Summary

In Part One, Chapter 1, “The Draining Lake,” Dr. Charles Ransom docked his houseboat on the edge of the emptying river. He watched Quilter standing on the water’s edge. He and his mother lived in a barge, given to them by “Quilter’s protector, Richard Foster Lomax” (17).

Ever since the Mount Royal hospital closed, Ransom had been “sailing the houseboat among the draining creeks” (18). Due to the ongoing drought, the city was evacuating. Ransom, however, was not ready to leave. The lake’s “slow transformation” excited him (18). He chose to moor his houseboat in the deserted “lakeside town of Hamilton,” a former fishing village (19). Dead fish abounded on shore.

From the houseboat, Ransom observed Quilter’s mother, Mrs. Quilter. He also studied the sky, hoping the “yellow canopy” overhead meant rain (20). Ransom had purchased the houseboat since his “estrangement from his wife Judith...