at church, like I was getting caught playing dress up.
After church Madge finds me and compliments my dress.
"Your Mama is such a good seamstress, it looks just like you got it from Kravitz's store."
Madge had gotten a new hat from Mr. Kravitz, a pretty blue one with ribbons artfully decorating the brim and a wide blue ribbon going around her chin and tied by her ear. She talks about the other hats that he had on display.
"There was a brown velvet one that was so beautiful, Mother said that I wasn't old enough for it though," Madge was telling me, then I notice her look over my shoulder then she looked back at me with a playful glance.
I turn to see what caught her attention.
Peeta Mellark.
"Hi," We say to one another. Silence.
"I hope I didn't cause any trouble last week, I should've been more aware of the time. I know you and your folks are busy."
"No, no trouble. Mama was happy to see so many berries so early."
"Oh," Madge says, her eyes brighten, "Where did you find berries?"
"Close to the stream west of us there's a blackberry patch. Peeta helped Prim and I pick some."
"Oh I would love to join you sometime. That's one of the wonderful things about spring is the berries. We could pack a picnic and it could be a party… We should invite some people from school. Oh it would be so much fun."
"That sounds like a great idea," Peeta says with equal enthusiasm.
I chew on my cheek a little nervously, I probably wouldn't be able to join, there is just too much to do at home.
"I'd have to ask."
"Oh, I hope you can, Katniss. It wouldn't be any fun without you," Madge says and then gets a twinkle in her eye as she asks, "Would it, Peeta?"
My cheeks flush slightly and I see Peeta's ears turn a little red.
"I'll ask Mama."
"There's a few new families in town. The Masons I know have a few children around our age, we can invite them along too," She nods in the direction of the church again. I look over and see a large family with mostly boys and one girl who looks our age, "And the Andersons are new also."
"They have two boys, Cato and Marv," Peeta adds. They talk about some new town families for a while, then I see Papa pulling the wagon up.
"I have to be going," I tell them.
"I'll stop by to visit tomorrow and we can make some more plans," Madge tells me.
I tell Mama and Papa about Madge's idea for a picnic. After talking about it for a little while amongst themselves, they tell me that I can go, providing I work extra hard to make up for it. I promise I will, and can't help but to feel excited about the prospect.
Madge comes to call the next day. I don't have time to stop and talk much, she stood by the fence at the garden while I was weeding. Bless her heart she actually offered to help, in her pretty pink dress with a crisp white lace collar and all. I told her that it wasn't necessary but I could tell that she felt awkward standing still watching us work.
She had found out from Clove that there were more blackberry bushes closer to town on the other side of the train tracks, so we decide to ask everyone to meet at the school next Tuesday by ten o'clock and we can all walk over together.
The next Sunday, after church Madge and I ask people to join us for the day after next.
"There's Peeta," Madge says, after giving me a little smirk, she continues, "I saw him the other day and told him the details. Do you want to go and talk to him still." He's talking to two boys that Madge had told me were the Anderson brothers, they looked to be about the same age as Peeta, the taller one was maybe a year or two older.
"We should hurry and talk to the farm folks before they leave," I say, hoping she doesn't notice my flushed cheeks.
Madge sees Gale.
"Have you asked Gale yet?"
I haven't really talked to Gale since he came to apologize, purposefully avoiding him is more like it.
"No."
She starts walking over and I see Lillian Leevy talking to Annie Cresta. I tell Madge that I'll go tell them about it and quickly walk over to them, leaving Madge to talk to Gale by herself.
Annie seems tickled by the idea.
"Oh, how fun. It will be so nice to be able to spend time with everyone from school. I will have to ask Pa, but oh, I hope I can go."
Lillian shifts her weight between her feet nervously, "I dunno. Mama's not been well lately."
Mrs. Leevy is expecting their sixth child, Mama goes out to call on her every now and then to see how she's doing. She's had a few miscarriages over the years and I know that Mama is nervous about this one. It's hard on Lillian because she's the oldest, the next oldest, Sam is 8 years old. The rest of their children are under six.
I feel guilty, the Leevys have been having a hard time and I was fussing around planning a picnic.
"I've got to be going," Lillian Leevy said and shuffled off.
Annie and I talked for a little while, Mr. Cresta was talking to Reverend Heavensbee and his wife, there was a lady whom I didn't recognize with them.
"That's Mrs. Heavensbee's sister, Miss. Jones, she's staying with them for a few weeks."
Madge joined us, "Gale Hawthorne says that he isn't sure if he can make it or not. I talked to Clove Paylor who will come, but," then she makes a little face, "Delly Cartwright overheard us, so she's coming also."
I make a face that mirrors Madge's.
"I'm sure she'd be sad if she got left out," Annie said. Madge and I don't answer, I know that it's naughty of me, but I don't care if Delly Cartwright feels sad. We say out good-byes shortly after that.
I see Gale standing close to our wagon, looking at me as I approach. He's going to talk to me. I wish I could forget about what he had said, but I can't seem to.
"Hi," Is all he says.
"Hi."
There's a few moments of silence.
"Madge told me about the picnic this Tuesday."
"Yes. She told me that you weren't sure if you could make it."
"I still need to ask my folks," He shuffles his feet a little, "I didn't know if you wanted me to come."
"You can come if you want to, Gale. It will be a lot of fun."
"Do you want me to come?"
I give a little stomp of my foot, unladylike I know, but at least my long skirt concealed it – hey, these long skirt actually have a purpose!
"I told you, Gale, you can come if you want." What more does he expect me to say.
He looks at something behind me for a moment, and then looks back at me, "Is it just going to be the townies?"
I give him a good hard glare before answering, "Anyone who wants to come is welcome. I know Lillian Leevy doesn't think she'll be able to join. But Annie Cresta thinks she can," I pause for a moment, "I don't know why you think the towns folk are so bad."
He doesn't answer. After a small pause I say, "Well, maybe I'll see you Tuesday."
Papa helped Prim and I into the wagon, after taking my place next to Prim I looked up and saw Peeta still standing with Marv Anderson but was looking over at me, as our eyes met he gave a small smile, I gave him a small smile in return as Papa drove us away.
