He spends two hours making a lentil loaf, rolls, mashed potatoes, and homemade gravy. His father home late and Xie just waits, patient, the food cold but it’s worth it to see Erik’s face, full of surprise at the linen tablecloth and old china, cloth napkins folded beneath the knives. What’s all this. Shrug. Dinner. Looks nice, Erik says. Xie pouring water into tall glasses. Cheers. Cheers. Quick bite of the loaf dragged through the gravy. Eyebrows. It’s good. Yeah, it’s. From a recipe. What’s the occasion? Xie clearing his throat. I had something to ask you. Erik pauses, then resumes eating. Oh? What’s that? Xie pushes a forkful of potatoes from one end of his plate to the other. There’s this protest. A silence, as if Erik hasn’t heard, chewing. Then finally without looking up: A protest? Yeah, of. Um. It’s in Alabama and. It’s about. Mountaintop removal. They want to get rid of about, um, a million acres of. The land around there. So. A lot of people are going to protest next weekend. Erik nods. I heard about that, yeah. Silence. Erik glancing up. And you wanted to spend how long there? Just a couple days. I thought you might come with us. Erik pauses. Reaching to brush Xie’s hair out of his eyes, flinching when Xie flinches. The girls are going? Xie nods. And Karen, I think. Erik ducking his head to his fork. Karen’s into that sort of thing? It’s not something people are “into,” Dad, all kinds of people are going, like thousands and thousands of people. These companies, they’re taking a hundred tons of coal out of the ground every two seconds, the land they want to use has the oldest and most diverse forests in the country. Erik splits a roll with his thumbs, packs in a knifeful of butter. You’re still on probation. Yeah, but there’s no rule about me going to a protest— Erik raising his hand. I’m just saying, you have to promise me it’ll be safe. He pauses. Takes another bite of bread. And that I can do the driving. Xie grins, slapping his palms on the table. Deal.