The neighborhood had flooded and I was walking around inspecting damage with Margaret. She said that it was strange that some of the lower houses had not been flooded, while some of the higher ones had. We walked alongside the river and I was surprised to see that the river was now crystal clear, but as we passed behind some houses we had to cross streams of polluted water that dumped into the river. As we crossed one of these small streams I accidentally took a gulp of foul water, and was worried I’d become sick.

We eventually reached a very nice house which was undamaged by the flood. We sat at the dining room which was was a sort of open air terrace, and other neighbors joined in. The owner of the house was a famous feminist lady who was traveling at the time, but Margaret told me it was fine because they were women, and thus had permission to be there and they could extend the invitation to other men such as myself. I was annoyed at the gender-centeredness of the whole thing and asked her the name of this lady, but she refused to give it to me.