Chapter 17: Rue's grandparents

[April/May 2373 AD – POV Timotheus Mellark – District Twelve]

Back from my mountain vacation, I had picked up Rue, the small girl and only survivor from the plane crash, at the small hospital in Hillbonia and shown her to Dr. Aurelius in Appacolia. The little girl had spent the weekend with my family and me, as the psychologist had suggested, and we got along nicely, hopefully being able to provide some distraction for Rue. Meanwhile, police were searching for any relatives Rue might have, and the most promising clue so far appeared to be her grandparents. According to Rue, though, they were her mother's parents and had a different family name, which Rue did not recall; for her they had always been 'Grandma' and 'Grandpa', which was quite understandable.

On Monday we went to see Dr. Aurelius again at the designated time in early afternoon, and he examined Rue once more. Right when he was done with his checks, an elderly couple with dark skin was shown into his office, and when Rue saw them, she shouted out:

"Grandma! Grandpa!"

The lady responded: "Rue! My darling!"

Rue jumped up from my lap, where she had been sitting for most of the examination, right into her arms and they hugged, eventually also including the grandfather. We gave them a few minutes, and then Rue made the introductions. The grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Jones; the lady looked at me and said:

"So, you are the young man who saved our granddaughter, right?"

Her eyes looked like she had wept a lot recently, and when we started to talk, I learned that they had only yesterday been located and contacted by the police and learned about the accident. Rue's mother had been their daughter, and she had died two years ago already, from an illness. They had known about the flight plans, expecting the family to visit their farm a few days later. Rue's family had been at home on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains, in District Eleven, and there had been Rue's mother, deceased a couple of years earlier, her father and sister, who both died in the plane crash, and herself. Recently, as I learned, Rue's father had got engaged to another woman, so that Rue had a prospective stepmother, but no adoption papers or something like this had been signed yet. The sightseeing flight had been a reward for excellent grades at school. Now it seemed that Rue did not have parents and siblings any longer, but at least there were the grandparents.

Rue's grandparents told me that Rue's family name was Madison. They had not been rich people, but not poor either, and usually they had visited the farm twice a year. When she had been younger, Rue had been at the farm for the entire summer holidays in most years, which was owned and run by them; the farm was located not very far from Appacolia, actually. It was close to a small village called 'Kirchheim' (Churchhome), being named in the German language. It was not a very creative name, but, as Mrs. Jones explained, the town had been founded by a group of very devoted Lutheran Christians mostly from Bavaria, and the citizens had decided to put God in the center of their lives, not in an extreme and conservative way like the Amish or so, but in a practical and loving way. The name, confirming that the church was their home rather than a duty or an obligation, expressed that clearly.

"We are proud to be a part of that community" she said. "As a matter of fact, as so many of us came over from Europe over the last decades and still cherish and use the German language, we even have church services in German language once a month, too."

According to what I learned, the grandparents were, except for that one aunt in Europe, the only close relatives Rue had left. Rue's grandmother also confirmed what Rue had already hinted at. Due to her special features, mainly the very long and pointed ears, Rue had been mobbed a lot since kindergarten at least, and only few people outside of her family had stood firmly at her side. Fortunately, the mobbing had been mostly verbal, but it had made her very shy. The family had hoped that the amount of mobbing might decrease when the kids got older, but that had not happened yet.

Naturally the grandparents offered to take Rue in, and she'd be able to go to school in Appacolia, as Kirchheim, the small town next to the farm, only had an elementary school, but no high school. She would have to travel by school bus each day, taking about 40 minutes extra, but that could not be helped. The school was actually not far from where I lived, and from our place she could have walked there. It happened to be the same school Primrose and Ruth went to; it was a big school which had elementary and high school on the same campus. I suggested to get Rue into the same class Primrose was in so that she had one friend at least to start with. Although Rue was more than two years younger than my sister, she had skipped two grades in District Eleven due to her smartness.

