Chit Chat Collection
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
“District doctors have to come from somewhere.”
“I hadn’t thought of that before.”
“Most people don’t. Most people in the District don’t need to - they never deal with the District doctor.”
“There must be a school or something?”
[more]
“You would think that, wouldn’t you? But there really isn’t that sort of schooling available for the Districts. I’m sure there is a college in the Capitol, but doctor, teacher, the geology and engineering techs for the mine - those all became more of an apprenticeship program when the Districts became completely closed off after the rebellion.”
“What do you mean completely closed off? All of the Districts ship things between them.”
“Things move between Districts - not people. Things weren’t great back before the last rebellion either, but people were allowed to apply to move between Districts back then. People who wanted to train for specific jobs were allowed to take a test and go for training. Not as extensive an amount of training as you would get if you were serving the Capitol, but it was still formal training. Now, we run on apprenticeships and that probably works better for some of the things - imagine doing all the schooling to be a teacher and then discovering that you don’t actually like working with children after you are already locked into it.”
“That might explain some of the attitude in that building actually.”
“Be nice. They were doing the best they could with what they had to work with - it’s not their fault they get hobbled at every turn.”
“Hobbled how?”
“We so do not have time for that right now. Could you just maybe give us enough credit to believe me when I tell you that every imagined slight that you have in your repertoire from some person who grew up in town was probably not about you? There was probably a logical explanation for it even if that logical explanation is that you have an over active imagination and always think that everyone is out to get you whether they are or not.”
“Erring on the side of are has done a pretty good job of keeping my family alive so far, so I think I am going to go ahead and stick with that.”
“We were so close to making a breakthrough - I should have known that it was too good to be true. Anyway, back to the doctor question. The simple answer is that he has no family, so there is no chance of passing on the family business as it were. No one has ever asked to be considered either - at least as far as I know - and I’m pretty certain that I would know.”
“What?”
“No one has ever asked the man if he would take them on as an apprentice.”
“That’s all there is to it?”
“He would have to agree of course. The proper Capitol authorities would have to be notified. But, yes, that is all there is to it. Someone who wants to learn and is willing to put in the time and effort to learn from both him, by doing, and from what books he has at his disposal. They would probably require some basic tests from a Capitol official as well because the doctor does treat patients from there when they are in the District. Then, there is the big sticking point - whoever did it would have to forgo the chance of a job with a salary. There are not very many people in the District who are in a position to do that. In fact, Prim might be the only person in the entire District who is both interested and has the means to follow through on that interest. You get room and board with the doctor during your training - and you only get that because of the Capitol connection. It would have made everything so much simpler if Mrs. Everdeen would have married the man after she was widowed. Don’t look at me like that. You think I don’t know what Katniss and Prim went through after their father died? And don’t make some smart remark about how you know it better than I do. You had your mother - and she would have done everything in her power to keep your family afloat. She did do everything in her power to keep your family afloat even with a newborn baby in her arms. Katniss’s mom - she just left everything to the girls. The Doctor would have taken them on - she would have been useful to him with her knowledge from the apothecary.”
“The man is seventy if he is a day!”
“All the more reason for him to have taken on a ready made family with a child who would have had an inclination for taking over. We aren’t the Seam, Gale. We don’t make matches based on just who we may happen to fancy. We plan for our families - for their futures. We understand that we aren’t marrying just to arrange an agreeable companion over dinner (although that comes into play as well). We are working out our family’s best chances for survival. Don’t look at me like that. That is what marriage has been for the majority of human history - a means of aiding in your family’s survival. Tell me you would marry someone utterly useless to your family just because you happened to find her attractive?”
“How attractive?”
“Gale.”
“Of course I wouldn’t. We couldn’t afford it.”
“It’s the same thing. We pay attention to whether we could get on companionably as well - we just know that that is not all there is to it.”
“So do you have one?”
“One what?”
“Some match that you and your family are plotting.”
“There is no advantage to any family in town to be gained by marrying me - not yet anyway.”
“You belong to the most wealthy family in town.”
“Which is entirely dependent on my father being the Mayor - that is not hereditary. I don’t take over for him nor does my husband. Someone who has gone through the clerk route at the Justice building will take over when my father can no longer continue in his duties. If it is a man who has not married and is interested, then it might be suggested that I continue on as someone who is already prepared to be hostess in the house. It’s an option; it’s not a given. If I take over my mother’s family business. . ..”
“Your mother doesn’t run a business.”
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I am well aware of what my mother does and does not do.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“The shop closed down when my grandmother died, but my mother still holds the license to reopen it. No one else was interested enough to take it over and she argued that I would need something of my own for just in case someday. If I take it over, then I might become an appropriate marriage partner for a younger son from one of the other families (or an older one that does not care for their particular family business). If I take out everyone that is already officially spoken for, that leaves me with the possibility of one of the Mellark boys or Delly Cartwright’s currently ten year old brother. Mrs. Mellark has never been good at bargaining with the other families and their father does not want to lock them into anything before they are old enough to actually act on it - too many things can change their minds if there is too much time available (and I wonder where he would have gotten that idea). On the other hand, I suppose with a business of my own I might be a very good catch indeed to some man in the Seam that was willing to put his pride aside long enough to take the chance of getting one of his children out of the mines.”
“We don’t do that.”
“I am aware. The comments have been pointed. And excessive. And really not necessary.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The fact that you have been spending time in my presence has been duly noted by certain residents of the Seam who may or may not be plotting marriage arrangements of their own. They have decided to be vocal enough in my presence about how interlopers are not welcome.”
“They said what to you now?”
“They didn’t say anything to me. They made comments in my presence to make certain that I overheard them.”
“That is just . . ..”
“Teenage girls being teenage girls. We can be quite nasty to each other you know - no Capitol influence needed.”
