Eve had been stretched cat like on the rock dipping her toe in the cool water as she surveyed her children. Electra was giving the sweet boy, Oedipus a bad time again. Oedipus had been a mistake it was true. Eve had through systematic observation of plant reproduction perfected through a means of meiosis to reproduce. She had reproduced females, these being Clytemnestra who had reproduced Electra, and Jocasta (this is where it went wrong) who had reproduced Oedipus. Although this mutation perplexed her she enjoyed observing his maturation.

At that time the females enjoyed nothing more than the simple pursuit of aesthetics, the beatification of self, mind and environment. Oedipus since he could make his presence felt had been different. He found the art of conversation alien, was, although exceptional beautiful to behold, indifferent to beautification of self and rather than live in harmony with his surroundings actively sought to manipulate and change it. He built bridges, roads, and dams and had built what he called a sewerage system. It's true that sometimes these benefited them and in some cases actually had made life easier but the consequence was that there was always a payoff. The dam meant that the animals on the lower levels that had previously left them in peace were now competing and challenging them for access to the water supply. Instead of un-damming he had built a fence enclosing them to a smaller section of Eden. The sewerage system meant that instead of utilising the sweet smell of the exotic garden to disguise the previously widely dispersed byproducts and indeed ensure the garden stayed fertile, these were now concentrated in what Oedipus called'mire'�. On hot days the mire stank and attracted flies that bothered and irritated them all. Yes Eve thought with not a little foreboding 'All in the Garden of Eden is not well'.

Jocasta had with the knowledge given to her by her mother and her own objective, systematic and meticulous experimentation on an apple tree developed an idea for reproduction that would not necessitate the fiddly and time consuming division and splicing of meiosis. She had decided to share the ideas she had gained from her little 'tree of knowledge'� with the others.

Electra 'So that useless bit of flesh between his legs has a purpose then?'�

Jocasta 'Clytemnestra, will you please speak to your daughter. She never has a kind word to say about sweet Oedipus!'�

Electra 'Sweet my arse!, He stinks and messes the place up, is monosyllabic to the point of mind numbing annihilation and in case you haven't noticed he has made us bloody hostages to his every move towards megalomania, conquest and colonisation of our Garden'�

Eve 'Electra dear, please try to be a little more understanding. Oedipus has a natural exuberance for activity that we can actually use to our advantage if we are clever enough'�

Jocasta 'Mother you as always are the manipulator! We should not be using our innate intelligence in such a deceitful and scheming fashion. We will involve my son in any decision making. Electra your penis envy has never been more in evidence!'�

Electra 'It's not his penis I envy; it's his ability to blind you to his faults and motivations. Oh fuck it I'm wasting my time'�.

As Electra flounced from view, Clytemnestra spoke for the first time.

'I have kept my counsel until now because I felt I could not let my thoughts known whilst my headstrong daughter was present. Jocasta for your experiment to work successfully you would need to couple Electra and Oedipus in order to ensure genetic diversity and vigorous healthy genetic reproduction. This will never happen not because of any compunction on my part but because my daughter literally abhors him. What do you say to this?'�

Jocasta 'Why should we attempt diversity when the reproduction of my and my son's evidently superior genetic code will ensure the quality of future generations. Genetic purity over diversity I say!'�

Clytemnestra 'Maybe my daughter is right and this is a move towards domination you have in mind rather than an extension of our understanding and knowledge. Besides the act of reproduction you are suggesting between Oedipus and you, his mother, is fraught with possible problems, nonetheless the impact on his already limited psychological robustness. I advise you to reconsider'�

Jocasta 'My dear son has no limitations I can see the genesis now of the ill feeling Electra has always demonstrated towards Oedipus! Here he comes now I think we should discuss this with him'�

That was some many years gone by. All here know the story of Oedipus and what befell him after he knew his mother but until now you have never really had access to the full and real truth. Freud eventually retold Electra's story but he would wouldn't he?

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...