Lost & Found

Lost & Found

Lilly, a thirty three year old nurse practitioner, clocks out for the joyous ride home. Finally, a well-deserved vacation, and two of her friends are tagging along. They fly to the Bahamas for a day, and then hop to Puerto Rico for a week of indulgence in tropical sunshine, Caribbean cuisine, shaking bikini bottoms and drunken debauchery on the beach for carnival influenced by rum as colorful as J’ouvert.

 Old San Juan, a beautiful town, is the first stop. One would think the morning after arrival they will want to enjoy the comforts of the hotel suite and rest with a full week ahead. However, Lilly is only tired of white hospital rooms, gurneys, screaming patients and crying next of kin. Old San Juan it is. Fuerte San Felipe del Morro offers a perspective like no other. Looking out at the warm Caribbean Sea and basking in the tropical sunrise seems like paradise, but hardly compared to where they have in mind next.

The next morning, lag catches up with Lilly’s friends and they opt for a day of relaxation in their hotel. Lilly doesn’t mind being alone hiking through the forest of El Yunque. Roughly an hour’s drive so she departs early.

This forest, enchanted every three hundred years, waits on its next victim to arrive right on time. When she gets there, Lilly sprays herself with some repellent, throws the straps of her bag pack over her shoulder, tucks a bottle of water in her fanny and enters the forest. Some places are darker under the canopy, but she stays on the trail a little behind the group and their guide. Distracted by the amazing sounds and songs and the exotic atmosphere, Lilly doesn’t know when she truly becomes a delightful wanderer. She stumbles upon a clearing among the trees which seems unusually exotic. Brilliant, almost ultraviolet-looking light surrounds her and everything in the clearing, but in the middle of the clearing there stands a very imposing naseberry tree laden with gigantic ripe fruit. Naseberry is her favorite so it doesn’t take long for a temptation to manifest, and the fruits are delicious. While stuffing her mouth with the round, sweet, juicy fruit a flash of light interrupts her feast, and she almost chokes on the naseberry before leaping to her senses.

“What’s happening,” she gasps, trying to run but the way back is suddenly obstructed by something truly out of this world, a flaming sword rotating at blinding speed!

This is paradise found.

Adam wanders aimlessly through the forest as bored as hell.

“Will you stop following me around already!” he shouts, at the serpent slithering behind him.

Out of all the other animals the serpent is the only one following him around the garden hissing with its cleft tongue sticking out.

Adam gets tired of it and tries to run away, but the serpent changes gears and slithers behind, chasing him. Being perfect, Adam stays a good clip ahead without getting tired and maintains the distance but the serpent continues to chase him, the reason is urgent!

Lilly tries to find her way through the enchanted forest for an hour. Her bag is now heavy. She is tired, and so she places it on the ground beside her and sits on the forest floor to rest.

A naked man running at break-neck speed clatters his foot on the bag and plants face first into the ground right in front of her!

She launches, landing on her feet screaming, even louder when she sees a slithering serpent appear shortly after!

The serpent looks at them both, confused.

With Adam unconscious on the ground and Lilly screaming her head off, the serpent does to Lilly what he tried to do with Adam. He speaks to her and she understands him!

Who are you?” the serpent asks.

“What the…” Lilly screams, and runs away.

“Wait, I want to talk to you!” the serpent shouts, chasing her the way it did Adam.

Lilly runs to the naseberry tree, and climbs as high as she can. When the serpent catches up, it sighs and slithers up the tree behind her.

Lilly screams again.

“Will you relax, I’m trying to tell you something,” the serpent says, cautiously approaching.

Lilly’s only other option is to jump since a climb down means passing the serpent along the way, so she answers it instead.

“What’s wrong with these naseberries?” she asks.

“It’s called the forbidden fruit. You’re not supposed to eat it. Who are you?”

“Am I in a dream?” Lilly asks.

“You are in Eden. Who are you?”

“I’m Lilith, and why is a naked man running around in the forest?”

“His name is Adam. I’ve been trying to talk to him for ages but he doesn’t understand me. He thinks I’m weird,” the serpent replies.

“You are. There is something wrong with these naseberries. They need to cut this tree down. These fruits are phsychedelic. 

“So Lilith, what brings you to Eden?”

“Help me get out of here so I can sleep this shit off. How do I get out?”

“You can’t, you are stuck here,” the serpent replies, slithering down the tree onto the forest floor.

“Wait, if I can get in I can get out, just show me the way,” Lilly says, and climbs down behind him.

“For that you’ll need Adam. Good luck,” the serpent replies.

“Wait, take me to him,”

“I don’t work for free,” the serpent says.

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Adam. Since you understand me and he doesn’t we can help each other,”

“Ok just take me to him,” Lilly replies.

