The Last Stand of Haviland Dinwiddie

Chapter 13

By Dabeagle

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We'd spent part of Wednesday night cooking. Mom was pulling out the stops with a special stuffing, a Spanish rice dish that looked really appetizing, and a peach cobbler she said she was saving for us to extend our holiday. Thanksgiving day we went over around noon, and my mom seemed okay for a while. Daphne's mom talked about movies and asked questions about how my mom had made the stuffing. It was nice to see my mom engaging with someone outside the walls of our apartment.

Right after the coffee and pie, mom said she was tired. Rigby and I had our bags with our stuff to stay over, and Daphne said she'd drop us the next morning. I wasn't disappointed; it was a step for her.

After helping to clean up, we all hung out in the living room. We ended up talking about Hav and his situation.

“I can't imagine that,” Daphne's mom said, shaking her head. “I've read about people that live with domestic violence for a long time, and I just...I can't. I can't imagine what that does to someone.”

“Hav's a grouch, but I like him,” Daphne said. “It's fun when he threatens to fire Rigby.”

“It's almost like that's his job,” Rigby complained.

“I talked to him yesterday,” I said to them. “It was surprising, because he's not someone I think of as talkative, you know?”

“Except when he's barking orders, barking about firing me, barking about fasteners living in deviant anarchy,” Rigby said, making us all laugh. “Basically barking.”

“What did he say?” Daphne asked.

I rubbed a sudden itch under my nose and looked away from her for a moment before turning my gaze back to address her. “He talked a little about what it was like when his father was alive. It made me feel like the walls were closing in. Suffocating to think about.”

I glanced at Rigby and had to look away. He was watching me way too closely.

“What started that?” Daphne's mom asked.

Well, I stepped in that one, I thought. I rubbed my hands on my pants and looked at her mom. “My mom and I...my dad was...violent. That's why we're here.”

Her mother made a sympathetic noise. “Oh. Oh, Harvey, I'm so sorry.”

I shrugged one shoulder, not sure what to say to that. “I was just, you know, thanking him. Setting up apartments for people who were in situations like he'd been in.”

“That is amazing, in a sense,” she said. “Sometimes people who are in traumatic circumstances can only blame others or themselves, as though they could have escaped if only they'd been stronger or smarter. So it says something that he has the compassion to help, recognizing the need and following through. Many who can help just don't.”

I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it anymore; I regretted bringing it up to start with.

“Did you ask about what was going on at his house or if he's going to lose the land?” Daphne asked.

“Yeah. I think he's been working things so he's got a good chance to keep the land, but there's still probably going to be a big box store looking to open. He's pretty down on the idea of his store surviving that.”

“Maybe not,” Daphne's mom said. “Sometimes people are very loyal to a brand, and like it or not, Dinwiddie's Hardware is a local brand that people have been going to for years. I read a story years ago about some grocery chain trying to break into the Chicago market. They tried it all – and of course the national chains have advantages that I'm sure Hav's aware of – being able to buy in bulk at lower prices so their overall prices can be lower or just being able to afford to sell at a loss because it hurts their competition more than it does them.”

“Is that legal?” Daphne asked.

“I don't know, honey, I'm not a lawyer. They all twist words like pretzels anyway,” her mom said. “Point is-” I shuddered at the phrase, “-sometimes people are more loyal than you'd think to an idea or a brand and such.”

Daphne looked back to me. “Did you ask about that bruise on his face?”

I nodded. “He said he got smart with them. I didn't ask for details,” I glanced at Rigby. “Oh, and I think he's going to fire you.”

“Why would you say that? Why?” Rigby asked, poking me. I tried to roll away, laughing at him. Tony arrived shortly after, and I helped Daphne get a round of desserts while Rigby and Tony got the inflatable mattresses set up, and her mom got the sheets and blankets for them. As everyone took turns getting dressed, Tony and I talked briefly about his family dinner.

“Oh, I wish I'd been here instead of at my house,” Tony said. “My whole family is this weird brand of conservative pseudo-intellectuals. They learn a new word and then overuse it and have no idea what it actually means.”

