Before the wedding, there were the usual preparations. Theprincess primped before the mirror, her eyes puffy.  The flies swarmed bloody buckets. Thehandmaids scrubbed the floors. The royal guard punished the stones with theirheavy boots. Before the wedding, the prince vowed to represent all his peopleand to rule with kindness and compassion. The torturers paraded through thestreets, lifting heads on pikes. The dragons unleashed fire in icy caves.Before the wedding, there was the scowl of the princess shimmying into herdress. There was the red ball rescued from the pond long before.  There was the frog whohad turned into a prince, executing enemies and friends a dozen at a time. 

He woke up naked on a bed of spongy grass with no memory ofthe past. Bright globes dangled in air. Dense green, flying things swooped over him. Nothing looked familiar,but words rolled off his tongue, garden,apple, fig, grape,vine—fruit—leaf, stem, branch, bark—vegetable.  The serpent slid toward him. “I’m Adam,”he said. “What does Adam mean,” the young man asked. “Nothing,” the serpentanswered, “It means Nothing.” “Who am I,” the young man asked, wondering if hehad a name also. “You’re the serpent,” he answered. “And serpents crawl ontheir bellies.” Near them, a tree shone with gold fruit.  The serpent climbed the tree, windingaround its trunk. He knocked down the fruit. “Taste it, it’s an apple,” hesaid. The young man took a bite and liked the taste and then he devoured therest of it. The serpent knocked down three more apples and the young mandevoured all of them. After, he felt a sharp pain in his belly and the words“snake” and “serpent” came from his mouth. Then he hissed.

Black and silky, the mini skirt fell perfectly on Rachel’slean thighs. She had found it in a shop on Main Street. “It’s so cute,” shesaid as though describing a pet kitty. “I had to stop and buy it.” She sashayed in front of us tirelessly even though we warned her thatthe mini skirt might turn on her. And then it happened: the mini skirt openedits mouth, showing its fangs.  Wetried to help her, but it was too late. Like a snake, it swallowed her wholeand then digested her slowly, breaking down her bones. When it was all over,the mini skirt lay on the ground peaceful and content. Danielle leaned down topick it up, but it grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into its maw. Intears, Wasabi lit matches and tossed them at the skirt, but the skirt was flameretardant, and the matches went out. Then Jess emptied her canister of mace onthe mini skirt, but it didn’t cry out, blinded, tears burning its face;instead, wrinkled and stained, it strutted past us down Main Street, lookingfor a new owner or the right top.