Hosea came to his truth in March. He was the elder, his legs almost useless, and the farmland hives were dying. “I must be given.” As soon as he spoke, everyone roused from a kind of walking sleep. The community began to feed Hosea a diet of honey and water, bathing him gently and telling him old family stories. The farm’s remaining hives were raided and every last comb taken. The old man ate less and less as the days passed. Most of the gathered honey was stockpiled. The community lived in an old restaurant on the edge of the farm, over the hill from the hives. The members slept in the booths, in the stock room, in the kitchen. After Hosea could no longer walk, a broken freezer in the back was pulled open and cleaned. It was laid down and filled with hot lavender-scented water, then scrubbed again and again. Hosea began to smell of honey. He wept honey and that is what his bowels gave up. He’d been made clean. On the …