“Like what?” Daphne asked.

“Mostly it was my uncle talking about tariffs being a good thing, but then bitching about the cost of lumber being so high, not to mention the tools and other things he needs. He starts talking about tariffs like he's an economist.” He shook his head. “He was even talking about putting tariffs on his customers.”

Rigby scratched his head as he came back from getting changed. “Isn't that just charging them more money?”

“Like I said, he doesn't know what it really is. I wouldn't know except it's become such a thing I actually learned about it.”

I stood to go get changed, but I nearly tripped, because Rigby was wearing a damn tank top again, and I looked at him just a half second too long. I nearly fell onto Daphne's apple pie, and Rigby's snicker told me I'd been caught. He was doing it on purpose, damn it. It was too ingrained in me to cover up to even think of doing that. Besides, it might go someplace I'm not ready for yet.

After getting changed, we got settled in for the first movie, which was stupid and funny but also unbelievable. A shower curtain ring salesman? Everything they do just leads to another disaster. The ending was, I guess, bittersweet. People put a lot of value on family at holiday times, I guess. I can't relate. Today was fun, but I had to wonder if I'd feel like the one character, trying so hard to get back to his family for Thanksgiving. The movie was kind of dated, too, since they didn't have cell phones to stay in contact with their loved ones like you would now. I guess it added a layer of frustration to things, having to wait until you could find a phone or someone let you use theirs.

Like the first movie, the second was also older and just as dumb, but I couldn't help laughing at some of it. All I could think was there was no way this guy put up with the problems that kid gave him; he should have stuffed him in the trunk and driven him home.

“Can you imagine?” Tony asked with a laugh. “Being stuck in the trunk to be brought home for Thanksgiving?”

“The kid was a complete tool,” Tony agreed.

“He was, but he was also manipulated,” Daphne's mom said. “He was a snob because he was emulating his father, but not knowing his father used him to manipulate the mother. Kids caught in the middle always suffer.”

“Or maybe he was born a jerk,” Daphne said with a laugh. We got more dessert and recited some of the funny lines from the movies, despite thinking they were kind of dumb, and we laughed so hard. It was kind of amazing how hard we laughed at something we hadn't thought was that funny while we watched it.

I guess because it was the theme of the night, talk turned to what it would be like if we four were on a road trip; the roasts came quick, and the laughs seemed endless. Eventually we made trips to the bathroom, and her mom insisted on one more movie, so we got settled down. Rigby shifted an arm behind my head, pulling me down onto his shoulder. The warm skin of his shoulder felt soft against my cheek, and I snuggled into him. His hand idly moved though my hair off and on, which was nice, but my brain was focused on the feel of his skin on mine.

Part of me knew this was silly. We'd never even kissed, and we certainly weren't acting like we were dating, at least not when it came to things like that. I was anxious at the thought of that happening, equally dreading and excited, which really didn't make sense. There was every reason to think we'd never get that far, anyway. I suppose it's kind of pitiful that I was so lost in the warmth of his skin on mine, and I did feel a little ashamed; not so much that I didn't keep on enjoying it.

I didn't think I'd pay as much attention to the third movie because of that, but it started off loud and flashy with some drag queens. I wondered if this was a gay-themed movie and felt exposed, excited and nervous all in one – which played up my anxiety really badly. I glanced at Daphne and Tony, but they were cuddled front to back, and their eyes were on the screen, and Daphne's mom was also watching. I tilted my head up, and Rigby looked down.

“You good?” he whispered.

“Yeah. Perfect,” I replied, snuggling my cheek back against the skin of his shoulder. The movie was okay, kind of entertaining, but then a section came up where it was clear the guy was abusive to his wife. I involuntarily stiffened up at the realization. Rigby's hand moved down to my back, and he pulled me tightly against him. Not thinking of anyone seeing, I wrapped my arm across his middle and pulled him tighter in response. The scene wasn't overly graphic, but it made my already swirling emotions even more agitated.

I closed my eyes for a minute, hearing the movie but focused on grounding myself against Rigby. He shifted a little bit, and I felt his breath near my ear.

“You okay E?” he whispered.

