Chapter 3: Come Together for Economic Security

Third Person POV

Hazelle Hawthorne had lost much in her life. Her husband to a mining accident. Her oldest son to the 74th Hunger Games. And she still had to feed four young children on a washerwoman's salary. Thank goodness Haymitch Abernathy, the Victor of the 50th Hunger Games, paid her handsomely.

So she had been surprised when Mayor Undersee, who had lost his own daughter to the Games two years later, had summoned her to the Justice Building. He had lost his infirm wife to an illness not too long ago. Conditions in Twelve were so bad, it seemed everyone was dying left and right!

Entering the Mayor's office, she found him at his desk. "Ah, Hazelle! Have a seat."

She did.

"You still have four young children to feed, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you know I am a widower. Rich where you are poor. I have a proposition for you."

"Name it," Hazelle challenged.

"Would you be willing to Toast the bread with me to help feed your kids. Give you a better life?"

This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Hazelle had heard of many marriages, especially in the Seam, that were platonic and only predicated on economic security. She could do the same. So she bravely nodded. "Yes."

And when Mayor Undersee kissed her - the first man she had kissed since she lost her husband - Hazelle kissed him back. They married in the Chief Clerk's office hours later, with no witnesses and no one from the media. And the Hawthorne's moved into Mayor Undersee's mansion.

The only person Hazelle told was Katniss Everdeen Mellark Pontipee, who knew what it was like to marry again.