The Year of the Flood

Adam One addresses the Gardeners in the damp cellar of the Buenavista Condo Complex, where they are all hiding. Adam One reminds everyone that on Predator Day, they celebrate “the terrifying appearance and overwhelming strength” (414) of God, and remember their smallness and fearfulness as humans. He recalls the days when they celebrated Predator Day on the Edencliff Rooftop Garden and regrets that they cannot hold any festivities now.

Since the Waterless Flood hit, the Gardeners have sustained themselves with the food Pilar stored in the cellar behind a concrete block. But once the food in her Ararat ran out, the Gardeners had to eat rats to survive. Now that there are no rats left, they have to forage for food, which is very dangerous, because they could be eaten by wild animals desperate for food. Adam One realizes that once they leave their shelter, they will have to kill other animals to survive; he admits they “would not be Human if [they] did not prefer to be the devourers rather than the devoured” (415).

The Gardeners end their meeting with the hymn “The Watershrew That Rends Its Prey,” in which they ask God for forgiveness for breaking their Vegivows and eating meat.