They find Adam sitting on the ground rummaging through Lilly’s bag, and with a clump of dirt on his forehead.

“What are you doing?” Lilly asks.

Adam looks up at her and rolls his eyes, “Are you the person I’m supposed to marry?”

“Are you mad? Why are you naked?” Lilly asks.

“Who says I am?”

“I’ve been trying to tell him for a while now,” the serpent replies.

“How do I get out of here?” Lilly asks Adam.

“I’d like to know as much as you. How did you get here?”

“I have no idea, but there is something wrong with the naseberries,”

“Did you eat the naseberries, oh no!”

“What does that mean, what’s wrong with them? Are they poisoned?” Lilly asks.

“We might as well marry, because there’s no going back after eating the naseberries. Eating them got me here. I’ve been stuck here alone with these animals and this damn snake following me around for three hundred years,”

“I’m guessing naseberry is your favorite fruit, isn’t it?” Lilly asks.

“It was,”

“There has to be a way out,”

“There is, but we have a deal. You help me talk to Adam and I’ll tell you both how to get out,” the serpent replies.

Lilly doesn’t want to trust the snake but desperate times require desperate measures.

“What do you want to say to him?” she asks.

“Who are you talking to? Are you calling me mad?” Adam replies.

“Tell him that there is a way to break the curse. Every three hundred years the garden opens a portal for someone else to enter. If he wants to get out he has to marry the person who enters but he won’t be perfect anymore. The same is true for you,” the serpent says, sliding around her feet in circles.

“Wait a minute, are you saying I’m perfect?” Lilly asks, dragging the serpent further away from Adam out of earshot.

“Yes you are, just like Adam has been for the past three hundred years,”

New knowledge, of the life-changing kind tickles her ears.

“So you’re saying I can stay here, in this beautiful forest garden forever, as a perfect woman, as long as I don’t marry him?”

“Yes” the serpent replies.

“I’m not saying shit. I’m staying,”

“Wait, we had a deal Lilith!”

“Adam, the snake is trying to talk to you. He says your naked, cover up,”

After a year in the garden, Lilith has one half to herself while Adam chooses a naked existence in the other. All the animals have free access to both halves. Life couldn’t be better.

This is paradise lost.

Adam tip-toes through the forest in Lilly’s territory, and she now has a very keen sense of hearing. He needs to get to the river. There flows at the head of it a magnificent waterfall, his favorite place to shower before Lilly arrived. Crystal clear water even the animals can’t resist thunders down a smooth rock thirty meters high.

Already naked, his journey becomes the hardest part. Cool, invigorating hydrotherapy on his back makes him groan, and he closes his eyes to enjoy the moment. When he opens them, they make contact with Lilly’s and she doesn’t look very happy.

“I told you as long as you choose to be naked we can’t share the same space,”

“Obviously you are not afraid of a naked man, so what is your problem?” Adam asks.

“It’s just a strange way to exist when you know there are other people around,”

“Based on your rules of separation we are still alone, and I was here first,”

“It doesn’t have to be that way Adam, cover up and we can share the whole garden. You’ve only been here for three hundred years. I know you know what clothing is,”

“I lost them two hundred years ago, and there are no mosquitos or bugs here to make me uncomfortable,”

“I have clothing in my bag. Use it to tie around your waist and we can share the whole garden,”

Adam obliges merely because he wants free access to his cascading crystalline shower.

Another year passes. Lilly and Adam are now friends, and they tell each other about their different worlds three hundred years apart. Adam explains how he was chased into the forest by a platoon of Spanish soldiers who defeated the British on the island in the seventeen hundreds. He experienced the same thing Lilly did but ate the naseberries out of hunger in hiding.

Lilly shows him how to prepare some Vegan salads since they were not allowed to eat the animals, and also teaches him how to weave so he can wear more clothes made of straw. She also tells him about all the modern amenities of life and shows him how to use some she has in her bag like a modern toothbrush and a bar of soap. She also teaches him how to check his heart rate and blood pressure with the time piece he carries around his neck. She shows him different plants and herbs in the garden and explains their holistic properties and uses in modern medicine.

“Why are you telling me about medicines? We don’t need them and we won’t,” Adam says.

Lilly stays quiet, and another opportunity to tell Adam the truth passes, so does another year.

This relationship evolves even more. They spend a lot of time together. They eat together and ride horses together, eventually ending up on the same horse. Then they have a first kiss, which for two perfect people is magical.

One more year and Lilly is approached again by the serpent. He has another secret, a trump card he always saves for last.

Adam and Lilly are getting closer, and if they ever decide to marry and the curse is broken, they will each return to the time period they came from after falling asleep on their wedding night. The alternative is to stay in the garden and never marry for all eternity. No sexual intercourse, no family, no death.

