WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: "Party Discipline" by Cory Doctorow, Part One 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:10.000 Cool Zone Media book Club, book Club, book Club, book 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:16.880 Club Club Club. Welcome to Coolson Media book Club, the 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.080 only book club that starts with asynchronous chanting, unless your 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.080 book club is as cool as ours. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.680 Yeah, the New York Reviewer of Books does that, but 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.960 because they're all a bunch of fucking East Coast elites, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.960 they don't let anyone hear their asynchronous chanting. Yeah, so 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.600 find the staff of the New York Review of Books 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.519 on the Internet and harass them at their real homes 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.680 until they send you audio of their chance. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.120 Or go on an epic journey to find the staff 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.080 of the Book of Reviews or whatever it was, which 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.640 is an ancient artifact and not a person's job. You 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.320 have a lot of options. So, as you probably guessed, 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.280 because you all are creepily aware of the sounds of 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.720 our voices, I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and my guest 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:01.120 today is Robert Evans. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.479 You'r gosh darn toutin rutin right, So. 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.520 I hope you all are ready because we're starting a 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.839 whole new actual book. Today is gonna be another four parter, 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:13.399 which is how he started this whole thing. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:15.840 That's right, we're finally doing the Bible. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:17.280 Yeah, that's right. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.880 When the Abrahamick God reached out to you a couple 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.000 of months ago saying, you know, I've got this thing 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.040 that I wrote that might fit for your book club. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:26.840 You and I kind of hesitated a little, but I 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:28.760 think he's put in the hours at this point he 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.120 deserves a shot, you know. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.200 You know, it's like kind of inconsistent in a lot 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.720 of places, and some of it's downright means spirited, other 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:37.640 parts shine. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.039 Yeah, I think this guy, I think he's got like 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.200 a temper, right. I feel like, you know, when he's 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.199 his best self, there's some pretty good moments. But man, 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.119 he really needs to take a nap or something. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.960 You know, we shouldn't judge people based on the worst 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.240 things they've ever done consistently over the course of millennia. 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:59.440 That's right, only on the best things. But no, today 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:05.640 we're talking about our other god, Cory Doctorow, who probably 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.239 doesn't want to be considered a deity at all. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:10.960 No, but I think he might fuck up some money 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.680 changers in a temple if he got the opportunity. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.280 He would absolutely. Corey doctor Row is one of my 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.400 favorite science fiction authors and has been for a long time. Yeah. 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:21.040 Absolutely. 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.920 I have yet to read a Cory Doctor book that 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.720 I didn't like, but there's a lot of them, and 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:26.600 I haven't read them all. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.600 Yeah, I have not read his entire Ouvra. I've read 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.840 at least a dozen of his books, including walk Away, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.760 which I understand this is related to. Yeah, walk Away 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:38.720 is one of my favorite books that I've read in 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.160 the last ten years, like top three or four, probably 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.520 somewhere in there, along with your new book, The Sapling Cage. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:50.200 Oh, you mean the one that actually kickstarts tomorrow at 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.920 one pm Eastern and if you look for it by Monday, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.640 June tenth, you will be able to back it on Kickstarter. 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:58.320 Is that the one that you're talking about? 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.160 Well, Margaret, to me, time is a flat circle. I 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.359 have come unstuck from time like Billy Pilgrim from another 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.440 one of my favorite books by Bonnagat, which was not 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.440 written in the last ten years, and thus I am 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.960 unable to account for when things are. But that does 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:13.960 sound accurate to me. 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.640 Okay, Well, it's not a lot I keep track of, 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.320 but I keep track of the fact that I just 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.160 got out of a meetum with my publisher to do 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:25.239 the last minute getting the Kickstarter stuff together, and I'm 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.040 excited about it. But what I want to get people 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:32.640 excited about is a novella, which is clearly if you 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.720 look at what I've written, my favorite form of writing, 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.040 which is basically a real short novel. 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:38.720 Yeah. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.480 It's called Party Discipline and it's by Cory Doctro. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:42.840 Excellent. 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.320 It was first published by Reactor, which was then called 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.520 tour dot Com in twenty seventeen on their website. This 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.880 is set in the same universe as walk Away. For 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.960 everyone who's listening. If you haven't, go read walk Away. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.120 It's way longer than this this one short. