How Green Becomes Wood

"He wouldn't have to talk to anyone, he could sit there, read a book, and occasionally glare up at people who are trying to haggle with you. What better job is there for people who hate dealing with the public?" Milo picked up some of the unfinished leather and fiddled with that, "Or you could go the other way and bring your sister with you, and feed the customers some bull**** about how she helped or that you're a teen dad and are trying to set up a college fund for her. Or bring your dog and say he has dog cancer and you're trying to pay his vet bills."
 
Xander snorted. "Damn. You've got a cruel streak in you for marketing. Nah, I'm not interested in trying to build a business off crap like that. I've done it before, and it's too much of a hassle. Not to mention, bad for a reputation for the long term. And I couldn't take Mini with me, anyway. But... Ba might like hanging around and dealing with people. Better yet, he's from a haggling culture. He could teach me better haggling technique." He paused and leaned back to pick up one of the paperweights. "What do you think of this?" He handed it over. This one was a rectangle with tiny diamond cut out, making it look vaguely like a playing card. The soft scent of sandalwood drifted up through the harsher scent of leather, coming out through the holes.
 
Milo shrugged, "It's less about marketing and more about doing what you can to prevent people from feeling comfortable saying mean stuff to you, you know?" He turned the little rectangle over in his hands, "What's this for?'
 
"I'm usually the one saying the mean things. The mean things don't bother me. It's the waste of my time," Xander shrugged. He indicated the small leather pouch. "I saw this thing where you put po... uh, pot-pur-oh... smelly stuff inside a small packet and stuff it in, like a drawer or a big tote bag or a closet and it's supposed to keep things smelling good. I think pot-pur-ie smells nasty, so I thought maybe other people might like something durable and long-lasting that they could use instead, and it looks cool enough you could leave it on a desk or on a shelf as a oil diffuser if they wanted. That one's sandalwood, but I've also got charcoal, peppermint, and fresh coffee grounds as some trial scents."
 
"Oh, cool," He turned it over in his hands and sniffed it, "It'd be good to keep in like... a gym bag, too, so all of your stuff wouldn't stink. Are they refillable, or when the scent is gone do you need to get a new one?"
 
"Gym bags. Nice." He turned away and grabbed a battered notebook. He flipped quickly to a certain page and added "gym bags" to the list of uses. The more uses he could offer, the less his customers would have to use their imaginations. "Some are," he said, tossing the notebook back into its spot. "The oil ones, you just drip into the holes there, and it soaks into the inner material. I don't think charcoal needs replaced? If it does, these ones can't. Same with the coffee ground one. Those I'll have to sell cheaper since they can't be refilled, so I was planning on using cheaper leather for them. Not like bad cheap, just cheaper to me so they don't cost me as much to make."
 
"Oh, cool. What do you think they'll do with them when the scent runs out?" He asked, setting it down on the bench again before getting up and wandering around the shed, looking out the small window, "What's in that one?"
 
"I dunno," Xander admitted. "Hadn't really thought about it. Don't even know if anyone will actually want to buy them. I guess they could use them as a paperweight or a really tiny doorstop." He followed Milo's look without leaving his stool. "The other shed? That's Ba's woodshed. He makes some really, really cool stuff. There's a couple of little items around the house, and he made the crib and stuff, but he mostly does little stuff."

He paused, frowning thoughtfully. He hadn't told Milo about their plans for adoption. It was a big deal, and he wanted to share it with Milo, but considering Milo's current family situation, he didn't want the news to be painful. He knew Milo would at least try to be happy and put on a brave front, but he wasn't sure if he'd actually be happy. He decided not to tell him yet. Maybe once the weeping wounds of his mother's departure and his grandparent's apparent shift in strictness eased up, then he'd tell him.
 
"Oh." He tried to peer through the windows in Xander's shed into the windows in the other to see the sort of things in there, but it didn't work so well. "I wish I had something like this so I could have my own dark room. It'd be a lot more convenient."
 
