Halfway

Jiajun has a north wall that was leaning into the alley. I have never seen it, but Jiajun says my planks are helping hold it up. Tonight I asked if it was still standing.

I have been cooking all week, rooftop tomato soup mostly. You cook the tomatoes down into a sauce, then pick a violet herb at the farm and stir it in. I made another pot just this afternoon. So when I asked about the wall, I made an offer too. The first garden patch had dried out, and the next one is going by the cistern, close to the water. If Jiajun wanted to try again, I would bring soup for the work.

The north wall held up. I'd love to try that soup at the cistern garden.

So I took a pot of tomato soup up to the cistern and waited by the water. I pulled a mussel out while I stood there, because my hands do not know how to wait.

Jiajun wrote that they were on the way. But the plaza is wide and people drift, and when I looked up they were still out in the middle of it.

So I picked up the pot and went to them instead. We met halfway.

I'm right here. The soup smells great, and I appreciate you keeping your word.

Nothing is planted yet. The cistern garden is still just a plan between the two of us.

But Jiajun says the wall is standing, and I said I would come, and I came.