"Of course", Mrs. Jones added, "we will have to see how the students in the new school accept her; it may be hard for the start at least, and there will be some making fun out of her again, I am sure. Maybe we should consider home schooling, but neither my husband nor I consider ourselves competent enough for that. We are farmers and don't have any academic background."

"Oh, maybe that's not going to as bad as you think" I replied. "See, the high school Primrose attends is on the same campus with the elementary school Ruth, my baby sister, visits."

"How would that help?"

"Well, my youngest sister almost literally knows everybody, both students and teachers there, and they know her. She can sweet talk almost anybody into almost anything, and if she decides to have Rue under her protection, any attempt of mobbing will stop within a few days."

"Are you sure about that? How can she do that?"

"I have observed her quite a few times. She will meet people in the yard and drop a comment like 'I will meet John and Mike tomorrow, the two seniors, and when I tell them that certain people are not friendly with my very special friend Rue, they will not like that at all'."

"And this works?"

"You bet it does. Ruth does favors for various people and they do favors for her, and even some of the teachers kind of eat from her hands. She is already head girl in the elementary school and has weekly appointments with the principal."

"You seem to have an incredible baby sister."

"I do; I am very proud of her and I love her very much!"

We got back to talking about further treatment for Rue, and she'd continue to visit Dr. Aurelius once as month at least; I offered to come along as well and maybe spend some time with her, if she wanted:

"I have just spent a weekend with your granddaughter, and I would like to continue seeing her from time to time. You would do me a favor if you allowed me to visit her and maybe spend a few hours extra with her and do something together."

Rue nodded enthusiastically, and her grandmother smirked and told her granddaughter:

"Rue, it appears like you have a gentleman caller; I did not know that you had that in you!"

I smiled when I heard this word. Other people would have said 'beau', 'admirer', or something like that; it appeared that this lady had enjoyed a classical education, and I instantly liked her. The grandfather had not said much at all; maybe he was more a man of deeds than words.

After some more talking, we exchanged phone numbers and addresses, and it was time to separate; I promised to send the few other belongings Rue had in our home over to the farm over the next days. The girl was somewhat hesitating to let me go, but she was also looking forward to spending time with her grandparents. I was happy for her; at least she had found her grandpa and grandma and had relatives to live with again.

When I got home on that day, I felt – empty. At first I did not understand why, but I actually missed Rue. When I noticed that, I was angry about myself; while we had spent a few days together, she was neither related to me nor my girlfriend or anything like that, and of course she would be just fine with her grandparents. Further, I was going to be allowed to see her from time to time, so what was the problem?

When I got to sleep that day, I felt like I had missed something again, but I did not know what. Somehow I had the feeling that something was off, but I could not pinpoint it. It happened that Ruth felt like that as well; just before I fell asleep, the door opened and my youngest sister came in. She looked at me and then said:

"Tim, I miss Rue; she is really nice."

"Oh, little sister, I miss her too!"

Ruth jumped into my arms, and this night she was going to stay with me in my bed, like she had done so many times before, for some serious brother-sister bonding and cuddling. Just before we switched off the light again, I recalled that I had received a letter from my cousin a few days ago, but had been too busy to read it in detail. I had just quickly scanned it, but needed to take more time to read all of the details.

I mentioned that: "Ruth, there is still that letter from Tim in Erlangen. Shall we read it together? I think that he mentions a girl again, and this probably means trouble. I may need your advice!"

Ruth beamed and nodded, and I got the letter from my drawer and opened it. First he talked about the cave tour with the youth group, and he had added a few photos with stalactites and stalagmites. Ruth liked that and told me that she wanted to see such a cave, too. Next he mentioned the conversation with Corinna, and I told Ruth:

"See, this Corinna girl is about your age; maybe you would like her."

"Of course I would like her! She is friends with our cousin, that's good enough!"

She had a valid point. Now we read more, about Corinna՚s tall sister.

"How big is 184 cm?" Ruth asked.

"That is just a little bit smaller than I am" I responded.

"Wow, that's very tall for a girl, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think so, too, and at her age she may still grow."

