Cain Read Free Page A

of
the water that seemed to spread through her veins and
simultaneously experiencing something that might have been
happiness, well, something, at least, that bore a close
resemblance to that word. Then she felt a pang of hunger, this
was hardly the moment for such positive thoughts. She waded
out of the stream and picked a few sour berries which,
although they weren't exactly nourishing, did for a
while, a very short while, assuage the need to eat. The garden of
eden is very close now, you can clearly see the tops of the
tallest trees. Eve is walking more slowly than before and not
because she's feeling tired. If adam were here, he would laugh
at her, Where's all your bravery now, you're really
scared. Yes, she was scared, scared of failing, scared that she
wouldn't find the right words to persuade the guard, in fact, she
felt so discouraged that she found herself muttering, It would
be much easier if I were a man. There is the angel, and in
his right hand, the flaming sword shines with a malevolent
light. Eve tried to cover her breasts and then went over to
him. What do you want, asked the angel, I'm hungry, said the
woman, There's nothing here for you to eat, But I'm hungry,
she insisted, You and your husband were driven out of the
garden of eden by the lord and there is no appeal against
that sentence, go away, Would you kill me if I tried to go in,
asked eve, That's why I was placed here on guard, You didn't
answer my question, Those are my orders, To kill me, Yes,
And would you obey that order. The angel did not respond.
He merely moved his arm, and the flaming sword in his
hand hissed like a serpent. That was his reply. Eve took a
step nearer. Stop, said the angel, You'll have to kill me, then,
because I won't stop, and she took another step, you'll be
left guarding an orchard of rotten fruit that no one will
want to eat, god's orchard, the lord's orchard, she added. What
do you want, asked the angel again, apparently unaware
that repeating the question would be interpreted as a sign of weakness, As I
said, I'm
hungry, Well, I assumed you'd both be far away by now, Where
would we go, asked eve, we're in the middle of a strange desert with not a single
path or road, where we haven't seen another living soul
all the time we've been here, we sleep in a hole, we eat
grass, just as the lord promised, and we have diarrhoea, What's diarrhoea,
asked the angel,
Another word for it is the runs, the vocabulary the lord
taught us has a word for everything, having diarrhoea or the runs, if you
prefer that term, means that you can't retain the shit you have
inside you, What does that mean, Ah, that's the advantage of
being an angel, said eve, and smiled. The angel liked that
smile. In heaven, people smiled a lot too, but always
seraphically and with the slightly embarrassed look of
someone apologising for being so contented, if you could
call it contentment. Eve had won the dialectic battle, now
she just had to win the battle for food. The angel said,
All right, I'll bring you some fruit, but don't tell
anyone, My lips are sealed, although my husband will have to
know, Come back here with him tomorrow, we need to
talk. Eve removed the skin from around her shoulders and
said, Use this to carry the fruit in. She was naked from the
waist up. The sword hissed more loudly as if it had received
a sudden influx of energy, the same energy that led the
angel to take a step forward, the same that made him raise his
left hand and touch the woman's breast. Nothing else
happened, nothing else could happen, angels, as long as they
are angels, are forbidden any carnal commerce, only fallen
angels were free to get together with whoever they wanted or
whoever wanted them. Eve smiled and placed her hand on the
angel's hand and pressed it gently to her breast. Her body
was grimy, her nails were as black as if she had been using
them to dig the earth, her hair was like a tangled nest of
eels, but she was a woman, the only one. The angel had gone
into