In the Beginning

by ~natatomic

They say that in order for something to exist, it must have a beginning and an end.

This is obviously an idea from before the invention of the wheel, because any semi-intelligent person today can look at a circle and say with confidence that there is no "Start Here" point*, nor is there any sort of definite end. Based on this observation, we must begin to question the actual existence of wheels. Maybe they never were invented at all, which would make reinventing them seem quite necessary since the current model only exists due to a crude technicality**.

_{*Some will argue that there is an infinite number of starting points on a circle, which may be true, but it's also the exact same thing as there being none at all, because a non-existent starting point is still a starting point - just a really, really tiny one. You know, infinitely tiny.
**That is, cars aren't moving along on concrete bricks.}

Then again, perhaps theoretical existence is all it takes...

__________________________________________________________

And then there was light.
__________________________________________________________

Adam… Adam…

Having just woken up without actually having ever been asleep, Adam immediately wondered where he was and what he was doing there. How did he even know his name was Adam? Did he even know what a name was? Adam remembered nothing before that point, and I don't mean "nothing" in the sense that he once had information stored in his brain which, due to some sort of head trauma or perhaps large quantities of alcohol, had now become a proverbial blank. No, I mean "nothing" in the sense that before that moment, Nothing was where he was, was what he was, was who he was. There was a void, an absence of himself and all the Somethings around him, and while he didn't remember what being Nothing was like, he remembered that that's what he had Been, because now he Is which was far, far different from Not Being at all.

And as Adam thought this, he suddenly became aware of the voice inside his own head, and no matter how hard he tried his eyes would just not roll back far enough to allow him to see who could possibly be rambling on inside him in a language he didn't even know he knew. Then again, he didn't even know he knew a language in the first place.

But like most brains, Adam's was incessant, which allowed all of these thoughts to flash through his head in a matter of seconds. But with each passing tick of the universe, Adam felt a growing tightness in his chest that was slowly spreading to his head and beginning to take over his entire body. He felt pain, whatever that was, and he felt faint, whatever that meant, and he had a feeling that in just a few moments he would be Nothing once more. And just when he thought his body might explode from the pressure building inside of him, he felt a forceful thump on his back which took him by such surprise that his body reacted on its own as his mouth opened to vent the mounting pressure with an all-relieving "Ughhh!"

Coughing and sputtering as his body adjusted to breathing on automatic pilot, Adam turned around to see where this wondrous Blow of Life came from. A blinding light prevented him from entirely making out the figure before him, but he had a feeling that this was not someone to screw up around.

Good Morning, Adam, said the figure, This is your Father speaking.

It was a voice that had no sound at all, which perplexed Adam as much as his own sudden Being. He had heard himself cough; he had heard odd noises here and there that surrounded him in this brand new existence. But this voice seemed to combine the externality of the sounds around him and the intuition of the voice inside his own head. The result was a voice that registered in the brain as having been heard despite the fact that the ears never heard a word of it*.  It was the Voice of God, and you didn't need to put quotations around the words to know He was speaking. His Voice spoke for Itself.

_{*God doesn't like to deal with such crude "middle-men," if you will. By extension, this is why televangelists claiming to be God's messengers should always be scrutinized and questioned. And possibly pierced.}

Adam, welcome to Life, heralded the Light Source. I do hope you enjoy it here, as this land I have created for you is entirely perfect and yours to enjoy. Feel free to ask any questions. You know what they say - Ask and you shall receive. Or, well, they'll be saying it some day.

He could feel his body begin to automatically speak his thoughts aloud through the small hole in his mouth from which he was also breathing, though he chose to ignore the shock of this seemingly compulsive behavior. Surprise, he figured, was just something he was going to have to get used to.

"Okay…Could You, um, turn Yourself down just a bit? It's hurting my eyes," replied Adam from behind his held-up arms which acted as a shield against the blinding Awesome light.

Oh, sorry. Your body is indeed a rather frail entity. Adam heard a snapping of celestial fingers and the light suddenly dimmed. Is that better, My child?

