The first one to communicate to someone concerning the garden is Ana. She has been watching from her window as Kim plants her seeds and tends to them. At first, Ana is suspicious, and thinks Kim is doing something illegal, such as hiding "drugs...or money, or a gun." She goes so far as to check things out herself, and discovers that the child has planted bean seeds. When Ana realizes this, she begins to care about Kim, and about the beans that seem to be so precious to her. When Kim does not show up at the garden for a few days and it looks like her plants will die for lack of water, Ana, who cannot go out herself because of she has hurt her ankle and is unable to go down the stairs, takes the initiative to contact her neighbor, Wendell. Ana communicates to Wendell that the plants will die if they don't have water, and gets him to go down and fix the problem.

Wendell is the first one to actually communicate with someone in the garden. As he is watering the plants, Kim herself arrives, and is very afraid when she sees him. Wendel tries to reassure her, moving slowly and smiling, demonstrating with motions what he is doing with the plants. Even though he "never [speaks] one word," Wendell attempts to communicate with Kim. Though she says nothing either during that first encounter, it is clear that his message gets through, as she emulates the way he makes a circle of dirt around the remaining plants to hold in the water.