“Turning and turning in the widening gyre”
-W.B. Yates
Jo is driving with her windows down on a main street in a small oklahoma/texas town. Billboards flicker by for pro-life, jesus saves, oil and gas companies. She is singing along and smoking a cigarette. It’s a warm, not too hot day. She pulls into a church parking lot across the street from a walgreens. She gets out of the car, fiddles around for her keys, puts her cigarette out and throws it away in the church waste basket. She’s always had a sort of moral obligation to do things, even when half the thing is bad for you. It’s a non-rational sort of rationality born out of her religious upbringing.
She crosses the street and walks into the walgreens. She sees a man in the soda aisle and quickens her pace to avoid him. she goes to the hair dye aisle. she spends a while deciding between red and bleach. she chooses bleach. she watches the man check out and waits for him to leave before approaching the counter. (this should emphasize her sense of discomfort in her town, the feeling of being watched, the act of avoiding it by being the one who watches).
the 23 year old, uber friendly cashier looks at her keychain and compliments it.
DINNER PARTY
Jo discusses Leibniz at the dinner table
Jo:
he had ideas about monads, kind of similar to information theory. Uhm, but more spiritual.
Husband:
whose idea was that?
Jo:
what?
Husband:
who brought up Leibniz
Jo:
um, Aaron.
Husband:
oh. Aaron
Jo scratches the part of the tablecloth that’s peeling, looking down while Hubsand goes on
Husband:
I find that sort of language annoying. you’re using a word with an incredibly confusing meaning to explain something more confusing
Jo:
I tried to explain the meaning. I wasn’t just saying it and expecting you’d know what it meant. what am I not allowed to use a word you don’t know
Husband:
I’m just saying, how am I supposed to keep track of your, uhh, complex train of thought if I don’t even know what the words mean
Jo:
nevermind
Jo takes a sip of beer and gives his hand a playful squeeze.
Carrie grabs a piece of bread from the center and dips it in balsamic and oil. Homemade pasta with lemon juice. Hamm’s beers. Noah leans over and grabs one too.
Carrie:
it’s true, words really mean nothing now. At school I have no idea what the kids are saying. It’s embarrassing.
Noah:
what was the one from yesterday? Pjorno? Like DiGornio and Porn combined
Carrie:
exactly!!! What the fuck does that mean!!!!!
Noah:
I’m scared of them
Jo:
I’ve heard the term digital natives for kids raised with smartphones…. But I feel like a digital native… so what does that actually make them? Digital pilgrims?
Husband:
if we have a baby it’ll be a digital colonizer
Jo:
ha ha. I wouldn’t dare inflict that onto the world
Husband:
ha
MUSHROOM ANGEL ARRIVES
Aaron puts his waddled up headphones into his sling bag.
Aaron
I read about these Ancient Greek tablets that regular people would write to their oracle on. They were lead sheets that folded and locked shut at a hinge, so no one could read what was inside. When opened by archaeologists years later it was discovered that most of them asked “is my wife cheating on me”. an ancient version of the myspace ask feature
Jo
i thought that was tumblr
Aaron
ok yeah yeah. But still, these incredibly deep concerns come out of us when we’re anonymous. Things we are too afraid to admit. That’s why I am not on twitter anymore. I was too anonymous. It was bad for my soul.
Jo
that’s because you’re torn between two selves. Releasing that feeling, letting yourself be part cyborg, it keeps you accountable
Aaron
it’s still you keeping yourself accountable though isn’t it
Jo
it’s fine if you have a conscience
Aaron
I don’t
Jo
are you on instagram
Aaron
yes
Jo
what do you post
Aaron
I don’t know
Jo
you don’t know
Aaron
my dog, pictures of trash, colorful food I eat. I forget
Jo
that’s so cool
Jo takes a drag of the cigarette. She looks at Aaron from the porch steps, passes him the smoke.
REALM TIME
Jo escapes into a Dionysian fantasy