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.600 Is there any background we need to give the listeners 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:02.600 so that this will make sense? 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:03.360 Now? 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:04.760 This one it stands on its own. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:06.000 Okay, cool? 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:06.880 Yeah? 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:12.520 Party Discipline by Cory Doctor. I don't remember how we 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.200 decided exactly to throw Communist Party. It had been a 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.320 running joke all through senior year, whenever the obvious divisions 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.560 between the Semizadas and the rest of us came too 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.280 close to the surface of Burbank High have fun at Stanford, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.280 Come drink with us at the Communist parties when you're 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.600 back on break. The semi Zadas were mostly white, with 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.719 some Asians not the brown kind for spice. The non 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.200 Zadas were brown and black. And we were on our 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.760 way out out of Burbank Hi and out of Burbank too. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.240 Our parents had lucked into lottery tickets buying houses in 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.600 Burbank back when they were only ridiculously expensive. Now they 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:52.000 were crazy. We'd be the last generation of brown kids 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:54.839 to go to Burbank High because the instant we graduated, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.479 our parents were going to sell and use the money 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.320 to go somewhere cheaper, and the leftovers would let us. 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.240 I'll take a couple of mid range MOOCs from a 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:07.360 big ten university to round out our community college distanced degrees. 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.000 It was nearly time for finals May, and it was hot, 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.520 over one hundred degrees every day, and we were all 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.800 a little crazy. There were the Romeos and Juliets who 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.880 are feeling the impending tragedy of their inevitable breakup. The 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.160 kids who knew they weren't cut out for university or 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.920 couldn't afford it, had no clue what they would do next. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.839 The ones who had kept their noses to their screens 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.120 for four years, busting their humps to get top marks 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.720 and were just now realizing that none of it mattered 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.760 for shit. And then there was me. I like to 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.039 hang out with my bestie Cherell at the back of 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.719 the portables, by the old basketball court, where there was 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.640 a gap in the CCTV coverage that the school filled 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.080 with intermittent drone flybys. It was where the vapor kids 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.200 hung out, But I wasn't one of them. Even decaf 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.080 crack wasn't my idea of a good time. I just 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.520 like to be a little off the grid, because your 0:05:58.560 --> 0:05:59.760 business is your business. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:00.200 You know. 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.320 My cousin got laid off. Cherrell's smart fingernails were infected 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.760 with ransomware, again, refusing to work on payment touch points 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.240 and blinking in seizure time. She was awkwardly trying to 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.400 patch them, pressing each one's hard reset while tapping her 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.960 phone to it. But it was a job that really 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.440 needed a third hand, and since I'd told her that 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.880 this was going to happen, I refused to help. She 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.440 was sitting against the portable wall with her knees drawn 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:31.479 up and her phone balanced on them. Mikhail no Antoine, 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.080 the sheet metal guy. It had been decades since Lockheed 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.760 Martin left Burbank, but there were plenty of remnants of 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.200 its glory days, including all the metal shops that had 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.640 supplied it. Antoine had worked at three or four of these, 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.479 hopping around as they got shut down. Then he'd got 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.000 a job in Encino that meant a long commute but 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.520 was supposed to be a steady check. And Robert Evans, 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.640 do you know what you can do with your steady check? 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.200 Spend it on the thing that gives us a steady check, 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.200 whoever happens to be advertised for this podcast. 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.280 At the moment, it's almost like a cyberpunk thing itself 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.040 that this is cut through that. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.720 It's almost like we live in a cyberpunk dystopia, except 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.600 for I cannot get a move by wire system installed 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:17.000 in my central nervous system or titanium bone lacings, and 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.640 I'm livid about that. Not yet, not yet, not yet. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.360 I'm sure someone will do a terrible version that play 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:24.520 ads inside your skull. 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.400 Yeah. I would much prefer the shadow run version where 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.400 we randomly turn into mythical creatures. But we also have 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:32.880 laser guns, so somebody make that happen. 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.040 It really is the best of both worlds. 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.520 It really is. I want to vote for a dragon 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.480 for president. We had so many presidents that are more 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:41.679 depressing than a dragon. 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.320 I know, at least it's interesting. 0:07:44.800 --> 0:08:07.320 Yeah, like these ads, unless you skip them. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.840 And we're back. That job seems too good to be true. