Johanna had come to hate this time of year. Summers in the old District Four were simply one long endless rain storm with the occasional thunderstorm or hurricane to break it up. Most of the people here were natives, it really wasn’t a bad location and after the fall of the capitol they were allowed to keep what they caught or sell it at their own whims, so they’d come to love or at least live with the constant downpour during the height of the fishing season. She’d never admitted it to anyone, absolutely refused to, but the rain still skived her out. The thunderstorms made it worse, wet and electricity together was just too much for her. She could handle baths and showers now, it had been iffy at first after a few false starts had ended with her in a ball on the bathroom floor, but Annie had simply plopped into the tub with her one day and she’d managed to scrub most of the dirt off of herself. It had only taken a few months for her to manage a shower solo, as long as there was no thunder. Some days she even swam with Annie and Little Fyn, though it was never for long. But going outside in the rain or thunder was out of the question. Summer usually saw her wrapped in blankets cowering in her bedroom. Little Fyn was helpful during the rain, coming in with books or paper and crayons, demanding she read or draw something. Other times he’d pulled her into the living room to his mother’s soothing box on its loudest setting to drown out the sound of the rain.
Worse than the rain was Finnick’s birthday. Every year they celebrated it, he would’ve been thirty this year. Annie understood that Finnick was dead, she was sure of that, but for Little Fyn’s sake they pretended. They showed him pictures, most of them were computer generated with aging software used to make him look older than the twenty four he’d died at, every year on the boy’s birthday there was a present from daddy for him, usually it was some kind of fishing supply, rod, line, hooks, a trident, net, or harpoon were common. They told him that his dad was working with President Paylor to help the people and couldn’t come home. There were letters based around current events sent from all of the old districts that ‘Finnick’ sent. She was certain that it was the work of some of the surviving victors from the hunger games. The lie was livable every other day of the year, but Finnick’s birthday resulted in a shopping trip to buy him gifts, then a walk to the train station to mail it out to the old capitol. For the past two years a huge storm had kicked up on his birthday but Little Fyn and Annie had bundled her up and drug her out into the storm. The first year she’d managed to pick out a gift before lightning had struck a nearby building and she’d quite simply collapsed screaming. The residents were used to Anne’s fits, even Little Fyn was able to deal with those, so she’d found herself embraced by half a dozen children all whispering reassuring things. The kids had actually escorted them home, and then stayed with Johanna until the rest of her family had come back from the train station. Last year she’d managed to stave off the panic attack until they’d gotten home again.
This year it was a hurricane, whipping in off the coast without much of a break. The weather walls would take most of the beating but it would still be a nasty storm on the streets. She stared glumly out the window at the darkening clouds. “Annie we’d better get going!” She called. “The storm is picking up; I think I want to get Finnick another necklace this year.”
“Jo! I wanna make him one!” Little Fyn called back.
“I’ve talked to both of you about yelling in the house.” Annie scolded as she walked into Johanna’s room. The widow hugged her and allowed herself to be pulled into a kiss. “Little Fyn has been working on his scrimshaw all year and he doesn’t think his mockingjay is good enough.” Loud footsteps echoed down the hall as the boy came rushing to them. Annie nestled into Johanna, glancing up questioningly as she felt her trembling.
“We have to go now! I want to send him the fish I caught, the one we had perpersevied.” The little boy burst into the room, looking a picture of his father, blonde curly hair, perfect mouth, sea green eyes.
“Preserved, Fynny.” Johanna corrected. “We can do that. Your dad would like that.” Annie nodded in agreement. “I think that’ll be perfect, a good gift from all three of us.”
The boy looked up at them and they could see the question dancing across his face. “What is it?”
“If daddy is busy, and you’re married, shouldn’t we be with him?”
“Yes, honey we would be, if it weren’t for the violence in the old capitol. There are some people who don’t like President Paylor, and they are trying to stop the changes she’s making to Panem. She needs people like your dad and Katniss to stop those people and to convince them she is helping everyone. Your dad travels so much with her that it would be hard for us to be with him and we would be in danger. He doesn’t want that.”
“So why is Jo here?” The boy queried. “It’s like I have two mommies.”
This time Johanna cut in. “Your mom and I need someone to take care of us. We’re lucky because we can take care of one another. Since your dad left, we’ve become close. Your dad is perfectly okay with that.”
“Okay, let’s go. We can pack up the fish and send it off before they stop running the postal trains.”
Annie rose from her bed, turning to pull Johanna up behind her.