Adam put his hands down slowly and blinked, "Uh, yes…Father. Thanks." The light was still there, just much more manageable on the eyes. The figure appeared to have a similar shape as Adam, as far as he could tell, but it had no defining qualities other than it was just shaped light, pure and simple. Every so often, Adam thought he might have been able to catch a glimpse of a feature – a nose, an eye, a mouth– but each time he was on the brink of seeing a shape of a specific part, his eyes began to ache and he could feel the memory of what he thought he just saw slowly slip away. It was like trying to look at your own ear. Here in front of him was the Unattainable, and the Unattainable seemed perfectly content to just stand there and stare at him.

Still unsure of what to say next, he took a look at his surroundings. Below him, the word "green" came to mind, and above him there was a lot of "blue." Various words poured through his head – sky, sun, grass, flower, lake, etc. – and somehow he could attach each word with their corresponding objects. He appeared to be in a garden, at least that's the word that came to mind, and in it there were rows after rows of trees that seemed to stretch beyond his field of vision. The world around him was lush, fresh, and, as far as Adam could tell, perfect in every way. He held out his arms for observation, flexed his fingers, and moved the rest of his body around with incredible ease considering how little effort and thought he had to put into the actions. He looked back up at the figure before him.

"Wh- what am I?" Adam uttered after finally nailing down one of the infinite number of questions swirling around inside his head.

You are Man in My image, in My likeness, and you will rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. He paused as if in thought, Ooh, that's good. I'm going to have to get someone to write that down…

"And what are You?" Adam asked, hoping he didn't just interrupt the divine thoughts of the Almighty presence before him.

Ah, well…don't think of Me as what I am, just know that I Am. But you can call Me God.

"Um, what was that first part?"

What? The 'I Am' bit? Trust Me, it's a great line. It will part waters one day.

And truth be told, Adam had to admit that there was definitely an obscure poetry about it. He felt the words inside him, as if they were chiseled right above a "Made in Eden" stamp on his heart. I Am, he thought to himself. He was beginning to realize that not everything made sense to him immediately. Maybe this was one of the things he was meant to learn on his own. And even though he figured his next question would also fall into this category of mystery, he took a chance anyway: "May I ask why?"

Certainly, you may, God answered cheerfully.

"No, I- I mean why am I-" Adam hesitated, "Oh. You probably knew what I meant, didn't You?"

Omniscience is not inhibited by the multiple possibilities of your words' intent. But to answer your question, He paused as if in thought (or possibly for dramatic effect), Because.

Well, it was an answer, and Adam instinctively knew that for now that was all he was going to get. He nodded solemnly and moved on to his next pressing question: "So…what now?"

God spread out His arms, and in a joyously commanding tone replied, Be fruitful and multiply, My son! For a moment, Adam thought he caught a glimpse of God's eye just in time to see it wink at him. But perhaps he had only imagined it.

"Er, how am I supposed to do that?"

Hmm, let's see if We can't find you a suitable partner.

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Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
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Adam seemed to have been born with a basic grasp of the concept of Time, because he knew that the when he was in now came after the when in which he came to Be. The problem was that he still had a very limited sense as to how to measure the amount of time that was passing him by. For all he knew, a single second could go on for minutes at a time, hours even. The animal-naming process, for instance, was only supposed to last a Day according to God. Adam, however, could have sworn that it had lasted at least a thousand years.

He also found it incredibly amazing at the vast amount of creativity this Creator of his possessed. Thousands upon thousands of different types of animals had been paraded in front of him, all of different shapes, sizes, and colors, and it had been left up to Adam to come up with their equally varying names. Unfortunately for him, his creativity was not limitless so after the first thousand or so animal names, he finally resorted to writing various syllables down on pieces of paper, mixing them up, and picking them out at random*.

_{* Did you honestly think there was some sort of rhyme or reason as to how weevils and pyrrhuloxias got their name?}

Now, Adam knew that he was supposed to pick one of these animals to be his partner, whatever that entailed, but some were obviously not fit for the job. Sure an ant could lift fifty times its own bodyweight, but that would only come in handy when Adam needed to move a grape from one end of the table to another, and he was created with enough sense to foresee that that would not be a common necessity. Concerning the larger beasts, Adam felt that any animal that could either crush him or excrete a pile of feces as big as him simply would not work. As for all the animals in between, well, Adam just didn't think their kids would look all that cute.

Excellent, replied God once Adam admitted that no animal seemed to be a suitable match.

"Why is that excellent? I thought You wanted me to find a partner," responded Adam, clearly perplexed.

