England 2012: “Mountain Vault”

A young English woman has created three treasure chests for her teenaged brothers. Each boy has been told that he must someday solve his box without help.

Unlike our conventional boxes, each of these has been specially programmed to count down the days until its respective owner turns eighteen, an event which is still years distant for the younger brothers.

On that day, the young man’s box suddenly begins to display distance clues, launching him on an expedition to a remote mountainside where he discovers a vault cut into the rock face.  As he approaches, his box whirs open, revealing a key and a carefully selected collection of memorabilia from his childhood.  A letter from his loving older sister instructs him to meditate carefully on each item and then move it permanently into the vault.

Inside the vault he finds a number of other precious family heirlooms, some dating back generations.  The letter asks him never to divulge what he has done and seen.

After some time, we presume the young man will lock the vault door and symbolically leave his childhood behind. He’ll climb back down with his empty box, having experienced a unique, solitary, and terribly meaningful rite of passage.