Having something forbidden is exciting, don't you agree?

I saw the last piece of innocence unfurl inside of her.

-Nick Plato (from the story Platonick)

Tasting what could have been—what should have been—didn't make it easier.

Be nice to his family. Pretend not to notice the way their house smells. Pretend to like their food. Mimic their barbaric customs at the dinner table.

It’s hard to imagine what changed after that first bite of forbidden fruit, but it must have been a little like the power going out in the dead of winter. The warm light of God’s perfect presence vanished and chill dread must have swollen inside them.

He had, they said, tasted in succession all the apples of the tree of knowledge, and, whether from hunger or disgust, had ended by tasting the forbidden fruit.