No, you are not an animal. Remember, you are created in
My image, which is what separates you from them. Actually, every beast of the earth, every fowl of the air, and every thing that creeps upon the earth is for you to use and eat. I recommend the chicken. Those birds taste so good that I made just about every other animal taste just like them - I just varied the amount of grease. But yes, in terms of a partner, I have something special in mind for you.

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to tell me that in the first place?" he questioned slightly annoyed that he had spent nearly his entire life thus far naming animals that were apparently never meant for him to pick out from the start.

Easier? Ah, perhaps, perhaps..., replied God ponderously, But I wanted you to come to realize that on your own. If I had simply told you that these animals are not suitable for you as a partner, you'd be more likely to test it for yourself, especially after your destined spouse nags you and complains about your insensitivity or for leaving the toilet seat up for the hundredth time; and your method of finding a potential mate, especially after knowing your spouse in the way you will eventually know her -, once again, Adam thought he caught a wink, - would probably not be entirely hygienic.

Adam pondered this for a moment. He still couldn't imagine this "spouse" God had in mind for him nor this special way in which he would "know" her; and he definitely didn't know what a toilet seat was. Plus, there was something in that explanation didn't quite sit right with him. "Nagging?" he asked with a hint of worry. He was pretty sure he'd be able to survive quite well without nagging in his life. "I think I'm doing okay on my own so far, don't You?" Adam suddenly realized that he had to fight to keep his eyes open. "Do I really even need this-," he yawned, "- uh, Man-partner…person…thing?"

Have a little faith in Me, God replied all-knowingly. Adam's eyelids began to droop, and he succumbed to an irresistible desire to sit down and lean against the nearest tree. His vision slipped in and out of focus, and as his consciousness slowly slipped away into nothingness the Voice of God echoed in his mind: It is not good for Man to be alone…

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The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
__________________________________________________________

Adam awoke feeling refreshed and relaxed and – most importantly – breathing. The whole fading-out-of-awareness thing had internally freaked Adam out a bit as it was happening since it had never actually happened before, and he was thusly quite relieved to know that it was possible to take a break from being so darn alive all the time without actually dying. He stood up and began to stretch, and as he did so he noticed that his skin stretched slightly less on the left side of his torso than it did on the right. He looked down at himself only to see that the two sides of his body, at least in terms of the two small mounds right below his chest, were now slightly unsymmetrical from each other. The word "rib" floated to his mind quickly followed by the phrase "Um, where is it?" It was then that Adam noticed a small, hand-written inscription on his body right where his rib would have been if it were still inside him, and while Adam had never seen handwriting before, he couldn't imagine that normal human handwriting would come with serifs. The inscription read:

AT LEAST I DIDN'T TAKE YOUR FEMUR. – GOD*

_{* There's nothing lower case about the Almighty.}

With his missing rib now in greater perspective, Adam suddenly realized that he could hear conversing voices coming from somewhere nearby. One voice was unmistakable The Voice, while the other one sounded similar to his own only more soothing and less - oh, what was the word? - man-ly. He followed the sound through the rows of trees eager to see the source of this newer voice, and once he reached the tree below which the two figures stood, he stopped in awe as his eyes fell on the human standing next to God.

"Whoa," said Adam.

This human was like Adam in so many ways – ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, two ears, a torso, a head, etc. (though Adam had a sneaky feeling that her ribs were all present and accounted for). But there were differences between the two humans, though what wondrous differences they were in Adam's mind. While Adam's body was basically a rectangle on legs, her body had sleek curves, far less hair, and apparently one less appendage (though her chest was much more protrusive, which Adam just assumed was God's ineffable idea of an upgrade). It was Adam 2.0 and he could hardly wait to see if she was backward compatible with him.

God began the formal introductions: Adam, I would like you to meet Eve. She shall be your wife. Adam looked into his wife's eyes and smiled, and a sense of thrill shot through his spine as she returned the gesture. Eve, this is Adam your husband, God continued, He's the one I've been telling you about.

"Hello, Adam," said Eve in a soft voice, "God has told me such wonderful things about you. Thank you for the rib, by the way."

"Oh, so that's where- Oh, yes! Of course!" he replied enthusiastically. Not wanting to seem too excited he cleared his throat, tried to put on a more serious face, and made his voice a pitch or two lower: "No, it was nothing – don't mention it. You know I've got twenty-three others or if you need one," he added while puffing up his chest, "Just let me know."

