“Know where Old Oak Court is, ma’am?” Tyler asked in the polite way he saved for grown-ups.

“I think so,” she said.

They rode for the next fifteen minutes in silence. In the backseat, Tyler played with his plastic German soldier. He aimed it at Crosby, who took it and aimed it at the back of his aunt’s head and pretended to fire. The boys shared furtive grins. When they arrived at Old Oak Court, Tyler thanked Crosby’s aunt for the ride. Aunt Mary waited until Tyler disappeared into his house. Then she turned to Crosby and said, “What are you wearing?”

“It was just for the eSports club,” Crosby said.

Aunt Mary backed out of Tyler’s driveway, then said, “First thing tomorrow morning, I’m calling the principal.”

“Don’t bother,” Crosby said. “Ms. B already yelled at us.”

Aunt Mary shook her head in bewilderment. “I cannot believe they let you wear that in school.”

Now that they were alone, Crosby felt a growing annoyance. Why did his aunt have to be what Dave called a liberal snowflake? One of those soy milk drinkers who wanted to take away everyone’s guns and for whom the whole world was a trigger.

“You know, it just so happens that it’s a free country,” he said.

“Yes, it’s a free country,” Aunt Mary repeated angrily. “And that means my nephew is free to walk around dressed like a neo-Nazi white supremacist. Is that really what you want people to think about you?”

“I’m not a Nazi, and there’s no such thing as a white supremacist,” Crosby shot back, repeating something Dave had said. “I’m a patriot.”

He was shocked when Aunt Mary hit the car’s brakes and pulled onto the road shoulder. She glared at him, her face reddening. “Where did you hear that?”

“Nowhere,” Crosby said.

“Where did you hear that?” Aunt Mary demanded again, this time nearly shouting. Crosby slouched in the car seat, crossed his arms, and tucked his chin into his chest.

“Let me tell you something, young man,” she said. “White supremacists do exist. Neo-Nazis do exist. Racists and anti-Semites and homophobes do exist. And they all have something in common. They hate anyone who is different. Anyone who doesn’t look like them or believe what they believe in. And you are starting to sound just like them.” She pulled the car back onto the road and began driving again. “You heard that somewhere online.”

“No,” said Crosby.

“Then where did you hear it?”

“Uh, from someone in school,” Crosby lied.

“Who?”

“No one you know.”

“I don’t have to know them,” said Aunt Mary. “I just want to know who they are.”

Crosby stared out the car window and didn’t answer. There was no talking sense with Aunt Mary. She was a hard-core liberal feminazi who probably didn’t even think men were necessary. Why else had she never gotten married? At best she was a lost cause. At worst she was the enemy.

They drove the rest of the way home without speaking. As soon as Crosby got to his room, he did the stupid homework Ms. B had assigned. According to various websites, there’d been lots of genocides in history. When Europeans settled in America, it was genocide against the Indians. Not that the Indians were ever going to do anything with the country except ride around on horses and hunt buffalos. When you thought about it, wasn’t just about every war genocide? Not to mention about half the video games he’d ever played, whether he was wiping out an entire enemy or an alien race or all the dinosaurs.