He doesn’t tell his father where he goes with the girls on Friday nights and Erik doesn’t ask, assuming, maybe, that they are going to their usual haunts: the vegan diner, the university bookstore, Jo’s house, as if they have nothing better to do than just hang out, as if what happened over the summer was an anomaly and not the start of a trend or lifestyle or whatever it was that going to the meetings meant they were doing; Xie doesn’t know what it means, doesn’t ask the girls, just gets into the car. They arrive early, help Peter set up the folding chairs and the card table full of snacks, barbeque jackfruit jerky and compostable bowls of gluten-free chips, Jo pumping Peter for information about the history of the group, its other members, which he provides without hesitation; he knows where everyone was born, where they went to school, what jobs they’ve had, what other organizations they’ve been a part of, when and if and for what they were arrested. Shit, you’re the feds! Jo says, pointing mock-accusingly at him. Peter laughs, hands up. Guilty as charged. When the others come filtering in he stays with Xie while Jo holds court on a battered couch, Leni perched next to her, giddy, shy, bony shoulders hunched beneath her thin coat. Peter pours himself a cup of hard cider, offers one to Xie, who takes it, hand shaking, it’s so stupid, why don’t you ever just. Calm down. Jo says you guys did some work with PETA, right? Peter asks. Xie shrugs. Just protest stuff, nothing official. No, that’s good, I mean obviously PETA is basically a corporation at this point but that’s where a lot of people start, almost everyone here went the same route. PETA, Greenpeace, all that crap. You don’t think it’s good? Peter holds his hand up. No, no, it’s all good. Some people don’t mind being told what petition to sign, where to shop, who to vote for, but I really struggle with the essentially conservative position of mainstream activism. It’s too slow, it’s too rigid, it’s too indirect, right? If you’re really thinking about food production, about what you’re eating, eventually you have to look at land, you look at climate, you start thinking beyond species and you realize that change has to be less about amending the existing system and more about—the big stuff. Peter smiles. Sorry, preaching to the choir. Xie glances at the stairs. Is Nova going to be here? Peter blinks. Nova left last week, I don’t know when she’ll be back. She’s full-time in Central America now, with Earth Alliance. I wanted to ask, actually—did she say anything to you? In the hall? Xie shifts. Um. No, she didn’t. Oh. I thought I heard her voice up there. What happened to her face? Xie asks. Peter looks over the rim of his cider. You didn’t hear? She was filming an illegal clear-cutting operation in Guatemala and she got caught.