Now and Then Excerpt
What if Eve had been tempted with chocolate chip cookie dough in the Garden of Eden instead of an apple? I don’t know about you, but I, Lillian Foster, would have been climbing that tree, spoon in hand, in seconds flat, with zero prompting from anyone or anything, simply knocking Adam out of the way to get to that tree first. I would have eaten the entire tree: leaves, branches, trunk and roots. Oh, and I would not have shared. I’m sure I would have said to dear old Adam, “Find your own tree!”
Or, what if it had been french fries? I would have sat down on the ground with my own salt shaker and reached right into the bag of grease and potatoes with her.
For Eve, though, it was an apple. An apple! I mean, who would be such a sucker as to cause the fall of all humanity by eating something healthy? Yet, in the end, or in the beginning I should say, it was an apple that caused the rest of us so much trouble. My trouble came several thousand years after Eve’s. And it wasn’t in the form of cookie dough or French fries. Or even an apple. It was, gulp, a man.
I have often wondered if Eve ever truly grasped the enormity of her mistake. I know she felt shameful for being naked. Who wouldn’t? Every time I look in my mirror, I praise God that we don’t walk around with nothing to cover the evidence of years of French fries and cookie dough. I must confess, they have done some serious damage to this girl’s figure. But how long did Eve regret taking that bite? Did she relive the moment in her mind over and over, imagining her hand reaching up to the tree, her fingers closing about the apple’s cool, smooth surface? Did she remember the earthy smell of dirt? The sounds of birds chirping and water flowing? Did she hear that little voice, her conscience, screaming, “Warning! Danger! Danger!”
I believe she did relive all those moments. I believe it was part of her punishment. I believe this because I ate from my own apple tree, and I relive those moments to this very day. My punishment did not affect the human race quite as much as Eve’s, but it still took years before I came to the realization that I was naked and needed covered.
