Kettle Easting [District Ten]

Kettle Easting -- twelve -- female -- District Ten

"Ripred, what are those things doing in my good jars?"

"I'm not Ripred," you say absentmindedly.

"Kettle!"

Dad makes that joke all the time, so you don't see why you should get scolded for it. You frown up at him. "Pop said to spend some time inside before you forget what I look like."

He never fakes a cough well enough to hide his laughter. "I don't think he meant to bring the outside with you."

"I'm working." You lift your journal. Beetles are faster than your hands, but you're getting better; the sketches further down the page look more like distinct species than generic ovate blobs. Soon you should have pictures good enough to compare to books in the school library during lunch tomorrow.

Everything has gotten weird in middle school. You never know what you're supposed to do or who you're allowed to talk to anymore. Bugs are hardly simple either, but they're reliable. Tromping through the field always stirs up a grasshopper or a cockroach or leads you to an anthill, and if you watch attentively enough you'll learn something about their lives.

The teachers want you to put that focus into schoolwork, but what's the point? Famous names or fancy similes or the rotation of the stars won't help when you work on your fathers' ranch or, eventually, run it. Weather and genetics, ecology and math, that's what you need to know.

He looks at the serious set of your face and sighs. "If they get out, scrubbing the table is your job." You nod. "And wash your hands before dinner." Another nod. Dark brown blurs pass in the corners of your vision as he tucks wayward hair back behind your shoulders. "They look great, Kettle."

"Thanks," you mumble, your attention already returned to your pencil.

for once could a character drop into existence when I'm staring at a blank word document and not, y'know, when I hear a song in the middle of driving somewhere or startle a roach on a fence while I'm out or something

300/300 words for the second of two CBs from the Birthday Bash Scavenger Hunt!