I nodded, took a deep breath to steady myself, catching a noseful of his scent and then opening my eyes again. He moved his hand up and down my back for a good minute or three, then moved to running his fingers up and down my biceps, pulling the bottom of my sleeve up a bit each time. I was on another level, the physical touch felt overwhelmingly good, and the emotions that had swirled up from that scene started to drain away.

I calmed so much that the next thing I knew Rigby was gently shaking me awake. I sat up and took in a deep, confused breath.

“I'm glad you feel asleep,” Daphne's mother said. “I wasn't even thinking when I picked this movie.”

“He was okay,” Rigby said, getting to his feet. I stretched, got up, and headed to the bathroom, feeling like I wasn't going to be awake much longer. All I really wanted to do was get curled back into Rigby, but as I rejoined the group it seemed like there was one last run being made at some of the desserts that hadn't been devoured.

“I ate too much,” Tony said and bowed his back to try and make his thin frame look like he was fat. Daphne lightly backhanded him in the stomach, and he laughed at her. Daphne's mom said goodnight and headed to bed, while the rest of us clustered around the dining room table. Rigby got some pumpkin pie with whipped cream on his fork and then held it toward my mouth. I wasn't really hungry, but I opened my mouth anyway, and he fed me the bite.

“Okay,” Daphne said. “How long has this been going on? I high key love what I'm seeing! You guys are so down low about it, too.”

“What?” Rigby asked, sounding like he had pie in his mouth. “Feeding him? First time.”

Tony laughed at Rigby and then harder at Daphne's expression. “Seriously, Rigby?” she whined. “This is so lit!”

Rigby looked at me, smiling and chewing. “What's she talking about, E?”

“I dunno. Is there more pie?”

“Yeah, I don't want to eat a whole 'nother piece,” Rigby said, forking another piece and offering it up to me. I leaned forward, and he fed me another bite, causing Daphne to throw a balled up napkin at us.

“Feeding him is a weird flex, Rigby,” she said.

“Want me to feed you?” Tony asked, trying to fork a piece of pie.

“No, I'm so full – ugh.”

“Last Friday,” Rigby said, letting her off the hook. “We're still kind of low key. I've never done dating a guy, so we're taking our time and just chilling. Enjoying the vibe.”

Daphne smiled. “I told you that you didn't look sad anymore.”

Rigby turned toward me, fork in his mouth. “Aww. Do I make you happy?”

“Shut up, Rigby,” I said, smiling but feeling a little embarrassed too.

Tony laughed. “Can I tell you, she's been sitting on this for days just wanting to ask how you got together. It's official – she is stanning your aura on this so much!”

Rigby looked at me again with a silly smile. “We have aura.”

“I hate you,” Daphne said with a laugh.

Rigby straightened up and pushed his fork flat into the pie, letting the filling overflow the tines. “Well. E's a quiet guy.” He looked at me. “Okay if I yap?”

A little confused, I nodded to go ahead.

He turned back to them. “We've been getting close for a while now. I can't say it's been like this big romantic awakening; I wasn't chasing him, and he wasn't giving me any vibe like he was after me or anything. But what he was doing was taking care of me.”

Tony wore an interested expression, while Daphne was being attentive.

“So, you probably know, I'm poor as shit. It's reality, and some people give me a pass because of my face card, but I don't have any respect for people that just like what they see. E sees that, and he's got his own cards to play, but I'm sure if I'd have been like Brock, this never would have played like it did.”

I watched him, studying his face and body language. I wondered if he was nervous to explain our status or if, like so many things, he was somehow able to just let it go. Or maybe he buries some things, hoping they don't come back to hurt him later.

“I flattened two of Gordo's tires, because fuck him for being a shit friend.” Rigby squished some more of his pie. “So a cop saw me – like, I popped up 'cause I just finished the second tire, and I see this cop car, and I just took off. The cop was like half a block away, and I think he saw me run, got close enough to see the car on two flat tires, and he came after me.”

