Nearly two weeks had passed in Eden.
One morning, Natsuki woke up in Adam and Eve’s home.
Adam went out to work by himself.
In the morning, Natsuki spent her time chatting and making little accessories with the Director and Eve.
They laughed and talked, and the time passed quickly.
In the afternoon, the three of them walked toward the lower part of the Gihon River, where Adam was working.
As they passed near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Central Garden, Natsuki noticed something unusual.
A large green snake was wrapped around a tree branch.
“Oh! A green snake!” Eve said.
She walked closer with a smile.
Eve’s hair was braided into many long plaits.
Beautiful flowers—red, yellow, blue, white, purple, and pink—were tucked into her hair.
Natsuki and the Director tried to stop Eve, but no sound came out.
Their bodies felt stiff, as if they were frozen in place.
“Hello, Eve. How are you?” the green snake said.
Its voice sounded gentle and kind.
“Oh, Green Snake! It’s been a long time,” Eve said happily.
“I’m well today. How about you? Where have you been?”
“I’ve been traveling all over the land,” the snake replied.
“I am quite busy. God has given me work too.”
“I see,” Eve said.
“We are both busy, then.
Oh! Let me introduce you to my new friends. They are snakes like you.
Oh… they’re not here. Maybe they went ahead.”
Eve did not seem to see Natsuki or the Director standing nearby.
“Is it really okay to touch the fruit of this tree?” Eve asked.
“Yes,” said the snake.
“God did not say anything to me.
I can touch it, and even eat it.
In fact, I can speak like this because I ate this fruit.”
“Oh,” Eve said softly.
“So it gives wisdom.
I want to be wiser too, so I can help Adam.”
“Well,” the snake said calmly,
“I don’t think eating it would cause death.
Absolutely not.
Look at me—I am alive and well.”
Eve looked closely at the fruit.
No, don’t eat it, Natsuki tried to say.
But her voice would not come out, like in a dream where you try to shout but cannot.
“It smells nice,” Eve whispered.
“Just touching the branch should be all right.”
Please don’t, the Director tried to cry.
But she could only move her tail.
Then Natsuki noticed something strange.
The green snake’s mouth was not moving.
It isn’t really talking, Natsuki realized.
Someone else is using it… like a puppet.
That must be Satan, the Director answered quietly in her mind.
He was once a good angel, but he became proud and jealous.
Now he lies and tries to trick others.
Eve slowly reached out and touched the fruit.
“No!” Natsuki finally cried.
“Stop, Eve!” the Director shouted.
Suddenly, the green snake slid down from the tree and crept toward them.
Its gentle face twisted into anger.
It raised its head and opened its mouth wide, showing sharp teeth.
Just as the snake was about to bite Natsuki—
A loud rush of wings filled the air.
A great eagle flew down from the sky.
With strong claws, it grabbed the green snake and lifted it high.
The eagle flapped its wings powerfully and flew far away.
“Welcome!” a clear voice echoed from the sky.
At last, Natsuki and the Director could move again.
They turned and saw Eve biting into the fruit.
“Eve! Stop!” they cried.
But it was too late.
Eve took one bite.
Nothing happened.
She tilted her head and took another bite.
Natsuki and the Director hurried toward her, but Eve could not see them.
She could not hear their voices.
“Adam…” Eve whispered.
Her face looked empty as she walked away, holding the fruit.
“We couldn’t stop her,” the Director said softly.
As evening came, a gentle breeze blew through Eden.
Adam and Eve were hiding among the trees.
Adam covered himself with fig leaves, no longer proud and strong.
Then a voice came from heaven.
“Adam, where are you?”
“I was afraid because I was naked,” Adam answered.
“Who told you that you were naked?” the voice asked.
“Did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat?”
“The woman you gave me gave me the fruit,” Adam said.
“Eve, why did you do this?”
“The snake tricked me,” Eve replied in a small voice.
Then the voice from heaven said mysterious words:
“The child of the woman will crush the snake’s head,
and the snake will strike the child’s heel.”
Later, the Director spoke gently to Natsuki.
“We cannot change the past,” she said.
“But God has not given up on people.
One day, what was lost will be returned.”
Natsuki nodded.
“Mm-hmm. Yes, that’s right,” Natsuki said softly.
“God doesn’t tell lies. My mom told me that when she read Bible Stories to me.
She said that no matter what happens, it’s important to trust God.”
Natsuki pressed her lips together tightly.
The Director’s red shoes and Natsuki’s sneakers were lying in the grass, just as they had been when they arrived.
The two of them climbed onto their own big shoes.
Before they knew it, a white sliding door stood right in front of them.
“All right, we’ll open it now,” said the Director.
Natsuki stayed silent and leaned her face close to the handle.
The loud sound of bird wings filled her ears.
Together, the Director and Natsuki opened the door.
A bright light shone out, and Natsuki quickly closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she was standing in a tatami room, holding one sneaker in her hand.
She had hands and feet again.
Beside her stood the Director, wearing a light blue dress and holding her red shoes.
She was smiling gently at Natsuki.
From a perch nearby, a green parrot called out in a cheerful voice.
“Welcome back!”
Natsuki put on her sneakers and stepped down onto the dirt floor.
She spoke to the rose-ringed parakeet.
“I’m home. You were the one who turned into a big eagle and saved us, weren’t you?”
As if answering her, the parrot puffed out its chest and cried, “Welcome!” in a high voice.
It spread its wings straight out and pretended to fly.
◆
After closing the glass door of the shop, Natsuki stepped outside and peeked into the Japanese sweets shop next door.
Just then, her mother came out, holding a bag of treats.
“Natsuki, sorry to keep you waiting. Did you have to wait long?
I couldn’t decide what to buy.”
“No, not at all,” Natsuki said.
“I was just looking around the nearby shops.”
“Did you find anything nice?”
“No,” Natsuki answered with a smile.
“I was just looking. But it was really fun.”
Natsuki took one of her mother’s bags and started walking along happily.
The sign of the detective agency appeared on her right.
In the back of the antique shop next door, a middle-aged man with thinning hair was sitting and letting out a big yawn.
A black rotary phone sat in front of him.
Then a young woman’s voice was heard.
“Dad, today’s souvenir is fruit. Look—fruit you’ve never seen before!”
It was the Director’s voice.
The man let out a high-pitched “Oh!”
That Director… she really did bring back fruit from Eden, Natsuki thought.
“Hahaha!”
Natsuki laughed without thinking.
“What’s so funny?” her mother asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Natsuki said.
“I was just remembering something.”
With a bright, clear smile, Natsuki looked up at her mother.
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The end.
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