Xander looked at Milo thoughtfully. He glanced around his shop. There wasn't a lot of space, but it was roomy, and other than the need to store his extra leather and finished products, he didn't need this much space. Maybe he could make some room for a dark room here. Well, depending on how much room a dark room really needed when it was on a small scale. "How much room does a dark room need?" he asked casually. "Would a corner of your room work?"
 
"I mean, not a whole lot of space, really," Milo said, still trying to catch a glimpse into Dark's shed, "Enough to have a wet side and a dry side. But my grandma has all of her scrapbooking stuff in 'my' bedroom, so I don't really have space for anything. And I'd need to get good blackout curtains because I can't have any light get in."
 
"I mean, they won't explode or anything, but you need good ventilation because they're not good to breathe in. That's another reason why I can't set up one in 'my' room. We have the birds there, and you're not even supposed to keep birds in the kitchen because they're sensitive to fumes. And you gotta be careful about getting them on your skin, too." Milo explained, finally walking away from the window, "If the ventilation is good and you're not ingesting them, they're fine, though. A tablespoon of some of them, if you swallow it, will kill you dead."
 
"Then don't go swallowing them," Xander said lightly. "I think there's enough room in here if you want to set up a dark room in here. There should be enough space and ventilation. Blackout curtains aren't hard to come by, and we can figure out a way to tack them tight to the window."
 
Xander gave Milo a flat look. "My parents weirded out. The ones who live in a mini gothic castle. The ones who brought in two stray boys and basically said, 'well, this is home now!' The ones who have rats and spiders as pets. Nah, they'll think it's great. We'd set up a schedule, just like you would at that public place, but here you wouldn't have to pay for it in money. Just conversation. I'm not saying it'll go smooth as butter, especially not at first, but I bet we could work something out." He stood and stretched. "Ba should be getting home from work here soon. He'll need a bit to say hi to the mini, but then maybe he can show you his shed." He shot Milo a smirk that said he'd seen how interested Milo was in the place and slid his sunglasses on.
 
"Having a rat as a pet feels more normal than letting your kid's friend set up a photography studio in your yard," Milo replied, "I mean, I don't even know how I'd afford everything. With all the money not going to renting the room, I guess, but what would we do when my mom has proved herself and I get to go and live with her again? It'd just be taking up space." He hurried out after Xander, "It's okay, he doesn't have to show me, I don't want to bother him, I'm sure he's tired."
 
"You have no idea how long that's going to take," Xander pointed out as he walked slowly, not harshly, only logically. "It takes time to actually get clean. To really, truly kick the habit and stay clean, so that's going to take at least a couple of months, probably longer. Maybe it's time to stop putting your life on hold waiting for something else to happen and start focusing on what's going on right now around you. You can have the space to have your dark room for as long as you need it. Maybe you'll be leaving in a month, maybe two, maybe longer. When you go hang out with your mom, I'll just put this place back the way it was. It won't be that hard to either put it together or take it apart. You have a great skill, and you enjoy it. Why not do something you enjoy?" He paused at looked at the apple tree. "I could say something real cheesy here about not knowing how long we have and enjoying what time we get, but I think you get the idea. At least think about it."
 
After taking only a quick glance at his friend, Milo walked the rest of the way staring at his ground, not even acknowledging the beautiful garden they were in. "Even if it is months, she'll still come and get me. As soon as she's given permission to. And even though we won't be moving around so much anymore, if where we go doesn't have space, what am I gonna do with all the chemicals and the paper and stuff? I'm always gonna be waiting for her. I've got to."
 
"If you spend your whole life waiting on someone or something else, Stitch, you are never going have any kind of happiness. Ever. Other people get to be happy. Maybe it's time for you to take your turn. But I can't make you do anything, and I wouldn't want to make you do anything, so if there's something you want to do, ill support it. Just about no matter what." Xander opened the door and stepped aside so Mill could walk in. "Come on. Let's go eat good food and at least be happy for the next hour. Okay?"
 
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