“If anyone deserved that, it was Gordo,” Daphne said. “But on the other hand, you were dating a girl named for fried squid.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rigby replied. “Anyway I'm hauling my ass around a corner, and this one,” he hooked a thumb at me, “is driving by and stops to get me – and the cop pulls us over.”

“Oh, shit!” Tony covered his mouth as he tried to hide a big grin.

“What did you do?” Daphne asked with obvious enjoyment.

“Well, first E shit himself,” Rigby said, and I shoved him. He chuckled and continued. “E tells the cop we've been together all night and that we were headed to the store to get his mom some stuff 'cause she was sick. Cop tried to get him to admit we weren't together all night, and E was like, nah, bruh.”

“You lied to the cop? Pretty gangster,” Daphne said excitedly, getting into the story.

“So you know...that said a lot about E, you know? Someone's got your back.” He pushed the plate away and then pulled it back, continuing to mutilate the bit of leftover pie with his fork. “So this weird thing was going on with my grades, or I guess really my assignments. Keeping it short-”

“No! I'm loving this!” Daphne whined, smiling at us.

Rigby got a funny look, like he was happy, embarrassed and confused all in one. I decided to save him.

“Our first day his laptop battery was dead. He asked to borrow mine, but when he logged in, the computer saved his login details in its memory. Like, if I hit the button to log in, it gave me his as a choice. I was nosy, saw some stuff wasn't turned in, so I went to look at it. It was easy stuff, and I figured maybe he was bad about remembering to charge his laptop, so I turned in some of his stuff for him.”

“Wow. I mean, doing someone else's homework? That's love right there,” Tony said and looked at Daphne. “Let me know when you want my password.”

“Not happening. Now let them talk,” she said, laughing and leaning into him.

“Well, E and I start to hang, and we get on really well. He's the most non-judgmental person ever. My house – my mom's place she was renting – was a shit hole. Capital S, capital H. When you take into account E's a neat freak, that's something there. Then...well, my mom is a crap parent. My dad tries, honestly, no hate for him. He's just...beat down, you know? Bad luck, dead end jobs, and he knocked my mom up twice, so he's not long in the brains department either.”

“It was pretty bad at his mom's,” I agreed, swiping a finger on his plate to get some whipped cream. I swabbed it down his cheek and laughed at him while he threatened to dump the pie on me.

“Anyway, E figured out I have a real hard time with reading. He thinks I'm, like, dyslexic. My mom would never let the school test me; she said I was just lazy. But E started reading assignments to me, and we did our homework together. My grades start going up, and teachers are being all encouraging and shit.” He flicked a crumb of the crust at me, and I picked it up and popped it in my mouth. “Anyway I figured out he was doing my work for me, and the coven was tossing all that gay shit around. I put those things together, and I got all butt hurt and had it out with E.”

“Wait. Had it out? Like a fight?” Tony asked.

“Not really,” I said. “It was more....”

“I got the stupid idea he was only being my friend because he liked me.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I can see why you'd wonder,” Tony said, his tone uncertain.

“It actually makes some sense,” Daphne said. “Brock's a douche, but if you didn't know that and just saw his picture, you might like what you saw. So some people look at another person and like what they see; maybe like Mari when she saw you, Rig. Then they find out you're not like Brock – a douche – and they start trying to plan their future with you, but in a selfish way. Like Mari wanting you to get a baby on her.”

Tony rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I can see that. If those are your major relationships, the ones where someone just wants to take from you, it changes things when someone does something for you without trying to get something back.”

Rigby shifted in his chair then shrugged. “So, obviously, I was wrong. I was kind of thinking in the moment, and I realized I'm happiest when I'm with E. So I started to wonder. Maybe I was just dating girls because it's expected. Easy. Maybe it never crossed my mind, and I thought...sometimes these things can develop on their own, if you give them some space. I wanted to try.”

“I am so happy for you,” Daphne said, her face-splitting smile on. “Harvey had this real sadness in his eyes when he got here, but he seems so happy with you. Of course, Rigby...you're like this whole different person now.”

“I am?” His expression was completely confused.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “Listen, she's been stanning you guys for weeks. But she's been talking about how you started at the store, Rig, and just how chill you were. She liked you, even though you guys never really hung out, but after you started to hang with Harvey your aura changed, and you've just seemed like you...what was it you said?”

