Cain Read Free Page B

the garden, where he took his time picking the most
nutritious and luscious of fruits, before returning laden
down with a goodly burden. Here you are, he said, and eve
asked, What's your name, and he replied, My name is azael,
Thank you for the fruit, azael, Well, I could hardly let the
creatures whom the lord created starve, The lord will be grateful
to you, but it's best you don't tell him about this. The
angel either appeared not to hear or really didn't hear,
occupied as he was in helping eve put the bulging load on her back,
meanwhile saying, Come back tomorrow with adam, there
are a few things you need to know, We'll be here, she said.
    The
following day, adam went with his wife to the garden of eden. At
her suggestion, they had washed themselves as best they could in the stream,
although their best was very little, almost nothing really,
because without the aid of soap, water can give only an illusion
of cleanliness. They sat down on the ground and discovered that
the angel azael wasn't one to beat about the bush, You are
not the only human beings on earth, he began, Not the only
ones, exclaimed adam, astonished, Please, don't make me
repeat myself, Who created those other beings, where are
they, They're everywhere, Did the lord create them as he created
us, asked eve, That I can't say, and if you ask the same
question again, our conversation will end right here, and we will each go our
separate ways,
I to my job of guarding the garden of eden and you to your cave
and your hunger, In that case, we'll be dead in no time, said adam, no one has
ever taught me how to do anything, I can't dig or work the
land because I have no hoe and no plough, and if I had, I
would have to learn how to use them and there's no one in
this desert to teach me, we would be better off as the dust
we came from, with no will and no desire, You speak like a
book, said the angel, and adam felt pleased to have spoken
like a book, he who had never studied. Then eve asked, If
other human beings already exist, why did the lord make us,
As you know, the ways of the lord are mysterious, but, as
far as I can make out, you were an experiment, Us, an
experiment, exclaimed adam, an experiment to prove what,
Since I do not know for certain, I cannot tell you, but the lord
must have his reasons for keeping silent on the matter, We
aren't a matter, we are two people who don't know how we're
going to survive, said eve, Wait, I haven't yet
finished, said the angel, Speak then, and please give us some scrap of
good news, however insignificant, Not far from here is a road occasionally
frequented by caravans
of traders travelling back and forth to the markets, and my idea
is that you should light a fire that produces a lot of smoke, enough to be seen
from a distance, We haven't anything to light it with, said
eve, You don't, but I do, What, This burning sword, which will
finally be of some use, I just need to apply the tip to some dry
thistles and some straw and you'll have a bonfire that
can be seen not just by a passing caravan, but even from
the moon itself, although you must take care not to let the
fire spread, because a bonfire is one thing and a whole
desert in flames quite another, it might reach the
garden of eden, and then I'd be out of a job, And what if no one
comes, asked eve, Oh, they will, they will, don't you worry
about that, replied azael, human beings are naturally
curious, they'll want to know who lit that fire and why, And
then, asked adam, Then it's up to you, I can't do anything
more, you simply have to find a way of joining the
caravan, just tell them that you'll work for your keep, I'm sure that
two pairs of hands in exchange for a dish of lentils
would be a good deal for all concerned, both for employer and
employee, but when that happens, don't forget to put out
the fire, that way I'll know you've gone, and that, adam, will
be your chance to learn all the things you don't know. It
was an excellent plan, some cherubim are a real boon,