It had been a long time coming, the news channels touted, the original first lady to speak on the incident that happened so long ago, that had set in motion circumstances that would change the world. She was dressed in her usual slim sable tweed skirt and jacket, her blouse a soft cream chiffon. It complimented well her sun-kissed skin tone, her alert chestnut eyes, her signature long brunette hair pulled back over one shoulder.
She promised to answer a few questions about her new book, and the press milled about her as she stood with her husband of many years on the marble courthouse steps in the bright afternoon sun. Also in the crowd were a number of protesters, mainly feminist groups, animal-rights activists, and atheists. The crowd of fifty was jostling, black-clad policemen in riot gear keeping the line at the bottom of the steps.
"Can you tell us what made you do it?" a male reporter called from the crowd as she paused at the half dozen microphones set up before her.
She looked to him, a pleasant smile brightening her classic beauty. "I took some poor counsel."
"Can you make a statement?" someone else said.
She cleared her throat and looked out over them, her husband's hand gentle on her back. "I'd like to say that I made a deeply regrettable mistake, and I've paid for it. So have many generations, and for that I am truly sorry. Please accept my apology. But also know," she continued, her gaze over the crowd endearing, "that this was an error in judgment that any of us, any of you, could have made. I wasn't the only one who could've made it; I was just the first."
"But you made it so soon. Can you explain that?" a female reporter asked.
"Now, you don't know that. The Book doesn't state how long it was before, well, before I was beguiled. It could have been a day, or a millennium." She turned her head as her husband whispered something in her ear. A small smile played about her lips, and she addressed the crowd again. "I'm not at liberty to give details."
"Killers!" an irate woman's voice cried out. "You wear furs!"
Someone threw an apple at Eve and her husband caught it in midair before it reached her. She leaned closer to the microphones. "It was a gift; I make no apologies for that."
"How has life changed for you? What was your biggest surprise?" another woman asked.
Her shoulders sagged a bit. "Childbirth."
A male reporter spoke up. "Was that the hardest change?"
She shook her head. "No. Death was. Especially the death of our son. Nothing could have prepared us for that."
"What are your plans now?" a woman without any press credentials asked. "Another book? A movie deal?"
"The Fall: The Curse of One Bite is my only book. I have no other ideas." She looked to her husband, smiling. He took her hand at his side, raised it to his chest in a firm grasp. "We may collaborate on something, at some time."
"Did you ever consider divorce?" a woman's tight voice called. "Marriages have broken up over far less."
Eve shook her head. "What God hath joined... Those words mean everything to us."
"That's it," Adam finally said, his deep voice sending finality to the questions from the crowd. "Buy the Book, or buy our book. They're both great reads."