“District doctors have to come from somewhere.”
“I hadn’t thought of that before.”
“Most people don’t. Most people in the District don’t need to - they never deal with the District doctor.”
“There must be a school or something?”
[more]
“You would think that, wouldn’t you? But there really isn’t that sort of schooling available for the Districts. I’m sure there is a college in the Capitol, but doctor, teacher, the geology and engineering techs for the mine - those all became more of an apprenticeship program when the Districts became completely closed off after the rebellion.”
“What do you mean completely closed off? All of the Districts ship things between them.”
“Things move between Districts - not people. Things weren’t great back before the last rebellion either, but people were allowed to apply to move between Districts back then. People who wanted to train for specific jobs were allowed to take a test and go for training. Not as extensive an amount of training as you would get if you were serving the Capitol, but it was still formal training. Now, we run on apprenticeships and that probably works better for some of the things - imagine doing all the schooling to be a teacher and then discovering that you don’t actually like working with children after you are already locked into it.”
“That might explain some of the attitude in that building actually.”
“Be nice. They were doing the best they could with what they had to work with - it’s not their fault they get hobbled at every turn.”
“Hobbled how?”
“We so do not have time for that right now. Could you just maybe give us enough credit to believe me when I tell you that every imagined slight that you have in your repertoire from some person who grew up in town was probably not about you? There was probably a logical explanation for it even if that logical explanation is that you have an over active imagination and always think that everyone is out to get you whether they are or not.”
“Erring on the side of are has done a pretty good job of keeping my family alive so far, so I think I am going to go ahead and stick with that.”
“We were so close to making a breakthrough - I should have known that it was too good to be true. Anyway, back to the doctor question. The simple answer is that he has no family, so there is no chance of passing on the family business as it were. No one has ever asked to be considered either - at least as far as I know - and I’m pretty certain that I would know.”
“What?”
“No one has ever asked the man if he would take them on as an apprentice.”
“That’s all there is to it?”
“He would have to agree of course. The proper Capitol authorities would have to be notified. But, yes, that is all there is to it. Someone who wants to learn and is willing to put in the time and effort to learn from both him, by doing, and from what books he has at his disposal. They would probably require some basic tests from a Capitol official as well because the doctor does treat patients from there when they are in the District. Then, there is the big sticking point - whoever did it would have to forgo the chance of a job with a salary. There are not very many people in the District who are in a position to do that. In fact, Prim might be the only person in the entire District who is both interested and has the means to follow through on that interest. You get room and board with the doctor during your training - and you only get that because of the Capitol connection. It would have made everything so much simpler if Mrs. Everdeen would have married the man after she was widowed. Don’t look at me like that. You think I don’t know what Katniss and Prim went through after their father died? And don’t make some smart remark about how you know it better than I do. You had your mother - and she would have done everything in her power to keep your family afloat. She did do everything in her power to keep your family afloat even with a newborn baby in her arms. Katniss’s mom - she just left everything to the girls. The Doctor would have taken them on - she would have been useful to him with her knowledge from the apothecary.”
“The man is seventy if he is a day!”
“All the more reason for him to have taken on a ready made family with a child who would have had an inclination for taking over. We aren’t the Seam, Gale. We don’t make matches based on just who we may happen to fancy. We plan for our families - for their futures. We understand that we aren’t marrying just to arrange an agreeable companion over dinner (although that comes into play as well). We are working out our family’s best chances for survival. Don’t look at me like that. That is what marriage has been for the majority of human history - a means of aiding in your family’s survival. Tell me you would marry someone utterly useless to your family just because you happened to find her attractive?”
“How attractive?”
“Gale.”
“Of course I wouldn’t. We couldn’t afford it.”
“It’s the same thing. We pay attention to whether we could get on companionably as well - we just know that that is not all there is to it.”
“So do you have one?”
“One what?”
“Some match that you and your family are plotting.”
“There is no advantage to any family in town to be gained by marrying me - not yet anyway.”
“You belong to the most wealthy family in town.”
“Which is entirely dependent on my father being the Mayor - that is not hereditary. I don’t take over for him nor does my husband. Someone who has gone through the clerk route at the Justice building will take over when my father can no longer continue in his duties. If it is a man who has not married and is interested, then it might be suggested that I continue on as someone who is already prepared to be hostess in the house. It’s an option; it’s not a given. If I take over my mother’s family business. . ..”
“Your mother doesn’t run a business.”
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I am well aware of what my mother does and does not do.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“The shop closed down when my grandmother died, but my mother still holds the license to reopen it. No one else was interested enough to take it over and she argued that I would need something of my own for just in case someday. If I take it over, then I might become an appropriate marriage partner for a younger son from one of the other families (or an older one that does not care for their particular family business). If I take out everyone that is already officially spoken for, that leaves me with the possibility of one of the Mellark boys or Delly Cartwright’s currently ten year old brother. Mrs. Mellark has never been good at bargaining with the other families and their father does not want to lock them into anything before they are old enough to actually act on it - too many things can change their minds if there is too much time available (and I wonder where he would have gotten that idea). On the other hand, I suppose with a business of my own I might be a very good catch indeed to some man in the Seam that was willing to put his pride aside long enough to take the chance of getting one of his children out of the mines.”
“We don’t do that.”
“I am aware. The comments have been pointed. And excessive. And really not necessary.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The fact that you have been spending time in my presence has been duly noted by certain residents of the Seam who may or may not be plotting marriage arrangements of their own. They have decided to be vocal enough in my presence about how interlopers are not welcome.”
“They said what to you now?”
“They didn’t say anything to me. They made comments in my presence to make certain that I overheard them.”
“That is just . . ..”
“Teenage girls being teenage girls. We can be quite nasty to each other you know - no Capitol influence needed.”