Eve looked at God, "Oh, I don't think that will be necessary," and looked back to Adam and blushed, "But thank you."

Adam, if you don't mind, I have one last creation of Mine for you to name. It wasn't a request per se, but even God promotes the niceties. You are a man, Adam, but Eve here has enough differences about her to deserve a separate title. She is your wife, and for that I give you permission to name her kind. Just…don't draw syllables this time.

Adam looked at Eve, his eyes full of honor and determination. To him, she was more worth more than he was, and he knew then and there that he would be willing to die for his wife, even if they weren't immortal. More than anything he wanted to give her a name that proved her value.

"'Whoa,'" he began, "That's the first thing I said when I saw her. She's the Whoa version of Man. For that, she shall be known as Wo-man. Yeah, that's it. Woman."

Eve couldn't help but wince after hearing this mawkish reasoning, but it was sweet – she had to give him credit for that - and for that she nodded in acceptance.

Then it is so. Eve, you shall henceforth be known as Woman. He then allowed His Voice to be heard only by her, It could have been worse. He could have called you Weevil.

Now, to Official Business, God continued to the pair of them. Adam grabbed Eve's hand. Goodness, he loved it when she blushed. This is the Garden of Eden. It is your home now, and it is yours to tend to and take care of. The animals are for you to use for labor and food, and you are free to eat from any plant in the Garden. BUT, and Adam and Eve could hear the capitalization of the conjunction, you are NOT to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat from that Tree, I will personally show you the road to Kingdom Come, and I am not speaking metaphorically. Believe Me.

Adam and Eve exchanged worried glances. "How do we know which tree we're supposed to avoid?" Adam asked.

Ah, yes. It is the tree in the center of the garden, right next to the Tree of Life, God responded, and with a snap of his fingers he continued, But for your convenience there is now a sign at the base of each tree telling you which one is which. Adam and Eve looked at the nearest tree. At the base of the trunk there was a small brass plaque, but they were too far away to make out exactly what it said.

Do you have any more questions? God asked. Adam and Eve could only take deep breaths and shake their head as they tried to soak in this new existence of theirs.

Excellent. Well, if you need Me, I am always Here. Do not hesitate to ask for anything. So, He clapped His hands together, If We are all set here, I believe I shall go Rest.

And in an instant, the Light was gone and Adam and Eve were alone for the first time. The idea of eternity there in the Garden, there in Paradise, was simultaneously wonderfully exhilarating and stunningly terrifying, and for a moment neither moved a muscle as they each stood staring straight ahead at the rows and rows of trees ahead of them. It was Eve who finally broke the silence.

"So…what now?" she asked.

"I suppose we start taking care of our new home," he replied.

And so they spent their days working in the Garden. It wasn't hard work, but it was Honest and True (they knew it was so after eating from the Tree of Honesty and the Tree of Truth). As they hungered, they tasted the various fruits from the thousands of trees around them, though they quickly learned that the fruit from some trees was better than others. For instance, the Tree of Adrenaline gave them a wonderful boost, the Tree of Fertility seemed to do absolutely nothing, and the Tree of Hangovers made them want to die and promise that they would never, ever, ever eat from that tree again, no this time we mean it. As for the Tree of Knowing Each Other In That Way If You Know What I Mean Wink Wink Nudge Nudge, they found that Tree exceptionally pleasurable and they were sure to eat from it as often as possible.

But the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil remained off limits. And instead of a small labeling plaque on the trunk there were four solid gold signs surrounding the tree with letters that flashed in the sun. They each read

Do NOT Under ANY Circumstances
Touch OR ELSE. Death WILL result.
This Means YOU, Adam and Eve.

The funny thing about humanity, though, is that people always want the one thing they cannot have. Now, while Adam and Eve did not fully know good and evil, they at least knew right and wrong, and they could understand from God's commandment that eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a definite no-no. Knowing it was wrong, of course, did nothing to satiate their curiosity. Adam and Eve often found themselves discussing the Tree, thinking about the Tree, and even taking walks around the Tree. Why on God's Green Earth were they forbidden to know about Good and Evil? The interest in and desire for the Tree was there. All that was needed was the persuasion. And it was about to slither its way into their lives.

