"The
Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge, thou shalt not eat
of it." King James Bible.
You
have been at that tree, again, Eve, haven't you?
Yes.
How can you tell?
You
have its aroma all about you.
A
good aroma?
Positively
drinkable. Come here.
If
both of us tended it together, I would find you drinkable, too.
I
am sure you would. But you know how I am about that tree ever since
the Lord banned its fruit from us.
Why
us only? All the animals eat the fruit; they enjoy the fruit, and
nothing bad happens to them. Those slimy multilegged Serpents,
especially; they practically live in that tree. Anyway, only its
fruit, Adam, is banned. Not the tree. We were told to tend the whole
garden. You should not be neglecting that tree.
It
is not neglect while one of us is doing an excellent tending. And, I
could say the same thing about you since I cannot remember when last
you helped me with that other banned tree.
Uh-uh.
The situations are different. That tree is so far away from our home;
this tree is down the road around the corner.
Far
away is no excuse, Eve. The Horses are always eager to give us rides.
I am thinking of coaxing an Eagle to give us a ride.
What
about aroma? This one is drinkable, according to you. I do not
discern any aroma about you from that tree.
I
am not surprised. It hasn't had any fruit, up to now. Even stranger
is that so far I have not seen any bird in it. No insects; even a
Butterfly.
As
I said, it is so far away, and so high up. It is too cold for animals
up there. And as for this tree, you are going to have to help me,
sooner or later, because of the creeper vines. They are on every
branch. How much longer can that tree carry the weight?
Get
the Giraffe's to eat the vines. That's why they were created; to eat
the out-of-reach problems.
Way
ahead of you, Adam. I brought in the Giraffes. Matters got worse
because those slimy multilegged Serpents among the vines got the
Giraffe's to engage in playing games; and now their games got the
vines into knots.
Eve,
why are you saying the Serpents are slimy?
Because
they are, Adam. They give me the creeps.
Then
order the Serpents out of the tree.
I
can do that?
Yes,
Eve, you can do that. Remember when we ordered those Frogs out of the
river?
You
ordered the Frogs out of their river, Adam. I like the Frogs. They
complained to me about you.
Really?
And did you tell them that it was you who saw the mischief they were
up to against the Tortoises, and you reported it to me? You expected
me to take charge, and I did. Now, this second time, it's your turn
to take charge.
Good.
I will. And then we might get to see what that fruit is that has been
forbidden to us only.
You
have not seen it yet?
No,
because those slimy creepy Serpents gobble them up the moment they
ripen. Have you ever seen a ripe one?
No.
As you know, I have not yet been near enough to that tree.
I've
had glimpses. It looks like a berry of some sort.
All
the more reason to be extra careful. If it’s among other
berries, you could eat it without meaning to.
Will
that count as disobedience?
I
do not know, Eve, and I am not going to risk it. My advice is, stay
away from that tree and its fruit. I wish the animals would keep
eating all the fruit off that tree.
Is
it fair that the animals eat the fruit all the time and nothing bad
happens to them?
Eve,
please, do not go there. It is not about what is fair and unfair.
It's about obedience. There are countless fruit trees with
spectacular fruit better than piddly berries. Berries are for Birds,
Insects and Worms and Snakes. Two days ago I discovered the Hapus
mango. Each one a handful. Sweeter than an Archangel's righteousness.
Yikes, did I just say that?
Did
you bring a Hapus mango one home for me?
Sorry.
I think I ate about five of them, and then I went into a blissfully
hypnotic sleep. Anyway, before I forget, we have been invited to a
celebration.
A
celebration? By whom?
The
Lord Himself. All the animals are invited, too.
That
reminds me, Adam. I have been meaning to ask you. Why has the Lord
not given the animals the ability to speak?
I
do not know, Eve. Because it is not needed? We understand them and
they us in every situation.
Yes,
Adam, but without speech, there can be no discussion. I would like to
hear an Eagle describe the experience of being able to fly so high
above the clouds.
That's
an excellent thought, Eve. Ask the Lord.
You
ask Him, Adam. I stammer too much when I speak to Him.
Uh-uh.
There you go again. Remember that situation with the Froga? You were
afraid to implement your great idea. Not this time, Eve. You go for
it. Ask the Lord.
Okay.
You will be there, too?
Always.
Perhaps
we can get the animals to ask?
No,
Eve. You ask the Lord. I will be right next to you.
Okay,
okay. I'll do it. What if the Lord is displeased?
Then
He will have to be displeased with the both of us.
Thank
you. If I decide to not ask, will you be disappointed?
Absolutely
not. Let's do it like this. At the celebration, we distribute Hapus
mangos. It will drive everybody into a state of hypnotic ecstasy,
perhaps even the Lord Himself. Then you ask the Lord the question. If
the Lord is displeased, we will apologize and blame it on Hapus
righteous intoxication.
As
far as I remember, Adam, the Lord did not teach us to speak.
No.
He did not need to. He made us with his DNA, and so we inherited it.
So,
only the three of us speak?
Yes.
To
whom did the Lord speak before He created us?
Eve,
again and again, I do not have the answers. Let's just focus on
preparing for the celebration.
Okay.
What are we celebrating?
I
have no idea. I think it's a surprise. Everyone is to dress up as
something other than themselves.
I'm
going dressed up as the Lord.
Eve?
What?
The
Lord is a Spirit. He has no definite shape. Whichever shape you
choose will be a one-in-infinity likelihood that anyone will agree
with your choice. Even the Lord Himself might not know. Why would He
need to care?
How
about you and I have a bet? Whoever recognizes the other, gets a wish
the other must grant?
You're
on.
Good.
I'm letting you know my wish is going to be you help me with those
vines on the tree of Knowledge.
This
is incredible!
What?
We
are so alike. My wish is going to be you help me with the tree of
Life.
Quickly,
let's hurry off. There's one of the multilegged slimy Serpents coming
this way.
Okay.
Did you say you like the Frogs?
Uh-huh.
You
don’t find them slimy?
Contact
Ezra (Unless
you
type
the
author's name in
the subject
line
of the message we
won't know where to send it.)
