Six Crime Stories (26 page)

*****

Slowly
,
for what seemed like an eternity
,
my enemy pulled himself over the bare skin of my feet. Instinct screamed at me to leap away from him
,
to escape before I felt his poisonous fangs sink into my flesh.

I stood my ground
,
but just barely. My heart hammered as inch by inch
,
he dragged himself over me. Echoes of my nightmare of being paralyzed beneath this very monster flashed through my mind like blasts of lightning
,
urging me to kick him off and run away as fast as I could.

And just when I thought I couldn
'
t bear it another moment
,
he stopped.

Shivering
,
I looked down at him.

His head lifted off the ground and curled around to face me. Blazing red eyes met my own.

His forked pink tongue fluttered at me
,
then withdrew. He opened his mouth
,
glossy black scales parting to reveal fangs and slimy flesh.

And then he laughed.

It was no more than a wheezing snicker
,
but I heard it. Adam was sobbing in my ear
,
but every sound that my enemy made was like a thunderclap to me.

"
Loves me more
,
"
he wheezed in his tiny
,
high-pitched voice
,
eyes bright with malicious glee.
"
No hard feelings.
"

I gave him a look of extreme agony and fear. It wasn
'
t something I had to play at
,
what with his body stretched over my feet and his fiery eyes locked to my own...though my expression did not reveal everything I was feeling.

For instance
,
the victorious thrill I experienced at being right about the enemy
'
s true motivations. Outwardly an opponent of God
'
s will
,
he inwardly craved God
'
s affection; everything he did was a cry for attention or an effort to eliminate the competition for God
'
s love...namely
,
us.

What he failed to recognize
,
like Adam
,
was that he could never regain what he had lost. Perhaps
,
in his heart
,
he knew it...but he could never accept it. Like Adam
,
he was addicted to hope
,
unable to move on
,
trapped in orbit around an unforgiving Father.

And
,
like Adam
,
if promised the slightest chance for reconciliation--presented convincingly--he would leap at it like a fish gulping bait.

Twitching with nervous excitement
,
the enemy flicked his head toward Eden
,
then lashed it back around to stare at me.
"
Thanks for passing along the good news
,
"
he said in that piping
,
otherworldly voice.
"
I owe you one.
"

Then
,
with a wild flicker of his tongue
,
he whipped around and slithered toward Eden. As his tail slid from one foot to the other and was finally gone
,
I shuddered with overwhelming revulsion and relief.

And anticipation of what was to come.

*****

Through tear-filled eyes
,
I watched as the glittering black serpent flowed toward Eden
,
his long
,
thin body curling like liquid over the red earth.

He hesitated at the boundary
,
head weaving back and forth
,
forked tongue flittering. I held my breath
,
hoping he wasn
'
t reconsidering his course of action. I didn
'
t think my performance would hold up to much scrutiny...and he was
,
after all
,
the original trickster.

When the serpent backed away a few inches from the boundary
,
I decided that he was indeed on to me...but all was not lost. If I acted quickly enough
,
I could still do the job myself with a rock or a branch or even my feet. Breaking my embrace with Adam
,
I looked around frantically for a weapon.

And stopped.

I heard the sound of something sliding through the brush. When I looked at the boundary line
,
the serpent was gone.

For a heartbeat
,
nothing happened. I stared after him
,
wondering if perhaps he had gotten lucky and was slipping back in without penalty after all. It would have been just my luck
,
I thought
,
for the serpent to find welcome in paradise after instigating the murder of my son.

I stepped closer to the boundary
,
squinting into the shimmering vegetation for a sign of my enemy.

Then
,
suddenly
,
something crashed down through the trees on Eden
'
s fringe
,
dropping so fast and with such force that I gasped and fell backward. As I toppled
,
I glimpsed a blur of silver and flame flashing downward
,
leaving a trail of billowing black smoke.

The object struck the ground with a deafening crack. When it hit
,
the serpent
'
s body flew out of Eden
,
twisting in midair...and flopped in the dirt at my feet.

It was headless.

Inside the Garden
,
I caught a glimpse of the fallen object at rest: a giant silver sword with a broad
,
curved blade
,
at least as long as Adam and I laid end to end. Red and yellow flames rippled and crackled along its entire length
,
dancing over the spine and flat of the blade
,
encircling the glittering
,
golden hilt
,
shooting off sparks that set fire to the flowers and brush among which it had landed.

