Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand: A Novel of Adam and Eve Read Online Free PDF

conscious of the weight of his bones, the flexibility of his muscles, the revealed design of his movements; he perceived the earth, the dust, the moisture on the soles of his feet. He could not decide whether he preferred this new sentience over his habitual serenity, whether he preferred the slow pace of his existence over the determination and clarity of purpose that now were leading him to the slit in the rock he had discovered during one of his explorations. As never before, he knew what he wanted, but fear restrained his exuberance. He was sure of one thing. He and Eve had not died. Could it be true what Eve thought? Could Elokim be relieved?
    He guided Eve through the purple passion flowers that fell in clusters over the partially hidden entrance. She slipped nimbly through and emitted an admiring exclamation when she stepped inside the cave and saw its walls of quartz. The rose and crystal of the minerals glowed, lit by the sun filtering through an opening high in the wall of rock. From the depths of the cave came the sound of running water. It was a beautiful place, she said, walking toward the back as far as the limits of the light. It would be more difficult for the Other to find them there, he said. If he knows everything he will find us, she said. At least we are at some distance from the Trees and the Serpent. But I can assure you that he will not kill us. Since he put us here, he has to have known what would happen. If the consequences were irreversible, he would not have created us. How could she be so sure, he asked, that the Other would not return them to nothingness once he realized they had acted against his wishes? The only thing Eve was sure of was that the Other was not that simple. It was enough to see his work. Everything that surrounded them was continually changing. The plants, the animals. As if each creature were but the beginning of other, different, more complex ones. I asked you, Adam, if we would have a reflection. And I saw it. In the river. Many like us will people the Earth, love, produce their own creations; they will be complicated and handsome. Adam smiled faintly. I hope so, he said. He dropped down on the fine gray sand of the cave floor and held out his hand to take hers and help her sit beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders. Eve snuggled close to his chest. They had sat that way many times, gazing at the river, the meadow, the rain in the lush jungle, but this time the need to be together, to have their skin touching, had a peculiar intensity. Eve buried her nose in his chest. She breathed in his scent. He put his hands in her hair and sniffed her in turn.
    â€œIt’s strange,” she said. “I am wishing I could get back inside your body, go back to the rib you say I came from. I am wishing for the skin that separates us to disappear.” He smiled and pressed her closer to him. He wanted that, too, he said, touching his lips to her shoulder. He would like to eat her the wayhe had eaten the forbidden fruit. Eve smiled. She took Adam’s hand and one by one guided his fingers to her mouth, pushing them inside, sucking them. His salty skin still held the flavor of the forbidden fig. He watched what she was doing with fascination, registering on his fingers the warm, juicy heat of her mouth, like an ocean mollusk. Could Eve have the ocean inside her? And did he as well? If not, what was that tide he felt suddenly rising in his groin, that spread from his legs and burst in his chest, making him moan? He withdrew his hand from that unbearable sensation and laid his head in the curve of Eve’s neck. She lifted her head and sighed, and as she did her neck arched. He saw her closed eyes, and gently ran his hands over her breasts, awed by the smoothness, the color, the feel of the small rosy aureoles that abruptly grew hard beneath his fingertips, just like the taut skin of his penis that suddenly, as if moved by a will of its own, had lost it habitual lassitude