It was a perfect day like any other, though Adam was roaming around trying to find some sort of Tree of relief after having a rather nasty apple from the Tree of Heartburn. Eve went another direction to cover more ground, but as she passed by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, someone – or something – caught her attention.

"Psssst," it hissed.

Eve looked around. "Who said that?"

"Sssso delicioussss," the voice replied. It was coming from the Tree. Eve looked above her to see a lime green snake wrapping itself along a branch toward one of the ripest apples. "Wouldn't you like a tasssste?" he asked.

"We're not allowed to eat from that Tree," Eve answered nervously.

"Are you ccccertain?"

"Well…yes!" Her hesitancy to answer was all the prompting he needed to continue.

"He doessssn't want you to eat from thissss Tree becausssse you will then be like Him – all-knowing and containing infinite wissssdom. You would be – in a word – Awessssome."

Eve found it hypnotizing the way the snake's body retained the same shape and form as he glided along the limb. It was like watching a plant grow through a time-lapsed video. Adam suddenly stumbled into her vision snapping her out of her trance-like state. He gave a single pound to his chest and scrunched his face up as he swallowed his saliva. Apparently he was still feeling the after-effects of his lunch having not found the relieving fruit he was looking for. It was then that he noticed just how close Eve was to the Tree.

"Eve! What are you doing? Don't get so close!"

"There's a snake in It, though," explained Eve in a thoughtful tone. "He says God doesn't want us to eat the fruit because it will make us Awesome like Him."

"Yessss, your girl hassss it right," the snake egged on. "And ssssee? Even a lowly ssssnake like me can touch the apple," he rubbed his face against it, "and even tasssste the apple," he licked it with his forked tongue, "yet I am sssstill alive and well."

"Well, are you wiser?" questioned Adam.

Eve added on, "Yes, do you now have the knowledge of both Good and Evil?"

"Of coursssse, humanssss. How elsssse would I know God'ssss true intention with thissss Tree? I have eaten of It before and now I am merely trying to sssspread my wissssdom." If snakes could smile, his would have charmed the mouse he was about to eat for lunch.

"Then why all the signs warning us not eat from this Tree?" posed Eve, clearly not convinced.  "And won't we die if we do eat of its fruit?"

"God created you, yessss?"

"Yes," she responded.

"Sssso, He alsssso created your curiossssity as well, yessss?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Eve shrugged as her doubt began to surface.

"And putting thesssse ssssignssss here hassss increassssed your curiossssity for thisss Tree more than any other, yessss?"

"Well, yes, but-" began Eve.

"Then it issss obvioussss that God wantssss you to eat from thissss Tree. He created you to be curioussss, you ssssaid sssso yoursssself. You are not eating the apple for food, you are not eating it to ssssatissssfy your hunger. You are eating it for knowledge, to ssssatissssfy your curiossssity, the curiossssity He gave you. And curiossssity never killed anyone*."

_{*At least not until 2024 BC with a feline being it's first victim.}

"You know, he kind of has a point," said Eve. "What do you think, Adam?"

"I don't know. I mean, how do we know if eating from this Tree is truly good or evil if we don't even know what either of them is? I mean, yeah, God said not to eat from the Tree, but maybe it's all a test? Surely He would like us to at least know the difference between what is Good and what is Evil. I guess…"

Yessss, thought the snake, What a knack thesssse humanssss have for getting around God'ssss rulessss.

Eve slowly began to reach for an apple. Her arm stopped right before she touched it and she took one last glance at Adam. He said nothing, but made no effort to stop her either. She looked back up and allowed her fingers to wrap around an apple as she jerked it from its branch. Nothing happened. She reached for another one, yanked it out, handed it to Adam, and still nothing happened.

"We'll each take a bite on three," she said. Adam nodded. "One, two…three."

They each took a bite of their respective apples, and even as the fruit hit their mouths there was still nothing different. The taste was phenomenal, though, and they each closed their eyes to savor the flavor. After sufficient chewing, they swallowed the masticated fruit in their mouths, and just as the apple landed in their stomachs they opened their eyes. There was a moment of shear terror, and it was Adam who found his voice first.

"Holy shit! We're naked!"

"Damn it, we are! Well," Eve took a deep breath trying to sound calm, "at least we're not dead."

Adam? Eve? God called out. Oh God, He was looking for them.