“I could be way the fuck off,” Daphne said, holding up a hand. “But if we're being honest, I feel like lately you're someone who had a direction, a purpose. You weren't like that when you dated Mari, but over like the past month, it's like you've been leveling up.”

I adopted a little smile and gave Rigby some side eye. “Aww. Do I make you happy?” I teased, echoing his earlier words.

“Of course you do,” he said confidently, completely undermining my attempt to tease him.

“Just so I know – this is all low key, right? Not out at school or anything?” Tony asked. “I don't want to accidentally out you guys or cause a problem.”

“Yeah, we're just chilling. Taking our time, you know? Like I said, this is a whole new idea for me.” He gave me a little side eye. “I mean, he annoys me, but I kind of love him. I'm just not ready for everyone else to put expectations on us.”

“Me either. What he said,” I told them.

“So he annoys you too?” Daphne asked, grinning.

“You have no idea,” I said with a heavy sigh.

“Careful, E. No cuddles for you.” Laughter bounced off the walls. Daphne moved us on to a debate that Tony'd been having with his friends, and I was just enjoying the glow of being part of a couple in front of friends. It was another new feeling, and I wanted to sink right into it. Soon I started to yawn, though, and we all got ready for bed.

Daphne turned off the light, and the room plunged into shades of gray, the only light from a nightlight in the bathroom and whatever moonlight could get through the gauzy curtains. As we settled in, the heating system kicked on, and the duct work rattled a bit, filling the air with white noise. As we got onto the mattress, I leaned in to talk to Rigby, embarrassed to be overheard.

“Can I put my head back on your shoulder?”

“Sure, Babe – uh, wow that slipped out,” he said with a grin, and his tone sounding embarrassed. “You going to be comfortable like that though?”

I was buzzing from him calling me that, but was desperate to not let on. Instead I said, “Yeah. I like the...you know, touching your skin.” Okay, I really wasn't sure that was less embarrassing.

“Oh yeah? Should I take my shirt off?” he asked, snickering but pulling me down so I could snuggle him. Of course now that he'd said that, even to mess with me, I was thinking about it. I don't think he would really take his shirt off for that, it seemed to be awfully fast since us becoming kind of official. That and he couldn't possibly have gotten that comfortable with me – with a guy – in that way.

Sleep took a long time to claim me, and only part of it was my cheek on his bare shoulder.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

It snowed overnight, so after we got home we went down to the store. We figured we might be able to get in some extra hours, and Sandy put us right to work cleaning the sidewalk and bringing up bags of ice melt.

“You can set your watch,” she said. “People forget winter comes every year, and do they buy what they need ahead of time? No. They wait for the snow or ice and then bring their cold asses here to get their shovels and ice melt, gloves and window scrapers.”

We lugged a bunch of bags to people's cars or had them pull into the loading dock and we would sling bags into their trucks and such. Ice melt and snow shovels seemed to be our world for the whole shift. In the middle of the afternoon Daphne asked me if I wanted a coffee, as Tony was going to bring her one.

“That sounds great,” I told her, scanning down the list of drink options on her phone. “Oh, that. Caramel Macchiatto.”

“That sounds so good,” she said, sounding like she was deep in thought. “What would Rigby want?”

“No idea. I'll ask.”

I went into the back and told Rigby to check in with Daphne, taking his place loading a pickup with several bags of ice melt and a snow blower. The customer used some tie down straps to secure the machine, and then I turned to Paul.

“Have you heard anything from Raul?”

He shook his head. “I think he moved on. He liked it here, I think, but not worth the hassle. Fucking bullshit, you ask me. I support getting rid of people that make trouble, but he was a good worker, nice guy.”

“Harvey!” Hav called out.

I turned. “Yeah?”

“Where's Rigby off to? Sleeping?”

“He's up front, Daphne needed him for a minute. Should be right back.”

“He better be or I'll fire him,” he grumbled. “I'm going to rent out a skid steer, go man the tool rental counter for me.”

“Okay.”