When the serpent finally told Lilly the whole story she cried.

“You made the decision on your own to never marry him and live in the garden with him forever without telling him the truth, but you didn’t consider the intense desire of love when you made that decision, did you? You see, Lilly, the devil is in the detail,”

Lilith already loves Adam and is heartbroken. Even if she marries him to break the curse it means losing him forever, even as an imperfect man, and Adam doesn’t know.

On her way back from her talk with the serpent Lilly finds Adam sitting by the fire, which she recently showed him how to ignite with starter fluid. She dries her tears and sits beside him.

“How do you make this liquid?” he asks.

“Adam…I need to tell you something,”

Lilith holds his hand, but Adam believes this is the most romantic thing he has ever experienced, sitting by the fire at night with the love of his life. He doesn’t even give her a chance to speak.

“Lilith, we can get married. It’s been long enough. We’re the only two people living in this garden, and we are already perfect,”

Suddenly it feels so much worse to tell him the truth.

“Adam, I will marry you, but…I need you to go back to your half of the garden before we do,”

“Why?” Adam asks.

“It’s for the best. For both of us,”

“No, now is the time I want to spend every waking moment with you. Why would you say this?”

“Adam when we get married, as soon as we fall asleep we will wake up in our own time period as two imperfect people,”

“What! No…how long have you known this?”

“The truth is I’ve known about the curse ever since I got here. The snake told me and wanted me to tell you, but it didn’t tell me the whole story and I’m sorry. I should have told you before we got so close,”

“Lilith you deceived me,”

“I know Adam, I’m sorry. I was too, but I was also selfish,”

“What if we stay unmarried just like this?”

“If we do, we can never move forward. We have to be like this forever. No family, no sex, no death,”

“That sounds like punishment for eternity,”

“It is,” the serpent replies, slithering in the grass behind them and laughing its head off.

Only Lilly can hear it speak. Adam hears hissing, knows it’s there, and flashes his arm around snatching the serpent by its tail! Lilly grabs it by the neck and squeezes! The hissing cleft tongue begins to flap in front of its mouth as the serpent gasps for air! It tries to coil its way out, but this is tug-of-war!

“Wait, wait!” the serpent screeches.

“Why, what do we have to lose?” Lilly asks, wrestling against the muscular serpent to keep its neck in a vice.

“Wait, there’s more!” the serpent screeches, eyes bulging out of its head.

“Speak before I wring your head off!” Lilly shouts.

“An apple, an apple, you and Adam have to eat an apple. You will fall asleep and wake up in the same time period, but you still won’t be perfect!”

“How do we know which time period we will wake up in?”

“Whoever eats the apple first, the time period will be theirs,”

“Where is the tree?” Lilly asks.

“It’s in the middle of the garden. I need air!” the serpent yelps, and that’s when they let him loose.

“Lead us there,” Lilly replies, and she and Adam follow the serpent to the tree.

Lilly picks one of the apples first, but before she takes a bite Adam stops her.

“Wait, how do we know we can trust it after all of this? It could be another trick,” he says.

“Have you ever eaten this fruit before?” Lilly asks.

“No, I haven’t,”

“Then we can trust it,”

Lilly and Adam share a soft kiss and warm embrace, just in case the snake planned on doing what it does best. Then Lilly takes a bite. The apple falls and Lilly vanishes into thin air! Adam’s turn, he picks it up and eats the whole thing. He closes his eyes and smiles, but when he opens them he is still glaring at the tree!

“What’s this?” he asks the serpent, but all he gets in return is a hiss.

Lilly wakes up in the forest under the naseberry tree with normal scenery. There are no unusually brilliant lights, no flaming swords spinning behind her, just an ordinary looking naseberry tree with small ripe fruit hanging from the limbs. She hears chatter in the distance and the clear voice of the tour guide. He and the rest of the hiking party are searching the forest for her.

Adam again lay stark naked on the forest floor. The serpent stays as far away from him as the east is from the west. After another three hundred years of perfect solitude, Adam listens intently to the sounds of footsteps again in the garden. Following the sounds leads him to a clearing where he sees a beautiful woman.

She turns around, sees him too and screams, climbing the naseberry tree and screaming her lungs out of her throat.

“Wait, Shh, there is a snake in the garden. Don’t let him hear you! Stop screaming,”

The woman stops screaming, but a conversation with a naked man in the middle of the forest doesn’t appeal to her common sense either. She stays in the tree.

“I’m sorry, my clothes are nearby. I went for a dip in the river. I’ll cover up,” he says, and so he does.

The woman eventually climbs down but tentatively keeps her distance.

“My name is Adam. How did you get here?”

“My name is Eve. I don’t know. What’s wrong with these naseberries, and what is this place?”

THE END