Long Distance Gardening (Weinkam)

 

“Immunity,” wrote Eula Biss, “is a shared space—a garden we tend together.”

I’ve been thinking of that line since early April when, in the midst of this global pandemic, I received an email from my former Chinese tutor, Coco.

“I know that this virus has spread in the US. I really want to know if you and your family are ok,” wrote Coco. “If you ever need any help, you must let me know. you must take care of yourselves. Hope everything will be fine soon.”

For ten months between 2011 and 2012, Coco, then a Chinese college student majoring in English, patiently corrected my Mandarin, tending to my pronunciation and tones while I taught English at a university on China’s southern coast. These days she teaches English to Chinese second grade students further north.

When I received her email in April, China had been on lockdown for two months, but as the virus began spreading in the United States Coco was more concerned about me. So she had her students write letters.

“When they heard my friend Matt is in the US, they offer to give you some “useful” advice, hoping to help you a little bit.”

Attached to her email were handwritten letters composed in meticulous script on wide lined paper, the second graders’ chosen English names in bold at the top.

VINCY: "Staying home is lots of fun. For example you can plant seeds and wait for them to grow. You can also learn cooking skills, but be careful! Don't hurt yourself! It will be pain when you accidentally touch the pot."

MARCUS: "I'm sorry to hear that to coronavirus has spread in the whole world and you have to face the same situation we did several days ago. We have almost beat the virus, so you needn't worry too much...Do you like playing chess? If so you can play chess online with me."

JYNNUS: "I am sorry to hear that the novel-coronavirus has spread in America recently. Don't worry. Let me give you some advice." His advice: wash hands, stay inside, exercise. "What more, you should go to bed early," he writes. Also: "Will you write a book about novel-coronavirus?"

EMMA: "Don't be afraid, we're going to win the war against the coronavirus."

SELINA: "Protect yourself and take government advice."

BRIAN: "If you don't have any gauze mask and some soap I can send you some, but I think your home has some soap because everyone has it at home. And how many mask can I give you? 5 or 10?"

In the eight years since I lived in China the country has slipped farther and father away in my mind, but here was a small group of seven-year-olds with remarkable penmanship reminding me that despite the distance, despite the division, we must tend to one another. We all share the same soil.

Matt Weinkam is the associate director of Literary Cleveland and a founding editor of Threadcount Magazine. His work has been published in Denver Quarterly, New South, DIAGRAM, Split Lip Magazine, Jellyfish Review, and Electric Literature.