Future Home of the Living God

Cedar tries to call her adoptive parents, but they do not answer. She has avoided the computer ever since the woman appeared on the screen. The people on the news solemnly examine ultrasound pictures and discuss pregnancies, but the situation remains confused. Cedar tells herself to focus on her immediate situation and not become distracted. She hides her alcohol and ammunition in the walls of the house and then edits her church newsletter. As she edits, Mother appears on the screen again, so Cedar turns the computer off. She ignores the ringing telephone and the heavy knock at the door. Cedar hears the father of her child rattling the door and calling her name. She tells him to leave her alone, but he warns her that the police are coming for her.

Cedar learns that the government is sequestering pregnant women in hospitals “in order to give birth under controlled circumstances” (51) for their own safety. Phil, the father of Cedar’s child, stays with her as she worries about detainment. When she calls her parents, a bright but unfamiliar voice answers the telephone.

Cedar and Phil go out for sandwiches. In the parking lot of a mall, she sees the police detain a pregnant woman whose partner and daughter watch horrified. An officer points his gun at the angry crowd before the pregnant woman is driven away in a police car. Cedar knows that she must protect her child and herself, but she feels guilty that she did not help this woman. At home, Cedar finds a note from Sera explaining that she and Glen are safe but telling Cedar not to call them anymore.

Cedar thinks about the many names given to angels. She refers to the father of her baby as the Angel Phil. They met at their Catholic church, and he fell in love with her while they worked on the Christmas play. One day, while preparing the props, he wore the fake angel wings and they had sex while dressed in the various religious costumes. Cedar knew that she wanted a child and became pregnant with Phil’s baby but was not sure whether she loved him or even whether she trusted him. Currently, Phil wants to stay with her and the baby. He makes plans to help and protect Cedar, even though it is now a crime to hide pregnant women from the government. She sends him to the store for supplies.

Phil is late returning from the store. Cedar cannot contact him (or anyone else) because Phil buried their phones in the yard to avoid being tracked. Cedar writes in her diary to distract herself from her anxiety. She describes Phil’s history, explaining that he is an ardent supporter of environmentalist causes, sometimes even breaking the law to protect the natural world.

Days later, Phil taps at the window and Cedar lets him into the house. He explains that the stores are out of food, but he scavenged supplies from the basement of their church. He also bought firearms, and while Cedar is disturbed, he insists that guns may be necessary; there is a government-sanctioned bounty on pregnant women. According to rumors, the government keeps the women in repurposed prisons, then keeps “some” (59) of the babies. Phil also explains that he visited the Songmakers’ house but discovered residents who did not match Glen and Sera’s description.

Phil unpacks his new firearms collection in the basement: a pistol, shotguns, a modern rifle, and a seemingly antique rifle which is a modern replica. Cedar mentions that the engraving on the replica gun is a tribute to those same people who killed her Native American ancestors, and she does not want the guns in the house.

Throughout the city, lines for food and gasoline form and rumors spread. Mother appears on the television and calls on women to surrender themselves to the authorities; Phil explains to Cedar that there is a rumor of an organization who wants “womb volunteers” (62) to give birth to the embryos they have stolen from a fertility clinic, many of which are the non-white embryos abandoned by the authorities.

Unable to leave her house, Cedar spends many hours gazing out her window at the tangled undergrowth beyond her backyard. She watches the birds and trees, writing down everything for her child. That evening, Cedar documents a strange bird yard. Phil wonders whether it was one of the extinct species, revived by modern gene therapy, or perhaps an example of ongoing devolution. Cedar and Phil walk together through the woods behind the house after dark.

Strange alliances form between institutions. The Postal Service allies with the National Guard and several states. Most states have begun ignoring the federal government. Large corporations are hiring mercenary armies. Mail is now expensive but the only available form of communication.

Cedar watches the armored personnel carrier make its mail delivery on her street. She receives a letter from Eddy, that describes how the tribe “has formed a militia quartered at the casino” (65) and is now planning to reclaim its ancestral land. Eddy envisions a future in which a remnant group of Homo Sapiens will possess reproductive technology, allowing them to rule over the remaining, devolved forms of humanity. Eddy invites Cedar and her baby to join the tribal militia and sends copies of his latest writing, describing reasons he has found to eschew suicide. He includes a coded message that the Songmakers visited the reservation. The mailman requires a signature on a letter, but notices Cedar’s pregnancy and advises that she does not accept the delivery. Cedar arranges for him to pick up a letter the next day, then writes to Eddy to tell him not to visit and not to worry about her.

A passing group of people slip a letter under Cedar’s door: They claim to be a friendly group called the Uniters and are inviting her to a picnic because she has not yet registered with the residential authorities. Phil returns and Cedar explains that the Uniters are demanding identification and proof of homeownership. Phil tells her that all the streets and parks have new, biblically inspired names. As they plan their course of action, Phil asks Cedar to marry him.

Cedar accepts Phil’s proposal. They enlist their priest to help forge preexisting marriage documents. Phil will attend the Uniters’ picnic and claim to be the owner of the house while Cedar pretends to be on a church retreat. Eddy writes to say that the Songmakers have left the reservation safely. More people have seen an apparition of the saint to whom Mary Potts built a shrine.

Cedar builds a secret storeroom in her basement. Her baby has grown so large that she can no longer hide her pregnancy. Cedar hears noises outside and rushes upstairs to see a huge, strange catlike creature attack a brown Labrador in her backyard.

That night, Phil and Cedar sit on their roof with a rifle and study the dark city. They try to piece together what has happened, struggling with their limited scientific knowledge. They talk about duplicate genes and untranslated DNA sequences. These old, dormant genes may now have disruptively activated. Cedar admits that sometimes childbirth scares her, and Phil promises to find one of the underground midwives who now operate.

Phil attends the Uniter picnic. The Uniters urge him and Cedar to attend their church, which will now be a part of a new religious government named the Church of the New Constitution.

After a lapse in recent diary entries, Cedar explains to her unborn child that she needs to stick to her dull routine, for the sake of her mental health. She describes how she rises each day, washes, and feels exhausted and scared. Phil leaves for the day and Cedar performs her exercise routine. She spends the rest of the day writing.

Cedar’s mind is occupied by disturbing thoughts which she cannot bring herself to share with her child. The idea of getting rid of her baby appalls her, and she assures herself that she wants her child.

The United States’ borders with Mexico and Canada were closed many years before, but Canada is still “the escape hatch in the roof of this country” (75). Cedar believes that Sera and Glen attempted an escape to Canada. As she and Phil take stock of their resources, she feels secretive about everything hidden in her house. They plan to buy false papers to escape to Canada. Cedar is beginning to feel agitated about being locked inside all day, and she and Phil argue as he cautions her to remain inside.

Cedar describes her baby’s development, even though she acknowledges that “all bets are off” (78) and she should hold no expectations.

Eddy taps on their window in the night; he has come to help Phil and Cedar escape just as Glen and Sera did. The route will be difficult, especially as the temperature falls. Eddy plans to return in a week to help them prepare, but Cedar wants to leave immediately. Phil convinces her to wait, allowing them to prepare better. As Eddy departs, the computer turns on “all by itself” (80). Mother appears and asks questions. Phil smashes the computer.