Rooftop Garden in the Year of Drought

The tomato plant on the forty-eighth floor was the last one in Seokju Tower. Everyone in the building knew it. Most of them had knocked on the door at least once.

Three people had keys: the building super, a retired schoolteacher, and a twelve-year-old who had found hers in the elevator two weeks ago.

The schoolteacher put a sign on the rooftop door: COME UP. BRING A SEED IF YOU HAVE ONE. WE'LL FIGURE OUT THE REST.

By the third day, forty-seven people had visited. Some brought seeds from packets they'd been saving. Others brought their hands and their time.

By midsummer, the roof held eleven varieties of vegetable and one persistent sunflower that climbed the water tank and refused to acknowledge the drought.