The back end of the store was very different from the front. The front was like a normal hardware store, or maybe it's more accurate to call it a mini home improvement store. You had fasteners, tools, plumbing stuff, cleaning stuff, stuff...stuff. And such. The back had storage, of course, with a loading dock. Straddling the back and front was a tool rental counter where you could rent a variety of hand tools and power tools and even rent out larger equipment like the skid steer. I have no idea why they call it that. All I can think of is something that skids while you try to steer it.

Rigby returned and joined Paul, though there was a lull in customers right then. I sat at tool rental, kind of bored. They sharpened things like lawn mower blades and chain saws back here, but I didn't know how to do any of that. So I just sat, happy to get off my feet for a few minutes. Hav popped in, muttering about keys and hunted around for a few minutes. He yelled at Paul, asking where the key he was looking for was, then told him to never mind as he found it and left again.

“Hey, one Caramel Macchiato,” Tony said, putting the cup on the counter.

“Oh, thank you so much. What do I owe you?”

“Hang on. Hey Rig! Never pictured you for a latte guy,” he said, walking toward Rigby.

“Cinnamon Dolce is fire, bro,” I heard Rigby say. “Want me to send you the money?”

“Nah. Daphne wants to hold it over your head,” Tony said with a laugh.

“I bet she does,” Rigby said with a laugh and went back to work. Tony wandered back to the tool rental counter and sat on one of the stools for the customers.

“How's the day going? Daphne seems pretty busy.”

I nodded. “It's only stopped for me 'cause Hav told me to stay here.”

“Hey, so I wanted to catch you for a second anyway.”

I tilted my head in curiosity, but didn't have to prompt him.

“First I wanted to say how fire it feels that you guys shared your relationship with us. I know you know Daphne told me when you got together, but I've been not saying a word to respect your privacy. I've seen coming out scenes in movies before, and one time me, Daph and her mom were talking about how we'd react if someone we knew came out. All nice and easy to say someone could come out to you, but always another to actually be there for it.”

I widened my eyes. “Oh, Uh, you know...I never even considered we just came out? I mean...obviously we did. I guess...I mean, you're our friends?” Beneath my words was a bit of wonder that I hadn't actually considered that Rigby was outing us. Not only that, my notorious anxiety was nowhere to be found.

“That's the nicest thing you could say to me; mad flex that you guys were so comfortable coming out to us that you never even thought about it,” he said, sounding very satisfied. “I have to say though, and I'm sorry if this is kind of cringe, but I really like your guys' relationship.”

I raised an eyebrow and sipped my drink, wondering why he'd say such a thing.

“I mean, intellectually. I've known Rigby on and off...forever. I think we were in the same class a few grades in elementary. We had a few classes together on and off. You I don't know so well, but after Thanksgiving, I think I have some kind of appreciation for how hard it must be for you to trust.”

I tilted my head. “What's intellectually interesting about that?”

He hunched forward, resting his cup on the counter. “So for you it's like...starting over, but you don't just forget what happened before, why you're here. I think most people are visual, right? So they see someone they like physically and go from there. I'm not saying right or wrong, just saying I think there's a major slice of people that are like that. Now, I'm not saying you didn't look at Rigby and think he was a snack.”

I tried not to smile, feeling silly listening to him.

“But I am saying you didn't rush out and make any decisions based on how he looks. Instead you got to know him, and I guess love him, and you took care of him. Looked out for him.” He sipped his drink and then laughed a little. “Now Rigby....”

I smiled. “What about him?”

“Look, I never had any beef with Rigby. We were just in with different people. I'm a nerd, I get lost in these rabbit holes of intellectual curiosity when I find something I get interested in, and people can think that's weird.”

I wrinkled my brow and smiled at him. “I mean...what?”

“I'm just saying he and I were different. Not good, not bad. For a little bit I think everyone expected Rigby to go the way Brock did. He's not my type, but objectively I can say he's not chopped. Plenty of people think I'm about as chopped as you can get, but that's another story,” he said with a deprecating smile. “Rigby didn't do a lot to make anyone think differently. He dated, I guess. Always some rumors of this or that hook up; I don't know, I was never really paying attention to rumors about Rigby.” He smiled. “And then he meets you.”

