Vargas slowly pours the steaming water over a paper filter full of dry grounds, into a large chrome container. Taking his time. . .

“I used to work at Starbucks. You like the pour-over method?”

“Not sure I ever had it before,” Anne said. “All we had at home was a stained Mr. Coffee pot.”

“Well, this here is no Mr. Coffee. This, in my humble opinion, is the best.”

Cinnamon digs through some mugs off to the side in a red milk crate and hands Anne a chipped black mug with an image of Scooby Doo. She says, “Vargas is badass when it comes to kettle coffee.”

Steam billows up from their cups, and Anne takes a luxurious sip that warms her insides.

Cinnamon tells her, “Today, you learn to earn. Part of Dredd’s DIY way of living.”

“The do-it-yourself living.”

“So you got the Dredd lecture. He’s the hobo saint who was rebirthed to rescue us all. Always preaching about freedom, noncommitment—a nonconformist for the lost souls, the dropouts, and the drifters.”

“What’s his story? I mean, what did he run away from?”

“Look, the Kerouac and the Beats that he drones on about are just bait. It’s a hook. He was a professor.”

“A college professor?”!

“Yes. He was fighting the good fight. Didn’t believe in what the establishment offered. He protested for equality. Wanted things to be free—everything from school to health care. In the end, he wanted a civil war against this great oppression we supposedly live under. He felt he could live how he wanted and influence others and get them to do as he wanted, all without working. You stay here too long, you’ll see that the utopia he preaches about and the one that actually exists aren’t one and the same. We ain’t living in an era of oppression. What I ran from was an abusive home life, just like you and most everyone else. Most of those who come here these days are a mix of hippies with a side of millennials. We just don’t want attachment to pop culture and consumerism. What Dredd says is we’re the revolution. But in reality, we just wanna live a simple life free of interference.”

“That’s pretty deep.”

“No deeper than a freshly dug shithouse hole. I just want you to know what’s real and what’s bullshit. In the end, we still have to earn our way. Preaching won’t get us food, shelter, or clothing. The American Dream isn’t a bad thing until you add the politics of left and right, skin color, poverty, and all the elements from the recipe of complicated living. In the end, how about just being a good human being.”

“So, if we’re not following Dredd’s ruling class, what are we doing?”