An Incident

At the gates of paradise the caretaker put down his flaming sword. The flames scorched the grass before the moist red soil snuffed them out. The caretaker was weary of guarding the gates of a place no one knew of. He lay down next to his smoldering sword and closed his eyes. Soon the perfect sleep of paradise enveloped him like a sweet aroma swirling around a giant apple tree. As he slept, creatures abandoned in the garden drew closer, gazed through the narrow opening into a decaying world. Birds poised in the air fiercely beating their wings. Lions yawned and stretched next to bleating sheep. Tigers prowled along the hedges. A monkey cackled to his tribe who answered in a scrabble of shrieks. The caretaker heard their panic in his sleep. Wearily, he rose, grabbed the heavy sword again, and held it across the gates. Sunbeams ignited its hidden fire. Slowly, the creatures withdrew, back into the forest, back into their perfect paradise.