Coming of Age

Today the young men and women gather at the village. Today they come of age. They face three trials.

The first trial is one of patience. A huge obelisk of chocolate stands before the young men and women. A block is lopped off of the top and lobbed into ninths. Each individual places one block in his or her mouth. The block takes exactly one day to dissolve. It is too hard to chew. They will be watched. If the block leaves an individual’s mouth, that one fails.

The second trial is one of willpower. The young ones are given a very addictive substance. They are then placed alone in a room with additional doses. They are told to resist and are secretly watched. Those who overdose fail, or die.

The third trial is to build a computer, harness resources to power it, then use the computer to complete an application to NASA. The computer is then destroyed just before the application is sent. Those who take revenge with physical violence fail.

In short these trials are set up to prepare for a life of waiting, trying not to over-consume or die, doing the impossible, having terrible things happen and finding ways to deal with those terrible things that don’t end in violence.

Those who pass are told that they are not adults, just oversized children with more hair and strange sexual fetishes.