SOMA | The Meme Dump
JUNE
I thought you were going to your brother’s? I can arrange a ride for you to Deep River.
Levon sighs.
LEVON
I could build a little nest for myself somewhere out of your way?
Wherever you land.
June takes a drag from her pipe. She directs Levon’s attention forward.
JUNE
The ceremony is beginning.
LEVON
Do you have to go?
JUNE
Let’s just watch. They’re better at it than me.
The women encircle the huge pile of objects. Four women carrying large teapots arrive. They pour tea into tea cups and pass them around the circle. The woman encourage each other to drink the tea in one big gulp.
JUNE
They’re drinking Soma.
June touches Levon’s arm.
Near the mouth of the incinerator, the old dowager stands by Dixie and Sarah. She drinks the Soma tea, then selects her first item to burn, weeping. It’s an oil painting of a sleek Afghan hound. She carries it to the incinerator and tosses it in. She is thrown back by a burst of heat. June’s women applaud the dowager. The old woman 127
SOMA | The Meme Dump
hobbles back to the pile for the second of what will be many trips.
LEVON
I tried to stay with Jeremy. But he's... leaving.
JUNE
Yes. I know.
LEVON
Yeah?
JUNE
We’re making a memorial for him. Sarah's carving wind chimes for us to string up in the woods. She's good with a knife.
LEVON
So, you’re okay with it, then?
JUNE
Of course not... but there's little to be done short of siccing the police on him.
LEVON
Pssh.
JUNE
It's a cluster fuck, Levon, I’m with you. But how do you take control from someone whose only joy comes from controlling things?
I want to scold him for being selfish, and for flunking out. But he's not flunking out. He's written some of the city’s greatest music at great personal sacrifice. How much more does he owe us?
LEVON
…
JUNE
I’m trying my best to accept that the quirks that make him so special are also leading him where he's going.