Moria Blu District 10

“Hurry up Blu, I’m hungry.” The tired whiny voice could be heard in the distance, her brothers were always hungry, and Sam being the youngest always wanted to eat, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. But who could blame him; there was hardly any food, enough but not enough for growing boys. Moria leaned over the old dented metal water trough for the goats and started to reach in to wash her face off. The face that looked back at her was her own, but how life had changed this past year. Her reddish brown hair stuck out from under her wide brimmed hat, her nose and cheeks were sun kissed in spit of it. The dust and grim on her face did nothing to hide the freckles that dotted her nose line. Her brown eyes were happy and full of life, and hardship but was that not the way of life in the districts? Finishing washing her face off, she hurried into what was her family home, well if you could call the little shack a home, but home was what you made it. And she tried to make it a good one for her brothers, younger sister and their dad.
Moria moved over to the stove and reached up to grab the hot pad holder to remove the lid of the wood hopper that kept the stove going. Only being 5’6” she had to stand up on her tiptoes in order to reach it, as her father had built the cabinets in the kitchen for her mother who was much taller than she was.
She quickly grabbed the hot pad and opened the wood hopper and mad sure the fire was going strong. Turning she took a step only to fall over Sam, who was standing right behind her, falling she bumped Sam over who started crying. “Sam you need to be careful, are you ok? Luckily she was rather thin and fit from her hard work on the ranch. Sam’s big brown eyes stared up at her as his thumb went straight to his mouth, her heart broke and as much as she wanted to yell at him she grabbed a bark free stick and put the top half in the picture of water and then into the precious sugar they had. Giving the sweet stick to Sam, Blu picked herself up and got back shook the dust off of her jeans that seamed to be two sizes two big for her, in that way Blu had a dumpy sort of appearance, nothing that anyone looked at as being cute or sexy. Her choice of shits did not help matters either, she tended to wear her fathers outgrown shirts, she enjoyed the lived in feeling that they gave her along with the security of having him close, even though it was only a shirt.

Blu was the third child in a family of five, and as that would imply as she was neither the oldest nor the youngest melted into the background. And frankly she preferred it that way; she never got into trouble and never stood out she was just Moria. Soft spoken to both family and animals, she became the unofficial sick or weak goat caretaker. She was the one who, would sit for hours on end, tending to the sick and wounded animals when her brothers would have killed them for their meat.

But Moria had this way, a way to bring them back and raise them up strong, and they loved her just as much as she them. When she would come out of the house in the morning they would run over to the fence and find her and follow her as much as they could. So when her mother died, it was just a natural thing to do was to take over the family and carry on and heal everyone as best she could. But no one ever took care of her, she never lacked for love, as her family was very loving. But there was never any time for her just to be Moria, but life in 10 doesn’t leave a lot of time for pampering. She had a job, to raise this family and maybe stay with her dad as the rest of the kids went off and had families of their own.

Maybe she was Pollyannaish and believed the good in people, but don’t let that sweet disposition fool you, especially if she felt that a more innocent person was being taken advantage of, she turned into a mother tiger defending her cubs, and she was in it for the long haul. There was one time, when a rabid dog had come onto their land, the little ones happened to be out in the yard playing as Moria was tending to a couple of preemie goats that had come into the world the night before. She heard the growl, turning to see t he foaming muzzle of the dog as it eyed the little ones. She ran full force for Madison and Sam getting in front of them as the dog came charging towards her, the only thing in her hand was a preemie bottle of milk. Luckily her father was coming over the hill and saw the mutt, killing it before it could reach them.

Her mother was gone, had been gone since Sam was born, sum 5 years now. Life was hard in 10 and medical care was what could be provided for at home. Her mom died giving birth to Sam, she was a strong woman but when complication arouse, Blu did everything she knew to make her mom better but it just was not enough. So now she made a good home for her dad and the kids.

Life was hard for all of them, she was the third of five, her Jeremy the oldest was married and with a baby on the way, his was the next farm over. Jake had just turned 18, and was still at home working long hours along side his father to keep the family farm up and going, so there might be a bit on the table and the end of the day to feed the mouths that lived there. Then there was Moria, being the oldest girl, she had to learn to help her mother with the chores and care for the family home along with working on the farm so that the citizens of the Capitol can eat. Her mother Lil taught her to sew, cook, clean and the rest of what was expected, He father Thomas taught her how to tend to the goats, to nurture them so that they would grow strong and healthy and produce the best meat. Then came the two little ones, Madison and Sam, with them she learned how to care and raise children, her mother assumed that one day Moria would have her own family and wanted her to be a good mother.

Then fate got in the way and she grew up quicker than she may have wanted, but she had to step up and take care of the family. And truth be told Moria enjoyed it, there was a rhythm with her day, she rose, dressed, fed the family, went to school, fed the family, worked some more and then fed the family again. Depending if there were any sick goats she would care for them and then get the little ones cleaned up and sent off to bed. Clean the house before laying down her self. Life was hard work but simple.