Ilo. What’s that in your hand?
Serafin. Oh yeah. I don’t think I told you this, but I joined a cult without knowing it.
Ilo. A cult, really?
Serafin. At first I thought it was an association that promoted growing organic foods, but some of the tasks we did in our garden had this cultish feel to it.
Ilo. What do you mean?
Serafin. While gardening, there was someone with a hand bell who would occasionally ring it. When he rang it, we were supposed to stop what we were doing and stand still until he rang the bell again.
Ilo. Why?
Serafin. While standing still, we were supposed to meditate on the specific action that we were just doing. Say I was transferring a tomato plant and the bell rang while my trowel was in the soil. I was supposed to stop there and imagine everything about my stillness, the soil touching the metal of the trowel, me bending over, my knees bending into the dirt, the tomato plant roots waiting to be sifted from one place to another. I really didn’t get it. I just wanted to grow plants.
Ilo. Sounds very irregular.
Serafin. Yeah, I like the organic foods and cooking, but everything else is not for me. It’s not worth being a part of it, really.
Ilo. So are you going to leave?
Serafin. That’s the thing. I tried just not going to the garden these last couple of weeks, but people from the garden started to call me, and asked me why I have not been doing my duties, and how disappointed they were of me. I didn’t really need any of it, so I finally told them that I did not want to be a part of their association any longer, but in order for me to be cut off from them, they asked me to write a handwritten, signed letter saying that I have decided to kill myself from the garden. I actually had to write, “I have decided to kill myself from the garden.”
Ilo. Is that the letter in your hand?
Serafin. Yeah, I have to hand it in in person.
Ilo. Did you want me to go with you?
Serafin. Please.
End. Ending the Association