Compendium of Fairytales (Open)

Oh, the irony.

"Don't worry," I say hastily, "I'm sure he's just too excited over meeting someone. Like I said, he usually stays in the labs all the time. I'm sure he's not trying to stalk you or anything. He talks much about his new lab partner, too. If I hear anymore he does this, he does that, I am so going to kick him out of the house one of these nights when Mother's away nursing someone and Father's at the Capitol!" I finish my smoothie and drop it into a trash bin with a light clunk. I don't tell her he's been talking about things beyond their conversations, like her hair, or whether or not she likes Ralve, or anything else he fancies.

I laugh uneasily. What can I say? He's my brother, for goodness' sake! "Oh don't worry. He's definitely not that. This is a little strange, talking about my brother in that way, but I think he just wants more friends. He's surrounded by rats all day in the labs, and homework at night. It's about time he wanted more company.

"My parents are home for now, but they're often called away to various places. For Father, it's always the Capitol, where he shows the high-and-mighty the new medicines developed. They do that just about every month--send a representative up there from one of the university labs here. My mom..." I pause. Where does she go? "It depends with my mother. Sometimes she's nursing people the entire night, and sometimes she helps out at the orphanage. She spreads herself pretty far, and has done so ever since she first saw that Jon and I didn't need her anymore to survive.

"Yes, Jon's at the labs a lot, but I'm at the hospital/orphanage a lot, too. I don't get lonely. In fact, I seek company by visiting Mrs. So-and-so at the hospital and caring for these kids or those at the orphanage. As you've seen, I often take the kids out for events, so I'm far from lonely. Working with the kids makes me feel like I'm being whisked back to what childhood was supposed to be. My childhood seemed much too short, but now, it doesn't matter, because I'm living it all over again with the orphans." I glance at my friend. "You should come by and help sometime, too. They don't pay you, but it's a reward itself to be with the kids. Don't worry--the hospital is very sanitary. It has to be, or else the patients, who probably have even weaker immune systems than you, would get sick, and that'd be awful and very troublesome."

A dark cloud suddenly finds itself covering the sun, changing what was a bright and breezy spring afternoon to a hot and humid early-summer storm. The first fat droplets of warm rain that hit the back of my neck are almost disgusting. I keep my eyes to the ground and say, "Come on." I take Belameane's arm and drag her to a nearby shelter, holding my backpack up as a makeshift umbrella. So unpredictable, this weather. It's not even the refreshing, cool kind of deluge. It's a full-out hot shower. Don't need any more of those.

Under the shelter from the rain that literally does stink, I seriously consider her suggestion."We'll just wait it out, I guess. You know, I believe that's the most logical thing I've heard for the situation. He's always so involved in his internship he doesn't really think about his social life when he's working. Also, I'm not sure about safety levels and whether or not they allow visitors whenever, but I'll bring that up with him." I open my mind to him and let him listen in on what I say. It'll keep me from having to remember and passing it along later.

Hey! That is a good idea! Wait. What did you tell Belameane? I can imagine him standing straight with all of his 6-foot something or other towering over my short five feet, his hands on his hips. I close him off from my mind, just as he begins to suspect and protest.

"Yes, we're all pretty involved in the industry of this District. We have ancestors who have lived in this area and had jobs in this field since I don't know when. Mayhaps even before Panem was formed, but I didn't say that." I shrug and glance around to see if any Peacekeepers heard me refer to the past.

"Censor a few of the stories before you two come by. The kids'll adore it--they always love having visitors. I'll give the nurses a heads-up."