Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games)

by Suzanne Collins

The upside of being born on reaping day is that you can sleep late on your birthday. It’s pretty much downhill from there.

No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it. So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already.

“Happy birthday, Haymitch. I figure if you’re old enough to make it, you’re old enough to drink it.” I have to agree and, though I’m not a drinker myself, I’m glad to get the bottle.

Oh the irony

Well, half for the dead girl called Lenore in this old poem and half for a shade of gray, which I found out the day I met her.

She wasn’t one of Burdock’s Everdeen cousins, but I knew he had some distant ones on his ma’s side.

Clerk Carmine and her other uncle, Tam Amber, have raised her since her ma died in childbirth, seeing her pa’s always been something of a mystery. They’re not blood kin, her being a Baird, but the Covey look out for their own.

She touches the snake’s head, then the bird’s, in turn. “It takes a lot to break these two. They’re survivors.”

Asterid March, who’s arranging tiny bottles on a shelf behind the counter. A long blond braid falls down her back, but the damp heat has brought out tendrils of hair that frame her perfect face.

Asterid March is an apothecary shop worker. She once went to the Seam to treat a woman who was whipped for back talking to a Peacekeeper. Is Asterid Katniss Everdeen’s mother?

Burdock’s nuts about her, so I try to be nice even though he’s got about as much chance with her as a mockingjay with a swan. Town girls don’t marry Seam boys, not unless something really goes haywire.

Burdock Everdeen is crazy about Asterid March. Is he Katniss’ father?

Rumor has it, Lenore Dove might be related to them on her pa’s side. They seem awfully fond of her, even if it’s not official. One way or another, there’s a connection there that Clerk Carmine discourages.

Them refers to the Chances. In relation to Alro Chance? Who Lucy Gray wrote The Hanging Tree song about

Otho Mellark, a big lug of a guy whose folks own the bakery,

Is this Peetas father?

“Fine, Plutarch. Whatever.

Plutarch Havensbee

I’m a tribute in the Hunger Games. In a few days, I’ll die in the arena.

Plutarch won’t get his tearful good-bye. Not from her and not from me. They will not use our tears for their entertainment.

“No good-byes for these people. They’ve lost that privilege after that outrageous display today. Take them straight to the train, and let’s get out of this stinkhole.”

the McCoys are more stony-faced than before. It’s not confusion; it’s a blanket refusal to put on a show for the Capitol.

The family of Louella, one of the tributes

I flash back to the Justice Building, and the weeping girl and the sickly scent of decomposing flowers that pervaded the place. Pa is talking to Sarshee, and he’s telling her, “Don’t let them use you, Sarshee. Don’t —”

I’m grateful for her final gift. That she’s denied Plutarch the chance to broadcast our farewell. The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us.

It’s all been taken away. My love, my home, my ma, my sweet little brother

But Lenore Dove’s convinced there must be people outside of Panem, far to the north.

He’s as unpredictable as lightning. Might be worth staying on his good side.

Plutarch Havensbee

“So, are you going to be my ally or what, sweetheart?” She actually smiles. It’s an old joke. When she was five and I was eight, she decided she was my sweetheart and trailed after me, telling anyone who’d listen.

Now we know why Haymitch always calls Katniss sweetheart. He reminds him of Louella

Except the District 12 tributes don’t have automatic mentors, not even one, because we’re the only district without living victors, and that’s who the job traditionally falls to.

In fifty years, we’ve only had one victor, and that was a long time ago. A girl who no one seems to know anything about. Back then, barely anyone in 12 had a television, so the Games were mostly hearsay. I’ve never seen her in the clips of the old shows, but then those early efforts are rarely featured, as they are said to be badly filmed and lacking in spectacle. My parents weren’t born yet, and even Mamaw couldn’t tell me much about the girl. I brought our victor up with Lenore Dove a few times, but she never wanted to discuss her.

I’m entirely the Capitol’s plaything. They will use me for their entertainment and then kill me, and the truth will have no say in it.