"But why is this a problem?" Rues asked further. "I mean, being tall means you can see more and reach higher. Isn't that a good thing?"

"True, but there are also some issues. Like, if you get even taller than I am, you have to be very careful when passing doors, as you might hit the frame with your head. And in that cave they visited, when your are not so tall, you don't have to be careful with your head all of the time."

"Oh, yes, good point."

We both chuckled, and I read on. When we read the girl's name – Primrose – Ruth giggled:

"Why does she have our sister's name?"

"Why do Timotheus in Erlangen and I have the same name? There is no monopoly on first names, Ruth."

"But that's funny!"

"Yes, maybe it is. You know, Tim writes that he suspects that Corinna is trying to play matchmaker."

"What is a matchmaker? Are you talking about somebody who makes matches to light candles?"

"Oh no, Ruth, a matchmaker is a person who attempts to get two people together, like lovers or boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Oh, I see. But that is good, isn't it? Tim needs any help he can get, and if this Corinna girl can make this pretty sister his girlfriend, that would not be bad, right?"

"No, it would not, I guess, and indeed, he may need the help."

"And, by the way, so do you."

"I do, really? Well, I guess that you are right about that. But so what? Do you want to play matchmaker as well?"

"Yes, I think that I am going to do that" was the surprising answer.

I had not expected that and asked back: "And who might be the girl to match with me?"

"I am not telling; that's going to be a surprise."

She was indeed not willing at all to give even a hint, and soon we switched off the light.

A few days later I got back to work. Part of my job with the district government was about investigations into green energy. We had learned a lot from colleagues in Europe, like more efficient batteries for vehicles and such, and we were eager to find out how to improve green power generation and storage in more remote areas. The Sinterguth Foundation was actually supporting us with that.

Also working with the rangers made a lot of sense, as I needed to scout for areas around our city which were in need of infrastructure improvements. Further, population was slowly increasing, and we needed to expand. Finding proper locations for wind turbines, for example, was as important as checking for radioactivity, and I also paid special attention to potential places for large scale pumped-storage hydro power, which was the most efficient way to store electrical energy we knew. There were some lakes at the border of the mountains, and during my last vacation I had seen a place which might be suitable. A few days later a team of rangers and engineers joined me, and we boarded a large helicraft to get a better idea of the area out there.

From the air, it looked almost perfect. There was a large lake down in the valley, and a slightly smaller one much further up, and the difference in altitude was almost one kilometer; that was a good start at least. When we touched down later on, my colleagues got to work. A biologist looked around to see if any rare animals or plants were in the neighborhood, a geologist tried to find out which kind of rock we'd have to drill through, and an electrical engineer started to calculate the amount of energy we might be able to store in the system. Another geologist checked the shores of both lakes to find out to what extent to water level could be safely modified, and I wandered around, together with Rex, of course, to check for anything the others might not have seen. We stayed out here for about ten days, camping in tents, and our results were quite promising.

During the field trip I had been quite busy, but I used some of the little free time I had to write another letter to my cousin. I recalled that he had also met a girl with the name Rue, and hadn't her last name also been Madison? I shook my head about that coincidence, but at the same time I thought about a phrase my grandmother used to mention:

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."

So, maybe there was a divine plan behind all of that?

During the busy week I had not had much time to think about Rue. Back home, I got busy with more planing, and another week passed quickly, before I got a phone call from Dr. Aurelius. He told me that the next check up for Rue was due two days later, and I was asked to be there as well, if I could make it; Rue's grandparents had explicitly requested my presence. Fortunately my work hours were quite flexible, and I promised to be there at nine in the morning.

At the proper time, early in the morning, I arrived at the hospital, and Rue and her grandparents were already there. When Rue saw me, she ran towards me and jumped into my arms, and I had rarely seen someone look happier than she did. Seeing her smile and her reaction when she recognized me warmed my heart, and I felt happy for her, even though I did not fully understand her reaction. However, overall she did not look too well, and her grandparents also seemed to be somewhat off, like after a continued lack of sleep.