Adam's face went pale with fear, "Not dead yet, you mean."

"Aw, hell, what do we do now?" Eve asked.

"Um…hide," and they each ducked behind a different Tree, though they had a feeling that hiding wasn't going to do much good.

Adam? They could already hear a harshness in His Voice. Why are you hiding?

"Well, we're, uh, we're naked, you see…" Adam bashfully responded.

Who told you that you were naked? Of course God knew the answers to the questions, but like a parent of a red-handed teenager He liked to give them a chance to come clean first. Have you eaten from the Forbidden Tree?

There was a brief but pregnant pause as their minds raced with options. It only took that split second for one of them to break. "It was her!" Adam snapped pointing at a crouching Eve. "She made me eat it!"

"Oi, come on! You were the one that questioned what God said. And you didn't even try to stop me from grabbing the apple!"

"Oh please. It was you who –"

ENOUGH. God's Word shouted in their heads, and they winced from its enormous internal volume. A sudden wind whipped through the garden and nearly knocked the two humans off their feet. Smokey grey clouds rolled through the sky at an alarming rate bringing an ominous darkness and chill over the land. Out of worry and genuine fear, Adam glanced from side to side, unsure of what was about to happen. It was then that he noticed the snake trying to nonchalantly walk away. Luckily, God noticed, too. SNAKE! COME HERE, God commanded, NOW. And with that final word, the wind swept the snake up and hurtled him through the air only to land squarely at the feet of God.

Explain yourselves, He ordered the three.

And so God listened to the trio tell their individual sides of the story, though not one of beings told the entire truth, for now they knew what it was to lie. They also knew that this omniscient Being before them knew they were lying, but because Pride and Arrogance were now within their hearts, they internally refused to admit their faults even though it was against their better judgment. But with each fabrication, the Wrath of God grew; and by the end of their tales, His Light was fully ablaze and neither Adam nor Eve could look at Him without the risk of causing permanent eye damage. Still, in spite of His fury, God knew this was to happen. He had given them free will. They had a choice, and being all-knowing, He knew what they would choose from the Beginning. But despite things going according to the Ineffable Plan, punishments were still needed. They were part of the Plan as well, after all. He began with the serpent.

Snake, forget being able to slide around upright. From now on, you will always crawl on your belly. I hope you like dust, because that's what you'll be eating from now on. Oh, and no more talking, either. Well, you can keep your S's, but that's it.

As for you two, He glared at Adam and Eve, I gave you ONE rule and you couldn't last two months out of the Whole of Eternity! Now you feel shame for something you used to feel beauty. For that, Woman, child birth is going to be agonizing beyond what you can even imagine. You better go ahead and wrap your head around pushing out an eight-pound baby soon, because you're already expecting and you've only got seven months to go. Eve looked down at herself and wondered where the heck a baby was going to come out of. Each hole she considered seemed more painful than the last.

As for you, Adam, no more easy labor for you, either. Her pain at least will be temporary, but you will have to struggle in the fields every day for the rest of your life because the land will no longer easily give way to your tending. So I certainly hope you like to plow. And finally, you have both lost your immortality. One day, you will die, as will all of humanity after you.

"Father," Adam began meekly, "We're sorry. Truly."

God sighed, and even the wind seemed to sigh and calm with Him. I know, Adam. I knew you would be. And despite His anger, Adam and Eve could sense an eternal and pure Love emitting from the Light. Even so, it was to happen this way. I have a Plan. And I saw that It was Good.

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The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
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Two figures stood together at the edge of Eden, holding hands and observing their new surroundings. Two swords burned brightly behind them, guarding the entrance to the garden, and they knew that they had ruined their chance of Paradise on Earth forever. In front of them was a vast field, and in the distance they could see towering mountains which threatened to touch the blue sky. It was beautiful, but it was no Eden. Still, they each thought, we have to make the best of it.

It was Eve who spotted the single, lone tree in the distance. "Let's check it out," she suggested, and with that they took their first mortal steps outside of Eden. As they got closer, they spotted its plaque which read 'Tree of Hope.' Above it was a note nailed to the trunk. Adam recognized the hand-writing at once.

FROM THIS TREE, YOU MAY ALWAYS EAT FREELY.

"God, that's corny," Adam grumbled.

"Yeah," sighed Eve with a smile, "but at least we know He means it."