I gazed upon the instrument of death for a moment
,
mesmerized by the sight of it
,
realizing it would have done the same to Adam and me as it had to the serpent if we had crossed the boundary. Then
,
the fiery sword heaved itself from the earth and shot back up through the trees
,
a blur of silver
,
flame
,
and smoke.

It leaped into the heavens and was gone.

*****

"
Was that what I think it was?
"
said Adam
,
shading his eyes as he gazed up at the lingering smoky trail left behind by the sword.

"
Uh-huh
,
"
I said
,
staring down at the headless body of the serpent.

Adam watched the sky a moment more
,
then walked over to join me.
"
That isn
'
t the wayward child
,
is it?
"
he said
,
nudging the dead serpent with his big toe.

"
Apparently
,
"
I said with a shrug.

"
I guess his invitation got cancelled
,
"
said Adam.

"
Guess so
,
"
I said.
"
You still want to try to get back into Eden?
"

"
Maybe some other time
,
"
Adam said with a little smile.

"
You know who this is
,
don
'
t you?
"
I said
,
kicking the serpent
'
s corpse.

Adam cleared his throat and nodded.

"
You know he
'
s the one who talked to you last night
,
right?
"
I said.

Adam hesitated
,
sliding his eyes from me to the serpent and back again.
"
Yeah
,
"
he said finally
,
nodding as if he
'
d been perfectly well aware of the complexities of the situation from the start.
"
Of course I do.
"

"
And he
'
s the one who encouraged Cain to kill Abel.
"

"
Right
,
"
said Adam.
"
It figures.
"

I kicked the serpent
'
s body again.
"
And you realize God wasn
'
t really talking to me just now
,
"
I said.
"
God never told me he loved the serpent more than you. It was all a trick.
"

"
Oh
,
sure
,
"
said Adam
,
grinning.
"
I didn
'
t think that part rang true.
"

I smiled
,
because of course he hadn
'
t figured out any of it on his own and it was just like him to act like he
'
d been in the know all along.

It was just one of the many things I loved about him.

"
I think we should go find Cain
,
"
I said
,
"
and take him home.
"

"
Sounds good to me
,
"
said Adam.
"
The sooner
,
the better.
"

I
'
d never thought I
'
d hear him sound eager to leave Eden
,
but there it was. Maybe
,
after witnessing the flaming sword in action and finding out that his invitation to the Garden had been a trick of the serpent
'
s
,
Adam was finally getting over his Eden fever.

Or
,
maybe
,
I was just as addicted to hope as he was...the hope that he would forget about paradise and make the most of the life he had. Maybe
,
we had more in common than I
'
d ever realized. And why not?

After all
,
we really were made for each other.

*****

As it turned out
,
Cain decided to stay in Nod
,
because it was the place he loved best in the world...and returning home with us would have brought back too many bad memories. I can
'
t say I blamed him.

He carried enough guilt with him as it was. He managed to do all right for himself in Nod
,
running a farm and eventually marrying a younger sister (like I said
,
things were different in those days)...but he never got over what he
'
d done to his brother. He never forgave himself
,
which I guess was a good thing
,
because he never committed another murder
,
either.

Unfortunately
,
that isn
'
t to say that murder ever went out of style.

I wish I could say it was the last murder I was ever involved with...but you know how people are. I can
'
t even say it was the last involving a family member
,
because after all
,
everyone in the world is a family member of mine.

Murder
,
as you know
,
has become commonplace in our world. Sometimes
,
I feel guilty about that
,
as if Adam and I are responsible for the violence of men and women because we were bad parents to mankind. I know we tried our best
,
but things haven
'
t turned out all that well
,
have they?

Sometimes
,
when I
'
m feeling really down--especially when I
'
ve just seen or heard of the latest atrocity committed by one of my descendants--I think the world might have been better off if Adam and I had crossed the boundary and let the fiery sword decapitate us that day. Or
,
at least
,
if we hadn
'
t had so many children.

The kids came fast in the years after Abel
'
s death
,
that
'
s for sure. After drifting apart for so long
,
Adam and I finally came back together
,
in more ways than one.

He finally got over his obsession with Eden...more or less...and I finally stopped blaming him for blaming me for getting us thrown out of paradise. We came to love each other more than ever...more than in the Garden even
,
if you ask me. Maybe because we
'
d been through something terrible together.

So I guess maybe one good thing came out of Abel
'
s murder after all.

Make that two good things.

Let
'
s just say that snakeskin makes a great pair of shoes.