Change came to me in the form of a snake, bearing apples.

I said, “Aha, Mr. Snake. The laws of entropy are well known by now. Change equals loss, you know.” The snake just stuck out a glittering tongue, childish, impolite. “Surely, Mr. Snake, you understand my needs. I have only one soul, I must keep it whole.”

Then the snake rolled over in the grass, to show me the pictures on each of its scales: thousands of scenes of evil and beauty unlike anything in myself.