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:04.360 Turns out they had a five year tax holiday from 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.680 Encino and it ran out this year. If Antoine had 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.560 been smart enough to look it up, he'd have known 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.080 that they weren't going to last pass July. She got 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.080 one fingernail done, moved on to the next one. What's 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.240 happened to the factory? She got another fingernail done, then 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.800 dropped her phone. Fucky darn. I kicked it back to 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.760 her thanks. I think she wedged the phone again and 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.480 tried to reset her third nail. That they're doing it 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.480 up and out. That was when a company's tax incentives 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.360 ran out, and then the company ran out too, shutting 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:38.280 down an arm's length subsidiary through fast bankruptcy and leaving 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.320 its creditors. The people who worked there say to sort 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.200 out the sale of its assets. Up and outs made 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.880 sense because companies were hollow. They leased everything and contracted 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.480 everything out. The leasing companies didn't beef because they had 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.800 a sweet loophole they could take a write off on 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.440 the equipment that was based on the full replacement value, 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.760 despite having already taken depreciation and fees for the whole 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.800 time the plant had run. We'd done a CIVIX for 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.560 Business unit on it as part of the curriculum on 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:10.360 generally accepted accounting practices. Of course, the people who worked 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.800 there often found themselves shot out of luck when it 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.960 came to their last paycheck, and sometimes that least equipment 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.080 would walk out the door. In the days running up 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:21.480 to the out and up and out, I was hungry 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.840 like always. Mom didn't believe in SCOP and I didn't 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:26.360 want to piss her off, so I wouldn't eat out 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.000 of the vending machines at school. But that meant if 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:30.960 I didn't remember throw an apple in my bag, my 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.360 stomach would growl all the way to lunch. Got anything 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.600 to eat. She finished the fifth nail in her left 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.680 hand and fished in her purse and passed me some 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.160 leptin gum, which was supposed to enhance satiety and help 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.480 people like Charelle stick to the diets they had no 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.040 need to be on in the first place. I didn't 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.760 like to chew it, but my stomach was rumbling. I 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.679 unwrapped a stick and chewed it. It tasted like caramelized 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.920 hemi proteins, which is to say, cooked blood in a 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.959 good way, like a burger. Thanks to the transgenic yea 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.160 it was cultured with. My stomach stopped making noise. Maybe 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.439 it worked. Maybe it was the placebo effect. You sure 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.480 about that? Up and out? I tried not to sound 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.680 too interested. Cherrelle had a severe case of risk aversion. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.920 Girl her side, I could have cut a thousand yards, 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.520 but I had been immune to it since ninth grade. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:26.840 Come on, Charelle, just asking. It's a daydream. Communist parties 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.760 were one of my favorite daydreams to dream me and 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.000 my revolutionary comrades, and are funny Karl mark S beards, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.960 liberating a whole factory under the noses of cops in 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.120 the town, running all those machines, and giving away free 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:43.200 shit until the feedstock ran out. My dream parties didn't 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.040 usually take place at a sheet metal factory. I liked 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.120 the idea of taking over a scop factory where they 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.719 made burgers or candy or ice cream, because then I 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.559 would be the person who gave everyone free candy or burgers. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.640 Or ice cream, but I take sheet metal. This is 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.320 the only thing going. I could learn my skills there. 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.880 And also Mama wouldn't kill me for the scop thing 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.720 if she found out. Damned health food crazies, Linney. She 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:08.520 sounded like her own mama when she warned, but I 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.640 wasn't scared of her mama. I was scared of my mama, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.559 and her mama sounded nothing like mine. Really, the whole 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.240 basis of our lasting friendship was my immunity to all 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.240 her secret weapons, which would otherwise burn you down in 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.120 your shoes the first time she spatted with you, it's 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.359 a daydream like. Saying it twice would make it more believable. 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:28.920 You're gonna ask someone else if I don't tell you, 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.440 aren't you? I didn't deign to answer. I'll hold your 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.680 phone while you do your other hand. She tried the 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.400 side eye again, then she put it away and patted 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:42.319 the ground next to her. Hold my phone, then go on. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.200 Once she'd done her right thumb, she said, it'sn't up 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.120 and out. Yeah, And a lot of the workers there 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.320 aren't happy about it. Wages have been really delayed lately. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.520 Lots of people owed a lot of back pay, especially 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.000 people who are out on sick pay. People got injured 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.400 on the job, can't go down to the payroll office 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:03.560 in person. O, there's talk talk. She shook her head. 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.640 You're going to make me spell it out talk. They're 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.840 going to run some shifts after the place shuts down, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.640 sell things out the back door. Whatever they can make 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:13.600 back the money. They know they're going to be burned for. