I don’t mean the 1950 film starring Bette Davis at perhaps her most barbed wire personality worst. I am referring to the Bible’s first woman and genuine femme fatale.

What if Eve had stood alone in front of that special tree, without The Tempter? Would she have succumbed to the magnet of mystery, biting off more than she could chew, the juice of disobedience running down her chin, the inside of her head exploding with knowledge and her soul shrinking into a heart of darkness? I say No. She needed prodding, to hear the hissing lure of doubt in her ears.

What if I had stood alone, facing that tree?