I ran a hand over my face. “Why do I feel like I'm about to be embarrassed?”

“Oh, I hope not,” he said, sounding very serious. “I'm just kind of amazed at the way he's approaching this relationship with you.”

Frowning, I asked what he meant.

“Listen, I know I'm yapping a lot here. I just get very curious about things around me. One of my teachers said I have a healthy intellectual curiosity, so I kind of block other things out when I get curious on something and go reading or researching.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“So many things, Harvey. I'm the guy that will sit up all night going from one Wikipedia article to another, just following links to more interesting stuff. Like, remember I brought up tariffs before the movie?”

“Sure.”

“So that's a good example.”

“Yeah, you started talking. I've heard some stuff, but...go ahead. Explain.”

His eyebrows went up. “For real?”

“Yeah. Hit me with this intellectual curiosity.”

He chuckled. “Okay, so the whole story starts with my uncle. He works construction and had a roofing crew on the side. He's good with his hands and knows which way to point a hammer.” He grinned. “But he gets going over the summer about how tariffs were going to be this big help, only I'd also heard people saying they were going to hurt business instead of helping. So I start reading up and asking questions.”

“So are tariffs good or bad?”

“Neither,” he said with a grin. “They're good or bad depending on how you use them. Let's say you have a company that makes nails. You pay, let's say, a dollar a pound for the metal you need to make nails, and that metal comes from a foreign supplier. Now you could buy the metal from a supplier here inside the country, but they charge a dollar and ten cents per pound.”

“So you're buying the cheaper stuff.”

“Right, common sense. So now comes the tariff, and the metal you buy from outside the country is now something silly like a dollar and fifty cents per pound. So now you – and everyone else that needs that metal – look to domestic suppliers. You figure your cost went up by ten cents per pound, but what can you do?”

“Yeah, okay, I understand so far.”

“So now you call up that domestic company to get the metal at a dollar and ten cents per pound, but you know what? Their prices went up. You know why? First, they don't have enough for everyone that needs the metal. So law of supply and demand, it's now worth more. Second is greed. They could charge you a dollar and thirty cents per pound and still do fine, but now the price is a dollar and forty-seven cents per pound.”

I frowned in thought. “So the tariff made the price go up no matter where?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “So now say you're my uncle, buying his boxes of nails and telling everyone that will listen that people will have to make nails here now and they'll be cheaper.”

“Only they aren't.”

“Bro, they go up. My uncle? Keeps insisting the price will come down. So even though the nails are made domestically, not all the materials needed to make the nails are domestic. It gets even worse when you get into more complicated things, because nails just need the tools to make them, which might not be made domestically, and the metal. I think; I never looked up how to make nails.”

“I guess I know what to ask you about next time,” I said with a little grin.

He shook his head. “Even worse, Daphne was telling me about Raul? Well, my uncle had that roofing crew I mentioned?”

I nodded.

“They were all from Guatemala. Immigration came by and scooped them all up. Now he has no crew, the nails he buys are almost double what they were, not to mention lumber, tools – everything, and he still thinks it's a good idea, what's going on.”

I shook my head. “How are you so different from your uncle?”

“Bro, my dad is completely different from his brother and sisters. One of his sisters went all 'trad wife' and moved out to the country to home school. Those fuckers can't even spell, bro.” He shook his head. “My dad was putting books in my hand as a kid and talking to me. My mom used to take me to the kids' science museum where you could actually do stuff instead of museums that were aimed at adults.”

I chuckled. “Okay, so I feel like I understand tariffs. How did we get here?”

He paused for a moment. “Oh! Rigby and how he's approaching your relationship. He could have done the easy thing, the expected thing. He could have kept up the kind of relationships he'd been having, maybe even thinking what he was getting was normal. Then he found someone who actually saw him as a person with some value as a person instead of just his outside or what they could get from him. Seems like bro is figuring out there might be another way, and he's actually opening himself up to the idea.” He put a hand on his chest. “Hand to God, bro, I'm so impressed with him.”

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