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.760 In case you don't understand, Missy, that means no communist parties. 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.480 I sighed and moved her phone to the last finger. 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.400 No party, then, nope, forget a girl. Concentrate on graduating. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.280 B students don't get scholarships. This was a running joke 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.440 between us, because A students didn't get scholarships either. I 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.560 mean they did, but at a rate you'd have to 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.080 be nuts to count on, like basing your life plan 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.040 on winning the lottery every ten years. Because there were 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.000 way way more kids with brokeass parents and sharp minds 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.400 than there were spaces left behind by the dullards who 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.360 made it into the university on quote merit and by 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.520 taking the quote no assistance required box on their applications. 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.840 I was an a student anyway. She called me that 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.640 night after mama's lights out, no phones, blackout time. My 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.040 little sister Tisha stared at me from her bed when 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.880 I took the call and mouthed, I'm telling I rolled 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.120 my eyes at her. She wouldn't tell. Titia was still 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.640 developing her low cunning, and there was plenty of stuff 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:16.560 i'd caught her in that she didn't want me blabbing 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:22.640 to mama. In retaliation, it's late, I whispered, your mama's crazy. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.640 Cherrell's mama was strict too, but not about bedtimes. She 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.560 was an insomniac, and so were her kids, and she 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.480 taught them her coping skills of doing all their homework, showering, 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.559 laying out their clothes, and packing their lunches at two 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.280 am so they could rise twenty minutes before first bell, 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.160 pee and wash their faces and be on campus with 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:43.000 seconds to spare. You call me up after curfew to 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:47.400 tell me that. Send a text next time Antoine called us, 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:52.239 all thought you'd want to know. I almost said, who's Antoine? 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.240 And then I remembered her cousin, the sheet metal worker. 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.880 Oh you want to know what he said? Don't play game, Cherill. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:01.960 I'm not trying to wake up my Mama Tisha staring 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.560 at me like she caught me strangling a cat too. Hi, Tisha. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.439 It was loud enough that Tisha heard it through the earpiece. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:13.959 I winced high, Cherrelle, she mouthed and grinned. She says, Hi, 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:19.280 Now what is it? Cherrell? Antoine called you said that. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.760 He said, the reason the plant is shutting down so 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.320 fast isn't just about the tax credits. He said, there 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.400 was a wobbley in the shop, someone trying to get 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.440 everyone to sign a union card. Union organizing was a 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.360 fireable offense, had been since I was a little girl, 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.920 but that didn't mean it didn't happen, and if enough 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.320 of the workers signed a card, the factory wouldn't be 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.120 allowed to stop paying taxes until the California Labor Board 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.600 had completed its investigation. Antoine says the other workers are 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:52.600 pissed at the wobbley, not stupid at the bosses. Antoine 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.520 says that before all this, most of the employees didn't 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.720 really give a damn about the wobbley in her nonsense, 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.480 and now it's got everyone thinking, got them thinking about 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.000 making an example of the plant. They get away with 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.640 this next time, they'll be even worse, hold up, get 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:12.560 away with what? Just listen okay. I realized she was excited, 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:17.600 really excited. The wobbly got deported born in America on 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.920 everything they sent her to Guatemala. Said her parents were 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.160 undocumented when she was born here, so that makes her 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:28.360 an anchor baby. Everybody is pissed, Like I said, they 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.520 know it's just bullshit, an excuse to get rid of 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.800 her because she'd come sniffing around the shop. Antoine says 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.360 none of them gave a damn when she was talking 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.080 about helping them, but when she got deported for trying 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.880 out comes all this corny talk about it being on 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.840 American to shut her down. They're gonna let us have 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.680 a communist party. She made a sound between a squeal 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.280 and a cheer, and Tisha's eyes got wild. I cut 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.360 her my sternest look so she didn't jump right out 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.040 of the bed and tell Mama when she just heard. 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.680 And I realized with a sinking feeling, that I was 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.640 going to have to get my little sister involved. If 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.640 I didn't wanted to wrap me out, Mama would kill me. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.600 The gravity of it fell down on top of me. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.400 It was one thing to daydream about this another to planet. 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.080 I'd have to do a lot of googling. He's one 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.440 of those darknet googles that I can't even remember how 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.400 to reach, So that meant i'd have to get one 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.920 of those brainiac nerds at school to explain it again, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.960 which meant they'd know I was looking up something forbidden, 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.680 which meant that I'd be even more exposed. And you 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.320 aren't even listening to me, are you? Line uh nu 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.720 huh no, Sorry, chill just thinking it through. Damn are 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:37.120 we really gonna we are? You don't get us caught first. 