TWO

The lake was a short distance away, teeming with life. There were turtles and fish and amphibians, though none of them interacted with Adam or Eve. The two were never bitten by mosquitoes nor stung by bees, never crawled upon by ants, nor bothered by any living creature.

The warm water caressed their bodies like a fine silk robe, the temperature just cozy enough to provide comfort but not too warm, which might take away from the refreshment. Both strong swimmers, they frolicked in the sun-drenched lagoon without care.

When they retreated from the water, the air was warmer than when they entered, so no chill came over their bodies. There were fruit trees a short distance away, so both Adam and Eve filled their bellies with the sweet nectareous yield until they could eat no more. Nourished, they grew sleepy and lay together on the thick carpet of grass under the large fruit tree.

It was Eve who stirred first. Hearing the sounds of small splashes, she let Adam rest and got up herself and walked the short length to the water to see the cause of the noise. It was there that she saw another man, like Adam, but with darker hair, including hair on his face. Unlike Adam, his eyes were very dark in color, and Eve found this interesting. He was throwing stones into the water, and as they would strike the surface of the water, they would skip across it before sinking beneath.

Although she was not used to another man’s presence, she had no reason for fear and walked straight over to him.

“My name is Eve,” she said, stopping just to the side of him, smiling.

He looked over at her, his dark eyes traveling up and down her body, taking in her nakedness, then coming to rest with focus on her eyes. His gaze was penetrating.

He skipped another stone across the water, and Eve counted one-two-three-four-five-six skips before the stone vanished. He handed Eve a small stone.

Eve took the stone and simulated his movement, but the stone failed to skip across the water.

“Let me help you,” the man said, and with that, he handed Eve another small stone, then, holding her hand in his, moved behind her, his body close up against hers.

“Move your arm swiftly and make the flat part of the stone strike the surface of the water,” and as he spoke, his mouth close to his ear and his voice a soothing baritone, he swung his arm and hers in instruction. Eve nodded her comprehension and then smiled, for she felt his staff pressing up against her, reminding her of Adam.

“Oh, I should go get Adam. He will want to do this too!”

As she started to move away, he held her arm, and both their eyes met once again.

“Let him sleep,” his voice suggested, and she nodded in agreement.

Letting her arm go, he watched her align herself to the water and then saw her arm propel a stone across the surface, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven times.

Eve smiled broadly and picked up a stone, and this time they both tossed them at the same time. Eve’s stone skipped seven times, and the man’s skipped six times. Again and again, they tossed stones, and no matter how many were tossed, each of Eve’s skipped exactly seven times, beating the man’s toss by one.

“You win,” he said simply.

“Win? What is ‘win’?” asked Eve.

“Your stones skipped seven times to my six. Mine will always skip six. Seven is more than six. More is better than less, Eve. You are better at this than I am. You win.”

Eve thought about this for a moment, but it still didn’t make any sense to her. She smiled, though.

“I would like to give something to you because you won. Something that will make Adam smile.”

“Okay,” she said, her smile growing, “I like to make Adam smile.”

“I can teach you something that will make Adam smile and feel good. Would you like to learn?”

“Yes, I would,” and with that, there was a small rumble of thunder in the distance.

“What was that?” said Eve, turning to look around, her smile fading.

“Nothing to worry about,” said the man, a small smirk appearing on his face.

“Worry? What is worry? I do not know this word,” said Eve, looking back at the man. She saw that his hand was now down between his legs, and he was stroking his staff. She once again smiled.