Dandelion in Spring

[A new sign has gone up at the bakery.

The wood of the bakery’s new sign is slightly stained with leftover coffee, giving it a lovely rich brown color. With the shellac finish, it will be practically weatherproof. Such a luxury would have been expensive beyond belief back in District 12, even for a baker’s family.

The sign could be considered quaint, but falls short of being trite. The border is done with a fine brush in grass greens; a winding vine with yellow flowers. At the bottom, a pile of bread loaves. One is the sort of loaf 12 was famous for back home, a sort of drop biscuit. Another is the seeded loaf of District 11. Accompanying them are two cheese buns, as well as an assortment of cakes, cookies, and tarts, all of which are actually offered inside the bakery. It has a provincial look to it, natural and fresh, as if even on a rainy day one could find the sun and hot bread inside this building.

The word "BAKERY" is in the palest of blues, with a slightly darker blue shading the letters. He stands on a ladder to hang it up in front of the building, a look of intense concentration on his face.

Later, he puts a message out over the journals.]

Thanks to everyone who helped at the bakery while the Kin'corans were here. Actually, I could still use help now that they're gone. There are about three hundred people in the village, and lots of them like fresh bread. If you want work but don't have any experience, I don't mind teaching. I mean, even I started out washing dishes.

So who's up for it?

[Peeta officially has his own bakery. Which is pretty interesting, and he takes it all in stride. It's not really his bakery, after all--it's Luceti's bakery, and he's just making sure it doesn't die. In the meantime, all kinds of new and delicious things are appearing at the bakery--specialized breads, goat cheese and apple tarts, cookies and cakes with delicate frosting decor, an interesting pastry with a bittersweet chocolate and raspberry filling, cheesecakes in the shapes of flowers, things like that. There's also an abundance of cheese buns. Don't ask why.

Today he stops by the item shop, looking for things to have around the house, and ends up picking up a gift for Rue while he's at it. Later, he sits at home and speaks into the journal.]

Where I grew up, you didn’t really choose for yourself what you wanted to be. You usually did what your family did, or you went and worked in the coal mines. I guess it was safer that way. Everyone was so focused on having enough and providing for their families that there wasn’t really much time to branch out. You did what you had to do.

One day, I was watching this program on television. It was this interview with a young girl, at the Capitol. A lot of the usual stuff, like what it’s like for a girl from one of the Districts to visit the Capitol, but one question made both her and me go quiet. He asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up. I’ve never seen a twelve-year-old’s eyes go that wide.

I think I was about seven when I saw that, and I never forgot it. I used to wonder, if I could choose to do anything, anything I wanted, what would I choose? No limitations. Anything I wanted. And I knew almost right away, every time I asked myself, that I wanted to make beautiful things. Thing is, beautiful things don’t really sell when most of your District is poor. Most people like that don’t buy anything they don’t need. Then one day I realized, everyone needs food, don’t they? My father’s a baker. So I started decorating cakes. I got pretty good at it, too. At first I thought I might be wasting my time, but then the cakes I decorated started really selling. Mostly for special occasions.

But here, it’s different. Here, there’s no money. There’s no reason to do anything except because we want to. I could paint pictures all day here and no one would mind. Thing is, I don’t think I could if I tried. People here need things, too, things the Malnosso can’t provide. Like cake decorators. You think you don’t need one, and next thing you know, your girlfriend proposes. Or maybe you’re having a baby, or someone’s having a birthday. Maybe those robots are unbeatable, but put one in an apron and give him a spoonful of icing and he’s clueless. Besides, I’d rather be doing someone some good. Everyone should be able to smile sometimes, even prisoners.

So you. You could be anything here. What do you want to do when you grow up?

[A long pause before this last is written.]

By the way, I think I scared some people when I first showed up. I'm sorry about that. I promise I'm an okay guy.