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.320 Antoine met us at the Froyo place off San Fernando, 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.960 the sketchy part near the dead Ikea that had been 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.600 all cut up for little market stalls that were mostly empty. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.440 I hadn't seen him since we've been freshman and he'd 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.280 been a senior, and in the years since, he'd got 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.560 strangely grayish, his skin sagging off his face and his 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.120 hair shot with white, like he was an old man. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.840 He looked like he hadn't been sleeping much either. He 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:02.880 made a sign at us, a thing with his hands 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.879 like the kids had done to pass messages around the 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.159 classroom back when we'd been kids. It took me a 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.119 second to remember that this one meant phones down, school 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.119 cops coming. I couldn't figure out what that was supposed 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.600 to mean. But Charrell got it and reached into a 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.440 purse and shut her phone down. Now I got it. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.280 I did the same. We'd both been infected before, of course, 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.440 drive by bad wear. That let some creepy Rando spy 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.960 on us through our phones. But then we got more careful. 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.000 But he wasn't worried about Rando spying through our phone. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.879 He was worried about cops. You think Burbank PD is 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.040 going to bother with you? I wanted to ask, but 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.320 the fact was maybe they would. Why not, once they 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.119 bought that kind of thing, why wouldn't they want to 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.159 use it every chance they got? I probably would. Damn. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.240 He looked us up and down, not like a perf, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.000 but like a grown up judging a little kid. You 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.720 two are so young. I don't know if this was 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.080 such a good idea. Schreelle gave him an up and 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.679 down of her own. Antwine, we're only five years younger 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.439 than you. Fool smart too. Besides, it was Linai's idea, 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.199 not yours. That was news to me far as I 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.440 knew he'd had the idea told Cherrell and she'd said, oh, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.000 Linaise said the same thing. But the way he shook 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.359 his head, I knew it was true. He'd got the 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.120 idea from me. That made me feel pretty badass. Tell 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:29.040 the truth. Okay, okay, your mama will kill me though 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:36.040 a twine. Okay, there's he lowered his voice. Forty five 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.199 of us and one guy. He says he spoke to 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.920 a wobbly and they're pissed about what happened to that girl, 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:43.920 and they say they'll help. We got all skills in hands. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:45.399 We need to get it running, but we don't know 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.520 how we get the word out without getting popped. Who 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.200 do you want to reach? I've been wondering about this myself. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:53.720 I didn't really know much about sheet metal except it was, 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:58.040 you know, metal that came in sheets. What would you 0:18:58.040 --> 0:18:59.680 do with a bunch of that stuff around the house. 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:05.199 We don't know either. Antoine looked anxious, more anxious. He 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.600 dry washed those big knuckled hands. We can make just 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.080 about anything we got a file for, and there's plenty 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.920 of files out there. You want a fireplace around or 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.639 a new truck, bumper. We got you covered. Don't know 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.119 many people who need a truck bumper, Chrell said, I know. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.960 Antoine gave her a shut up look that was brotherly, 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:26.440 reminding me that they'd been close since they were little. 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.399 There's all kinds of toys we can make, too, little 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.520 cars and shit. He looked at us, like, you think 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.680 that'll do it. I don't think we're going to strike 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.000 terror into the hearts of the investor class by giving 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.880 away little cars. Antoine, sorry, because that was the point, right, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.120 give us all part, give them sorrows. I hadn't really 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.159 thought about where sheet metal fit into that framework. He 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.240 shook his head. He knew it too. What were you 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:55.719 making Uber parts? He shrugged. Mostly for the vans, you know. 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.520 La Metro had been using the vans for most of 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.800 my life, though I could still remember when there had 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.399 been city buses before the contract went out to Uber. 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.880 The vans were boxing and indestructible, covered in some kind 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.320 of slippery treatment that you couldn't write on or mark, 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.439 which gave off a funky musty smell, like old socks 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:15.960 when the sun baked it. But you know what won't 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.040 give off a funky musty smell Robert. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.360 While the Washington State Highway Patrol might that's true. Some 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.399 complaints have been made, but yeah, nothing else, no one 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:26.640 else who advertises for us. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:33.760 We apply special cool zone media covering that anti bad smell. 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.240 And we've been told that the Chumba casino people have 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:37.240