#38 The Getty Garden

from Quebec. It was as glamorous as she could imagine. After Guido and Ginger were fed, and the dishes were done, there would still be a couple hours before Hildi came over, so she would go online. It was a glamorous, full life, but she never told a single soul about it. On the weekends, she hunted for Guido, took care of the gardens, went to the barbecue, and went to church. Hildi still came over in the evenings, but now she brought homemade soup from lunch.

China’s Juliette met her Romeo. He said his name really was Romeo, and he really did live in Italy. She thought it was a sign. She stayed Juliette from Quebec. All the things she heard about Quebec, she talked about. Quebec was like the spoiled baby of Canada, they got what they wanted, if they whined and complained enough, but it was pretty. She told him she was living in uptown Montreal and spoke both English and French, while he spoke Italian and English, so they wrote in English, since that was what they had in common, and they had running date. Every evening, 7 until 9, they would meet online, though it was just writing back and forth to talk about their day. Her life was complete, busy, but complete.

China was separating bulbs in the garden, and hunting for Guido. Every grasshopper she caught, she would put in the tobacco tin she brought. She picked it out of the garbage. She took the lid off, then one hopped out, so she ran around after it until she re-caught it. Even with the air holes, she poked in with a fork, they would probably die anyway. Either way, they weren’t very lively by the time she used them, and Guido liked to chase after them. She would have to put them in her apartment, as the sound they made as they pounded themselves against the interior of the tin was off-putting to those that would be at the barbecue this afternoon. She looked at the tin in dismay. She decided to over to the pet store.

On the way over to the pet store, she stopped at second-handed store. There was an aquarium, so she bought it, and never did go to the pet store. China spent, what remained of the afternoon, before she went to the barbecue, designing an environment for the grasshoppers, but put nothing in there that they could use to get away from her. She went to the courtyard, pulled up grass by the handfuls, found sticks, mud and stones, then covered the aquarium with an old cookie sheet. She designed a perfect grasshopper habitat so she could always feed Guido live grasshoppers, and he could hunt them too. He would be happy to be with her. He didn’t seem to mind a bit that they were white from being coated in the calcium powder that she bought online for him, and sound of them hurling themselves against the cookie sheet reminded her to feed him, and it was a comfort at night. Ginger liked them too; he watched it like television.

At the barbecue, they had ribs. Someone took up a collection for the meat, someone cooked it, someone brought baked beans, someone brought homemade creamy coleslaw, and someone organized it. They took turns. China never took a turn, because she always did the garden, and she worked full-time. Not everybody had a job, and nobody else worked in the garden; China would not let anybody else. Although, she often worked in the garden long past the time that they gathered, when she went to wash up, which was her signal that she was done for the day, she sat where there was an empty chair, when she came back. They decided; they took turns.

At the barbecue, she announced to the person next to her that she was going to make a winter garden too. She knew it wouldn’t take long to get around. It was a community. She got some ideas from The Getty garden, and she decided to play up what she already had. It was more about what she didn’t do, rather than what she did do. She didn’t cut everything right back, and she used the internet to get free plants and rocks. She planted patches of Sweet Box and Snow Drops, because they would bloom all winter. Somebody gave