Her mother gave her the necklace for her thirteenth birthday. A coiled snake that dangled from a thin gold chain, it had nestled against her mother’s sternum for twenty-five years. From the time she was little, Faith had been told that the pendant had been passed down through her family, and that the necklace came with a story. One day, both of them would be hers. This was that day.
“You know the story of the Garden of Eden,” her mother said.
“Of course.” Faith and her mother went to church every Sunday.
“The version you’ve heard is all wrong.” Her mother reached out and lifted the serpent pendant from her daughter’s skin. “They say the serpent came and tempted Eve to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge, and because of Eve’s sin, mankind was banished from Eden. But that’s not what happened at all.”
“It’s in the Bible,” Faith argued. “It’s God’s word.”
“God may have dictated the Bible, but it was put down on paper by men. And over the years, men have changed things that don’t make them look good. In the original story, Eve was the hero, and this snake was her friend.”
She let the serpent fall back to its new home on Faith’s chest.
“You want to know what really happened?”
“Yes,” Faith said. She did. More than anything.
“Well, they say God made man before woman. That part is true. But when he was done making Adam, he figured he could do a lot better, so he gave it another go. The second creation was superior to the first in every way but strength. She wasn’t much of a match for all the lions and bears. So God decided to keep them both.”
“I thought all the animals in Eden were tame,” Faith argued.
Her mother lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t kid yourself, girl. No animal is ever totally tame,” she said. “They’re either too lazy to eat you or waiting for just the right moment.”
“Yeah? What about the snake?”
Her mother waved away the suggestion. “The snake lived in the tree of knowledge,” her mother said. “It had all the juicy red apples it wanted.”
Faith laughed. She loved her mother’s strange stories.
“So one day, when Eve was taking a nap under that very same tree, the snake slithered down to her. It had waited till Adam wandered off so it could have a word with her alone.”
“Where did Adam go?” Faith asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” her mother replied. “Eve’s the hero of this story. And that’s the first thing the snake told her. ‘You are the best of God’s creations,’ he said. ‘First came the animals, then Adam, then you. God kept getting better as he went along. He would have made you stronger, too. But he ran out of material. So you’re just gonna have to stay on your toes.’”
“To fight off all those hungry animals?” Faith asked. What other dangers could a garden hold?
“No,” her mother said. “The most dangerous beast in Eden was Adam.”
“Adam?”
“He was God’s first try at humans, remember? And from the outside, he was magnificent. Tall and sexy, with glistening skin and firm buttocks and—”
“Okay, Mama,” Faith laughed.
“What I’m saying is, Adam was fine. But there was something wrong with him—the thing that had convinced God to try again. He’d just come off making the animals when he went to work on Adam, and he forgot to change one little thing. Like the animals, Adam was driven by bodily needs. When Adam wanted to rut, all the reason God gave him went right out the window. With animals, sex is natural. What made Adam so dangerous was his desire to dominate.”
Faith stared at her mother in horror.
“I know, I know,” her mother said. “You don’t want to hear this. Believe me, Eve didn’t either! But she listened, because she knew the snake was trying to help, and she asked it if there was anything she could do. ‘Eat from the tree of knowledge,’ it advised her. ‘If you’re ever going to make it out of Eden in one piece, you’re gonna need to use your head.’”
“So she ate the apple and God kicked her and Adam out of Eden.”
“Nope.” Her mother’s hoop earrings swayed as she shook her head. “When Eve ate the apple, she realized there was a whole world beyond Eden. The snake told her she could spend her life in a garden taking care of some man’s insatiable needs—or she could see what else was out there. So she put on some clothes and went out to explore. What would you do if you were wearing her shoes?”
Faith didn’t even need a moment to ponder the question. “Listen to the snake,” she said.
“Good.” Her mother was serious now. “Because from now on, it’s going to talk to you. It’s the voice in your head that whispers to you when you’re in danger. Promise me that you’ll always listen.”
“I promise,” Faith said.
“You’re gonna meet lots of men in your life, and most of them will be harmless. Some will even be good. But stay far away from those who seem driven by their desires. Don’t be one of the women who think they can feed those men. Those that do meet one of two fates. They either end up getting eaten—or they turn into monsters.”
Faith’s beloved mother died the following year, and the fourteen-year-old went to the other side of the island to live with her aunt. This was the side that the tourists flocked to, and there were twice as many men to look out for. Over the next three years, the snake kept Faith safe. It always knew which ones were bad news. Sometimes its warnings surprised her, but she always listened. When it told her to stay away from the friendly middle-aged man who ran the charity, she’d kept her distance.
Then one afternoon, a woman came to the restaurant where Faith worked and sat down at a table looking out over the Caribbean. She was delicate and pretty, but her voice was strong and her smile wide. Over the course of the meal Faith served her, they chatted about Faith’s hopes and dreams. She was impressed that Faith worked all day and studied all night.
“Why don’t you come back with me to the States?” she said. “I know an empty apartment you can have in Brooklyn, and I’ve got connections at all the best schools.”
This time, the serpent stayed silent.
The Monster
Claude rounded the corner and stopped. Someone had beat her to the swimming pool. A naked girl lounged on a float with her eyes closed, one arm tucked under her head, her other hand lazily dipped in the water. For a moment, Claude marveled at the girl’s beauty. In New York, such physical perfection could be a bonanza for a decade or more. Here in south Florida, a young woman’s expiration date arrived sooner. Everything ripened and rotted much faster down south.
“Hello?” Claude called out. She and Leonard had flown in less than an hour ago. One of the workers clearly hadn’t gotten the news. She didn’t mind, but she thought Leonard might. The staff at his New York townhouse was trained to remain unseen.