Freegans part 3

Cara

After a hesitant second, I slowly got up and looked through the peephole in the door. The next instant I jerked it open, to reveal Matt standing outside, laughing like crazy. "That was SO not funny, Matt!" I yelled. Lucy looked pretty steamed too. She stormed forward and poked him hard in the chest.

"HOW COULD YOU!" she screamed. "You scared me to death! I thought we were goners"
"Hey, it was just a joke!" Matt protested, holding his hands out defensively. I had to pull Lucy back before she did any serious damage. "Cool it, Luce. He's sorry. Aren't you?" I said, giving him a significant look. Matt nodded, but he still had an impudent look in his eyes.

Lucy's parents invited him to stay for dinner, and he readily accepted. Matt ate like it was back in the twenty-first century and we were about to run out of food from overpopulation and the gas-guzzlers wasting everything. While we ate, Mom and Dad talked about Mr. McTavish's new campaign to try and get more city people to join us, appealing to their hedonism.
"Apparently he thinks that if we can convince them that the more things they throw away, the sooner they are all going to die, they will want to listen more," said Dad, raising a bite of salad.
"Well, I don't know that it will work," said Mom. "Sheldon has got lots of propaganda going on that we're a bunch of dirty scavengers without any scruples or personal hygiene. It sounds like he's just grasping at straws."

I thought about that. The cities had propaganda about us? That meant that Sheldon thought we were a threat. Good! I hoped he did. Danielle interrupted my thoughts by asking, "Mom, can we go back to the dump quickly? I want to find some tap shoes. Can we, Mom? Pleeeaaaassseee?" She squinted up her eyes and made a puppy-dog face.
"Not tonight, Danielle," said Mom. "But you and Lucy can go in the morning." Lucy made a face, but she knew that arguing was out of the question.
"I'll go with you," said Matt and I at the same time. That's the way it is with us. We do everything together, without question. Matt's dad doesn't really care what he does, and of course my real parents don't. Or if they do, it doesn't matter, since they're dead. It's kind of sad, but it's my life.