12/18/02’s illustrious band:

Milestones

Brought to you by a weird dream I had a couple months ago.

Under the heading “Signs you’ve been watching/reading too much sci-fi:”

I dreamed of people who wore their lives on their faces. Every time a milestone event occurred in an individual’s life, a kidney stone-like growth, a physical milestone, appeared on his or her face under the skin. They were a little smaller than a pencil eraser, smooth or bumpy depending on genetics.

Common events that resulted in “throwing a stone” included birth, first steps or words, first day of school, hitting puberty, first sexual experience, graduation, marriage, birth of one’s own children. Career or sporting success might also cause one to throw a stone — or it might not. There was no predicting what would turn out to be a milestone event, though; graduation might be a big event in one person’s life, causing him or her to throw a stone, but leave no mark on another. Maybe you’d make a seemingly insignificant decision one day and throw a stone but not figure out why until months or years later.

A parent would know the story behind every stone on a child’s face and the order in which they appeared; lovers would similarly know each other’s stones. And of course you’d know your own story stone by stone.

The max was 25 milestones: 5 on each brow ridge, 5 along each side of the jaw, and 5 down the bridge of the nose. They might appear in an orderly fashion — all the browstones first, then all the jawstones, then all the bridgestones — or in a random pattern. Smooth stones with symmetrical placement were considered beautiful. The rich and image-conscious might have their stones surgically smoothed, but taboo prohibited having fakes implanted to enhance symmetry. You could doctor a stone you already had (fashionable people stained or tattooed the overlying skin, for instance), but you couldn’t claim a stone you hadn’t earned.

Once the 25th stone came in, though, that was it. Game over. Limit reached. The appearance of the final stone set off a chemical chain reaction in the body that left you with a month to live, regardless of age. You’d had a full and eventful life, and that was it. A person could die early, of course, due to accident or illness, but “stoning out” was the most desirable way to go. It meant that you had fulfilled your destiny. Those who advocated living fast, dying young and leaving a good-looking corpse might pursue outrageous hobbies and lifestyles in hopes of hastening their stones, but prevailing wisdom was that you couldn’t force it. Milestones came when they came, and they weren’t under human (or medical) control.

People getting their 24th stone would ritually put their affairs in order so that when the 25th came in, they could spend that final month saying farewell to family and friends. The 25th might not appear for years afterward, but a near-ender had to be ready at any time. Not preparing for #25 was regarded as highly inconsiderate, as you would be passing up the chance to make things easier on your survivors.

Of course, there were always those who did not wish to die. They would seclude themselves and avoid all excitement and decision-making in hopes of avoiding experiencing any milestones. They still aged, but threw very few stones. However, they grew miserable and insane in their isolation. Removing stones was no good, either; a stone removed by accident or by surgery grew back within a week, and no treatment of the spot could prevent it. Similarly, no chemotherapy or radiation or anything else could prevent the growth of stones. But that didn’t stop people from trying.

So anyway. Interesting, eh? What would it be like to wear your experiences so boldly on your face?