Any mask, even a demon’s face or a Zulu war mask, will look harmless until worn by a person. If worn correctly, a mask becomes animated. The face—no matter how grotesque or exaggerated its features—seems to come alive, to change countenance, and to convey, through the gestures and movements of the wearer, the emotional spirit of the mask character. Creative animation of this sort can have a profound effect on an audience, a profounder effect on the mask’s wearer. As the mask’s spirit—this can be the spirit of a god, a beast, an inanimate object, or some form of vegetation—emanates outward, into the world, so does it penetrate inward, into the unconscious of the person wearing the mask. This is the mask’s real purpose: to lead its wearer, gradually, by way of the ecstasy induced through physical exertion (most often a savage dancing), into a realm that is shared by these two principal characters, the man in the mask and the spirit symbolized by the mask. In this dark and phantasmagorical realm it is possible for the wearer to leave behind quotidian life, reconcile himself to natural forces beyond conscious understanding, and with a little luck and a few bourbons down the hatch, experience, in an instant of life, a hideous self-transformation.

I told Gunner, “When I put on this mask, I won’t be myself anymore. I’ll be the Corn King. But don’t worry, because the Corn King will also be me. Ready, boy?”

Before I could put on the mask I had to get the rest of my costume in order. As a rule this is not difficult because my costume consists only of nakedness. Primitive, elementary, unencumbered, old-fashioned, barbaric, vulnerable, willing, childlike nakedness.

And the mask.

Tonight, however, it would be unhealthy to absolutely disrobe. The air temperature was at an all-time low. Our soaked floor would be treacherous without footwear. I elected this compromise: shoes and socks but no pants or underpants, and, for warmth, my sport jacket, but no shirt. Plus the mask. I saw no harm in carrying the pillow as a shield, a syringe for a sword.