“About what kind of life you want. You fell asleep while you were thinking.”

“Wrong, I was resting,” she jokes. “I really want a house. Something small with a yard so I can get the kind of dog Pepper will like. I love my jobs, so I think I’d still want those to keep me productive. Travel a couple times a year to see the world with my family. That seems really basic, I know, but it also feels really fucking impossible and far away.”

Between student loans and systemic racism, it’s hard to feel hopeful about something even as standard as that. The American dream came in different flavors of privilege. Some people could never even hope to taste a single one of them. But being shut out was becoming more and more common—eventually the jig will be up for everyone. Maybe things would change then.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he says. “My parents bought a house for dirt cheap in the seventies and my dad put himself through college with a minimum wage job while taking care of a family. He doesn’t understand why I can’t do the same thing. My mom gets it. She understands, but not my dad.”

“Do you get along with them?”

“Sometimes. My dad is . . . difficult.”

Joy can’t relate—her parents are unbelievably supportive. They even call her every week only to say, I didn’t want nothing. Just saying hi. How’s the weather? “Your turn,” she says.

“My life is good,” he says. “I’m happy.”

“Being happy is great. Most people can’t even get there.”

“You think so?”

“That most people aren’t happy? Oh yeah. Definitely.”

“It’d be nice if I made more money or the government did something that would balance out the economy and help people. It’d be nice if I didn’t have to work six days a week, but it’s not a deal breaker. My sister finally feels happy too. I signed a lease for a small shop to display and hopefully sell some of my pieces.”

“Really?”

“Grand opening next week.” He nods. “Other than that? No real complaints. Definitely not ready for kids, but I think I’d like to be a parent someday. As long as I can afford it. They’re adorable money traps.”

“Circling back to that first ‘it’d be nice,’ ” she says, “that’s a big part of the reason why kids are expensive. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

“It’s all connected. One shitty knot of stagnation,” he says.