diff --git a/slj/src/main.rs b/slj/src/main.rs
index 283da06..1c27f6d 100644
--- a/slj/src/main.rs
+++ b/slj/src/main.rs
@@ -2,12 +2,203 @@
 lalrpop_mod!(pub grammar);
 
 use anyhow::Result;
-use std::rc::Rc;
+use std::cell::Cell;
+//use std::rc::Rc;
 
 use sl::eval;
 
+use std::marker::PhantomData;
+use std::ops::Deref;
+use std::ptr::NonNull;
+use std::mem::ManuallyDrop;
+
+use std::fmt;
+
+#[repr(C)]
+pub struct Rc<T> {
+    ptr: NonNull<RcInner<T>>,
+    phantom: PhantomData<RcInner<T>>
+}
+#[repr(C)]
+pub struct RcInner<T> {
+    rc: Cell<usize>,
+    data: T,
+}
+impl<T> Rc<T> {
+    pub fn new(data: T) -> Rc<T> {
+        let boxed = Box::new(RcInner { rc: Cell::new(1), data });
+        Rc {
+            ptr: NonNull::new(Box::into_raw(boxed)).unwrap(),
+            phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+    pub fn into_ptr(self) -> *mut RcInner<T> {
+        ManuallyDrop::new(self).ptr.as_ptr() as *mut RcInner<T>
+    }
+    pub fn from_ptr(ptr: *mut RcInner<T>) -> Self {
+        Rc {
+            ptr: NonNull::new(ptr).unwrap(),
+            phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+}
+unsafe impl<T: Sync+Send> Send for Rc<T> {}
+unsafe impl<T: Sync+Send> Sync for Rc<T> {}
+impl<T> Deref for Rc<T> {
+    type Target = T;
+    fn deref(&self) -> &T {
+        let inner = unsafe { self.ptr.as_ref() };
+        &inner.data
+    }
+}
+impl<T> Clone for Rc<T> {
+    fn clone(&self) -> Rc<T> {
+        let inner = unsafe { self.ptr.as_ref() };
+        let old = inner.rc.get();
+        inner.rc.set(old + 1);
+        if old > isize::MAX as usize {
+            std::process::abort();
+        }
+        Self {
+            ptr: self.ptr,
+            phantom: PhantomData,
+        }
+    }
+}
+impl<T> Drop for Rc<T> {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        let inner = unsafe { self.ptr.as_mut() };
+        let old = inner.rc.get();
+        inner.rc.set(old - 1);
+        if old != 1 {
+            return;
+        }
+        unsafe { drop(Box::from_raw(self.ptr.as_ptr())); }
+    }
+}
+
+
+/*
+pub enum Form {
+    Nil,
+    Int(i32),
+    Bool(bool),
+    Symbol(String),
+    Pair(Rc<Form>, Rc<Form>),
+    Closure(Vec<String>, Rc<Form>, Rc<Form>, ID),
+    Prim(Prim),
+}
+*/
+#[repr(C)]
+struct Form {
+    data: *const Form,
+    phantom: PhantomData<Form>
+}
+#[repr(C)]
+struct FormPair {
+    car: Form,
+    cdr: Form,
+}
+/*
+ * this better be a 64 bit platform
+ * huh, if we only support i32s, then we have a lot more room for tags
+ * 8 byte alignment gets us 3 bits, or uh 8 options
+ * we'll choose 000 for ints to make math easy
+ *
+ *        000 - Int
+ *        001 - Nil
+ *        010 - Bool(false) // this is needlessly wasteful of the bits but hay
+ *        011 - Bool(true)
+ *        100 - Symbol - will want to convert into an Rc around a StringRawParts struct
+ *        101 - Pair   - an Rc around a Pair struct
+ *        110 - Closure- eek: Closure(Vec<String>, Rc<Form>, Rc<Form>, ID),
+ * xxxx   111 - Prim (xxxx for which one)
+ *
+ * I don't actually think we need our own repr(C) Vec implementation, at least not for now - we can
+ * make do with a VecRawParts struct (without implementations)
+ *
+ * in both cases, StringRawParts and VecRawParts, we can rebuild slices from the raw parts for
+ * read-only access, which is all we need (until Drop, at which point we should re-constitute them
+ * from their raw parts, which is stable)
+ */
+impl Form {
+    fn new_int(x: isize) -> Self {
+        Self { data: (x << 3) as *const Form, phantom: PhantomData }
+    }
+    fn new_nil() -> Self {
+        Self { data: 0b001 as *const Form, phantom: PhantomData }
+    }
+    fn new_bool(b: bool) -> Self {
+        Self { data: (if b { 0b011 } else { 0b010 }) as *const Form, phantom: PhantomData }
+    }
+    fn new_pair(car: Form, cdr: Form) -> Self {
+        let p = Rc::new(FormPair { car, cdr }).into_ptr() as usize;
+        assert!(p & 0b111 == 0);
+        Self { data: (p | 0b101) as *const Form, phantom: PhantomData }
+    }
+}
+impl Drop for Form {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        match self.data as usize & 0b111 {
+            0b000 | 0b001 | 0b010 | 0b011 => { println!("dropping simple {self}"); }, // int, nil, false, true
+            0b101 => {
+                // pair
+                let _ = Rc::<FormPair>::from_ptr( (self.data as usize & !0b111) as *mut RcInner<FormPair> );
+            },
+            _ => unreachable!(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+impl fmt::Display for Form {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self.data as usize & 0b111 {
+            0b000 => {
+                write!(f, "{}", self.data as isize >> 3)?;
+            },
+            0b001 => {
+                write!(f, "nil")?;
+            },
+            0b010 => {
+                write!(f, "false")?;
+            },
+            0b011 => {
+                write!(f, "true")?;
+            },
+            0b101 => {
+                write!(f, "pair")?;
+            },
+            _ => unreachable!(),
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
+
+
+fn alias(a: Rc<u64>, b: Rc<u64>) {
+    println!("a: {}, b: {}", *a, *b);
+}
 
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    // our Form shennigins will only work on 64 bit platforms
+    assert!(std::mem::size_of::<usize>() == 8);
+
+    let x = Rc::new(1);
+    alias(Rc::clone(&x), x);
+    let rc_u64_size = std::mem::size_of::<Rc<u64>>();
+    assert!(rc_u64_size == 8);
+    println!("for our Rc, we have size {}", rc_u64_size);
+
+    let i  = Form::new_int(23);
+    let n  = Form::new_nil();
+    let bf = Form::new_bool(false);
+    let bt = Form::new_bool(true);
+
+    let p  = Form::new_pair(Form::new_int(50), Form::new_nil());
+    println!("{i} {n} {bf} {bt} {p}");
+
+
+    /*
     let input = "
     (begin
         (debug 1)
@@ -68,5 +259,6 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
     println!("Hello, world: {parsed_input}");
     let evaled = eval(Rc::clone(&parsed_input))?;
     println!("evaled: {evaled}");
+    */
     Ok(())
 }