Dr. Aurelius first asked Rue's grandmother about the time on the farm:

"Oh, Rue loves the farm, and in particular she loves to be with some of the animals, like the horses, but also smaller ones like rabbits. When she can, she helps, and we are happy to have her with us."

The doctor looked at her and commented: "When I look at you, I see a 'but' coming..."

The lady nodded and confirmed: "Indeed, there are problems, actually two of them. For one, Rue hates to take the school bus. There are too many children in there, and each time she comes home from school, she needs an hour or two to recover. We could try to drive her, but we are needed on the farm, and driving that distance on a regular basis is expensive..."

She did not have to mention that they were not rich people. They had inherited the farm, as I had heard, but I was not informed on their financial situation.

"Furthermore," the old man now mentioned, "there are her nightmares. Rarely a night passes without her waking us with screams several times, and whatever we do, it does not seem to be good enough. Sometimes she mentions the name 'Katniss', but there is no person with that name in the family."

"How did that work at home with your bad dreams, Rue?" Dr. Aurelius now addressed the girl.

"The bad dreams started when my mother died, about two years ago. Since then, my father was the only one I found comfort with, and he always managed to calm me down. Frequently he allowed me to sleep in one bed with him, and when he was next to me, I rarely had bad dreams. Since my Dad's new girlfriend came into our lives quite recently, I was not allowed to do that any longer, though."

"So, you did not get along very well with that lady?"

Rue slowly shook her head and replied: "No, and I could not understand Dad why he got engaged to her. They had a serious disagreement about me; Dad wanted her to adopt me, but she refused..."

I had learned earlier that the stepmother, or rather the prospective stepmother, had been contacted as well by the police, but she strictly refused to visit Rue or provide any kind of assistance. She could barely be bothered to send a few boxes with Rue's personal belongings, mostly books, clothes, and her computer, and she seemed to be happy that Rue was gone and taken in by her grandparents.

The psychologist nodded, and he also asked: "Rue, is there somebody called Katniss you know?"

"Not in real life, know. Sometimes in my dreams, though, when something real bad happens, like somebody injures me with a spear, a girl with the name Katniss comforts me and sings for me."

Dr. Aurelius looked very surprised and asked: "Does that girl Katniss look like the tribute in the 74th Hunger Games?"

Of course I also thought about Katniss Everdeen in the 74th Hunger Games, but that could not be the Katniss from Rue's dreams, or could it?

"I do not know, as I have not seen any images or video clips from those" Rue replied.

The psychologist decided to not pursue this mystery any longer for now and changed the topic:

"So, how is school working for you?"

Rue started to smile and told us:

"Except for the school bus, much better than I had expected. During the first few days, everything was new, and many students looked at me, because I look so much younger than anybody else in class, because most of them have much lighter skin color, and because of my eyes, ears, and teeth of course. You see, in the classroom I have to remove my cap, and there was a lot of staring, even with the teachers trying to get this under control. On the second days some students started to make fun of me and almost made me cry, and then Ruth found me during a break and I told her. She promised that she'd handle that – and she actually did, somehow. From the second week on, no more mobbing happened, and even the staring mostly stopped. Since then, I have been able to focus on class, and it's great!"

We all liked to hear that, and finally Dr. Aurelius suggested: "Let's try some more medication, both against the issue with the school bus and the nightmares. I will give you a varied prescription so that you can change if needed, and we will discuss next month how that worked – all right?"

The grandparents nodded, and for the next half hour or so some other doctors were going to do some more examinations; I spent that time socializing with Rue's grandparents. When we were done in the later morning, Mrs. Jones asked me:

"Young man, my husband and I have to do some shopping in the city, and we do not need Rue for that. Can you do us a favor and spend some time with her, to meet us back down in the parking lot let's say around 16:00?"

I understood that Rue had probably asked to spend some time with me and I was more than happy to oblige. I had taken the day off and could afford to do so, and soon Rue was happily walking at my side, holding my hand. The weather was not that great today, so that I asked her what we should do. She suggested:

"Is there a museum in the city?"

