Sextant

Sextant is narrated by the perpetually displaced Cassy Peerson, a young woman who lives in a car on a beach in an unnamed California town and works as a mermaid at a strip club. It is only underwater that she feels at peace. Merrick’s fragmented narrative moves between an eclectic cast of characters and flashbacks to memories of her family which she would rather forget. Between interludes in which she reveals herself to a papier mâché head it becomes obvious that Cassy can’t maintain her underground lifestyle of constant sex and drugs. She begins to unravel the emotions locked deep inside herself. Eventually she is forced to confront her past, which is literally laid bare before her eyes. Sextant is a searing portrait of dysfunction and redemption.