“Fine, than I will not have to blame you for killing my friends with your stupidity. -Haymitch”

“I think she is relieved by Haymitch's absence, and who can blame her?”

“So Haymitch, what do you think of the games have one hundred percent more competitors than usual?” asks Caesar.Haymitch shrugs. “I don’t see that it makes that much difference. They’ll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure my odds will be roughly the same.”

“You'd have thought we planned it," says Peeta, giving me just the hint of a smile."Didn't you?" asks Portia. Her fingers press her eyelids closed as if she's warding off a very bright light."No," I say looking at Peeta with a new sense of apreciation. "Neither of us even knew what we were going to do before we went in.""And Haymitch?" says Peeta. "We decided we don't want any other allies in the arena.""Good. Then I won't be responsible for you killing off any of my friends with your stupidity," he says.”

“Got it," I say. "Did you tell Peeta this?""Don't have to," says Haymitch. "He's already there.”

“Great. Now I have to go back and tell Haymitch I want an eighty-year-old and Nuts and Volts for my allies. He'll love that.”

“Anything else?"Haymitch rises to go. "While I was waiting... I ate your lunch.”