"Eve is Lucifer's wife," explained God. "The Garden is beautiful. You should be proud of it. I created you to tend the Garden. I created Eve and Lucifer to populate it. When the time comes. Rejoice in your role and love Lucifer as you love Eve."

"I'll try."

"And don't sulk."

"I'm not sulking."

"Talk to Snake. He'll cheer you up."

Snake was basking in the Sun. "Hello Adam," he hissed.

"Hello Snake."

"You've been talking to God, again. I can alwayssss tell."

"I must love Lucifer but I don't want Eve to be his wife. I want to be with Eve all the time. I don't understand."

"God made thingssss very complicated, didn't he, Adam?"

"Do you understand?"

"Oh, yessss, Adam. You don't love Lucsssifer. You hate him."

"Hate?"

"That's sssomething elsse He hassss kept from you. Do you sssee the Forbidden Tree?"

"Yes. It's not growing as well as the others. God won't let me tend to it."

"Eat the fruit, Adam. Then you will underssstand everything."

Adam thought about the fruit. "No, Snake, God told us not to."

"Sssuit yourssself."

Adam was watching Lucifer touch Eve with his special part. His own swelled and became stiff. Was that what Snake meant by hate? "My special part is much smaller than Lucifer's. Is that why you love him more than me?"

Lucifer looked up at Adam. "Can't this wait? We're busy."

Eve got up and hugged Adam. She was covered with sweat and smelled better than any of the flowers in the Garden. "Oh, Adam," Eve gently kissed him on the lips, "I do love you as much as Lucifer but he is my husband. Only he can touch me that way. The grass is so comfortable and beautiful and warm. This is as much your doing as ours."

Lucifer smirked. "You can watch if you want to."

"Tell me about hate, Snake."

"Hate issss good. With hate you can have what issss forbidden. With hate you can have Eve."

"Will the Forbidden Treeís fruit give me hate?"

"No, thissss fruit contains liessss, Adam. The liessss will give you hate."

"Lies? Hate? There's so much I don't know."

"Eat from the tree and you will understand." Snake slithered along a branch and bit into one of the red fruits. "This one isss complicated. It tellssss the lie of a man who told the truth to liarssss. The truth made them hate him. If he had lied like the otherssss, they would not have killed him."

"Killed? Another new thing!"

"After the truthful man had been killed he could no longer love, or ssssee, or ssssmell, or touch, or move. He became nothing."

"That's terrible! I don't want to think about it." Adam ran away from the tree. But he did think about it.

"It isn't right for you to look at Eve the way you do."

"I like to look."

"God told you not to."

"God told me not to touch Eve. He didn't say anything about looking."

"Just do it." Lucifer didn't wait for a response. He pushed past and went to look for Eve in the Garden.

"I'll think about it." Adam wanted Eve. He didn't want Lucifer to be in the Garden. What could he do to make this happen? What would Snake say?

"What lies do the other fruits tell?"

"This one tellssss of a man and a woman who had a sssson..."

"Son?"

"Yessss. One day, if you don't do sssomething about it, Lucssifer and Eve will create otherssss like themssselvessss. More than you can count."

"Why?"

"Becaussse they like to touch each other too much to ssstop. Now, lisssten; the sssson was ssssent away for a long time. When he returned he didn't recognisssse his father and hated him and killed him. Then he touched his mother the way Lucsssifer touchessss Eve. This was forbidden sssso the man killed himsssself.

Thissss one is about two ssssons who hated each other..."

"All the lies are terrible! I don't want to hear any more."

"Assss you wissssh."

"I don't love you, Adam."

"That can't be true! God has..."

"God has told you that I am Lucifer's wife. Lucifer has asked you to stop looking at me. So have I. If you can't do this then you don't love Lucifer. That means I can't love you."

"I will make you love me again."

"You can't do that."

"I will make you love me again." There had to be a way. He would ask Snake. Snake was his friend.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Snake."

"I undersssstand."

"Then I thought about lies. If what you said wasn't true then you were lying. That meant lies do exist. If you were telling the truth... that means lies exist, too!"

"Well done, Adam. You undersssstand."

"I want to eat the fruit."

"Good. Thissss one tellssss of a man and a woman who made a sssson who wassss not real but when the real sssson returned he hated..."

"No. I want to know a lie that will make Eve love me more than Lucifer."

"Of coursssse. Try thissss one."

Adam finally took the fruit and, without hesitation, bit into it. The lie filled his head with images. They were so clear that there was no way to tell them from the truth. Adam's fruit told of a man and a woman who killed the woman's husband. They lied and pointed at another woman. "She did it." They thought they would be happy forever. "Snake, this lie doesn't make sense! When the others realised that they were lying..."

"The otherssss didn't know they were lying. The man and the woman were too ssskillful at it. They loved each other sssso much they would do anything to be together."

Adam was horrified. At the same time he was excited. This changed everything.

"Then I could lie to God and He wouldn't know."

Snake hissed relief. At last! Adam was so slow. "Yessss, Adam. Yessss you could."

"I do understand." "Good. Usssse your knowledge wissssely."

God picked up the core of the fruit. "This is forbidden fruit. Which of you ate it."

Eve spoke first. "I didn't."

"It wasn't me, either. It must have been Adam."

"Adam? Did you eat it?"

"No, God, but Lucifer picked the fruit and ate it. I saw him!"

"That's... not true. I didn't!"

"Oh, Lucifer, you are a very poor liar. It takes a lot of practice. I'm very disappointed in you. You must leave the garden."

"I don't understand. I didn't eat the fruit! How could Adam have seen something that never happened?"

"Come with me. You are no longer Eve's husband. I have a different task for you now." Lucifer cried as God led him away by the hand.

Eve was also crying. "I am sad that Lucifer has gone."

"And I'm sad that you are sad, Eve. Let me touch you. That will make us both happy." Adam told Eve how good things were going to be without Lucifer and Eve believed him. She didn't know about lies. Yet.

Once Adam started to lie, and found that it was good, he couldn't stop.

God and Snake rested on the grass in front of the Gates. "One day they will tell liessss about thissss sssstory, too."

"The truth will still be in there, somewhere. I couldn't have done it without you, Snake. I will create a reward for you. Mice. You'll like them."

"Why?"

"Because I will make them delicious."

"No, God, you created Adam. Why did you make him ssso flawed? Why did you tell him to talk to me? Now they will blame Lucssifer for everything."

"I know. There is a Plan, Snake. You'll just have to trust me. In the end, you'll see."

"I don't know if I can wait that long."

God patted Snake on the head. "You did well. Thank you."

"Pleasssed to be of ssservicsse. You know where to find me." Snake slithered back into the Garden to find better tasting food than the bitter fruit of the Forbidden Tree. The mice were delicious.

God stood up and wiped the grass from his hands. "Well, here goes nothing." He took the bunch of keys from His pocket and opened the Garden Gates.