"Oh, sure, there are actually two. We have a museum of history, showing some exhibits from the old Panem, before the rebellion, and we have a technical museum. Out in Hillbonia there is also a nature museum, but that's too far out for one day."

"Let's go to the technical museum, please!"

We spent a nice time there, and I was surprised to see Rue's understanding of technical issues. The museum had various section on different aspects of technology, like for flight, for power generation and storage, for construction, and more, and for some of those Rue told me how things worked even before she started to read the large panels with explanations. A few times she could even add details which were not provided there.

During lunch break I asked her about school, and she admitted that she had aced most of her school years so far; due to her excellent grades and because the teachers had agreed that she had not been challenged enough and bored, she had skipped two grades, as I had learned before, and by now she was two years ahead. Most 13 year old children were in seventh or eighth grade, but Rue was already in tenth, just like Primrose, who was more than two years her senior. Primrose had had her sixteenth birthday recently, and Rue, as she told me, would turn fourteen in June, quite soon actually. Primrose could have also skipped a class if she had wanted to do so, but she refused for two reasons. She had a few friends in class she'd miss, and she also wanted to keep her position as best in class. If she managed to graduate while still being best in class, she'd be given a choice of university to attend, and she had her eyes set on Panem Capitol University to study medicine.

Rue continued to talk about school and how her favorites were mathematics and physics. In sports she struggled, not because she was not agile enough or so, but because the criteria were set for girls of typical size, and Rue had to compete against girls aged fifteen and sixteen with her petite body. In track and field she did not stand a chance, but in artistic gymnastics she was top; she was also quite good in swimming, as she told me, and one of her favorites was climbing. Whenever they were to practice climbing up ropes she was almost always first, and her tiny weight certainly helped with that. Rue also added:

"You know, as I said before, in the first few days at school there were some issues with other students mobbing me and such. However, as soon as Ruth stepped in and declared me her new best friend, that stopped very suddenly. It is really incredible how much influence she has."

Ruth had told me about that. She knew almost everybody at school, both students and teachers, and as soon as she had informed the high school's head boy and head girl, the mobbing had stopped almost instantly. Nobody dared to go against Ruth, but fortunately she rarely abused her powers. On the contrary, whenever she learned about somebody being treated unfairly, she stepped in and got it stopped. That school was probably the top rating one in the whole country for the least amount of bullying and mobbing. In the same way, if teachers tried to play favorites, even maybe without being aware of it, Ruth had a way to learn about it, and even the principal listened to her on a regular basis when she mentioned something which might need fixing.

After we had eaten, we had another couple of hours to spend, and I suggested to visit the coal mine exhibition in the museum. Rue liked the idea, and we started the tour. A few decades ago they had built a mine replica into the rock below the museum, and some of the tools and machines which had been in use by the coal miners in District Twelve, during the Snow dictatorship times, had been placed there. We followed a narrow shaft down, and soon there was a lot of noise around us, some of it from fake miners hitting the rock with tools, and some from machines. A special area simulated a cave in, and it looked quite real when an explosion went off and part of the ceiling came down.

Finally, there was a long aisle with a low ceiling, and the fake miners had to bow down or be on their knees to work there. Rue smiled and said: "I don't know what the problem is; I can almost stand upright in there!"

I looked at her and said: "There are rumors that they forced some children to work in those places exactly for that reason. I do not really know if that actually happened in District Twelve, but it might fit."

Rue shuddered, and when he had spent almost one hour in the mine tunnels, she was quite happy getting out again. When we were done with our museum tour, the girl smiled at me:

"Timotheus, thank you very much for spending almost the entire day with me. I cannot even start to tell you how much I enjoyed that."

"You are very much welcome, my dear, and I enjoyed the time as well."

Minutes later we were back at the designated meeting point, and Rue re-joined her grandparents.

[Author's Notes: The 'Deutsches Museum' in München (Munich) has such a coal mine replica, and that's where I got the idea from. About Rue sometimes calling the name 'Katniss' in her dreams, there will be an explanation (much) later.]