Parameter Passing: A Foxxfyrre Flash Fiction Story
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| The Tree Of Knowledge |
Parameter Passing
A Foxxfyrre Flash Fiction Story
I get to see a bit of their lives after they've taken a bite.
Each time it's different.
In one instance, the couple lived long lives and had many children and grand children and seemed happy.
In another instance, the male was killed by a wild boar while he was hunting for food. The female died by her own hands due to the loneliness of a solo existence.
In one instance, the couple bore children, but one male child smote the other.
In all instances, I am described differently. The couple that lived long lives referred to me as a guide. In another instance, I am a serpent or a trickster; the reason they were removed from the garden.
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| The Fates the Temper Witnessed |
Time has no meaning in the garden.
Time exists only inside fruit once broken.
The garden just is, always and forever.
Time is a construct of the fruit the tree bears, and only when the skin of that fruit is broken and its flesh consumed will time begin for the consumer of its flesh.
There's always a consumer, and they always come in pairs, a male and a female. Whether that's by design, I am unsure.
What I do know is there is always some resistance to my sweet offering. I found that if I offer it to the male first, there is always stronger resistance to partaking of the fruit. But if the female eats first, the male always follows suit without much convincing.
Once they've each consumed from the fruit, they succumb to the will of the tree and the fate of that fruit.
Another couple takes their place.
Then I wait.
I only approach when the female is alone.
I don't scare her. I don't think she knows what fear is.
But she believes the fruit of the tree is forbidden.
"Oh. But you must at least take a bite. It's succulent and sweet." I say.
"No," she replies. "That fruit is not meant for us."
"But it is. It is meant for all. You must try some. It is delicious."
"Have you tried it?" She asks.
No one has ever asked me that, they just believe that I know.
"I... No... I really haven't tried the fruit."
"So, you want me to eat from the forbidden tree that you haven't even tried. Yet you say it's delicious."
"Oh, but it is. I assure you. I know it to be true."
"Prove it then. I will take a bite, but you must try it first."
I froze. Not knowing what to do next.
I am the tempter, but now I am being tempted. I find it irresistible.
"Okay, but you must choose the fruit. I cannot do that for you."
She reached and picked a large ripe fruit and handed it to me.
I took a bite. I had never desired anything before.
It was beyond my expectations; the sweet succulent fruit was more than I could imagine.
I swallowed that bite and passed the fruit over to her.
She did as she promised; she took a bite.
The moment she swallowed, we both felt it.
It was not a force.
It was understanding.
We became aware of our nakedness.
We became aware of consequence.
In a wild whoosh of light, darkness, heat, and cold enveloped us. The garden gave way to wilderness.
Then I knew. I knew my fate.
I am Adam. One of a myriad of Adams.
But I was the Adam whose Eve tempted her tempter into eating the fruit first. 
Tempter and Eve being whisked away to the wilderness.
I was left behind becoming the tempter to each pair of Adams and Eves that followed.
But this Eve chose differently, and our fruit has determined our fate.
Her Adam is now the new tempter.
It was always one of the possibilities.
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