Man Without a Face

A man finds room in the few square inches of his face for the traits of all his ancestors; for the expression of all his history, and his wants.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Conduct of Life

"Hey, you wanna come make a mask?" And the next thing you know, your hands are covered in plaster and you are slowly, bit by bit, covering Seth's face until all that remains are two little air holes.

We didn't really know what we were doing and Seth could only communicate with a strange wordless language once his mouth was plastered over (Jesse was somehow able to understand it though...) - we were sort of winging it.

"Ok, I'm going over your eye now..."

"I am about to cover your nose, is that ok?..."

It took a great deal of trust on Seth's part to lie there calmly while we slowly buried him with wet strips of plaster that stuck to his face like glue.

I am not sure if I could muster this sort of inner peace. It is more than likely that I would start itching like a madman and then rip the thing off me half-formed.

We didn't talk much and it felt almost meditative smoothing on layer after layer of wet plaster and massaging out the air bubbles. It was like we were creating this new creature and couldn't wait to see what it looked like.

When the time came to finally detach Seth from his new face, we very slowly began to apply pressure. Bit by bit, little by little, the mask detached and became a separate entity.

Later, Seth said that it felt like being born as his new layer of skin was slowly peeled off. I love random days that involve the creation of new faces.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
~William Shakespeare